Treating mobile like the fourth, unique media channel it is
06 February 2012 · By Dirk BarmscheidtIt seems so obvious to create a mobile product, whether for editorial content or e-commerce.
The rules are simple:
- The mobile handset screen is smaller, the bandwidth lower, and the user is on his way. Therefore, the mobile product has to be less than the fixed-line offer (less articles/ products, less features, less channels).
- Digital is digital, ergo the content and feature structures on mobile and fixed-line have to be the same.
- Mobile text typing is inconvenient, ergo no commentary or feedback features.
These three steps are definitely your first steps in the wrong direction. Mobile is not only the fourth screen, it is the fourth media channel which needs to be interpreted individually by every brand and offer.
In 2002, when E-Plus started i-mode in Germany, everyone thought mobile would be used as a sports encyclopedia. But the opposite was reality; near-live news and sports live tracker were the killer features on the first mobile multimedia platform. No one wanted to search for the winner of the 1960 football national championship in Finland.
Ten years later, the mobile world is the same; users are surfing differently to the fixed-line Internet. The visits are shorter, the frequency is higher, and daytime usage in particular is fundamentally different.
How mobile technology will shape media industry this year
30 January 2012 · By Mark Challinor
There are seven points I think I can offer my opinion on, (and collate the thoughts of the best minds in the industry on, based from what I have seen), in terms of how mobile will shape how we deal with our audiences and communicate with them in 2012. I offer the following:
- True and seamless media consumption experience across devices. Publishers will increasingly need to enable users to “start their reading” on one device and “continue their reading” on a second or even third device. Enabling this sort of “seamless” experience within a media brand, whether it is for the desktop, tablet, or smartphone, will drive engagement and repeat usage more and more.
- A more personalised media experience for our readers/consumers. Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al, all are using data measurement and analytics to recommend media content for users, (all within their respective ecosystems). We can surely expect to see many more publishers enabling this feature to increase user engagement.
- Social channels for media consumption. Media brands today primarily leverage Facebook and Twitter for “discovery.” There is now the opportunity for media brands to distribute content to enable users to consume media within these social channels. (The Washington Post's social news-reader on Facebook is a good example).
- Apps and the desktop. Microsoft, Google, and Apple all are predicted to launch “experiences,” through new operating systems or the browser in 2012, which will enable an app-centric view of your desktop. This will present new distribution, engagement, and monetisation opportunities for media companies.
Mobile payments poised to take flight
06 January 2012 · By Mark Challinor
Mobile payments have finally started to take off in recent years, and are likely to grow from US$240 billion in 2011 to US$670 billion worldwide in 2015, according to Juniper Research. The overall mobile payments market is also expected to rise quickly, thanks to things such as mobile ticketing and coupons, money transfers, and the ability to purchase physical goods.
Even faster growth will occur with Near Field Communications (NFC), which can be used in retail locations to buy physical items. Juniper says 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 12 months, although how quickly the market will adopt it remains to be seen. NFC can be defined as a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices, such as readers in stores, to establish radio communication with each other, by touching them together or bringing them within a few centimeters of each other.
...[more]How mobile will affect the strategy of newspapers
20 December 2011 · By Otto Sjöberg
I like bold statements. Bold statements make things happen.
It was a bold statement when CEO Eric Schmidt last year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona announced Google's completely new strategy: mobile-first.
“It's not a phone anymore,” he explained. “It's your alter ego, an extension of everything we do.”
In the year following that statement a lot of important things happened in the mobile industry:
- Android grew to be the dominant operating system for mobile phones.
- Smartphones outsold PCs in the last quarter of 2010 (although Eric Schmidt eight months earlier predicted the shift would come in 2013).
- Apple became the fourth-largest producer of mobile phones.
- Nokia fired its Finnish CEO and appointed the first foreigner, a Canadian from Microsoft.
- Nokia and Microsoft joined hands to start fighting for a dominant position in the mobile ecosystem.
- Microsoft acquired Skype for US$8.5 billion.
- And Google acquired Motorola for US$12.5 billion.
A couple of weeks ago, I heard another bold statement, this time at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco. On stage was John Donahoe, CEO of eBay: “I believe there will be more change in how consumers shop and pay in the next three years than there has been in the last 20. Think about that.”
...[more]The IKEA trail and what it means for your mobile products
13 December 2011 · By Dirk Barmscheidt
My wife asked me last week to look for a new sideboard for the living room. No problem. A standard piece of furniture which should be easily to be find. I thought.
A visit in a furniture store is a complex and often time intensive event especially for us men. Starting with a clear focus, in my case a simple sideboard, the desire wakes up. Inspired by the full range of furniture you are running from the living room section to the kitchen area, children’s section and bathroom area. And always right through the whole furniture store, always in fear that you missed something.
The IKEA experience next Saturday was completely different. What a blessing for me. You don’t need to think about the order of departments. Just follow the stream, it will bring you everywhere. And the range is clear and well structured. Wonderful!
And this is what I advise every Web site master: Build your mobile Web site or app based on the “IKEA trap” concept. The key figures are simple but not often executed:
...[more]How newsmedia companies can sell mobile to advertisers
08 December 2011 · By Mark Challinor
Many newsmedia companies now have their consumer revenue/subscription services set up or at least are in the process of doing it. So, what’s the next focus for the business?
Attention now shifts to the monetisation of our advertising assets.
We need to start ramping up our inventory sales process for selling mobile advertising, which can come in a number of forms, be it sponsorship, ad serving, or ad placement.
This firstly requires buy in. From the top down, we need acceptance and “gospel preaching” of such (internally and externally) that this is the route you are heading… and then resource the area accordingly.
So what is needed? I offer four areas for concentration:
1. Education (again, internally and externally)
- There is a general need for fuller education internally of industry sales staff on how to sell mobile. For example: What’s a good app/bad app? What mobile services are at our disposal? How do the various platforms/devices differ? What are the benefits/disadvantages of each? What measurement techniques will we use? How will we price it? And let’s not forget being immersed into examining what our competitors are doing, what they’re claiming regarding audiences et cetera.
The surprising truth about mobile Web sites
29 November 2011 · By Dirk Barmscheidt
Four weeks ago I had a meeting with an executive trainee at one of my clients. I had to introduce him to the mobile content product development started in 2006.
2006? More than a year before the first iPhone was launched? Yes, there was a mobile Internet time before the iPhone and before apps.
From a content provider or publisher perspective the mobile Internet in 2002-2006 was one of the best periods: unsophisticated xHTML sites and a paid content model. The reach was limited but the users chose the one-click-payment via the mobile network operator (MNO) to read the daily news or sports live tracker.
The first mobile marketplaces were established by KPN (i-mode) and Vodafone (Vizzavi/Vodafone live!). Just as Apple does now, back then these operators controlled who was joining the marketplace and what kind of content could be published. And last but not least, your revenue split — in the case of Vodafone — was only 60%.
The advantage? Economics of scale. One of the most important rules in digital media. Every mobile content product was developed in HTML with a minimum of individual features. Pure and clean. The focus was the editorial content.
...[more]Brands are increasingly becoming networks
25 November 2011 · By Paulo Mira
Brands will increasingly create their own content, and will create new opportunities for publishers to offer them their best customised content since they are going to produce their own content with or without publishers.
You may think this is far from happening…
Well, think again. Companies like Apple, Nokia and Google have their own networks. They access millions of people, at any moment. They have networks of users around the world, who are accessible via digital access, either through their own devices, via social networks, blogs et cetera.
Wow! And where will the media business be in this new game?
Some important players are redefining what they think the market will be. For instance, during the Festival of Media — Switzerland 2011, Carolyn Everson, vice president global marketing solutions, Facebook, said: “The departmentalised structure of big advertising agencies must die soon. The silos will crumble. There is no way to support a model that does not reflect the integrated and synergistic reality of the new consumers.” Carolyn worked for years in the traditional media business before joining Facebook in 2011.
Then you may think Facebook may have its own agenda in this game.
...[more]6 simple ways to boost your newsmedia app downloads
16 November 2011 · By Mark Challinor
Good ratings of your app can be important. For little cost and some basic common sense, you can achieve great things when trying to increase the number of people who will want and download it. Sometimes, major above the line marketing can be wasteful, when simple, basic tools are available which can achieve same, if not better results, by targeting and focussing on what’s important and what will affect the situation.
I offer some fundamental tips on how to make sure you get the most from yours.
- First step, before developing your app, you need to research the app’s sector. Develop the app with your USP at front of mind. Why would someone want it? What makes it stand out? Is it needed among your audience(s)?
- Take time to make sure you describe the app well in the store. You should describe what the app is about in easy to understand terminologies. But be creative! Think “stand out!” Even the icon in the store is important. Use it creatively even though it’s limiting in space. The App Store can do much of the work for you, if you get it right.
- PR. Publish/circulate a press release about your app. Discuss its features, what experts say about it, etc. Then look to highlight it on mobile-related forums. Use Google and Yahoo! groups to promote it, and maybe also create a separate discussion group.
- Consider creating a promotional video for your app and publish it on various social media sites like YouTube.
The iPad and its market position today: what media companies need to know now
04 November 2011 · By Mark Challinor
In a period where we see Apple’s latest results reveal that over 11 million iPads were sold in its last trading year — a 166% increase over 2010 — along with Apple saying they sold as many iPads as they could physically produce, it’s perhaps time to reflect on where we are with the device which has taken the world by storm.
Via a combination of various research sources we are led to certain conclusions about where the iPad has got to in our society. Let’s take a look...
Demographic factors
The gender balance will move from a heavily male bias toward a more even split. Analysing iPad usage after 9 and 80 days, Yahoo! observed a marked shift in the ratio of male to females accessing their content via an iPad (from 2:1 to 3:2). However, it is likely that males will remain narrowly the dominant group.
In the medium term, affluent consumers will remain the core users. Two good reasons for this are:
- Straitened consumer spending over the next year or so. Tablet devices may take a number of years to reduce significantly in price (although am very interested to keep an eye on the all-new Kindle Fir at £199.99 later this year).
- The tablet is not an ‘essential purchase’ (unlike phones and laptops), and will not be seen as such until the technology improves and the device begins to surpass the laptop. 2012 could be a breakthrough year — in the United Kingdom for instance, the London Olympics may help sales, and Forrester forecasts that tablets will begin to cannibalise netbooks from this year onwards.
