Xellular Identity - All About Mobile Content & Marketing

Super Tuesday - Super New Mobile Apps!

A big day like today brings cool new mobile apps!

First, let me share my own news:

As you know, I recently joined MyFrame Inc., who offers you a cool new mobile application called Flixwagon. For those of you who don't know what Flixwagon is, Flixwagon enables anyone with a capable 3G/WiFi mobile phone to broadcast live videos to the internet.

So you're probably saying, "ok, new mobile gig, where's the news?". We partnered MTV. Today, MTV's street journalism team will broadcast from 23 states to ThinkMTV using Flixwagon. Throughout the day, MTV will regularly break into programming and showcase news features from the live reports.

James Whatley from SpinVox shared that that SpinVox has partnered with WNYC Radio to enable greater listener interactivity during the station’s ongoing coverage of the multi-state primary Super Tuesday. Voters will be encouraged to contribute thoughts, comments and observations by speaking messages to a special phone number set up for the radio station. Those messages will be converted into text by SpinVox and will dynamically become a part of the coverage in real time. Hockenberry and Udoji will report on voter sentiments and read select text on-air.

Interesting to see how new means of communication take part in one of the biggest political events. Will follow closely.

Chating with the Guru

Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with the Symbian Guru, who is also a dear friend of mine, a.k.a. Ricky Cadden.

The topics ranged from creating and sharing media to how exactly our mobiles fit into our lives, and how they might help us connect better locally. Our conversation is now available as a podcast so go over to Ricky's to listen to it.

Coming Soon: Multimadia Ringback Tones

Real announced at the CTIA conference it will supply wireless operators with multimedia ringback tones. The Multimedia ringback tone takes the very popular musical ringback tone service to a whole different dimension, from the audio space to the visual video clip arena. It allows you to set a video clip to entertain your callers while waiting you answer their call.

"Building upon Real’s pioneering success in Ringback Tones (RBTs), Real is making Multimedia Ringback (MRB) Services available to mobile operators around the world.  This new 3G mobile service—first launched with Korea’s SK Telecom earlier this year—ushers in a new level of personalization in RBTs, allowing subscribers to incorporate audio, images and video to deliver a unique, customized experience to callers before they are connected."

[via press release]

Related stories: A Jump Into the Future - Multimedia Ringback Tones

Mobicious Introduces Free "Make My Ringtone" Feature

One of the most successful mobile content types, leading in service penetration and $$ is the ringtone. Since it was introduced back in 1998 by the Finnish mobile operator Elisa, ringtones struck the world hard, leaving hardly any objectors who haven't changed their default ringtone (or at least scanned through the preloaded default ringtones gallery).

Today, almost 10 years after the first launch, there is still a huge demand! According to Strategy Analytics the future for ringtones is still very bright:

   

Lately there has been plenty of commentary since Apple’s September 5th announcement, unveiling the ability for iPhone users to purchase and customize ringtones from iTunes for an additional 99 cents. Buying more than a handful of ringtones would get expensive, but it’s still a better deal than the typical $3 ringtone for other phones.

For the rest of us who don't own an iPhone, now Mobicious enables you to create a custom ringtone for free. While several companies have offered ways of doing this with expensive PC packages and hard-to-use websites, Mobicious have developed an easier way.  On the Mobicious site, you’ll now find "Make My Ringtone", a new feature that allows you to take your own music and make a custom ringtone from your favorite song.  It's fun, free, and works on all major U.S. carriers including Verizon. Simply select an MP3 from your desktop, choose any 20 second clip, and send it to your phone.

[Thanks David!]

Related Stories: Mobicious: One Part iTunes, One Part Google

Myxer & Amie Street Team Up

A few months ago I interviewed Myxer people about their line of business. Today Myxer announced a new partnership with Amie Street to mobilize their priced-by-demand ringtone service.

According to the press release,

"AmieStreet.com is bringing its community pricing model to the ringtone market, and for the first time offering ringtones at multiple price points based on their popularity with members. AmieStreet.com is the first digital music store where members of the community drive the discovery, promotion and pricing of music. All ringtones on AmieStreet.com will start at a price of zero cents. As more people purchase a ringtone the price rises, capping at $1.99. The dynamic prices on AmieStreet.com allow fans to buy music without breaking the bank and serves as a useful tool for finding great music, often for free."

For the entire press release click here

One of the barriers many user generated based communities have is the lack of high quality of content (not everyone is talented like Andy Mckee or heart-stirring like Tasha and Dishka). What I liked in this newly partnership is how they dealt with this barrier, how the two partners complement each other's lacks; AmieStreet, brings the content of independent artists who wish to sell their songs online, and Myxer provides the platform to mobilize this content. And the cherry on top is the community essence provided by AmieStreet's pricing model where prices of ringtones are determined by popularity of downloads. Nice work!

Related links: Amazon Leads Investment in Music Site AmieStreet (NBC)

Focus on Mobile Avatars - Mobagetown Japan

After answering a few readers queries through email, I realized that there is a growing reader's interest in mobile offering of avatars. Therefore, I decided to reply in a series of posts for the benefit of others who might be interested as well.

One of my favorite examples of a smart business model and a VERY successful avatar service is Mobile Game Town (Mobagetown) from Japan. It is the largest and fastest growing mobile Social Networking Service (SNS), available only on mobile. The site is a blend of casual games and social networking, multiplayer and singleplayer games coupled with chat, blogs and avatars.

An interesting fact is that Mobile Game Town is offered by DeNA, a Tokyo-based e-commerce company that runs virtual auction sites and shopping malls. This fact leaves a notable footmark on the business model (and makes a differentiator from other SNS sites). DeNA hooks the users with free mobile games with over 30 titles to choose from, supported by advertisement. Users buy from mobile e-commerce sites and get “mobile gold” which is then used to dress their avatars; by spending in the real world users get virtual money to dress their virtual alter ego, their avatar.

[via DeNA]

Mobile Game Town’s success is overwhelming: 5 million users with over 400 million daily page views back in May in less than a year from its official launch. Just to put the numbers in perspective, Mobile Game Town’s stats are four times larger than that of Yahoo's mobile portal! 

And to give you a sense of latest (brilliant) marketing activities:

In June, DeNA announced "an interesting summer Yukata campaign. In co-operation with Aeon  dept. store the companies have set-up a virtual avatar catalogue from which members can build, for a modest fee, their outfit based on actual products complete with best dressed contest prizes. This would seem to be a rather slick ad campaign ultimately designed to drive purchases of the real thing just in time for the summer matsuri (festival) season. The company ran a similar campaign for Nike where customers who bought physical goods were rewarded with virtual prizes."

[via Wireless World Japan]

And a special treat from the Wireless Watch Japan - a video demo of both "Mobile Game Town" and Disney's "Wonder Days" (which will be reviewed here on its own in one of my next posts).

College Students Are More Open to Mobile Advertizing

According to a new study from Ball State, "Technically oriented college students are increasingly receptive to receiving advertising via text messages on their cell phones and other mobile devices".

"An analysis of mobile communications by college students during 2005-07 found that 56.3% of respondents would accept ads if they would get something free, said Michael Hanley, a Ball State advertising professor and mobile marketing researcher.

About 37.4% of college students said it would only take the offer of a free ringtone for them to would accept advertisements on their cell phones while 21.4% preferred a discount or coupon to a restaurant, movie or grocery store and 20% wanted free minutes, upgrades, access to the Internet or music."
[via MobiAd Network]

Update: Continuing on the search for analysis about mobile advertizing I found this (which I think supports the findings from above):

Acording to a study by media agency Universal McCann "people always complain about things that are interruptive - it still works in traditional media but in this environment consumers have so much choice where they source content from and if it detracts from the experience they will go elsewhere.

The survey, which covered 9,500 people with a mobile phone and an internet connection in 21 countries from the UK to Mexico, suggests the marketing opportunity to reach gadget users is bigger than ever.

Consumers in the developing world were the most receptive to advertising, particularly Mexico, China and Thailand, while the US, France and the UK were the least receptive markets. On a mobile phone, the best forms of advertising were opt-in Bluetooth formats that provide information or vouchers direct to the mobile, popular with 72% of the global sample, and sponsored search results. Adverts on mobile internet pages and TV adverts on mobiles were rejected by 61% of respondents.

For podcasts and videocasts, sponsorship was the most valued form of advertising, followed by brand recommendations from presenters. Adverts at the beginning of the clip were acceptable but interruptive ads in the middle of a video or audio clip were not."

[via The Guardian]

The Mobile Content Market - Moving Into An Off-Portal Eco-System

Mobile Content Market - 30,000 ft. View 

Communication, entertainment, information… consumer interest in using mobile phones has amazingly grown worldwide over the past few years. Mobile Content, the fast growing market in mobile, is expected to grow from $18bn in 2005 (Informa Telecoms & Media, July 2006) to $42.8bn in 2010:

• Music - $11.4bn
• Mobile Games - $11.2bn
• Gambling - $7.6bn
• Adult Content - $2.3bn
• WAP Browsing, Infotainment, dating and other applications - rest of market

The mobile industry lead by the mobile operators has spent a lot of $$ to encourage growth of the mobile content market. By establishing the first content-based services, operators put the cornerstone and made content available to their subscribers through their own web portals both for the web and mobile.

all rights reserved to John Puterbaugh, Nellymoser Inc.

[Figure 1]

Initiating the first content-based services has positioned operators as the storefront of the mobile content stores, offering a wide offering (see figure 2 and 3).

[Figure 2]

all rights reserved to John Puterbaugh, Nellymoser Inc.

[Figure 3 ]

Operator portals have been important for being the first milestone, however they have provided limited opportunities. Operators maintain a wide portfolio of mobile products and services while maintaining a reach portal is too demanding for most. This has led to a gradual opening of the market to many more players who share the load (and profits).

The Off-Portal Eco-System

Thanks to this process operators have witnessed that content providers ultimately sustain consumer interest by providing a large variety of compelling content, being constantly updated with the newest hits. Today, the appetite among content providers to leverage the mobile outlet is higher than ever, seeing each month new content brands entering the mobile market. Just as in the early days of the Web, when users initially experienced the online world through a web portal before exploring out to find what they seek, we are now starting to see increasingly wide browsing behavior amongst mobile users.

This consumer activity is increasingly channeled outside of the operator portal. These two channels to market - through an operator portal, or directly to the consumer by the brand itself - are complementary drivers to the total growth in mobile data usage. In most of the off-portal services, the operator is still part of the billing process, providing a simple payment experience. The differences are that the operator does not promote the service in its own portal, and the marketing is managed by the content provider.

The most popular discovery method for off-portal services is the common short codes which enable users to interact using SMS as an entry point into content/services provided by parties other than operators. Phone users then are charged directly to their mobile phone bill. The main services powered by common short codes today are ringtones, wallpapers, games, news alerts and voting applications.
Today, common short codes are the only ubiquitous cross-operator method of marketing off-portal content, being available to all mobile subscribers.

Off-Portal: Everybody Wins

The off-portal channel to market is very attractive; it brings more brands and services into the mobile market, providing wider choice and usage opportunities for mobile users. It also provides a route into the market for more specialized content providers that cannot access the market through operator portals.

Brands of all sizes can invest marketing dollars into campaigns with a single call-to-action that works for practically all mobile users using short codes. They can also leverage their websites traffic to generate mobile usage. And most important for consumer brands, it enables them to clearly differentiate from their competitors through creative marketing.Operators on their behalf, enjoy a growing income from SMS and data traffic with 0 cost of marketing since content providers take care of the marketing to the end consumers. And consumers, from their point of view, enjoy the same mobile services across multiple operator networks.

The off-portal mobile content market is a vital part of the mobile data market. The marketing benefit – reaching mobile users everywhere, regardless of their network, is a strong driver for brands to route their marketing efforts to the off-portal channel and to incorporate mobile services to their marketing campaigns.

*Figure 1 and 3 were used with the curtsey of John Puterbaugh from Nellymoser Inc.

Back to Nature: Roaring Ringtones

Last week I was amazed by the creativity of Singtones and wondered what more can be offered in this so crowded market of ringtones. The blog reader and Outreach Coordinator Tammy Monroe of Conservation Calling LLC pitched in:

Want a Lion's roar as your ringtone? How about a Frogs Chorus? Conservation Calling offers ringtones (for $2.49) and wallpapers ($for 1.99) to personalize your mobile phones with a wild nature theme. The company contributes 10% of its net revenue to American Forests' Global ReLeaf campaign. Every dollar donated plants a tree. Unfortunately, the service is only available in North America so I wasn't able to get my Dolphin ringtone...

Great cause! Thanks Tammy!

Pimp My Ringtones

You'd probably think "hey, what more can be offered in a bursting market of $9 billion of ringtones?!" But creativity has no limits -- my dear friend Russell Buckly of Mobhappy writes about a new personalized ringtone service called Singtones.

"Singtones offer the ultimate ringtone customisation, even more so than Orgasmatones (whatever happened to them?) with the added benefit that you wouldn’t be embarrassed if your Mum heard it.

Singtones offer you the ability to record your very own version of a well known song. Then the software “fixes” those with dodgy or tone deaf voices, so everyone can get a good result. The cost? A mere £1.50 ($3)."

So, what is next...?

Frank Dickson of iSuppli: Strong Long Term Growth Lies in the Mobile Full-Track-Downloads

Hi all,

Welcome to the second part of the mobile content coverage.

Today, Frank Dickson from iSuppli will be visiting here. Frank is Principal Analyst, Multimedia Content Services. He covers markets for digital video and home entertainment, with focus areas including IPTV, video on demand, home networking and broadband video.

Hi Frank. How are you today?
Life is good. Thanks for asking.

What has been successful to date and what promises to sell in the future?
In addition to premium content, messaging continues to grow strongly worldwide but with significant regional variation. The mature country markets of Western Europe and Asia saw growth, but the growth in the Americas almost astounding. Growth is strongest among the US operators, several of which saw revenue associated with messaging double in 2006 compared to 2005. Messaging growth is being driven by both increased p2p messaging usage as well as increased premium SMS associated with mobile content purchases and participative TV.

What are the key drivers for market growth for different types of mobile content and entertainment?
The future is all about video! The mobile video market continues to develop, but remains highly fragmented on nearly all fronts. Business models are uncertain. Technology standards are uncertain.  Consumer usage models are uncertain. Content rights need to be resolved. Geographic differences are significant in both content consumption and regulatory environment. As a result, the mobile video market will take time to develop, but offers the biggest potential upside. Competitors across the value chain should participate early to learn and develop a position in the market. Competitors should set expectations appropriately for a highly volatile market with high uncertainty in the short term. Agility will be key to adapt to rapid change.

Many state that widespread consumer demand has lagged after a rapid penetration rate. Why? What are the barriers for market growth of market for mobile content?
The major barrier to growth of mobile content is leakage, as in revenue leakage. Approximately, 5% to 10% of transactions turn out as bad transactions due to fraud, lack of funds on a prepaid card or delivery problems. Another 5% to 15% of good transactions result in refunds due to shady marketing practices, overly protective wireless operators not wanting a customer to have a bad content experience or a lack of transaction visibility for customer service. Wait, did I mention the customer service support call costs? There is money leaking everywhere.

One of the problems is that the wireless operators want to be in the center of the purchase experience.  The billing systems however are built to service reoccurring wireless subscription customers. Wireless operators making themselves the nexus of mobile commerce transactions creates a problem as they are now providing high volume transaction clearing services like those provided by Visa, PayPal and others.  Frankly, processing financial transactions is not at the heart of their distinctive competencies.

How will the services evolve over time?
The mobile music market is among the most dynamic content categories worldwide. Polyphonic ringtones are receding with a transition to realtones. However, on a worldwide basis, the overall ringtone category appears to be slowing. 

Ringback tones continue to gain strength in Asia, but haven't migrated significantly to other geographic regions yet. Video ringtones are among the newest services positioned as a next-generation ringtone.
The emergence of full track download music services continues, with operators worldwide deploying services. Dramatic growth of these services remains mixed regionally and by operator. Consumers are still slow to build awareness, while operators have significant challenges to put together a cohesive and easy-to-use full track music storefront. Overall, in the emerging battle between music phones and mp3/pmp players, the music store and music delivery platform still significantly favors mp3-oriented services. 

What applications will drive the market in the next few years?
We believe that there is strong long term growth in the mobile full-track-download market. However, outside of Asia, the inflection point for dramatic growth is still developing. Overall, iSuppli reduced it’s full track download forecast in this quarters tracker, while increasing our outlook for mobile music streaming services. Full track downloads will continue to be among the strongest mobile content markets, while streaming music services will segment the market somewhat and take advantage the subscription-based business model which aligns ideally with mobile operator business models.

For example, we did end-user primary research to provide more insight into consumer demand.  Approximately two-third so respondents listened to music on they PMP; however, only 10% listened on their phones. This suggests their may be some struggle converting individuals from a usage specific device mentality to unbiquitious device mentality.

A big thanks to Frank Dickson for this great interview! :)

Enriched Ringback Tones Offering With Non-Music Content

When you think of ringback tone, the first thing that probably pops into your mind is a personalized music played when you wait for the person called to answer. Last week I came across creative thinking of what can be nice to hear while waiting:

The Indian mobile operator Hutch enriched its ringback tone portfolio with a few creative non-music content categories (apart of the natural/default music category):

• One of the categories offered by Hutch is playing cricket scores for callers. Once Cricket Callertunes are enabled, it will play cricket scores on match days, and even carries a stadium jingle followed by the match details. When the day's play is over, Cricket Callertunes will automatically get disabled and the default Callertunes will be activated. On the next match day, Cricket Callertunes will automatically be re-activated and so on. [No need for me to spell it out how these so frequent updates generate $$, right? ;)]
• The second category offered by Hutch is called “Busy Callertunes”. Once it is enabled, callers will know that you are unable to take their calls. You can set an appropriate Busy Callertunes to tell when you are in a meeting, at the movies, have low battery, or on a holiday, without answering the phone (activation is made by sending SMS).

This is a great example how “thinking out of the box” can help operators build a creative and wider offering which attracts many more users to the service. And I’ll end this post with the TV commercial of the Cricket Callertunes - enjoy!

Frank Dickson of iSuppli: Content Will Be the Battelfield

Hi all,

Today, Frank Dickson from iSuppli will be visiting here. Frank is Principal Analyst, Multimedia Content Services. He covers markets for digital video and home entertainment, with focus areas including IPTV, video on demand, home networking and broadband video.

Frank has over a decade of industry and market research experience. In his most recent prior role, he was Senior Director of In-Stat’s Convergence Groups and responsible for the firm’s multimedia and convergence research. His coverage included multimedia services, content, equipment, infrastructure, and residential connectivity, and semiconductors. Frank has a Masters Degree with Distinction from The American Graduate School of International Management and an MBA from Arizona State University. He also holds a Bachelors of Science Cum Laude Degree in Operations/Production Management from Arizona State University.

Getting to Know Frank

Hi Frank. Thank you for visiting Xellular Identity :) How are you?
Life is good. Thanks for asking.

What got you interested in mobile?
Greed. Whoops. Did I cross the line from honesty to transparency?

Wireless subscribers are measured in “B’s” as in billions. hat type of market size means that a whole lot of people have a lot at stake and are willing to buy research. 

What takes up your time other than mobile?
I live in Arizona with 360 days a year of sun shine. Time for me is spent in sporting activities or watching my son play baseball. It is not a life as exciting as 007, but I like it all the same.

The Market of Mobile Content

How big is the market for mobile content and entertainment?
REALLY BIG! Try almost US$20 billion worth of big. Music alone with its multiple usage applications will almost reach US$9 billion.

Which important trends are shaping the mobile content market?

1. Growth in ringtones & Ringtunes is slowing. Asia and Europe are maturing, while heady growth rates in North America moderate. Continued growth in mature markets will migrate to product extensions of ringtones and development of full-track download and streaming music services which will take time to develop. The growth opportunities for digital music across all categories are shifting to the emerging mobile markets: Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and developing Asia. 
2. Mobile gaming growth is slowing significantly, particularly in Asia. However, North America remains a growth market. Furthermore, game quality is improving with new advanced 3D graphics technology in handsets and multi-player gaming capabilities. The opportunity to expand the market relies on broader awareness for the core segment of casual mobile games, and development of new gaming segments. Developers and operators need to focus on leveraging the unique characteristics of mobile gaming: mobility, connectivity and location.

How significant contributor to the overall revenue is the mobile content expected to be in the future?
How significant? It seems to be the battlefield will be centered on content. The markets for mobile premium content, including music, video and gaming continue to drive operator data revenue.  Messaging continues to be a strong market as well, with dramatic growth in North America. 

Operators are looking to mobile content and other value-added services for 1) Revenue growth and 2) churn reduction. As the operators are the primary mobile distribution channel, content providers, application providers and technology providers need to focus on these two objectives.

Voice ARPU declines accelerated in the quarter for most of our profiled operators. Across the 20 key operators, Q1 2007 aggregate voice ARPU declined 6% sequentially compared to Q4 2006. Voice ARPU declines were mixed among operators on a worldwide basis with some seeing slight increases while others were down. Meanwhile mobile data ARPU increased sequentially by 1%. Overall, most of the global operators saw Data ARPU growth. Data ARPU is particularly strong among North American operators, where both messaging revenue and mobile multimedia content are seeing strong growth.  Across all the operators, nearly 20% of revenue is now associated with data. Three of our tracked operators get over 30% of revenue from data: SK Telecom, NTT Docomo and O2. Aggregate subscriber growth slowed to 3% sequentially in Q1 2007, down from sequential growth of 6% in Q4 2006.

Thank you Frank! :) Don't forget to join us next Sunday for the second part of this interview.

Levi's Goes Mobile

Levi’s, best known for jeans, was known for getting into the mobile phone business with a couple new hand sets. Yesterday came more details about the phones themselves. Levi’s says that their phone embraces mobile technology and enables young people to connect, enjoy music, images and video.

The adults might not understand the fuss around a Levis mobile phone and would say to their teenaged kid "who needs it?!", however mobile phones offer far more than simply a means of voice communication. They can provide entertainment, convey social status, and express one's individuality. It is known that "trendiness" is of high importance when selecting a mobile phone.

The Levi’s look brings a riveted looking case to the phone and a detachable chain that can hold the phone to your pants like those biker style wallets. ”Technology is at the heart of today’s youth culture and mobile phones are the ultimate accessory. Adding a mobile phone to our collection is a natural progression for Levi's®, a brand that is driven to meet the desires of young people”, says You Nguyen, Senior Vice President of Levi's® Product.

The phone will be offered in metallic silver, black and brown copper. Editions aimed more at the ladies will be shiny silver and shiny sand. The phone is made under license from the ModelLabs Group and will be available in stores in Europe in September of 2007. No word on when it will come state side, or any specs other that what colors the thing will come in.

[Via Levi's]

Update: Nokia: A New Flagship Concept in Israel

As promised, I went to the new Nokia flagship store today to bring you some pics and remarks :)

The store is located in one of the popular hi-tech districts of Tel-Aviv. However, it is not in a place that the average man\woman would get to walk through if he\she doesn't work there or have a business meeting...

The 150 aquare meters store is divided into 4 sections: HEAR, SEE, DO and PLAY. In each section visitors are invited to try the relevant handsets and apps:

Tomer gave us a very informative tour, which was great, thank you Tomer! Excuse me for what I'm about to say here, but my favourite Nokia handsets - after the divine N-95 - were the fashionable ones, like the 7380 that looks like a lipstick... :)

However, comparing this flagship store to the Manhattan store, I was somewhat disappointed... I guess I expected to a bigger "wow".

Nokia: A New Flagship Concept in Israel

Nokia opened up their first flagship concept shop in Israel (just below my office actually), following their concept shops at NY, Moscow, Prague and Helsinki.

The store is over 150 square meters big and cost half a million dollars to build. It has a futuristic design which divides the store into 4 sections, each provides a different experience for the visitor of the store: HEAR, SEE, DO and PLAY. The aim of Nokia is to strengthen the playful experience and less the sale experience of the visitors.

Among the handsets, you can find the N95 and N76 that will be launched soon, 5700, E65 and E61, displayed in the four sections of the store.

Ricky, I promise to get back there on Sunday and take pics for you. So stay tuned, more pics will be uploaded soon :)

AT&T's Survey - An Alternative Point of View

The most important thing for mobile operators is how their services are being used, how much and by whom. This week, the American operator The New AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless) reveals some interesting findings from a recent research commissioned by the operator.

According to the research, it turns out that men talk more on their mobiles than women - but only just. The survey of about 1,000 users found that men average 458 minutes usage per month on their phones, with women just behind at an average of 453 minutes:

 

What the press release doesn't say, but it is clear when displaying the data in a visual manner, is that for the last few years mobile voice calls are in decline for men and in a slight trend of growth for women. Interesting to see how AT&T chooses to present this data, as if "Women are quickly catching up with men in cell phone usage, illustrating that all consumers enjoy the flexibility and mobility that wireless phones add as they communicate with friends, family and business colleagues" and not because men use mobile voice calls less and less...!

However, the current state of the wireline service isn't much different: overall, both men and women continue to use cell phones more than home phones on average (455 minutes compared with 394 minutes), a trend that began in 2005:

The survey also reveals that women use wireless phones more than men to talk with friends and family, but men use their phones more for business conversations.

Gathering data of usage and consumption are very important to understand the service and to steer its future, but analyzing the data correctly is at the leart of it...

[via Cellular News]

Seamus McAteer of M:Metrics on the Ringback Tones' Market

Welcome to the second part of the ringback tones coverage. Today, Seamus McAteer will be visiting here. Seamus is a co-founder, chief product architect and senior analyst at M:Metrics. Seamus has covered the wireless industry since the early 1990s and has earned a reputation as one of the most respected and credible analysts in the industry. He held director and research fellow positions in several corporations analyzing internet and communications technology before founding his own wireless and telecommunications advisory services firm. He is frequently sought by the media for expert commentary on wireless, Internet and related technologies.

If you missed the first part, just follow this link.

Well, let's welcome Seamus:

Hi Seamus. Thank you for visiting Xellular Identity :) How are you?
Great, thanks :)

What are the market size estimates for ringback tones?
M:Metrics tracks use by end-users not revenues. In terms of overall usage we are talking about a service that was being used by about 9 million or so subscribers in the US in April, which is a doubling over the prior year.

How significant contributors to the overall revenue are the ringback tones to be in the future?
If adoption creeps up to about 20% in five years -- which is feasible --  then we are talking about a market with 50 million users spending about $3.50 per month if we account for increased switching and purchase of new songs etc. as people get more used to the service. Then we are talking about a market worth $2.1 billion just in the US. Not bad but still only 1% of all revenue. Ringbacks will be one component of the mobile music market which will include full tracks, music videos, video tones, and master tones. Music is a strategic priority for operators along with video, games, mobile Web, and advertising.

What are the barriers for market growth of ringback tones?
I think that the big barrier for growth in the market is marketing and education. We are getting beyond the early adopter stage where there is really significant social risk associated with use of ringbacks and people are confused when they hear a ringback and hang up. This is particularly the case among subscribers under 35 years of age. To get beyond the early adopter group there needs to be clearer marketing of the service and simplified pricing. The fact that there is no accepted consumer friendly generic name for the category is a real breather of confusion. The term Ringback is actually used as a brand name by Verizon and other operators have shied from using it.

Who are the major players?
Among operators in the US Verizon and T-Mobile, which launched services towards the end of 2004, have a lead in the market with adoption among their base of about 7%. Verizon leads on a market share basis given its substantially larger base of subscribers. Sprint is next in the market in terms of conversion with about 5% of its base.

The major players among vendors are RealNetworks through its acquisition of WiderThan and Comverse. NMS would be another major vendor in the market.

Thank you Seamus :)
Seamus will be here next Tuesday with more of M:Metrics insights about the American market of ringback tones -- so don't forget tune in!

Sprite Ventures Into Mobile Social Networking

Targeting youth, the Coca-Cola Company announced the launch of “Sprite Yard”, a mobile social network. The Sprite Yard will enable users to send messages, chat, download content and share photos. The official launch is set for the 1st of June at China and 22nd of June at the USA.

To register as a new user, you need to text "YARD" to short code 59666, enter a tag name and password; upon completing the registration process, users may create public profiles, compile buddy lists, detail activities in the Planner and send short messages, or Shouts. In addition, Sprint Yard will offer exclusive content like visitones (visual ringtones combining images and music) and animated mobisodes.

What I liked is that awareness will be driven through PIN codes contained in the bottle caps (and not through mass media campaigns)! According to the company, Coca-Cola sells 10 billion single-serve bottles globally each year, providing a powerful activation mechanism for its promotional initiatives.

Only a limited amount of consumer brands have ventured into creating a social network, let alone a mobile one… It will be interesting to follow Sprite Yard's success (or failure). Any speculations?

[via press release]

Switch!

In response to my latest posts about Sprint's mobile content offering and Sprint's marketing activities, I received this video the other day. The video is a little long but it's worth it.

Ricky - this one is dedicated to you. Thank you for your great and insightful comments! :)

And thanks John for the link!

Seamus McAteer of M:Metrics on the Ringback Tones' Consumer

Hi all,

Today I have the honor to host Mr. Seamus McAteer at Xellular Identity. Seamus is a co-founder, chief product architect and senior analyst at M:Metrics. Seamus McAteer has covered the wireless industry since the early 1990s and has earned a reputation as one of the most respected and credible analysts in the industry. He held director and research fellow positions in several corporations analyzing internet and communications technology before founding his own wireless and telecommunications advisory services firm. He is frequently sought by the media for expert commentary on wireless, Internet and related technologies.

First time our paths crossed was when M:metrics published their report about the ringback tones market titled "Ringing(back) into the year":

According to M:Metrics, the mobile market authority, while ringtone purchasing declined in Europe and leveled out in the U.S. market, a new star was rising: the ringback tone.

The mobile measurement firm found that ringbacks have grown most aggressively in the United States, at a rate of 225 percent from the quarter ended January to the quarter ended November. Ringback subscriptions grew across Europe, at a rate of 150 percent Germany and 146 percent in the U.K. during the same period. Between July and November, ringbacks grew 12.8 percent in France and 11 percent in Spain.

“The rise in ringbacks indicates that personalization remains an important motivation for mobile content purchases,” said Jen Wu, entertainment analyst at M:Metrics. “While we see a decrease in ringtone purchases, we do see an increase in user-created ringtones. Since it’s impossible to hack a ringback tone, this growing market is not threatened by piracy and end-user savvy.”

[via M:metrics]

After reading the report I really wanted to interview Seamus about it; then I was very lucky to actually meet Seamus in person and hear his presentation about the ringback tones market in the USA at the Fun Dial Marketing Seminar. His presentation was very interesting and I really appreciate Seamus' willingness to put the time and effort to convert it into an interview and share with all of my readers.

Getting to Know Seamus

Hi Seamus. Thank you for visiting Xellular Identity :) How are you?
Good… jetlagged after a trip to China, but otherwise all is well.

What brought you to the world of mobile?
I covered the mobile sector as an analyst since the mid-90s when I was with SRI International, a big technology think tank. I wound up picking up coverage of mobile data and handheld computing for a number of syndicated services which were offered by the Business Intelligence Center. I was more of a generalist technology forecaster at the Center before I fell into a specialization in mobile.

What takes up your time other than mobile?
Since I founded M:Metrics in 2004 I have had limited time for a lot of things that I enjoy outside of work. Time with friends and family are a big priority. I love to run trails in the Bay Area, enjoy studying history, and love live Jazz.

Something interesting to share with the world about you?
I have 8 sisters and 2 brothers. We are all close, like an Irish clan, and family gatherings are a lot of fun.

The ringback tones' Consumers

What is offered in this market today?
M:Metrics tracks the market for mobile content and applications in the US and leading markets in Europe. In the US about 10 operators offer ringbacks branded using various monikers such as Calling Tones from Sprint, or Answer Tones from AT&T, and Calling Tunes for T-Mobile. All of these names for the same generic category have got to be confusing for customers.

How users become aware of the ringback tones service?
Ringbacks have built in viral adoption appeal. I think that most people learn about ringbacks when they hear it when they call a friend. Awareness differs significantly by operator which shows that marketing must also have something to do with building awareness.

Who buys ringback tones?
Subscription to ringback services is gender neutral almost 50:50 male to female adoption in the US. Consumption skews young with a median age of about 28 but it is older compared with ringtone purchase, which has a median age of under 27, or listening to music loaded over the air which has a median age of close to 24. African Americans are more than 2.5 times more likely than the market average to subscribe to ringback tones.

Thank you Seamus :)
Seamus will be here next Tuesday with more of M:Metrics insights about the American market of ringback tones -- so don't forget tune in!

The Filter: Explore Your iTunes

In response to my post about MixSherpa, I was contacted by one of “The Filter” people, inviting me to explore their new music recommendation software. The Filter is a music recommendation service which started as a beta in 2006, and is endorsed by Peter Gabriel (the guy from Genesis). It essentially creates playlists on the fly and also helps users navigate their phone via recommendations. The site creates playlists from users' iTunes\ MP3 library based on “seed” tracks of their choice, and it can automatically create playlists based on present mood.

As I see it, many players are trying to grab a piece of this roughly $2.6 billion* globally in 2010 pie of mobile music (according to Phil Taylor of Strategy Analytics); and also be one of the most meaningful key success factors to increase music consumption - the music discovery and recommendation channel. However, you also need a differentiator - The Filter’s differentiator lies within the rediscovering music we already have and don’t always remember we have it.

The Filter is a free application and is currently available for Windows, Mac (Beta), and Nokia Symbians - Series 60, Nokia E60, N93 and N80.

*This figure doesn’t include personalization products like ringtones or ringback tones.

Mix Sherpa: A New Mobile Music Discovery Service

Hi all,

Today I wanted to review a very creative campaign done by Sprint to promote its new mobile music store called Mix Sherpa.

Sprint was looking for a way to create buzz and raise awareness for their recently launched Music Store in an already very crowded space with Verizon's, T-Mobile's and The New AT&T's (Cingular) music download stores. Also, the audience of "Advanced Connected", which Sprint wanted to reach, is extremely averse to traditional advertising and blatant promotion.

So how did Sprint manage these challenges?

The human\social angle - Sprint invented a whole story about 2 characters:
Ias Westbury, a washed up pop star from the 1980s running a record store on Melrose and DJ Supahboy5 who works at Ian’s store. To make the story seem more real, Ian even has his own myspace page and a music video for Ian’s one and only hit from the 80s called “Under the Moon” [which was directed by the music video legend Nigel Dick, (Tears For Fears, Guns N’ Roses, Britney Spears)].

The added value to the user - Sprint integrated a discovery and recommendation engine into the story about Ian:
Users engage with Ian and the DJ by creating their own playlists and in return getting an “expert” review of their choices. Users also get recommendations based on the newly created playlist. The added value for the users is the discovery of new music that fits their tastes and the reaffirmation of who they are and what their musical taste says about them.

Finally, piling a playlist and getting exposed to new music while interacting with a cool character will (hopefully) generate Sprint music downloads! Who wouldn't want to take the playlist to the mobile? Especially if the recommendations will prove themselves as precise, or in Ian's words:

"You go to the site and select your own custom playlist. Through the magic they call a “logic engine” - I'm able to analyze your playlist - and maybe analyze what's going on in that head of yours too. I'll offer you everything in my arsenal with humor, wit and charm - naturally. My longtime employee DJ Supahboy5 is also online to interject with his own opinions on songs and styles. We've got information on bands and songs, and links to download everything you need to take your mobile phone to the next level“.

As for the mobile part, Sprint offers "Sprint Music Manager" which is PC client that helps you sync your music from your PC to your mobile using a USB cord. As I don’t have a Sprint phone (I don't live in the US) I asked to get a demo account to try the new service. However, if someone gets the opportunity to play with it in the meantime, please share your experience and insights! :)

Ringback Tones: The Future Digital Music Distribution Channel?

"The overall value of the worldwide music industry has been in decline for several years, falling from a high-point of $39.7 billion USD in 2000 to just $32.1 billion USD in 2006." This