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Maximizing the Value of Mobility with On-the-Go Information, and Digital Entertainment
Maximizing the Value of Mobility with On-the-Go Information, and
Digital Entertainment
Innovation in Search Capabilities, Unique Content and Mobile
Entertainment Open New Avenues for Market and ARPU Growth
By Ann-Marie Fleming, www.InternetSearchEngineStocks.com,
www.InvestingInWireless.com
October 2005
As the number of mobile device users continues to grow and
carriers pursue new means of increasing Average Revenue per User
(ARPU), the shape of the wireless world is evolving. As the
carriers and the industry as a whole looks to new and exciting
mobile applications, unique content through mobile search and
digital mobile entertainment represent expansive areas gaining
momentum as exemplified by recent reports from the CTIA Wireless
IT & Entertainment 2005 trade show held late September.
As described by Juniper Research, "Higher ARPU from data
services will come primarily from the ability to provide
easy-to-use and intuitive/dynamic services that customers can
both understand and manage, or, better still, that manage
themselves contextually." Applications working towards evolving
current data services surround mobile search technology and
mobile digital entertainment such as music downloads and TV.
Mobile Search Technology:
Mobile Search is a growing theme as companies look to add value
for consumers and carriers through direct search capabilities
and associated advertising programs. With significant
differences from the PC arena, mobile search has had to contend
with the challenges of slower connection speeds, limited display
space and the mobile environment itself that demands quick, and
direct answers on-the-go. Understanding these challenges and the
needs of the user has created opportunities for firms within
this environment.
Richi Jennings, Analyst with Ferris Research, Inc., a leading
analysis and market research firm based in San Francisco
describes the next big thing in wireless as Google's moves
within this arena, which has positioned them to take advantage
of the integration between location dependence, Wi-Fi and
Bandwidth for direct search capabilities through handsets. "If
you are out shopping in brick and mortar stores, what if you
could connect using your PDA over Google Wi-Fi, which knew where
you were and could show you the closest place to purchase what
you're looking for?" describes Jennings.
Google is currently in the beta testing process for a Short
Message Service (SMS) that provides users with the ability to
submit search queries, and receive answers over handheld devices
as text messages. The Company is also exploring an online
question and answer service called Google Answers that utilizes
over 500 researchers and allows users to bid on the price of
each answer. The cost of each response through this service
ranges from $2.50 per question and upwards, and returns answers
often within 24 hours. While these avenues are still in the
early stages, the concepts of direct query and response appear
to be the theme of these pursuits and continue to shape the
direction of the search arena.
Combining some of the concepts revealed by Google into a mobile
solution is AskMeNow (InfoByPhone Corp. d.b.a. AskMeNow, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocean West Holding Corp.). The
Company provides direct search capability, enabling users to ask
questions using a toll free number or a downloadable
application, with answers returned to a handheld device through
an Email or SMS within minutes. Users can take advantage of
either the standard formatted questions, which are free, or
customers can utilize the Company's AskMeAnything feature that
offers free-form question formats for a small per use fee.
AskMeNow is hoping to answer the needs of carriers for ways of
increasing their ARPU. Darryl Cohen, President and CEO of
AskMeNow explains, "We have an interesting revenue model that
will create ongoing transactional revenue for the carriers to
share in through our AskMeAnything feature, which based on beta
testing is a fee-per-use service that consumers are interested
in using."
According to the Company, the direction of mobile search is
moving towards simple and direct responses rather than the
antiquated search methods currently in use on the PC. As
described by Walter Kostiak, Vice President of Global Business
Development for AskMeNow, "The ability to ask direct questions
and receive direct answers within moments makes searching the
Internet a more useful service on mobile phones." AskMeNow was
recently given a favorable review by Walter Mossberg, in his
column "The Mossberg Solution" on October 5th, 2005 aptly titled
"Go Ahead, You Can Ask Anything."
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20051005.html
InfoSpace, a provider and publisher of mobile content and
applications, addresses the needs of the mobile community to
access relevant information in a quick fashion by leveraging its
online technology in query intelligence and metasearch to the
mobile environment. "Our Mobile Local Search application greatly
simplifies the process of finding the answers when on the move.
Our one application combines the top mobile local search
categories (dining, movies) to give the user quick and easy
access to highly relevant information for one subscription
cost," said Jim Voelker, Chairman and CEO at InfoSpace.
Mobile Entertainment:
Mobile entertainment such as music and TV are content services
that companies such as RealNetworks have been building on for
some time. As described by Kevin Nakao, GM of Mobile Services,
"RealNetworks, through its experience within the mobile arena,
has developed to the point where it has a good sense of the type
of content that consumers want, the user experience that needs
to be optimized for mobile, and technical issues that need to be
addressed as we are moving from early adopters to mainstream
consumers specifically in mobile entertainment, but also in
terms of the mobile arena at large."
Developers of mobile TV and music applications are hoping to
build on the momentum that the success of ring tone sales has
established as it became a key driver to mobile entertainment.
According to Juniper Research, streamed and broadcast TV
services will grow from US$136 million in 2005 to approximately
US$7.6 billion by 2010 with full-track music download revenues
reaching US$1 billion by 2007, growing to $1.8 billion by 2009.
"The first phase of mobile was all about text messaging and
ringtones and we will continue to see these as being big drivers
in the marketplace. Now as we get to mobile video it's a whole
new set of skills, the work just got a lot more complicated,"
explains Nakao.
With significant capital investments already in place Warner
Music Group is very excited about the direction that the mobile
arena is taking and feel that they will be a main beneficiary of
this growth. According to the Company, "Warner Music's vision is
the transformation of the company from a record and song
company, to a music based content company in order to take
advantage of the potential of all of our content through new
channels and products with mobile clearly being one of the
primary avenues. We have established a massive footprint already
with our wireless carriers supporting Warner Music Group, which
we expect to grow over time."
The Path Ahead:
As mobile device technology in North America is maturing, new
opportunities are being made available for consumers, carriers
and application developers. Mobile entertainment and mobile
search technology are creating a much richer user experience as
they continue to blur the lines between the PC and handheld
device offerings.
Ann-Marie Fleming Ann-Marie Fleming completed her MBA in the
United States, where she attended Webster University. She also
holds an Honors B.A from the University of Toronto. She has over
fifteen years of experience within the financial industry to
include retail banking and brokerage, investment banking, and
mortgage brokerage within the United States and Canada, with a
firm background in corporate research.
Disclaimer: www.InvestorIdeas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp
©Copyright InvestorIdeas 2005
About the author:
Ann-Marie Fleming completed her MBA in the United States, where
she attended Webster University. She also holds an Honors B.A
from the University of Toronto. She has over fifteen years of
experience within the financial industry to include retail
banking and brokerage, investment banking, and mortgage
brokerage within the United States and Canada, with a firm
background in corporate research.
Anne-Marie Fleming
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