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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.
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