AT&T’s mobile TV - Deal or no deal?

Mobile TV has gained a lot of attraction in the recent times. Mobile advertisers are looking to go beyond the traditional means of advertising on mobile phones like text messaging (SMS), MMS, and banner ads and mobile TV could be the ideal choice for them. There are two reasons for this. First, people are used to ads on TV. So, watching ads during a TV show, even if it’s on their mobile phone, won’t sound too odd to them. Second, you can offer a huge variety of content via mobile TV which can attract plenty of people, making it more lucrative than SMS ads or banner ads.

However, not everyone is painting a rosy picture about mobile TV. For example, the latest offer from AT&T – AT&T Mobile TV – has raised a debate among experts.

AT&T has launched its mobile TV service in 58 markets and uses the same Qualcomm MediaFlo service used by its counterpart Verizon. If you remember, Verizon launched its V Cast Mobile TV a few weeks back. AT&T offers 10 channels at a rate of $15 per month. However, experts say this might not go down too well with everyone.

They seem to come up with two reasons. First, not everyone will be enthusiastic about paying $15 a month for mobile TV. Second, only two handsets can support this mobile TV service - LG Vu which costs $300 and Samsung Access which costs $200.

My take on this issue is simple. Both Verizon and AT&T offer mobile TV services from MediaFlo which are far superior in quality than watching a downloaded video clip on your mobile phone. Market research shows that there is a considerable audience, if not large, for mobile video and this could work in favor of mobile TV. However, the downside, as I already mentioned in my article earlier, is that only two or three handsets can support this service. You cannot expect everyone to buy a $300 mobile phone. So, if they could make it available on more handsets, handsets that are affordable, I think they could attract a good number of users.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile TV.

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The road ahead for mobile videos

There is a lot of talk about mobile video and how it could be the next big thing and so on. But there are two primary issues that stand in the way of mobile videos.

1. While watching videos might be a cool experience on Apple iPhone or a Nokia N95, it may not be so in a low-end mobile phone with a tiny little screen. Unfortunately, the number of high-end phones in the market is very low when compared to the number of low-end phones.

2. Most of the data plans available with carriers today are quite costly and a normal mobile user might think twice before going for a video plan, as it might add a substantial amount to his otherwise normal mobile bill.

Interestingly, mobile video has been popular in Asia and Europe. The reasons are not hard to find. High-end mobile phone penetration in the Asian market is high and data plans are not as costly as they are in the US. Also, carriers in Europe and Asia have been proactive in implementing a lot of ideas to encourage mobile advertising as it might boost their revenues. In fact, carriers in Europe have even gone to the extent of offering mobile phone porn, or simply mobile porn, to customers which has resulted in large number of customers opting for mobile video plans which offer porn content.

While I certainly don’t expect porn from carriers in the US, I do hope they do something to make mobile videos affordable for subscribers. Already, a large number of high-end mobile users don’t rely on their carriers for mobile videos, as they can access it easily on websites like YouTube, MySpace, and Mywaves, all of which are easily accessible from a high-end phone. So, carriers need to come up with affordable mobile video subscription plans to tap this market that can boost their revenue considerably.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Google - story so far and the road ahead

Google is one of those things that most of us just can’t live without. At least, I know I can’t. It has become so indispensable in our lives that we find ourselves searching for something in Google every day. With everyone and their mother using Google as their default search engine, the popularity it enjoys is immense. It’s also the reason why Microsoft and Yahoo pale in comparison. So, when Google announced that it will focus on mobile phone market, a lot of people were surprised. I, for one, was surely surprised. I mean, why would a company which enjoys almost a monopoly in online search think of going into mobile phones? But apparently, Google knew what it was doing.

For long, Google has been enjoying the number one spot in online search. Yahoo and Microsoft were the contenders but ‘so close, yet so far’ was their case. But Google was wary of its competitors, especially Microsoft. Given Microsoft’s reputation to buy companies, a deal with Yahoo was almost on the cards. Steve Ballmer apparently told Yahoo board that together, they can be a great threat to the dominancy of Google and topple it easily. But the deal has not happened and Google, as of now, is still the number one. But for how long was the question. In order to sustain its position in the market, Google had to prove that it was not a ‘one product’ company. The solution came in the form of mobile web.

Why mobile web? It’s simple arithmetic. There are more than 3 billion mobile phones in the world. In just about a couple of years from now, there will be 4 billion mobile users in the world. In other words, there will be three mobile phones for every PC in this world. And to add to this, mobile camera, MMS, mobile internet, mobile video, mobile audio, and GPS – features which were considered luxury once – have become so common these days that we see these features in almost every other phone. What this means to advertisers around the world is that they have a new channel for advertising – the mobile phone.

Mobile advertising, as they say, is the next big thing and there’s billions to be made in the industry which is still in its nascent stage. We hardly go out without our mobile phones. We attend every call and read every text message we get. So, an advertisement in a mobile phone is sure to get noticed. Especially, if you can send targeted ads to people, it will have a bigger impact than traditional advertising. Add this to the fact that Google specializes in targeted advertising. The answer is simple – Google planned to enter the mobile advertising territory big time.

Out came Google Android. A platform which can probably make Google as big a name in the mobile web as it is in online search. But Google knows that this will not be a smooth ride. It will have to struggle considerably to cope with Yahoo, iPhones, Windows Live Mobiles, Blackberries, and more. But competition is something that brings the best out of everyone. Let’s just hope that this competition brings the best out of every big player out there in the market and ultimately benefits us – the end users.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones.

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The role of mobile video in mobile advertising

Among the different options that are available in mobile advertising - which include text messaging, banner ads, mobile video, mobile TV, mobile audio (ring back tone), and mobile internet ads – text message is the most preferred and the most used form, as it is the only service available in all kinds of mobile phones. However, mobile video and mobile TV are far more engaging and effective in advertising and the only reason they are not used as often as they should have been is the poor quality of mobile videos and the low number of users with mobile phones that support such facility.

As you know, not every mobile phone is as good as the iPhone when it comes to mobile videos and mobile internet, which makes it difficult for mobile advertisers to go that route. However, according to M:Metrics, the number of people who watch mobile videos has increased steadily over the last year or two, which is an encouraging news for mobile advertisers.

According to its statistics, last year alone, some 9 million people in the U.S. watched some kind of video on their mobile phones. People are most interested to watch movie trailers, music videos, sports updates, weather reports, comedy, celebrity news, cartoons, and TV shows.

The statistics tell us a story. People are interested to watch videos on their mobile phone, but the thing that stops most people from doing so is either poor video quality or the high price charged by some of the carriers to watch videos.

Two things need to be done. First, more and more high-end mobile phones with facilities like video, mobile TV, and mobile internet should be introduced in the market, of course at an affordable rate. Second, mobile advertisers should partner with carriers to provide ad-funded mobile content like mobile TV and mobile video for free. While both these things cannot be done overnight, they will definitely see the light of the day in the coming days.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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On how mobile advertising could be improved in the US

It is a well established fact that the Asian market is far more sophisticated and developed than the West, when it comes to mobile advertising. Services like MMS, mobile internet, and mobile video, things which are considered premium services in the U.S., are commonplace with mobile users in Asia. Thanks to this, mobile advertising is far more developed in Asia.

Mobile advertising experts point out that in Asia, mobile phone is an integral part of any advertising campaign, while in the U.S., it’s only considered an afterthought. There are several reasons for this. The relationship between mobile content providers and network carriers is not good, as they have disputes over revenue sharing. Also, the U.S. market in general needs to be educated a lot about mobile advertising and the kind of impact it can have in making a product/service reach out to its target customers.

What could be the solution? Firstly, mobile content providers and carriers need to settle their disputes and understand that by working together, they can profit way more through mobile advertising. Also, the market in general needs to be educated a lot about mobile advertising.

For example, I still get mails from people who read this blog asking questions like “I’m not selling my mobile inbox to anyone”, “Why do you want to know where I am and what I am doing?”, and “Why should I let someone profit from my mobile phone?”, yada, yada, yada. You get the drift? These people need to be educated and made to understand the point that mobile advertising is not some kind of a monster trying to gobble you. For which, I suggest you guys read this, this, and this.

Well; a lot of changes need to be made. But when you look at this on a positive note, you’ll realize that despite all these issues, mobile advertising has become notably important in the market today. So, let’s just hope that the West will soon catch up with Asia in mobile advertising.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Rant.

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