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New Paper: Mobile Services Evolution 2008-2018 July 11, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Carriers, Speaking Engagements, 3G, Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Mobile Content, MVNO, BRIC, WiMax, ARPU, Japan wireless market, Mobile Applications, Smart Phone, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem, Wi-Fi, Wireless Value Chain, 4G, CTIA , 2 comments

Mobile Services Evolution 2008-2018

Bellagio, Italy. July 13 - Aug 1, 2008

This project has been made possible by the generous funding from THE UNITED
NATIONS FOUNDATION

ehealth_connection_cov

Download PDF

 UNFpaper-s

 

http://www.chetansharma.com/UNF-MobileServicesEvolution.htm

This weekend in Bellagio, Italy begins a 4 week long dialogue on the subject of eHealth. The Conference - Making the eHealth Connection: Global Partnerships, Local solutions is being organized by the eminent Rockefeller Foundation. It will bring in experts and organizations from around the world to discuss, share, develop, agree on solutions going forward. Each week deals with a different nuance of the eHealth framework. This will allow for an in-depth study and discussion. Full conference info here.

Week 3 deals with mHealth and Mobile Telemedicine being organized by The UN Foundation, Vodafone Group Foundation, and the Telemedicine Society of India. As part of this conference The Rockefeller Foundation and its partners have released a series of white papers on various subjects. I was asked by The UN Foundation to look into the potential Mobile Services Evolution going forward and how a platform could be developed that will enable a number of applications focused on enterprise, health, public safety and associated sub-segments. While it is difficult to predict with any precision what might happen 10 years from now, one can try to understand the evolution of technologies, business models and their interrelated ecosystems and see the impact on various vertical segments where we use technology to solve some basic problems. Most of the time, technology itself doesn’t cut it, it requires partnerships, collapsing of the bureaucracy, innovative funding means, and just the burning desire to make a difference that matter the most. I strongly believe in Mobile’s central role in a number of social and public services. Mobile Services Evolution 2008-2018 is a small effort to forward that discussion.

Abstract

Over the last 10 years, the progress made in the global mobile industry has been truly stunning. Mobile device ownership has gone from being a luxury item to necessity as the feverish rate of adoption has spread mobile technologies into every corner of the world. As we look into the next 10 years, it is certain that the mobile phone will be used for much more than just voice communications. There is an opportunity for private institutions and public enterprises to build a vision of cohesive mobile services platform that enables and engages the masses to both fundamentally enhance the quality of their daily existence as well as lead to new opportunities globally. This paper takes a look at the potential evolution of mobile technology and services over the course of the next 10 years and discusses an M-Services framework for building and deploying diverse mobile services. The paper also looks into the challenges of such an endeavor and steps that will be needed to achieve the vision.

Table of Content

 

Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Mobile device: The Remote control of our lives 5
Mobile Technology Evolution 2008-2018 7
Deployment and adoption of mobile technologies in the developing countries 9
Mobile Services Platform 10
What does it take to make it happen? 15
Conclusions and Recommendations 18

 

Download Complete Paper - PDF

Thanks to THE UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION for making this work possible. I will be presenting the paper at the conference later this month.

Your feedback is always welcome.

Thanks

Chetan Sharma

DoCoMo Labs Masters of Innovation July 2, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Middleware, 3G, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, Japan wireless market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem, Wireless Value Chain, 4G , add a comment

Yesterday, I had the honor to present at DoCoMo Labs annual Masters of Innovation program in Palo Alto along with Julie Ask of Jupiter and Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies. The event was made possible by Richard Felix of Aesthetics Scientist. The theme for the afternoon was “What’s to come in the next 2-3 years?” Given my recent work on Mobile Advertising, I talked about what we can expect in the coming days, who the main players are going to be, etc.

Berna Erol, Senior Research Scientist from Ricoh California Research Center was present at the event and did a pretty nice summary. An excerpt below:

Chetan Sharma, President of Technology and Strategy Consulting, talked about mobile advertising. He made a good point that when thinking about mobile advertising one should not only think about cell phones but also other mobile devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, iPod Touch, etc.

Chetan emphasized that from advertisers point of view, the following points are most important:

1. Reach: How many people you can touch with your advertisement
2. Targeting/Purity: Reaching the right target audience
3. Effectiveness: Measuring the effectiveness of the advertisement, does user take any action?
4. Efficiency: Getting the benefit and revenue increase for the money spent on advertising.

Clearly mobile advertising has advantages especially in advertising targeting and measuring the effectiveness of the advertisement.

            Chetan predicts that mobile advertisement will be
            bigger than online advertisement and the mobile ad business
            has potential to be $20B industry by 2013.

When I was listening Chetan I was thinking how annoying it would be to receive mobile advertisements. Then, unknowingly Chetan made a comment and made me a believer: He thinks that idle screen of mobile phones are the holly grail of mobile advertisement, everything will start from there. He thinks, and I agree, people would be willing to receive advertisement and coupon on their idle screen, especially in exchange for reduced monthly mobile provider fees. Another good point was that the location based advertisements (e.g., a restaurant coupon can be delivered when you are close by) would be very important in the near future.

Julie had some really good insights into the social networking impact on mobile while Tim talked the consumer adoption of various technologies over time. Like most, he is a big fan of iPhone.

After our presentations, Ken of Kenradio fame moderated a 90 minute panel discussion and we covered pretty much everything under the sun.

Btw, just for the record, i talked quite a bit about the steps necessary to help enable the market reach $20B in 5 years. Lot of work needs to be done and we have to watch the trigger points.

WIRED article: Google’s Open Source Android Phone Will Free the Wireless Web June 24, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, 3G, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, ARPU, Mobile Applications, Mobile Ecosystem , add a comment

Dan Roth of WIRED magazine interviewed me for this piece in the July issue. I talked to him after Google announced Android last year. Dan does an in-depth piece on how Android came about and what it might mean for the mobile industry. It is a lengthy piece, here is the link to the complete article.

Some excerpts:

“Is this interesting to Google?” That’s what Andy Rubin was asking Larry Page. It was a spring day in 2005, and the two were in a conference room just off the main lobby at Google’s headquarters. A simple yes and Rubin would have walked away happy.

“You have a significant challenge in mobile, in that the screens are much smaller, so you can’t display nearly as much advertising or take as much space,” Google cofounder Sergey Brin told Wall Street analysts on a recent conference call. “On the other hand, you have much more relevant and timely information, like what location the person might be in, so on balance that leaves me quite optimistic.”

Telecom consultant Chetan Sharma says that Android’s success depends on Google’s willingness to share the wealth. “What’s the relationship going to be between Google and the carriers in terms of advertising dollars?” he asks. “That needs to be nailed down before we know how big Android can be.”

And if they don’t? Not much downside. If the only thing Android achieves — as Page knew before Rubin walked into Google three years ago — is getting more people to spend more time online, then Google still profits. More users mean more people viewing pages with Google ads. If they’re doing that from an Android phone, great. If not, but they’re on a phone made more Web-friendly thanks to competitive pressure from Google, that’s also fine. “I hope it’s Android,” Page says. But either way, Google wins.

Article in International Journal of Mobile Marketing June 23, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Applications, Mobile Ecosystem , 1 comment so far

IJMM or International Journal of Mobile Marketing is the only major on Mobile Advertising and Marketing. We (co-authors of the Mobile Advertising book) submitted part of one of our chapters as an article for the Jun 08 issue and it got accepted. We choose the piece on “A Five Point Measurement Framework for Mobile Advertising.” For those of you who have read the book or attended one of our presentations on the book tour this year will know our emphasis on Reach, Engagement, Targeting, Viral, and Transactions as the fundamental metrics for thinking about Mobile Advertising. Many companies have adopted the framework in the products and campaign design.

Thanks to Michael Hanley and Michael Becker for putting together the issue and for inviting us to contribute. The press release on the issue is here.

More info on IJMM here.

Featured articles include:

Featured articles include:

Another piece on measurement from our book that was published by the Milestone Group.

Technology and Advertising June 10, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Speaking Engagements, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications , add a comment

Giving a talk on Technology and Advertising specifically Mobile Advertising at Cascadia Community College later tonight. Technology plays a significant role in digital advertising, in our book, we wrote a separate chapter on it - “Technology - The Lifeblood of digital advertising” and that will be the title of my talk. I got several notes from CTOs of big publishing and media houses, they were very pleased with the title :-)

Mobile Monday - Amsterdam - Recap June 8, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Speaking Engagements, 3G, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, ARPU, Japan wireless market, European wireless market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem, Wireless Value Chain , 4 comments

On June 2nd, Mobile Monday, Amsterdam hosted its 6th event and celebrated its 1 year anniversary. I must say it was done with such perfection that the event and the organization should serve as a role model for MoMos around the world. First of all, the sheer size of the audience was great - almost 450 people showed up, looked like anyone of importance in the mobile industry in Amsterdam was there. The event was sponsored by the likes of Vodafone.

Yuri Van Geest, Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, Marc Fonteijn, and others were generous hosts and made my trip worthwhile from start to finish.

Amsterdam 021 With Doc

When I go to Europe, I am there for more than 1 wk but this was a quick turn around due to some other commitments back home. Got into AMS early sunday (jun 1), met with Doc Searls (of Cluetrain Manifesto fame) and Yuri was gracious enough to show us around the city which was just waking up. Festivities in anticipation of European Soccer Championship had already started. Got to hang out with Doc quite a bit and get some insights into his VRM (vendor relationship management) project, also the subject of his talk.

Amsterdam 036 At Speaker’s Dinner with MoMo AMS gang and speakers

After a couple of hours of sleep that afternoon, headed to Maarten and Lori’s house for speaker’s dinner. Yuri and gang had lined up 10 good speakers on mobile advertising. Most of them were from Holland, one speaker from Spain, Russell Buckley of Admob from Germany, Antti Ohrling of Blyk from UK, and Doc and I from the US.

Btw, all the presentations and videos from the event are posted at www.mobilemonday.nl so check it out.

Amsterdam 051 The majestic venue - Rode Hoed, Keizersgracht

The venue of the event was an old church with a three layered seating arrangement, pretty impressive setup. The first half of the program was in Dutch which us poor English (only) speaking folks could hardly understand but it was entertaining never the less. The second half was devoted to Intl speakers with Antti going first. As you might be aware, Blyk has turned some heads with its advertising-subsidized business model (MVNO). His message was simple - “give something of value to the customers, and they will respond with loyalty and yes, will be very open to advertising.” So far, they have gained 140K, a good 5-6 months ahead of schedule. After UK, the launch in Holland is coming soon. Btw, did you know, there are over 65 MVNOs in Holland and doing rather well.

Russell Buckley of Admob and Mobhappy delved into some of the case studies and stats from the Admob Ad-Network. Given the tremendous growth in the number of impressions on their network, the insights were quite relevant. I have been communicating with Antti and Russell virtually, so, it was great to meet with them in person.

Next, I was asked to present my thoughts on Mobile Advertising in Asia from our Mobile Advertising and how Asian market is evolving w.r.t. Europe and if there are some lessons we can draw from the various markets. Dutch are very keen on understanding their role in the global economy, places where they can differentiate and compete. I had off-line discussions with several individuals during my stay and the curiosity was palpable. They are always on the look-out to learn about new trends and technologies and in figuring out areas where Holland can add to the global growth. They were especially interested in discussing how the emergence of China and India is going to impact them. I also noticed that the Dutch seemed to be social-networkers to the hilt and reveled in being the twitter-nation. The number of social networking sites they are active on a constant basis - chirping, posting, streaming, joking, posing to various sites was just amazing. Social scientists and new social networking companies should head to Holland to do some primary research of trends to come in the space.


Video courtesy of MoMo AMS


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Finally, Doc talked about VRM and his work in the space. Essentially, the idea around VRM is for users to have control over their profile and preferences and instead of companies deciding what’s good for us, we get to decide and ask for the applications, personalization that’s right for us. What a concept :-) I had touched on the concept in my first book back in 2000 and other academics have been researching the space using bots and agents. Great to see the progress in the discussions and hopefully some actual implementations.

After a couple of days of rendezvous in Amsterdam, headed back to Seattle. The trick to surviving the jet-lag was never getting used to the AMS time, so even though I had to fly again to Chicago within a few hours after arrival in the US, I managed to avoid serious hangovers.

Overall, I must commend the MoMo AMS team for a job well done and in challenging other MoMos around the world to emulate them in organization and quality of the program.

NY Times: The Guessing Game Has Begun on the Next iPhone May 28, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Carriers, 3G, Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market , add a comment

John Markoff of NY Times interviewed me for this piece. It will appear in tomorrow’s newspaper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/technology/28apple.html

The Guessing Game Has Begun on the Next iPhone

By JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO — Can Steven P. Jobs top the iPhone … with another iPhone?

Last June, Mr. Jobs began selling what has become one of the most talked-about consumer products in history. Now he faces a new challenge as Apple prepares to introduce an updated version of the phone next month.

After almost a year of strong sales that have made it one of the dominant smartphones in the United States, the iPhone has settled down to a less-than-spectacular pace: roughly 600,000 units a month, according to the company.

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., had shipped about 5.5 million phones by the end of March, the most recent figures it has released. It sold just 1.7 million phones in the first three months of this year, meaning it must sell more than 8 million phones to reach Mr. Jobs’s publicly stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008.

“They’re going to have a difficult time” hitting that number, said Edward Snyder, an analyst at Charter Equity Research. He said that Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cellphones, sells more phones every week than Apple has sold since the iPhone’s introduction.

So what could Apple’s impresario have up his sleeve to pick up the pace — and to keep the second-generation iPhone from being a letdown?

Although the company will not publicly confirm the arrival of a second iPhone, Apple watchers have concluded that a new version will be introduced June 9, the opening day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apparently in preparation for the event, stocks of the existing iPhone have been dwindling in the last month.

Although AT&T stores still have phones in stock, according to a company spokesman, the supply has largely dried up in Apple’s retail outlets, and the phones are no longer available through the company’s online store.

Apple may be trying to avoid the anger it faced last September when it cut the iPhone’s price by $200 just two months after it went on sale, making early buyers feel cheated. Mr. Jobs offered those customers a $100 store credit.

Cutting down on supply means fewer angry buyers when their new phone is suddenly obsolete.

“You can say what you want about Steve Jobs, but he’s learning from his mistakes,” said Roger Entner, a senior vice president at IAG Nielsen, a market research firm. “They are cleaning out the supply channel.”

Even as supplies shrink, Apple has been signing a series of deals with cellphone network providers around the world. On Tuesday the cellular operator TeliaSonera said it would offer the iPhone in seven countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The only major countries without an iPhone distribution agreement are Japan, Russia and China.

Meanwhile the Apple rumor mill has wound up to a fever pitch in recent weeks with speculation about the new phone’s features.

One Web site that tracks imports even decided that shipping manifests indicated that the company had already brought millions of iPhones into the country in dozens of seaborne shipping containers. Industry executives, however, said this would be an odd move for Apple, which in the past has introduced products by air — shipping the first batch at the last moment.

Both Mr. Jobs and Randall L. Stephenson, the chief executive of Apple’s partner AT&T, have promised a new iPhone model this year that would run on a high-speed wireless data network. AT&T is building such a network, which uses technology known as 3G and is intended to support a range of new applications, including mobile digital video. The company said last week that the network would be largely finished by the end of June.

But analysts say faster downloads may not be enough to touch off a new wave of consumer interest in the iPhone.

“Subscribers don’t care what the radio interface of their cellular phone is,” Mr. Snyder said.

If he is to rekindle the excitement that greeted the iPhone’s introduction, Mr. Jobs is likely to need something else. So far, he has been successful in hiding any surprise features from the dozens of Web sites and bloggers that track the company’s new products.

There has been speculation about a higher-resolution camera, possible support for digital video recording, a slightly bulkier and more curved case, and the addition of a global positioning system receiver that would allow new Web services tied to a person’s location.

Mr. Jobs is certain to make much of the availability of many new iPhone programs that Apple will begin selling through its iTunes store in the coming months. He could also accelerate sales by cutting the phone’s price or letting operators offer subsidies, as they do with many other phones. In the United States the phone now costs $399 or $499 depending on the amount of memory.

Bells and whistles aside, the new phone may have a few new shortcomings as well. Company executives have acknowledged that the new 3G networks will be a challenge for its engineers, because using them burns up more battery power compared with the slower Edge networks used by current iPhones.

IPhone users have turned out to be prodigious consumers of wireless data. For example, the iPhone customers of T-Mobile, the German cellular operator, consume 30 times more data than its other wireless customers, according to Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless industry analyst.

Mr. Sharma estimates that iPhone users in the United States consume two and a half to three times more data than users of other cellphones. Faster networks could widen that gap and further extend the iPhone’s influence in the telecommunications world.

“IPhone is not only having an impact on data revenues,” he said, “but also on device design, mobile advertising road maps, and applications and services that are being contemplated for the future.”

Live from Future In Review Conference May 21, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market , add a comment

Am at the beautiful Hotel Coronado for the Future in Review Conference. This conference is a blast, gets your neurons fired up. I will have a more detailed coverage later. CNET did a summary of the panel I just moderated on Wireless Futures: From Mobile Advertising to Mobile Payments.

Source: Tom Krazit/CNET News.com

I had the privilege of moderating a brilliant panel, wish we had half a day instead of 30 minutes. Panelists were Dr. Hugh Bradlow, CTO Telestra, Gary Roshak, VP, Yahoo!, Jonathan Bulkeley, CEO, Scanbuy, and Rajeev Chand, MD, Rutberg. Hopefully, there will be a video of the session as well.

But, boy is this conference cool!

US Wireless Data Market Update - Q1 2008 May 18, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Carriers, Enterprise Mobility, M&A, 3G, Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, International Trade, Indian Wireless market, WiMax, Mobile Gaming, Japan wireless market, European wireless market, Mobile TV, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Usability, Mobile Ecosystem, Mobile Search, Wi-Fi, Wireless Value Chain, 4G , add a comment

US Wireless Data Market Update - Q1 2008

Download PDF (2.32 MB)

Download PPT (1.28 MB)

http://www.chetansharma.com/usmarketupdateq108.htm

The US wireless data market grew 38% in Q108 compared to Q107 to reach $7.5B in data revenues. iPhone is not only having an impact on data revenues but also on device design, mobile advertising roadmaps, and applications and services that are being contemplated for future. US exceeded Japan in mobile data service revenues for the quarter and the market is expected to reach $34B in data revenues in 2008.

Global update

          More details in our worldwide wireless data market update in our Global Wireless Data Market   Update Mar 2008.

Your feedback is always welcome.

Chetan Sharma

Disclaimer: Some of the companies mentioned in this note are our clients.

Caltech event recap May 12, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Speaking Engagements, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications , add a comment

University events are fun. They are quite focused and the audience is very engaged and ask out-of-the-blue questions. After doing the Stanford University event last month, I was looking forward to the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum event in Pasadena this weekend.

Thanks to Lynn Foster of Greenberg Traurig for inviting to give the keynote. It was an honor to share the stage with Tim Cadagon, a real pioneer in the digital advertising space with stints at Overture, Yahoo, and now OpenX,

I talked about the evolution of Mobile Advertising in the context of advertising history evolution, what the future holds, the challenges and the opportunities in the space. Discussed some of the case studies from the book.

Tim, despite his raspy throat, gave a brave and insightful keynote on display advertising on the Internet. Having been involved in the medium for over a decade, his insights were awesome.

Next, we joined John Babcock, Greg Market, and William Quigley to do a panel Q&A on a broad range of issues - from vertical search to impact of Clearwire/Sprint deal to advertising in emergency response to multi-language/cultural opportunities to many other related/unrelated topics. There was a lot of discussion on vertical search as segments where one can differentiate from Google and still make money in search. One of the stats was pretty revealing - Kayak - an online search engine for travel (which i use quite extensively) is in line to make $500 million this year with a focused effort around travel.

Before starting the moderator did a show of hands on how many entrepreneurs are looking to build businesses that will be monetized by advertising and to my surprise, 50% of the audience had their hands up. That has been the challenge with a number of startups, without building scale, advertising becomes less effective source of revenue.

The audio from the event should be online shortly, i will post a link when it is.

After a week’s break, will be heading down again to San Diego to two events, one being hosted by CommNexus at Qualcomm Campus (Joe - my coauthor of the Mobile Advertising Book and I will be giving a talk and participate on a panel discussion on Mobile Advertising) and the other one is Future in Review - something I am really looking forward to. I will be moderating a brilliant panel on Future of Mobile.

Inside the USPTO: A Guide to the Patenting Process April 30, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, M&A, Mobile Content, Mergers and Acquisitions, International Trade, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem, Wireless Value Chain, 4G, Patents, Intellectual Property, IP, Patent Strategy, IP Strategy , add a comment

Inside the USPTO: A Guide to the Patenting Process

by Carlos Villamar and Chetan Sharma

http://www.chetansharma.com/insidetheuspto.htm

Note: We have an integrated approach to strategy as we strongly believe that taking market research, business, technology, and intellectual property inputs into strategic initiatives is essential in obtaining a long-term sustainable competitive advantage in the industry. To further the dialogue on the subject, we will be publishing several articles, white papers, books, and blog posts over the course of next few months. This white paper is to help entrepreneurs and inventors understand the patenting process.

csc_strategy-s

This white paper was a collaboration with Carlos Villamar, Partner, Roberts Mlotkowski Safran & Cole. Carlos is a patent attorney who has also worked as a patent examiner at the USPTO.

uspto-s

Abstract

Patents are a key corporate asset that can give the inventor and the company an invaluable tool to protect and commercialize inventions. The process of obtaining a patent is an important one – from start to finish. Beginning with patent strategy, due-diligence and patent search through the United States Patent Office (USPTO) process to finally getting the grant, one needs to have a good understanding of each step. This increases the probability of success by removing uncertainty from the process. Inside the USPTO: A guide to the patenting process takes a detailed look at the ideation and the patent process, specifically, how patent applications flow through the USPTO. By having a good grasp of the intermediate steps and the various decision points associated with each of them, the paper discusses how entrepreneurs and inventors can maximize their chances of securing a patent.

Introduction

We live in a knowledge economy and Intellectual Property is a key asset in this new ecosystem. Patents are one of the essential elements to creating barriers to entry for rivals, building credibility and confidence of investors, customers, partners, and employees, providing clarity as to the property ownership, demanding leverage from the industry, and for generating revenue from licensing and sale.

The knowledge economy thrives and sustains on ideas and competitive advantage based on intellectual property. For individuals, the prestige associated with being an innovator and “first to secure” patents in a given field motivates them to be creative and innovative. Entrepreneurs, engineers, and inventors can benefit from understanding how to secure and maintain their intellectual property rights. This paper discusses the important steps in designing, filing, procuring, and defending your patent rights.

The following diagram illustrates at a high-level the patenting process and important considerations in the decision flow chart. The flow chart is discussed in detail in the subsequent sections.

Table of Contents

Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Pre filing due diligence 6
Patent preparation 9
USPTO filing 11
USPTO examination 13
After approval 16
Conclusions and Recommendations 17

 

Download the full white paper here.

Your feedback is always welcome.

Recap of Sacramento and Stanford events April 29, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Speaking Engagements, Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Indian Wireless market, European wireless market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem , add a comment

I am starting to lose count of how many events I have done related to the Mobile Advertising book but each one of them has been fun as I meet new friends and colleagues and get to visit with the old ones.

Had a pretty tight iten in sunny CA last week. Warm weather of bay area was a welcome change to the cold winter of Seattle which doesn’t want to go away. I have driven past Sacramento a couple of times before but never stopped there. Gopan, President of Techcoire (a high-tech networking organization in Sacramento) invited me to present the research from the book. The title of the talk was “Mobile Advertising: The $20B Opportunity?” The essence of the discussion was how do we move from the buzz of $20B to the biz of creating $20B in actual revenue. What are the sticking points? Where are the opportunities? and how do we go about creating a vibrant ecosystem? While there is justifiable skepticism in the advertising industry, mobile presents a very compelling conversation medium. The question is not about “if” but “when.”

After driving back and forth from bay area to Sacramento and coming late night, had a morning class with Prof Tom Kosnik’s “Global Entrepreneurial Marketing” students at Stanford University. It is a very popular course taught by a great teacher. On Prof. Kosnik’s suggestion, I skipped the standard presentation mode and straight away launched into the Q&A session and we went on for an hour. I used the slides and data to answer the questions. Frankly, I wish I could present and engage the audience this way more often. It is far more fun and both the audience and the speaker can get the most out of the session. The students were sharp, curious, and asked thought-provoking questions. Compared to other events, there were a lot more questions around privacy in mobile advertising and how to make sure the ecosystem doesn’t violate the trust of the users even accidentally. As an industry, we haven’t done all we can to ensure that, just yet. We also talked a lot about the fragmentation and differences in various market taking a more global view of the opportunity.

Interview with Padmasree Warrior April 23, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Carriers, 3G, Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, WiMax, European wireless market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem, Wi-Fi, Wireless Value Chain, 4G , 2 comments

image

Last year, I had a chance to interview Padmasree Warrior who was CTO of Motorola at the time and since then she has moved on to Cisco (as their CTO). The interview was conducted for the PiTech Magazine but for various delays the print edition never got released. I am publishing the interview in its entirety for our readers. Padmasree is a terrific technology leader and there are a lot of good insights in her answers.

1. What are some of the exciting initiatives you and your team are working on at Motorola?

The next decade is about the Mobile Revolution. It is quite remarkable how something as simple as the cell phone is transforming the human race by connecting the entire planet. Today almost half the planet communicates via a mobile device. The social, economic, cultural and technological implications of this are profound, particularly in under-developed countries of the world. The Motorola team is working on delivering products and experiences to enable “Seamless Mobility” which is our vision to enable access to communication, information and entertainment whenever, wherever and however people need it.

For example, recently we announced the world’s first wind and solar commercial network GSM cell site in Namibia. By incorporating renewable energy technology into this cell site, we created a cost-effective solution for operators in the region who find fuel generators too costly and don’t want to wait a long time for a main grid connection. Most importantly, we’ve created the infrastructure for people to be able to communicate with each other. That’s powerful and exciting.

2. What will the mobile device in 2012 look and feel like? What new features and functionality will be introduced by then?

The mobile device in 2012 will become an extension of your persona. In other words, it will know your preference, know where you are and will understand the context of what you need. This will simplify how people access communication, information and entertainment. For example, the mobile device will be your computer, wallet, TV, camera, music player, FM radio, alarm clock, flash light, calendar, game system and so on. By 2012 the mobile device will become your remote control for life.

3. How does “Always On” environment change how media and entertainment will evolve over the course of next five years? What does digital convergence mean to you?

The on-demand genie is out of the bottle and there is no way it is going back in. This fundamental shift in consumers’ expectations of being able to watch video when they want is having profound impact on nearly every technology component of every network that is capable of delivering a moving series of images . . . LANs, WANs and wireless.

I see convergence not as technology-driven, but experience driven. Convergence is the mobilization, socialization and personalization of content and communications…the technologies are being driven by the desired experiences. This is how Motorola researchers are going about their thinking. With deep expertise across mobile devices, home networking components, set-tops and next-generation networks, Motorola is focused on creating an integrated experience network topology that will excite the consumers and grow business for every player in the new media ecosystem.

4. If you were advising entrepreneurs, which problems would you advise them to tackle? Where is the most innovation needed? What are some of the problems that our industry hasn’t solved? What’s holding us back?

There are many problems to be solved, some are technological and others regulatory. I will answer this question more from a technological perspective. My advice to entrepreneurs is to focus on value added applications for the mobile platform that has many constraints such as battery life, screen size etc. Just forcing the internet designed for a PC onto the mobile device will not work. We need to think about innovation in areas of internet mobility, content mobility and broadband mobility. Areas of particular challenge are power management and battery life. Another exciting opportunity is to think about how this device may be used, when Wireless Broadband becomes a reality with WiMax. I don’t think anything is holding us back. I am an optimist – I believe the human mind can solve most problems. The scale of the mobile revolution is so massive that innovation will occur at many levels both in developed and emerging markets simultaneously.

5. At Java One you talked about Platform Disturbia. How do we solve the problem (or ease the pain) of industry fragmentation at multiple levels? Or is it a fact of life?

“Platform Disturbia” which is my anecdotal way of describing the fragmentation in the mobile industry can be a great opportunity for developers, but brings with it significant challenges. As content and communications go mobile - How does one move content easily and transcode it from one format to another? How does one set the hooks between different networks and mobile devices so the hand off is seamless? With personalization, where should the authentication and personalization engines be located - on the mobile device or on backend servers? Should context and location awareness work with authentication; how much should they reveal and to whom?

It is hard enough dealing with the sheer number of different mobile handsets, screens and separate operating systems. Now we want those devices to talk effortlessly with enterprise infrastructures - to enable secure communications and data sharing with field service people. We want to extend into the home and be able to upload and download content automatically from set top boxes. And deliver a whole new generation of location and context-based services that will make mobile devices even more personal and interactive.

The way to ease the pain of industry fragmentation is through the adoption of standards and for large innovative companies to be transparent about intellectual property rather than extract high royalty rates for patented technologies. The former accelerates time to market and therefore expands market creation with a unified approach. Of course, companies must protect their intellectual property and get fair, reasonable payment for their patent rights. However, often fragmentation occurs when competing technologies are created to avoid high royalty taxation.

The mobile world is a huge and divergent ecosystem where innovation needs all of us to be both visionary and pragmatic - so that we can move to Platform Utopia!

6. India’s wireless market has been exploding at a rapid pace. Could you please discuss the role of wireless communications in India’s economy? What role does India play in the global wireless market?

Yes, the wireless communications market is certainly growing very rapidly in India – nearly every global manufacturer has production and research presence in the country. India adds almost 6 million subscribers every month – that is equivalent to connecting the entire country of Denmark in India every month!

This rapid adoption of mobile communications will have a positive impact on economic empowerment over the long run. This is already starting to happen in other emerging markets. For example, merchants in Zambia use mobile phones for banking. Health workers in S. Africa use them to update records while visiting patients. In Tanzania fishermen use mobile phones to get market, weather and the price of fish while still off shore. Already mobile connectivity is generating big economic benefits according to a London Business School study. The study says that in a typical developing country, a rise of 10 mobile phones per 100 people boosts GDP growth rate by 0.6%. That may not seem much but compounded over a few years it adds up to a substantive increase in the standard of living

India plays a critical role in the global wireless market because the scale of people yet to be connected is large. This demand will become a hotbed for creativity and innovation. When we connect the billions of people, we will see new use cases with mobility. Looking forward, the opportunity in India and support of the government is quite strong. The Indian government has set the target of 500 million subscribers by 2010.

7. How do you manage uncertainty? How do you keep the team of 26,000 focused and motivated?

Managing uncertainty is exactly what innovation is all about. Not knowing the answers, taking risks, disrupting the status quo and challenging conventional wisdom are necessary ingredients to invent and innovate. As inventors, it is our responsibility to think beyond the possible and break barriers to create the never before imagined solution.

However, with this creativity comes the need of one shared vision. At Motorola, our shared vision is of a world in which communications transcends the barriers of space and time to deliver an on-demand consumer experience – what we call seamless mobility. It is this vision that connects our work and keeps our 26,000 focused on one end goal.

Most importantly, I surround myself with very smart people – individuals who are not only experts in their fields, but also possess strong business acumen blended with an entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. It is tough to find people like that, but ultimately people are the backbone of an organization, they are the catalysts for growth and success. Leadership is not about YOU but them – the teams you lead. My advice is to leaders – be humble and don’t be afraid to hire talent that is better than you.

  1. How do you keep up with all the information and technology evolution around you? You have your own blog; do you have some favorites that you read regularly?

I stay connected – to people and information. I read just about anything and everything that comes my way, it is almost addictive. I also spend a lot of time meeting customers, visiting universities across the world, chatting with students - all the way from elementary to post doctoral and interacting with industry thought leaders. This has exposed me to some truly remarkable individuals from all fields. Recently while in San Francisco, Dr. Jill Tarter invited me to the SETI Institute where I met with some brilliant astronomers and scientists and gained a unique perspective on their contributions and achievements.

I also stay connected to information - from blogs to technical papers to trade journals to books, there is always something fascinating that sparks my interest (and keeps me busy on those long cross-Atlantic flights!). Yes, I have my own blog called “Bits at the Edge” - http://blogs.motorola.com/author/padmasree-warrior/. I read many blogs and enjoy the perspective of different bloggers, whether they agree with my opinions or not.

  1. What are the key ingredients of a strategy to outsmart competition?

I always say a Vision without a plan is just a Dream. The key to success is Think Big and Act Fast. Focus on delivering value by solving relevant problems.

10. How can technology companies better understand the needs of customers?

It may sound simple but I would say that we could better understand the needs of customers by being better listeners - especially earlier in the product development cycle. As corporations grow, it is easy to get stifled by what is going inside our own walls and forget to open the doors in the early stages of concepts, to understand the pulse of the marketplace.

At Motorola, we are shifting our focus to delivering enhanced experiences to our customers. Similarly, our research efforts stay focused on discovering the problems of tomorrow and then creating solutions to solve these problems.

Let’s take the example of the original RAZR – our researchers perceived that consumers were in search of a phone that would fit in their shirt pocket; our scientists then brainstormed and developed the solution of an embedded antenna that allowed for a slimmer form.

11. How do you manage work-life balance?

I actually dislike the word “balance” in this context, because it conjures up images of conflict. My work is an integral part of my life and so are my family, my community, my friends and my self. I prefer to think of this more as an integration challenge. I have one life in which I must INTEGRATE each of these. Therefore, it is not important HOW we decide to apportion the time spent on each of these because there is no right answer. The challenge is to COPE with the guilt that comes with however we choose to spend time on each of these. Over the years, I have tried not to feel guilty about things that I am unable to do, but rather enjoy the experiences of what I am able to do. Recently I had to miss our senior leadership strategy session, instead I chose to attend my son’s middle school commencement where he received a President honor award. I had a blast being a proud mom that evening.

12. You are an inspiration to many. Who inspires you? Who has been your role model(s) and why?

Mother Teresa continues to be an inspiration to me. I do not see her just as a martyr but as a pioneer and a bold risk taker. She looked at the world holistically and her work broke down barriers – race, color, ability, wealth and economic status. She left her home country and comfort zone to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor.

13. Who are some people you would really like to meet with that you haven’t been able to meet yet?

Restricting my wishes to people that are living, I would like to meet Nelson Mandela who single handedly and irreversibly influenced the course of apartheid in the world. I would also like to meet Scott Adams – I Iove Dilbert!

14. What’s the last book that you read that really made a difference in your life?

The Alchemist – poetic style of prose that is thought provoking, makes you pause.

15. What are some of your favorite memories of being at IIT?

Dating my then boyfriend (now husband), all night chat sessions in the dorm room, the perennial hikes to street cafes at odd hours in search of chai (tea) that had nothing at all to do with drinking tea per se, heated debates about everything from solving world hunger to cutting classes the next day.

CTIA Wireless Wave - Moving Targets April 21, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Carriers, Mobile Advertising, US Wireless Market, Mobile Entertainment, Indian Wireless market, ARPU, European wireless market, Mobile Applications, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem, Wireless Value Chain, CTIA , add a comment

The Wireless Wave article on Mobile Advertising is online now

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Moving Targets: Mobile Marketing Reaches Consumers on Their Terms
                                                                                 By Lynn Thorne

Imagine you’re about to meet a blind date for drinks. On the way to the restaurant you realize you’re short on cash. You don’t know your way around the city too well – how will you find the nearest ATM? The answer is as convenient as glancing at your cell phone.

Or you’re driving to meet a new client and you have just enough time to make the meeting. Suddenly your phone sounds an alert letting you know there’s a traffic jam ahead – just in time for you to take an alternate route and arrive on time.

Perhaps you live in an area where severe weather outbreaks are the norm. You get a message on your phone urging you to take cover, as you are smack in the path of an oncoming twister. Did a concerned co-worker call you with the warning? No, The Weather Channel Interactive sent you an urgent message on your handset.

To some these stories sound like science fiction, but to a growing number of those in the know, these are the proven, and very real abilities of mobile marketing and advertising. And while consumers have been using SMS, or short messaging service, for years, the future of mobile is about to take off faster than you can text “ASAP.”

Wide Open World
Mobile marketing and mobile advertising have been flourishing in other parts of the world since the early part of this century. In Japan, for instance, two factors uniquely helped the explosive growth of this industry: networks and teamwork. Ironically, those same two factors are part of what has delayed mobile commerce in the U.S.

“The penetration of broadband wireless, which is 70 to 80 percent in Japan, is only about 20 percent in the U.S.,” says to industry analyst Chetan Sharma,president of CSC, a consulting and advisory firm helping companies in the mobile and voice communications sector. Sharma points out that in Japan and Korea, mobile carriers and the advertising industry have collaborated and joined ventures to form companies to address mobile marketing and advertising. “But in the U.S.,” Sharma says, “carriers have their own strategy, and advertisers have their own strategy. They’re not working together.”

Yet the U.S. is the biggest advertising market in the world, and it appears that the nation is on the verge of a mobile marketing breakthrough. Sharma claims it is only a matter of time before the country comes into its own in the m-commerce arena. “A lot of the problems existing today will be solved because advertisers are eager to reach consumers. Even though Japan and Korea got started with mobile advertising before the U.S., the aggressiveness of the advertisers pursuing it is greater in this country.”

Applications
M-commerce has innumerable uses, some of which haven’t even been thought of yet. However, it is already being used in some fascinating ways. Roughly half of the mobile consumers in Korea and Japan use their phones like a credit card of sorts. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology enables them to pay for purchases by waving their cell phone over a contactless reader at retailers. They can even download coupons to their phones and then forward the discounts to other users in their networks.

While that technology hasn’t yet reached America, U.S. users are benefitting from mobile marketing in myriad ways. For example, Crisp Wireless partners with media entertainment companies like USA Today to enable them to build a mobile presence through advertising. USA Today, one of the pioneers of delivering traditional newspaper content in a mobile platform, launched its initial site in December of 2005. Boris Fridman, CEO of Crisp Wireless, calls it “nothing short of the perfect mobile destination.” Fridman explains why: “They started building this significant consumer audience, and advertisers started paying attention to it. They’ve done a tremendous job at understanding that mobile Internet would become a driver for advertising dollars. For USA Today, it is no longer an experiment; it is clearly a significant business opportunity.”

AOL, another early adopter, has capitalized on the mobile commerce opportunity as well. In 2007, the company updated its portal for a richer user interface, including AOL mobile search, City Guide, access to AIM (the largest ing the platforms available, AOL has concen-trated on making mobile simple for consumers.

“We do things that make accessing our services easier, not necessarily making the mobile phone easier to use,” says Jason Gruber, director of Mobile and Telecommunications for AOL. Some examples include getting MapQuest information on the desktop transferred to a phone with a ‘send to cell’ functionality, where the user enjoys one-click access to MapQuest details. AOL was the first to introduce an I.M. forwarding service, so messages sent to a user’s desktop can be forwarded to his or her handset. “So it’s not only at the application level where we’re constantly making adjustments to the portal, but we’re really responding to the consumer base, [making sure] that the services consumers are comfortable with on the desktop can really work in the mobile space in an easy and fast way that’s relevant,” says Gruber.

Location-based service, in concert with GPS, enables companies to provide a context to their content. The Weather Channel Interactive, for example, has more than 35 million unique online users each month. It can deliver current conditions, expert forecasts, and relevant lifestyle content for 98,000 locations worldwide, so consumers in California are getting information that is specific to the west coast, while Michigan residents can be apprised of impending lake effect snows.

Since the younger generation drives a lot of the growth of mobile marketing, MTV is enjoying phenomenal increases in its mobile platforms. Greg Clayman, executive vice president of Digital Distribution and Business Development, Global Digital Media of MTV, says video is a prime example. “We’re doing five million mobile video clips a month in the U.S. That is nearly double what they were last year.” Beyond video clips, MTV’s mobile inventory includes linear video service, with clips of mobile video with DSE, and live programming of Comedy Central and Nickelodeon on V-cast.

The applications benefit the marketer as well as the consumer because ads can be much more user-specific. With browser-based advertising, ZIP codes are themain way to reach a particular audience segment. With mobile mar-keting and advertising, advertisers can utilize mobile instant messaging community) and information like gender, income, and other MapQuest, among others. Beyond imply maklimited profile data – all provided to wireless carriers by the user – to truly target the consumers most likely to respond.

Challenges and Solutions
It is easy to envision mobile marketing and advertising as an extension of the Internet, and in many ways, it is. However, there are fundamental differences that will affect the success of this new channel.

For example, advertisers cannot just expect the same ad to work on a PC and a mobile device. The huge difference in screen sizes means most ads won’t translate from one entity to another. Keyboard capabilities are also vastly different between computers and handsets.

AOL’s Gruber points out another challenge: fragmentation. “The application or service that we develop for a very simple low-end phone on one network may behave very differently and function differently than what exists on a very high-end phone.” To combat this problem, AOL has announced a client version of “My Mobile” that will make implementing AOL services on a mobile device a lot easier, no matter what kind of handset or carrier is used.

Chetan Sharma says search-based advertising has to change for mobile marketing to succeed. “On mobile devices, you have limited real estate. People are looking for answers, not thousands of facts. It becomes tricky in terms of how you figure out what the intent of the user is, so there is not so much room for error in mobile as there is for the Internet.”

There is also the challenge of demographics: plenty of industry research points to the younger generations as being the main mobile users. However, today’s device is not your teen’s mobile phone.

“Over the past few years, Newsweek, USA Today, Car and Driver, Elle, and many other traditional media companies that don’t necessarily appeal to the very young have launched mobile destinations,” says Fridman. “They appeal to a much broader audience.”

Louis Gump, vice president of Mobile at The Weather Channel Interactive, says the age limitations aren’t real. “There is a myth in the industry that everyone who uses their device for something other than talking on it is about 22 years old with a backpack. If you look at the demos, based on some of the research, what you’ll see is that the majority of the audience that uses wireless data is actually in the 25-34, and 35-44 demo with tails on either side. It’s a very attractive audience with millions of people who are in multiple demographic areas.”

Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles is the consumers themselves. Will they balk at the idea of advertising on their mobile devices as being too intrusive? Clayman predicts acceptance.
“As the mobile online experience begins to look more like the Web we’re accustomed to, consumers expect a certain degree of advertising. As long as it is something that is actually useful, people will think, ‘I see ads when I’m online or when I’m watching TV so there’s no reason I shouldn’t see them on my phone as well.’”

Besides, Clayman points out, consumers are already paying for the content they get on their mobile devices. Ads can help offset the increasing costs. “If a carrier has video clips the consumer pays for that, and if you want to double the amount of content consumers can get, you’ve got limited options. Either the carrier can pay for it and lose money, or they can charge consumers more. Mobile advertising in general can subsidize that.”

Would people be willing to pay more for their mobile services instead of seeing ads on their devices? Probably not, but experts say they will likely accept some advertising in exchange for reduced-cost service. “If they are able to decide what kind of ads they get and when they get them, consumers will be more willing to accept [mobile advertising],” says Sharma.

Growing Pains and Plans
Experts agree that for mobile marketing and advertising to be as successful as possible, the user must be in control. Gump says careful planning is key.

“From a consumer-facing standpoint, we have an opportunity as media companies, wire-less carriers, and other service providers in the industry, to get this right. We need to put the customer first. From an industry standpoint, we need to think about how our actions today will affect where we’re going to be 10 years from now and act accordingly.”

Analyst Sharma agrees. “We need to make sure that the market matures correctly and that the business models are ironed out before the market becomes too big. It’s a journey of cautious optimism to contextual nirvana.”

That journey, while in its infancy, is well underway. As companies branch out and try new forms of mobile marketing – everything from American Idol’s interactive audience voting via text message to The Weather Channel Interactive’s use of location-based services – the industry is poised to take off.
“This is just the beginning,” says Fridman. “There are about 40 million consumers that visit mobile sites monthly, which represents about 15 percent of the subscriber base. But every month that audience continues to grow. This is an incredible growth opportunity for companies who want to reach the consumers, because that number will only continue to go up.”

And those companies are taking notice. “I’ve seen an uptake in the integration of mobile advertising by the brands and the agencies in the marketplace that has really impressed me,” Gruber says. “The way those budgets have grown, the way the brands are coming back for repeat business … I’m really looking forward to 2008 being a breakout year for mobile marketing and mobile advertising.”

Mobile Caller ID: Lessons in Simplicity, Utility, and Convenience April 17, 2008

Posted by chetan in : AORTA, Carriers, US Wireless Market, ARPU, Mobile Applications, Mobile Ecosystem , add a comment

Mobile Caller ID: Lessons in Simplicity, Utility, and Convenience

Sponsored by Cequint, Inc.

http://www.chetansharma.com/mobilecallerid.htm

mobilecallerid-s

This is a very exciting and promising time for the mobile industry - next generation networks are finally being launched, new handsets are being introduced, and mobile data services are creating significant opportunities for revenue growth.

In spite of the buzz and hype, the mobile industry is still faced with the old problems of providing more value to customers to reduce churn and increase subscriber loyalty and ARPU (Average Revenue Per User).  Mobile carriers are increasingly called upon to offer personalized services that recognize the unique needs of their users. 

While it is tempting to focus on new and glitzy mobile applications, the best ROI often comes from enhancements of existing mass-market features. For instance, by providing “push” capability, RIM revolutionized mobile email, by providing predictive text Tegic’s T9 made tapping keypads less painful, and by making good old voicemail visual and browsing simpler, Apple’s iPhone scored a home run.

Service providers who implement a user-centric vision will deliver sustainable competitive advantage – both now and in the future. While operators should continue to focus on long-term roadmaps and new applications and services, they shouldn’t just wait for a new market to take shape for such applications (e.g. Mobile TV) and ignore the opportunity that exists in enhancing the most commonly used mobile device features such as address book, user interface, text input, dialing and receiving calls.

Such enhancements require lower marketing budgets and less user training since these service improvements complement existing user behavior.  Operators would do well to be asking themselves not just “what will my subscribers want next?” – but “what are my subscribers doing NOW and how can I improve their current experience.”.

We need to remember that the principal motivation to buy is not the technology, but the service that the customer is willing to accept and pay for. As such, all in the value chain need to focus on the single most important aspect of any service - simplicity, utility, and convenience. Meaningful revenue doesn’t come from revolutionary applications that only a few subscribers use, but from ideas that touch the most consumers, and add value to the most user transactions.

In this paper we present the results of a user survey conducted by Chetan Sharma Consulting of a simple but compelling mobile feature called City ID, developed by Cequint, and discuss the lessons drawn from user opinions.

Table of Contents

Introduction 3
City ID 4
Survey methodology 4
Utility, Simplicity, and Convenience - hallmarks of successful applications 4
Usage and decision criterion 7
User satisfaction 9
Conclusions 10

 

Download the full whitepaper here.

Your feedback is always welcome.

Chetan Sharma