It's interesting to note that the vast majority of our users in our personal SMS to web messaging,txt4everywhere are texting their loved ones.
Typical users are where their partner is in a different country and they can use the flat, worldwide rate to their advantage.
However our most active user is a man who is messaging more than one woman - cheating by SMS!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Young Mobile Users Say 'No' to Mobile Internet
Well here's a surprise. The Times Online reports that young phone users are not using the internet on their mobile phones.
Clearly they are competent with the technology, but why are they so slow to embrace internet services on their mobiles?
The answer is simple and obvious. Money. It costs to much to get data on your phone. At £7 per megabyte on PAYG it's not surprising. Vodafone typically charges £2 per meg for contract customers. web n walk system is an example of a good way forward - 7.50 for around a gig of download, but it is still not applicable to PAYG custoemrs.
The networks are desperate to increase mobile internet usage, and tie-in's with MySpace and Google are attempting to help this. But cynical attempts to increase interest in IP-based services cannot address the fundamental financial and functional issues - it's too expensive and too slow.
Interestingly the average young customer spends €25 (£17) a month on their bill — about 20 per cent more than the €21 (£14) spent by the wider population — and the majority of additional spending after the monthly contract goes on text messages, ringtones, picture messages and television voting.
The growth of mobile internet use, by comparison, remains slow. More than half of those surveyed said that they never browsed the internet, and only 8 per cent said that they used it once a week or more.
A separate study by Q Research shows only 3 per cent of young people aged 11 to 25 had downloaded music directly to their mobile phone, with the high cost of doing so the main dissuading factor. By comparison, two thirds of those aged 20 to 24 spend up to £10 a month on music downloads to their computer, and nearly half of those under 16 spend a similar amount.
Ben Wood, an analyst with CCS Insight, said: "Phone operators have gone from believing they can deliver everything themselves to realising that if a teenager wants to share photos, they're going to do it on Flickr, not via a Vodafone picture gallery."
Michel de Lussanet said: "Mobile phone companies have always been keen to offer internet services, but they’ve forgotten that people don't interact with their phones the same way that they do with their computers.
"Mobile TV, for instance, was a common offering early on — largely because it was technically possible — but operators didn't consider that the image wasn't like the one customers were used to in their lounge."
Exactly. It's pretty simple in fact - how many people use those tiny portable TV's? Very few. It doesn't take months of research and millions of pounds to know that!
The future is undoubtedly user generated content. No one trusts the phone networks to do it, and MySpace and YouTube show the future. Systems for mobile and web sharing such as immedia24 show where things are heading.
The customer, however, remains to be convinced. Despite 61 per cent of young people surveyed saying that they had internet on their phone, only 34 per cent wanted it on their next phone — in comparison with 65 per cent who wanted an MP3 player and 44 per cent who wanted Bluetooth.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Unfaithfull by Text?
It's that age old question that crops up at parties ... is being flirty by text cheating on your partner?
David Beckham has allegedly done it with his former PA. Shane Warne has been exposed doing it several times with nurses and glamour models ...
A worldwide study of 8,500 people has shown that one in seven people in Britain have admitted to sending flirty text messages to someone other than their partner.
The global study conducted in November 2006, by Ipsos MORI research of 8,518 consumers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Italy, UK and Germany found that Brits are amongst the biggest 'text cheats' in the world, second only to Malaysians. The UK are also the most suspicious - seemingly with good reason - with one in six people checking their partner's phone for 'suspicious messages'.
Suspicious Minds
Worldwide it seems that Malaysians are the most likely to send these kinds of texts, with nearly 40 per cent of people sending flirty messages behind their partners' back.
However Germans reputation for letting it all hang out and walk around in the all-together perhaps proving they have nothing to hide and are the most text-trusted, with barely 7 per cent of people checking their partner's mobiles.
By contrast, millions of 'Latin lover' Italian men use SMS as their primary tool for wooing lovers. One in ten relationships in Italy started with a text invitation for a first date, and nearly a third started with text-flirting. This is backed up by mobile phone penetration in Italy which runs at 138%.
And breaking up?
Nearly one in ten Singaporeans have used SMS to break up with someone. Germans are the least likely to be text-ditched, while 3 per cent of Brits have been dumped in this way.
Over in the text capital of the world, men in the Philippines could be said to have the easiest Valentine's Day, with more than a third of women preferring a romantic text message to chocolates or a card. Likewise 40 per cent of Russians make do with a text message on Valentine's Day.
Unfaithfull by Text?
It's that age old question that crops up at parties ... is being flirty by text cheating on your partner?
David Beckham has allegedly done it with his former PA. Shane Warne has been exposed doing it several times with nurses and glamour models ...
A worldwide study of 8,500 people has shown that one in seven people in Britain have admitted to sending flirty text messages to someone other than their partner.
The global study conducted in November 2006, by Ipsos MORI research of 8,518 consumers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Italy, UK and Germany found that Brits are amongst the biggest 'text cheats' in the world, second only to Malaysians. The UK are also the most suspicious - seemingly with good reason - with one in six people checking their partner's phone for 'suspicious messages'.
Suspicious Minds
Worldwide it seems that Malaysians are the most likely to send these kinds of texts, with nearly 40 per cent of people sending flirty messages behind their partners' back.
However Germans reputation for letting it all hang out and walk around in the all-together perhaps proving they have nothing to hide and are the most text-trusted, with barely 7 per cent of people checking their partner's mobiles.
By contrast, millions of 'Latin lover' Italian men use SMS as their primary tool for wooing lovers. One in ten relationships in Italy started with a text invitation for a first date, and nearly a third started with text-flirting. This is backed up by mobile phone penetration in Italy which runs at 138%.
And breaking up?
Nearly one in ten Singaporeans have used SMS to break up with someone. Germans are the least likely to be text-ditched, while 3 per cent of Brits have been dumped in this way.
Over in the text capital of the world, men in the Philippines could be said to have the easiest Valentine's Day, with more than a third of women preferring a romantic text message to chocolates or a card. Likewise 40 per cent of Russians make do with a text message on Valentine's Day.
Web-based messaging system txt4everywhere offered special deals and timed messages for Valentines.
More Operators looking at 3rd party content
More and more mobile operators are looking to content providers to increase their revenues according to new research from technology intelligence firm ABI Research. They have revealed that WCDMA subscriptions have increased by 102 per cent over the past year and that operators are looking to capitalise on this by improving their mobile content services.
They also noted that most mobile traffic will be data-orientated within the next seven years.
'Operators are now looking to YouTube Mobile, Jamster and Warner Music for content to excite and entertain consumers,' commented Jake Saunders, Asia-Pacific research director for ABI Research.
He added that messaging platforms such as Blackberry devices, as well as enterprise applications, are also helping to increase data traffic.
Earlier this month, Vodafone announced its impending rollout of YouTube Mobile for subscribers, closely following a similar mobile deal with social networking site MySpace.
They also noted that most mobile traffic will be data-orientated within the next seven years.
'Operators are now looking to YouTube Mobile, Jamster and Warner Music for content to excite and entertain consumers,' commented Jake Saunders, Asia-Pacific research director for ABI Research.
He added that messaging platforms such as Blackberry devices, as well as enterprise applications, are also helping to increase data traffic.
Earlier this month, Vodafone announced its impending rollout of YouTube Mobile for subscribers, closely following a similar mobile deal with social networking site MySpace.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Mobile as an advertising medium
This is a subject that I'll be blogging about more.
The concept is this: ad agencies and brands find it harder and harder to reach their audience. There are dozens of digital tv and radio channels. New magazines appear each week yet people get their entertainment and socialise through YouTube and MySpace. The point is that there is no mass media for advertising anymore.
The one thing that everone owns, and has with them most of the time is a mobile phone. There is a massive potential for these devices to be a channel through which information, entertainment and advertising can be sent.
When I say advertising onto mobile, I'm not talking about spam texts. As with spam mail, sending unwanted messages is not going to benefit brands. Fortunately because there is a cost to sending a message there is a limit to SMS spam, and the return would have to be pretty high.
When I talk about advertising to mobile, I'm talking about the kind of opt-in messages that will benefit the consumer in the form of useful information or offers. The advantage for the advertiser is that they are using the most powerful 1 to 1 marketing available. The mobile phone is the thing that most people have with them most of the time. To be able to get their attention through a mobile device is extremely powerful.
The concept is this: ad agencies and brands find it harder and harder to reach their audience. There are dozens of digital tv and radio channels. New magazines appear each week yet people get their entertainment and socialise through YouTube and MySpace. The point is that there is no mass media for advertising anymore.
The one thing that everone owns, and has with them most of the time is a mobile phone. There is a massive potential for these devices to be a channel through which information, entertainment and advertising can be sent.
When I say advertising onto mobile, I'm not talking about spam texts. As with spam mail, sending unwanted messages is not going to benefit brands. Fortunately because there is a cost to sending a message there is a limit to SMS spam, and the return would have to be pretty high.
When I talk about advertising to mobile, I'm talking about the kind of opt-in messages that will benefit the consumer in the form of useful information or offers. The advantage for the advertiser is that they are using the most powerful 1 to 1 marketing available. The mobile phone is the thing that most people have with them most of the time. To be able to get their attention through a mobile device is extremely powerful.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Increase in mobile content downloads
Reports from mblox, one of the premium sms providers, was that off portal transactions were 1.4 billion last year. Off portal means downloads and premium SMS that were not through the networks (Vodafone Live! T-Zones etc).
This is significant because both my prediction and the evidence is that mobile phone users do not trust the content or service provided by the network portals.
Looks out for an increase in non-networked sanctioned transactions over the next year.
This is significant because both my prediction and the evidence is that mobile phone users do not trust the content or service provided by the network portals.
Looks out for an increase in non-networked sanctioned transactions over the next year.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Chiltern Railways has become the first train company in the UK to sell mobile phone tickets to their passengers.
Passengers can buy Chiltern’s £5 online Eday ticket for journeys between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street or Stratford –upon-Avon via the website www.chilternrailways.co.uk. The Eday ticket is available only on certain off peak trains.
Passengers receive their ticket in the form of a barcode sent directly to their mobile phone by an MMS. Staff on board the train and at the station will be able to check the ‘mobile ticket’ with barcode scanners. If the phone can't display the barcode then the journey details can still be read in text only format.
Commercial Director for Chiltern Railways, Neil Micklethwaite said: “We are happy to be leading the industry as the first train company in the United Kingdom to sell this new format of mobile phone ticketing to our passengers. We have listened to our passengers and what they want is a simpler and easier way to purchase tickets for their travel. "
“The next step is to install new scanning gate technology at Marylebone station which will allow passengers with mobile phone tickets to scan their own ‘mobile tickets’ as they walk through the ticket gates,” Mr Micklethwaite said. Cubic Transportation Systems is supplying Chiltern Railways with the new gate technology, due for installation next month.
Mobile phone ticketing is now available for Chiltern passengers for the next three months with the aim of develop this as a service permanent. Ticket purchases on the move from mobile phones will be possible at a later stage, as well as through the internet .
For more mobile ticketing see txt4ever
Mobile Content Revenues on the Increase (again!)
SMS and multimedia messaging services will account for more than half of total revenues for worldwide mobile operators in 2011, a research firm has forecast.
Based on the latest research, SMS and MMS will represent more than 50% of the total revenues for operators from 2010.
Mobile access to the Internet will be the driver for the explosive growth expected in this market. The research company Informa Telecoms & Media, has predicted the market for content will be $150 billion by 2011.
In 2006 revenues for SMS etc was $60 and $67.4 in 2007.
Content management systems, such as Ping Corp's immedia24 will help drive the increase.
In particular, revenues from music, TV, games, gambling, adult content, together, would more than double - from $18.8 billion made in 2006 to $38 billion over the next five years.
The returns from this huge growth would be shared by new players – content providers, publishers and associated technology and service providers, which would become part of the industry over time. User-generated content and user communities, expected to eventually become common features on the mobile space, would also account for $13.2 billion over the period, the report said.
Music would continue to be a major revenue earner in the mobile entertainment market but its role would be diminished by growing demand for mobile TV and video services. Informa estimates music, which last year enjoyed a 40 percent share of this market, would decline to 36 percent in 2011.
A large part of this growth can be credited to the arrival of broadband mobile services and technologies like the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) which allow users to enjoy surfing and watching online videos while on the move. The download speed and streaming experience made possible by these technologies are comparable to those seen on desktop PCs and notebooks.
Based on the latest research, SMS and MMS will represent more than 50% of the total revenues for operators from 2010.
Mobile access to the Internet will be the driver for the explosive growth expected in this market. The research company Informa Telecoms & Media, has predicted the market for content will be $150 billion by 2011.
In 2006 revenues for SMS etc was $60 and $67.4 in 2007.
Content management systems, such as Ping Corp's immedia24 will help drive the increase.
In particular, revenues from music, TV, games, gambling, adult content, together, would more than double - from $18.8 billion made in 2006 to $38 billion over the next five years.
The returns from this huge growth would be shared by new players – content providers, publishers and associated technology and service providers, which would become part of the industry over time. User-generated content and user communities, expected to eventually become common features on the mobile space, would also account for $13.2 billion over the period, the report said.
Music would continue to be a major revenue earner in the mobile entertainment market but its role would be diminished by growing demand for mobile TV and video services. Informa estimates music, which last year enjoyed a 40 percent share of this market, would decline to 36 percent in 2011.
A large part of this growth can be credited to the arrival of broadband mobile services and technologies like the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) which allow users to enjoy surfing and watching online videos while on the move. The download speed and streaming experience made possible by these technologies are comparable to those seen on desktop PCs and notebooks.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Why I Hate Vodafone
A bit like banks, all mobile networks are rubbish. However I reserve my greatest distain for Vodafone.
I've had two contracts with them: one for voice and one for my Blackberry email.
Firstly with the voice, the tarriffs are very poor. Other networks such as T-Mobile, Orange and even 3 have far more generous offers.
Having called them (it took 3 frustrating calls to find someone who could help) I gave them the chance to match an offer that I found on T-Mobile. Most of these offers involved charging more than the other operator for LESS minutes etc. In the end they admitted that they couldn't get near the T-Mobile offer.
Then there was the issue of data. I was paying £15 per month for data only on my Blackberry. except that it is only email data. If I click on a link in an email I'm charged for it. How can anyone separate data? It's just bits flying about the internet. Whether it ends up in my browser or my email is irrelevant in terms of charging.
Vodfafone did offer an SMS/data package. In this they treated them as the same bundle and you could use x amount of data or x number of SMSs. The allowance was stingy but at least there was one.
Except they have now separated the two. You have to buy internet data on it's own. And the cost is £2.35 per megabyte. Totally outrageous. Even worse, try finding this information on their website. It's only after some considerable grilling that I found this out.
T-Mobile charge a more reasonable £7.50 for 1 gig of data. That's more like a fair price.
The bottom line is that Vodafone are restricting downloads, particularly third party downloads with their ridiculous policy. We have systems that can easily deliver full track audio - it's around 3 meg for a standard song using AAC encoding. So over £6 to download if you are on a vodafone tariff. with T-Mobile it's a more reasonable 75p per meg (not fantastic, but not outrageous).
With the advent of the Iphone, we need networks to allow mobile users to download data at a reasonable rate. The cost is probably less than a few pence per meg. So how about 10p per meg for a download? They're still making money and more people will use it.
Better still more people will go onto the 3g network and they can make even more out of premium billing.
My next campaign will be for Fair Data for mobile users!
I've had two contracts with them: one for voice and one for my Blackberry email.
Firstly with the voice, the tarriffs are very poor. Other networks such as T-Mobile, Orange and even 3 have far more generous offers.
Having called them (it took 3 frustrating calls to find someone who could help) I gave them the chance to match an offer that I found on T-Mobile. Most of these offers involved charging more than the other operator for LESS minutes etc. In the end they admitted that they couldn't get near the T-Mobile offer.
Then there was the issue of data. I was paying £15 per month for data only on my Blackberry. except that it is only email data. If I click on a link in an email I'm charged for it. How can anyone separate data? It's just bits flying about the internet. Whether it ends up in my browser or my email is irrelevant in terms of charging.
Vodfafone did offer an SMS/data package. In this they treated them as the same bundle and you could use x amount of data or x number of SMSs. The allowance was stingy but at least there was one.
Except they have now separated the two. You have to buy internet data on it's own. And the cost is £2.35 per megabyte. Totally outrageous. Even worse, try finding this information on their website. It's only after some considerable grilling that I found this out.
T-Mobile charge a more reasonable £7.50 for 1 gig of data. That's more like a fair price.
The bottom line is that Vodafone are restricting downloads, particularly third party downloads with their ridiculous policy. We have systems that can easily deliver full track audio - it's around 3 meg for a standard song using AAC encoding. So over £6 to download if you are on a vodafone tariff. with T-Mobile it's a more reasonable 75p per meg (not fantastic, but not outrageous).
With the advent of the Iphone, we need networks to allow mobile users to download data at a reasonable rate. The cost is probably less than a few pence per meg. So how about 10p per meg for a download? They're still making money and more people will use it.
Better still more people will go onto the 3g network and they can make even more out of premium billing.
My next campaign will be for Fair Data for mobile users!
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