MSearchGroove

GOOGLE: Reams have been written about the to-and-fro over the rules for the January 700MHz auction and Google’s pledge to bid $4.6 billion for wireless spectrum - if the FCC agrees to add its open-network requirements. But few venture to ask the “why” question. Here’s a theory from AT&T (via this post from Computer Business Review).

The operator reckons Google’s request is little more than an attempt to bribe the FCC. “If Google is serious about introducing a competing business model into the wireless industry, chairman Martin’s compromise proposal allows them to bid in the auction, win the spectrum, and then implement every one of the conditions they seek,” Jim Cicconi, AT&T VP of legislative affairs, said in an email. “Instead, however, Google is demanding the government stack the deck in its favor, limit competing bids, and effectively force wireless carriers to alter their business models to Google’s liking.”

Is Google plotting or bluffing? This insightful post from I, Cringely suggests Google doesn’t want to win the auction nearly as much as it wants to create conditions that would favor its business ambitions forevermore. (BTW: love the title: Is Google on Crack?: Eric Schmidt bets the ranch on wireless spectrum) He writes: “It is only because Google doesn’t expect to win, or possibly even to bid, that they are trying to force rules on the eventual winners, the mobile telcos.” Is Google bent on creating a whole new tier of spectrum licensees that would be prepared to roll out costly infrastructure on Google’s terms? It’s not so far-fetched. One thing for sure, few observers have a benign view of this.

And while we try and figure it all out – let’s consider Google’s latest move: an undisclosed investment into Ubiquisys, a British manufacturer of femtocells. Observers figure these mini-base stations will be a must-have addition to homes and offices as more users want to do more things with their mobile devices indoors. (Femtocells vastly improve reception where cellular coverage is spotty, as it often is indoors and in residential areas.) Looking further out, a femtocell can integrate with 3G terminals and with in-home networks, becoming the entry point to accessing content across devices and platforms including the PC, the video server, and so on. ZDNet (quoting Ubiquisys co-founder Will Franks) shows Google has thought this through. “What [Google] want to do is get broadband internet access to all users….They see femtocell technology as a very good way of doing that for mobile phones, so they are investing in companies, like us, who do that.”

Finally, Google’s deal to offer mobile services (search and email to start) over Sprint’s planned WiMax network could spell trouble for rival carriers. At first glance the tie-up pays dividends for Sprint, which can count on additional revenues from mobile advertising delivered by Google. But this could also be shortsighted since Google has by far the most to gain. Consider this scenario (courtesy of John Dvorak at MarketWatch): “If the duo can roll out national service, it could protect Google from any onerous action by Ma Bell. And if the service was popular enough, Google could actually limit what it offers AT&T customers — making its most premium search services only available to the Sprint-Google network.” He concludes: “If Google maintains dominance in search (as appears to be the case), it could turn the tables on AT&T and demand that the company pay Google for carriage of its services.”

BROWSERS: This tie-up fits in with the trend to open Internet access on handsets – and the inevitable demand for technologies that will tackle the latency problem. Bytemobile, which is specialized in solutions that accelerate the delivery of Web content and wireless date to mobile devices, has announced a global partnership with mobile browser provider ACCESS to co-develop and market solutions the companies claim will improve the Web browsing experience for mobile. The press release says the “combined solution will allow for faster full Internet page downloads on smartphones and feature phones, and transparently improve download performance by up to 4x over existing technologies on most wireless networks.” We’ll be watching this one – but any solution that turbo-charges content will be a boost to content discovery and a boon to mobile advertising. (More in this release.)

Meanwhile, here’s a tie-up that points the way to a new mobile search and advertising monetization scheme. Opera and KongZhong, a Chinese mobile content and media provider, have sealed a deal to develop a customized browser with Kong.net as the default home page (!) According to the release the browser is a free download that enables mobile phone users to browse both traditional Internet sites and WAP sites. The companies expect to generate advertising revenues, search-related revenues and other revenues from the increased traffic the browser will drive to the Kong.net site. Another pay-off is the increased brand awareness when Chinese users surf the mobile Web with a “KongZhong Opera” browser.(More in this release.)

STATS: Telephia reports mobile TV and video revenue in the U.S. reached a total of $146 million in the first quarter of 2007, up 198 percent from the first three months of 2006. This means that some 8.4-million Americans (or 4 percent of mobile users) now subscribe to some form of mobile video service. But the numbers are nearly as interesting as the positive shift in attitude when it comes to mobile advertising. “Nearly half of mobile video users are willing to view ads on the phones in exchange for something, translating into a compelling opportunity for ad-supported mobile content where marketers can target customers with relevant advertising.”

T-MOBILE: Better late than never. DM Europe reports T-Mobile has opened up its web’n'walk portal to advertising. Banners and links can be put on both the web’n'walk homepage with the Google search engine and on all the category pages. (These include selected links to topic areas such as news and info, finance, sport, travel, tabloid, search and find, shopping and erotica.) A brave move to accept adult ads – and a smart move to keep the advertising effort (and revenues) in the family. T-Mobile’s exclusive marketing partner is InteractiveMedia, a German marketing company and fully owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Expect some tension as mobile operators, mobile ad agencies and mobile search ad networks overlap (dare I say compete?) in their efforts to turn traffic into cash.

ORANGE: New Media Age counts down all the U.K. operators revamping their portals to let users access familiar Internet sites at low cost. (Only a matter of time before this mindset spreads to the U.S. market.) Orange has pretty ambitious plans. It’s gearing up to launch a new portal (codename Sunrise) that puts the emphasis on personalization. This from an Orange spokesman: “Our new service is all about promoting access to essential information,” said the spokesman. “A key part of this is a personalised home page.”

“Competition is present and all operators want to encourage usage to support their ARPU [average revenue per user] levels,” said an Orange spokesman. “Access to the mobile web is also becoming an extra consideration for customers when choosing which operator they want to go with.” My favorite observation comes from Al Russell, head of data services for Vodafone UK: “A lot of customers rejected Live! because they associated it with ringtones and games. They want email and internet services, so they’re now a central plank in our efforts to recruit customers. Premium content is nice to have but people do essential things every day online. We wanted to make those things work on their mobile phone.” Wow! That comment alone marks a tectonic shift in operator thinking. Guess operators are beginning to understand they aren’t just in the access business (that mindset will guarantee they become dumb pipes); they’re in the audience business where the user – not the operator – decides what’s hot and what’s not. Bet that list of hot sites includes WAP sites and Internet destinations…

• Posted in
• Usability, Personalization, Mobile Search, Mobile Advertising

2 comments

share

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

permalink