mobile content

Cause for optimism in UK mobile content market

Ian Channing — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:15:56 -0400

Spending on mobile entertainment in the UK during the first quarter of 2009 was flat and the overall market performance was down on 2008. However, despite these negative indicators there are reasons to be cheerful, according to a report from GfK Retail and Technology.

Trends are shifting towards video and music subscriptions, casual gaming is proving popular and flat rate mobile Internet usage continues to expand. Subscription-based purchases of video and music by mobile owners, as opposed to pay per download, are increasing and now represent 40 per cent of all mobile entertainment sales. Underpinning the games market are casual trivia and word games which account for 27 per cent of sales. Retailing has become increasingly sophisticated with live portal management ensuring that the right games get in the right place at the right time.

The report concludes that, with touchscreen and 3G phones continuing to enjoy strong sales, the outlook for the UK mobile entertainment sector remains encouraging.

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News

Mobile content regulator lays down new rules

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:24:57 -0500

As a result of a year-on-year increase of more than 100 per cent in the number of mobile-related complaints, the UK's premium content regulator PhonepayPlus has issued tough new rules.

The most significant of these is that anyone signing up to a subscription service which charges more than £4.50 (US$6.25) in any given week (including joining costs) must first receive, and reply to, a free confirmation message outlining the cost and conditions of the service. In addition, any content provider who wants to offer mobile subscription services for more than £4.50 a week or wanting to apply pay-per-page charges must first apply for permission from PhonepayPlus. Content providers must also clearly display prices in any advertising for a service and they cannot label a service "free" unless there truly are no costs involved.

PhonepayPlus also has ruled companies cannot sell or trade third party marketing lists unless those on the list have agreed to receive promotional messages. All subscription and promotional messaging services must respond to the "stop" command. Premium mobile services are used by hundreds of thousands of customers daily and the majority of these services operate without problems. However, apparently some companies have adopted practices which have created increased complaints from customers.

The Mobile Entertainment Forum, the industry body for content providers, said whilst it was still studying the proposals it was not convinced the new regulations achieved anything that wasn't possible under the previous Code of Practice.

For more on this story:
- go to Moconews and Mobile Europe

Related stories:
British regulators launch mobile content inquiry
Regulatory review of mobile content premium rate services
The year ahead: Mobile content predictions sure to go wrong

Joint initiative to address mobile content losses

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:55:06 -0500

Mobile operators are losing US$5 billion a year across the mobile content value chain according to the TeleManagement Forum (TMF) and the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF). The two organisations have launched a joint initiative to address this problem that they say is caused by incorrect reporting of revenues. The annual loss represents upwards of 25 per cent of the US$18 billion mobile content services market. A combined team of TMF and MEF member companies will work to develop and publish work on sales reporting metrics for use by service and content providers. The intention is to build a common understanding of the quality and quantity of services delivered, thus improving the measure of revenue flows across the value chain.

For more:
- go to Mobile Europe

Related articles:
Forecast: Mobile content revenues to $64B by 2012
U.S. mobile data revenues increase to $8.8B in Q3

Smart pipe or dumb pipe ... the operator's choice

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:20:53 -0500

Revenues from mobile content could amount to US$52 billion in 2013 if mobile operators pursue the right strategies. If they fail to implement new business models then they could end up as simple dumb pipes, says a new report from Juniper Research.

Mobile operators need to change their mobile content business models to emphasise shared value creation. In today's mobile content environment, mobile operators retain a significant percentage of the revenues generated by the content providers who use their networks. This business model means end-users pay a high price for accessing mobile content and, ultimately, lose interest. This acts as a disincentive to content providers who either attempt to go directly to the end-user or exit the sector entirely. This is an unsustainable scenario which could severely impact on the revenue streams operators hope to win from mobile content. However, the report emphasises that mobile operators must make the first move to break this impasse.

If mobile operators can change their ARPU-driven mindsets to focus on value creation and support for their partners, they can swiftly make the change, the report concludes.

For more on this story go to Mobile Europe

Related article:
Mobile content flops of 2008 revealed

EU powerless to stop 'free' ring-tone download scam

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:52:53 -0400

Having conducted a scan of over 550 ring-tone download web sites, the EU has declared that 80 per cent were in breach of regulations. Unfortunately, much to the EU's annoyance, it cannot take any action against these miscreants (if only there was a Europe-wide regulator, dreams the EU) and has passed the information back to national telecoms regulators.

"Far too many people are falling victim to costly surprises from mysterious charges, fees and ring-tone subscriptions they learn about for the first time when they see their mobile phone bill," said EU Consumer Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva. "There will be Europe-wide enforcement action to track down each of these traders. But we need to get a clear message out particularly to teenagers and children: be on your guard. It's all about the small print."

Brussels said that ring-tone companies would be contacted by national authorities and asked to clarify or correct the problems. They face fines or closure of the websites if they fail to do so.

Ring-tones alone were estimated to make up 29 per cent of the overall mobile content market in Europe in 2007 (about 10 per cent higher than 2006). The value of European ring-tone sales in 2007 was estimated at €691 million.

For more on this story:
- go to AFP, The Register and Cellular News

Related story:
InfoSpace settles EMI ringtone suit. Ringtone story