Colin's Corner

You are your phone number and Google wants YOU !

With the explosion of the internet, as well articulated by John Battelle as "The Database of Intentions"  users' search activity defined them. 

As time went on, Google started to build up a more and more comprehensive understanding of their users - not only via their search activity (Twitter now included) but via many other Google services - mail (Gmail and now Google Wave), Google Maps, Blogging (Blogger) RSS (Google Reader), Video (YouTube), Photos (Picasa) personal profiling (Google Profiles and why Google wants you to Google yourself), as well as interaction with advertising and marketers via DoubleClick (and now AdMob) and Google Local. 

While the Google corporate philosophy of Don't Be Evil is still the informal corporate motto - the opportunity for inappropriate use of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is very real and privacy advocates are right to push very hard for transparency into permission settings, the collection and usage of user data via cookies and other means. 

The era of PCs (Personal Computers) and the broadband internet has given rise to a new mass media. As defined by Tomi Ahonen, the internet was the sixth of the mass media. We have now entered the era of the seventh mass media - mobile and the implications for user data collection are profound. 

For detailed coverage of the mobile opportunities check out Communities Dominate Brands. 

The world of PCs (Personal Computers) has now evolved into PCs (Personal Communicators) - mobile computers in the palm of your hand. This is going to profoundly shift power from the legacy content companies who previously controlled mass media via the creation and distribution of content to the new tech-media companies, such as Google.  These new media companies are less focused on the creation of original content but are intently focused on the creation and consumption of content by users. 

Knowledge is power and in the world of digital media that power comes from user data.

The noise on the internet today that Google is about to sell its own phone direct to consumers is, I believe, the next piece of the puzzle that Google needs to put in place to truly understand user behavior and profiling.

WinTel - (Microsoft and Intel) dominated the PC industry over the last 2-3 decades - however the telecommunications market dwarfs the PC market and Google is aiming to be its leader.

For the last few years Google executives have made it very clear that mobility is their future - mobile search, a mobile bowser and a mobile operating system. Coupled with a move into hardware - smartmobile devices (smartphones, smartpads etc.) control over mobile software and content distribution could give Google a near monopolistic position in user data. 

The foundations have been laid - Google has established a dominant brand for internet search - it aims to repeat that for mobile search. Even more interesting is their recent move in the telecommunications space - not only via their Android operating system, which is starting to gain momentum and also their goals for Chrome as a mobile browser - (eventually the two will probably fuse so that the benefits of both will be available on mobile devices) but now Google is looking at services and hardware.

Following their acquisition of Grand Central and its evolution to Google Voice - Google is rapidly rolling out a VOIP service that, in additional to voice calls has features such as voicemail, call history, conference calling, call screening, blocking of unwanted calls and voice transcription to text of voicemail messages. This fast growing service was recently extended to allow you to use your existing number for certain Google Voice features.

So what might be the next move by Google - a Google phone that is not tied to any carrier ? A new service where you could transfer your existing number ? Potentially free handsets and call services supported by advertising ?  

But, I don't think it is really the services that Google is really going after - it is you.

Your mobile phone number, is probably the most important number after your social security number.  Unlike email addresses, which we collect by the dozen, we very rarely change our mobile number - it's with us for life.

Mobile is rapidly going to become our most important mass media - in addition to the benefits of the previous mass media, mobile has unique attributes that cannot be replicated by the previous mass media - Tomi Ahonen lists the following:

Mobile is the first personal mass media

Mobile is permanently carried

Mobile is always-on

Mobile has a built-in payment mechanism

Mobile is available at the point of creative inspiration

Mobile has the most accurate audience measurement

Mobile captures the social context of media consumption

Mobile allows Augmented Reality to be used in media

The mobile phone will be the remote to your physical and digital lives, always carried, always on. It knows where you are and what you did - it's a record of your life, your interests and intent. It's uniquely personal and it defines you. 

You are your mobile number. Your mobile number is your personal profile. 

The user data smartphones can amass is a marketers dream. It should be no surprise that Google wants to get hold of your information.. 

If you decide to let them have it, you might also want to ensure you are in control of how they use your data. After all it's personal.

Guide to mobile search published by MMA

As noted by UTalkMarketing, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)has launched a white paper on mobile search.

The white paper, which was developed by the MMA’s Mobile Search Task Force, provides an overview of search on the mobile Internet, outlining how it differs from traditional web-based search, how it meets the needs of consumers and the opportunity it provides to operators and marketers. It also discusses mobile search challenges, strategies and business models, incorporating case studies from JumpTap and Medio Systems Inc.

The white paper is just one of the MMA’s extensive library of information and resources from basics such as the Mobile Marketing Industry Overview and the more advanced MMA International Journal of Mobile Marketing.

A Mobile Advertising Overview

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has recently released the IAB Mobile Platform Status Report which focuses on mobile display advertising, examining this dynamic market as it stands during the summer of 2008.

The report illustrates mobile advertising considerations and outlines advertising opportunities for mobile devices, from the perspective of established interactive advertising on the Web. It will focus on the following questions:

• WHAT IS MOBILE ADVERTISING? Understand the mobile landscape, who is using mobile applications, and the key mobile interactive advertising opportunities that exist today.

• WHAT DOES THE ECOSYSTEM LOOK LIKE? Learn about the chain of intermediaries that connect advertisers with consumers, and how it is similar to, and different from, the PC-based Web.

• HOW CAN MARKETERS REACH THE MOBILE CONSUMER? Differentiate the technical and market factors of mobile advertising to identify the best opportunities for different brands and campaign goals.

• WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Identify key trends on this evolving platform, with an eye to how mobile advertising opportunities will expand over the next five years.

Download IAB Platform Status Report: A Mobile Advertising Overview

A focus on mobile media

Over my career in media, which stretches back to 1987, most of the time I've been involved with print publishing both in the UK at Dennis Publishing and with IDG in the US. However, over the last several years I've focused more on online opportunities, assisting IDG Communications move from being a print centric to a mobile centric organization - my post in February 2007 got a fair amount of coverage thanks to a pick-up by Jeff Jarvis. Today IDG has around 45% of its US revenues coming online and it's been exciting to watch all the developments around search, advertising, lead generation and most importantly the engagement and interactivity of the audiences.

Today IDG focuses not only on developing great content at the brands' sites but also has a major effort syndicating content around the web - ensuring the content reaches audiences that are more and more dispersed and fragmented. Our goal is "user generated circulation" , a term coined by IDG's Frank Cutitta, who runs IDG Connect at the Circulation Management Conference and Expo. While there is still a major focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) the volume of traffic being received from SMO (Social Media Optimization) is nowvery significant. Create great content - but make sure you market it to the correct places and make it easy to be distributed via RSS. Tools such the one from ShareThis should be on virtually every piece of content. Audience development has now pushed out circulation management.

Coupled with our focus on content syndication, IDG has launched the IDG Technology Network - a Vertical Publishing Network for the IT industry. Anchored by IDG's core brands IDG has carefully selected and vetted sites that complement our brands' sites with those that also have a high affinity with the brands' audience. Through the network IDG provides marketers with unparalleled reach to highly quality and active IT buyers. Details on these initiatives can be found at the IDG Knowledge Hub.

During 2008 I've been more and more focused around mobile opportunities trying to understand exactly what the mobile platform means for publishers. In many ways it feels similar to when I arrived in the US in 1993 - the web was in its nascent stage - although a clickable ad appeared in 1993 r - banner ads did not appear until October 1994 when HotWired ran one for AT&T. But, even back then many of us realized that we were witnessing the beginnings of a massive upheaval to our industry and new revenue streams. We just had no clear ideal of how it would develop. If we had, we'd have launched a search engine with paid text ads.

Fifteen years on I feel similarly about the mobile space - while at a nascent stage in many areas - there are already significant revenue streams via SMS and MMS. Now we just have to crack the code on mobile advertising in a way that engages not aggravates and interrupts the mobile user.

If you want some great insights into Mobile Advertising read Mobile Advertising: Supercharge Your Brand in the Exploding Wireless Market by by Chetan Sharma, Joe Herzog and Victor Melfi.

The launch of the iPhone enabled easy navigation of the web via a mobile screen and now with a developer environment coupled with a distribution and payment platform for these mobile applications Apple has redefined the space. 60 million applications have been downloaded since launch ! It has raised the bar high, so I await with interest the responses from Nokia and the other major players.

Going forward, I'm going to be focusing my energies more an more on mobile and in particular what it means for media organizations. As Tomi Ahonen has noted, mobile is the 7th Mass Media - capable of the elements of all previous mass media but also a lot more.

I'll use this blog to highlight interesting trends, people, products, applicatons and services in the mobile environment. To start off I'll provide a link to those sites I have on my iGoogle Mobile Tab - I find it a useful resource so keep abreast of this fast moving environment. It's not comprehensive so please feel free to send details of other interesting sites.

I'm sensing that the moment is coming very soon where all major publishing companies are going to have to take mobile seriously - too may failed to appreciate the upheaval caused by online - mobile is going be even more traumatic as we move from one PC era - that of Personal Computer to another one - that of Personal Communications. It's going to be an exciting journey I how you join me in the conversation.

Nokia acquires Symbian and goes open

With a strong move that pits Nokia strongly against Google, and Apple, the world's largest mobile device manufacturer, (Nokia is currently responsible for around 60% of the of the world's smartphone market), has joined forces with other mobility heavyweights to create an open mobile software platform centered on the Symbian operating system. Nokia will acquire the remaining 52 percent stake in Symbian Ltd. that it doesn't already own for a price tag of roughly $410 million.

Although the free Symbian project will not start till 2009, it may beat the Google-backed Android phone to market, and provide a royalty-free phone that will build on a large existing installed base. With AT&T as a prominent backer, the move could also give Nokia a stronger position in the U.S. market where Symbian has so far struggled. Symbian, is hugely popular throughout Europe, and controls around two-thirds of the market for smartphone operating systems

Currently, there are more than 200 million phones across 235 models that are based on the Symbian OS, along with tens of thousands of third-party applications available for it.

Google Android and the Open Handset Alliance comprise more than 30 partners, including heavyweights like Sprint (NYSE:S), T-Mobile and China Mobile. It was reported that Android has been plagued by setbacks however, Google is adamant that its Android plans remain on schedule and devices based on Android will be available in the second half of this year.

Apple raised the bar with the launch of the iPhone. A sleek touch screen user interface, coupled with the ability to browse the mobile web has been embraced by smartphone consumers. Apple has always been the master of integrating hardware and software. They've understood the critical importance of the user interface - making their produces intuitive and easy to use as well as attractive. Now Nokia also has an integrated software and hardware platform coupled with a strong developer platform and will be a formidable worldwide competitor.

Whether the Symbian Foundation will be successful remains to be seen - as The Register suggests The most damaging problem is that Symbian's licensees may have no desire to make Nokia stronger now that it owns the operation 100 per cent. Because it dominates the "platform" already by market share, the playing field tips steeply towards Finland. Why bother joining - to make the market leader even stronger?

Om Malik at GigaOm (good to see is recovering well from a recent heart attack) has a good summary on the "new mobile reality" and thinks that LiMo, Symbian, and Apple have the best chance of "winning big," with Android and Microsoft fighting for that remaining spot at the table. Where RIM ends up remains the subject of much speculation.

Will Apple look to mobile advertising revenues ?

As expected, Apple announced the iPhone 3G at their World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco . The phone will be available on July 11th for the reduced price of $199 for the 8GB version via a subsidy, as AT&T have adjusted their relationship so that Apple no longer gets a share of the revenue stream from the carriers - rumored to be as high as 30%. The new data plan for 3G will be $30 per month - up from the $20 per month for the old 2G service.

In the US, it seems as if AT&T will continue as the exclusive carrier. As an international traveler - I remain highly frustrated by AT&T's overseas rates and the inability without jail breaking the phone to swap SIMS card from foreign carriers. If Apple is really serious about enterprise - let's see proper support for the international road warriors who want all the benefits of the iPhone and the new MobileMe service.

Apple shares initially fell on the news that Apple was giving up a revenue stream but what most analysts seemed to miss was that Apple may have its eye on a bigger revenue opportunity - off deck advertising. With control of the iPhone applications via the SDK and distribution via the iPhone apps store - Apple is in a marvelous position to look at different advertising revenue streams - from display advertising, direct response, sponsorships, in application (particularly in gaming) advertising. Different models can be developed where Apple and the application developer can share the advertising revenue streams.

Mobile advertising revenue streams are in their infancy but Apple has all the foundations in place to take advantage of what will become a huge business. One to watch.

For a great read on mobile advertising opportunities check out Mobile Advertising: Supercharge Your Brand in the Exploding Wireless Market by Chetan Sharma, Joe Herzog, and Victor Melfi

5 technologies to watch

BtoB Media Business covers five technologies to which media companies should pay attention.

The article leads - Technology alone may not make or break a media company, but it's certainly one of the most important pieces in the modern-day publishing puzzle. Media Business asked a handful of industry executives about technologies that are changing—or will soon change—the media landscape and how publishers can best take advantage of these advances

I had the opportunity to add a few comments about the mobile future.

Colin Crawford, exec VP-interactive at IDG Communications, said that while it may still be a few years premature, mobile will provide social network opportunities. For instance, Crawford envisions a scenario in the not-too-distant future in which an attendee at a conference such as MacWorld could look at his phone and see that there are 10 other passionate Mac users from his network within half a mile of him. More advanced visual communications such as video mail also will come, he said, though again, it might be a while.

“Some of this is early .... but in the next two to five years, mobile is going to surge forward,” he said. “As publishers, we're going to have to get our heads around exactly what is the right type of content to serve up to our users through various mobile devices. I don't believe it's a replica of ... the Web. I believe that we'll have to develop specific content and display it in the right way.”

My sentiments are echoed by Informa Telecoms and Media

"True mobile advertising does not exist today; what we are referring to is 'advertising on mobile.' When mobile advertising combines user profiling, location and communication with unique mobile inventory, the industry can justify charging a premium rate over existing immeasurable advertising channels."

Mobile revenue streams remain in their infancy but media companies should allocate resources to understand the platform, how their users consume mobile content and what service and applications they need to develop for their mobile audiences in the future. The revenues today don't justify massive investment but the same argument was used back in 1993/94 when online was nascent. Ultimately the mobile opportunities will outstrip today's online revenue opportunities - balancing short-term early investments with the potential long-term opportunities is key.

Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace

The Federal Trade Commission on May 6 and 7 held a Town Hall meeting, entitled "Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace,” to explore issues surrounding the evolving area of mobile commerce (m-commerce) and the implications for consumer protection policy. The document is worth reading for insights into mobile trends from some of the leading players.