A lot has been written recently on the surge of interest in mobile on-device portals (ODP), with media and content companies, like Yahoo! and Apple, embedding their branded data services and content portals directly onto consumer handsets. With the major media companies now deploying permanent homes for their brands on consumer handsets, one has to ask the question: “Why haven’t the mobile operators, who are searching for ways to increase the discovery and use of content, implemented more ODP solutions?”
To answer this question we first need to look at past mistakes from the initial ODP implementations that failed to gain traction in the market. This first generation of deployments faltered for several reasons including:
- difficulties downloading the ODP onto the handset;
- a flawed business model that prevented consumers from exploring ODPs;
- limited handset coverage and a variety of different handset standards; and
- difficulties that content companies and mobile operators had trying to manage and support the ODP once it was launched.
Keys to the ODP kingdom
Those points of failure indirectly prescribe several keys to ODP success in the future. We like to refer to them as the ‘4 Ms of Mobility’:
Mobile user experience. The ODP must be easy and enjoyable to use. That means letting users work offline with an intuitive interface while a learning engine discovers their preferences and remembers recent search requests, tailoring the experience with each use. |
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Monetization. An ODP that integrates mobile advertising and merchandising drives monetized content and encourages usage. Ads should be inserted strategically and aesthetically throughout an ODP application e.g., headers, footers, banners, paid search placements and video commercials. Make context-sensitive advertising available to users online or off.
Mass market handsets. Making money in ODP means running on a wide variety of devices. Support for Java, BREW, RIM and Smartphone devices is key.
Manageability. A software development kit, over-the-air updates, customer analytics, and reporting and administration tools combine to simplify building, deploying, maintaining and reporting on the ODP. For instance, companies can optimize their ODP by viewing advertising click-through and response rates as well as what ODP features users are using. They can also measure success of various applications on the ODP and remove and update applications for improved monetization.
If vendors can deliver on these four “M”s of mobility, market adoption for ODP solutions will be ensured and far reaching. But in the short term ODP vendors will need to work to meet the 4 Ms while competing against souped-up browsers and WAP 2.0 competitive alternatives. Soon, however, operators and media companies will realize that browser-based solutions are never going to offer the robust, always-available user experience of an ODP. They just aren’t designed for offline activity. Besides, the WAP 2.0 competition is still four to five years away. Give a start-up four or five years in a space that’s growing as rapidly as ODP, and it’ll go IPO in two!
Authored by Scott G. Silk, president and CEO of Action Engine (for biography click here) |
