Content search and discovery is intensifying, prompting carriers and handset
makers to elevate the status of content navigation on mobile devices to near mission-critical.
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Screen shots from AT&T’s My MEdia Net.
Subscribers can simply drag and
drop content of interest into
five pre-selected spots.
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The adage, “If customers can’t find it, they won’t use it,” is now the mantra of carriers, handset manufacturers and their supporting cast of technology, software and hardware vendors as they explore new content search and discovery methods on mobile devices.
And there’s plenty of content to navigate – from LBS and movies to news, sports, weather, games and social networking – all creating a rising tide in the sea of content making its way onto mobile devices, which are flooding the planet.
ABI Research forecasts 1.1 billion handsets will be shipped in 2007, many of which will be content-rich. And just how are consumers expected to find all this content?
“With all of the content coming, search for content will be very important. We’re seeing some carriers doing search themselves and putting applications and service offerings under one umbrella. As their models coalesce, service providers will have to think about navigating and investing in user interfaces to make it easier for customers to navigate content,” says Mike Wolf, director of digital media for ABI Research.
And the growth of content on mobile devices is impressive. For example, Multi Media Research Group predicts more than 240 million TV-enabled handsets will be sold by 2011, designed to handle the expected influx of content. And according to ABI’s Wolf: “People are actually watching mobile TV in their bedrooms, for 40 minutes at a time. Many content providers are now thinking about hour-long episodes for prime-time shows.”
DEMYSTIFYING THE SEARCH
And it’s not just content providers and carriers that are thinking about the search for content on mobile devices. More manufacturers such as InfoSpace, are making deep dives into the search and discovery space.
“The amount of content is exploding in all formats, and consumers will always need help to navigate the content. We believe search will become the starting point for all media, and will play a dominant role. It’s like the c-prompt and will generate mobile usage. It makes sense,” says Brendan Benzing, vice president of mobile service and marketing for InfoSpace.
What also makes sense, he notes, is first getting an audience. “Search is first a navigational tool, then a discovery tool. Carriers need to have control over those. Making sure you can get an audience to the content they want is invaluable. Carriers are turning to us to demystify the search,” Benzing says.
InfoSpace provides AT&T with the carrier’s My MEdia Net service, which enables users to add whatever content they chose to their mobile devices, with automatic updates and navigational tools.
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Collins: AT&T is
already working on
the next generation
of My MEdia Net.
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Yet for carriers, providing the right search and discovery tools is a work in progress. “The feedback since we launched our data services is that it’s not easy to access and find content. So the challenge is to provide easier access for customers, that’s why we started the project that led to My MEdia Net. We put the customer behind the steering wheel and asked them what categories they wanted,” says Mark Collins, vice president of consumer data for AT&T wireless.
My MEdia Net, he explains, provides a browser that allows users to navigate content via a search box, then drag and drop to five pre-selected spots “like a wireless Web page. You can update it on your mobile device or on the Web,” he adds.
AT&T, Collins says, is developing a next-generation application designed to simplify the navigational process even more and “make the services more valuable and drive more interest.”
GETTING CONTENT TO HANDSETS
For handset manufacturers such as Nokia, which recently announced its MOSH (Mobilize and Share) platform, the search and discovery mission is prompting a flurry of activity in the content navigation space. “We developed MOSH to allow more content to find its way to the handsets. We realized there are innovative works that are not finding their way to consumers easily. By providing an open, user-generated platform, Nokia is creating a hub for new mobile content to emerge,” says George Linardos, director of business development and marketing for Forum Nokia and MOSH.
| Nokia Jumps in Mosh Pit |
At the CTIA I.T. & Entertainment show last month, there was a wireless mosh party in the city by the bay. However, that party was spelled with capital letters.
Nokia and some of its friends had the party at a club not far from the Moscone Center to promote Nokia's mobile sharing site, called MOSH, as well as to launch a search capability for the site.
The search feature, creatively called SEEK, is designed as a way to find relevant content already uploaded to the MOSH site, such as a map of Amsterdam or a video of a dive in the Maldives.
Nokia calls SEEK the third dimension of MOSH, with the first being the ability to upload and share content and the second being the downloading and customization on a device. SEEK is set to launch Dec. 14 but was being demoed at the CTIA Show.
Nokia says MOSH (short for mobilize and share) has had 6 million downloads since its beta launch Aug. 9. The majority of downloads from the Website are made through mobile browsers, the company says.
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MOSH’s Seek feature, Linardos noted, will help content to not only emerge, but assist users in the search and discovery mode. It allows users to seek content and interact with the community. “We’re taking the approach that allows the social networking community to provide feedback so we can develop quick responses and a way for them to connect with other users. SEEK is a tool that provides many creative options.”
For companies such as Entriq, which provides content delivery over multiple platforms, the content navigation issue is driving more interest than ever, while getting the attention of a growing number of manufacturers.
“We’ve helped content and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) providers, but that has changed. Now, it’s about maintaining cross-platforms and solutions over any device, and more are hinging on discovery and navigation. Our goal is to make content navigation over mobile devices similar to the Web and TVs through creating lists and shortcuts. We’re seeing mobile as an extension of PC and TV services and we must have a search system that makes it easy for search functionality,” says Shawn Michaels, director of product management for Entriq.
FUNCTIONALITY FIRST
The search for a functional navigational system that will seamlessly allow users to find and access content on their mobile devices is not without its challenges, however. Admits Michaels: “We want to expand into the mobile space, but are having a hard time with device fragmentation and in controlling customer expectations. With all these mobile devices, it’s like a thousand little PCs, so it’s difficult.”
Nevertheless, companies such as SNAPin Software are pushing ahead with their development of edgy new content navigational solutions. “We think about it a lot, especially what we call the ‘focus group gap.’ What people say they want on their mobile phones and what they do in the real world is totally different. So how do they find content that interests them? The wealth of content has tipped over. There’s so much content out there, the challenge is which one to try now and how to find it,” says Tom Trinneer, vice president of products and support for SNAPin.
SNAPin’s software, Trinneer explains, texturally delivers people to on-device portals or storefronts. “If you get someone to the front door and give them picture-taking ability, for example, and one successful experience, they’ll use all the features on their handsets eventually. But people have to use the services first.”
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SNAPin’s SelfService campaign allows customers to
configure and handle different m-commerce needs. |
And not just voice services, insists Ramneek Bhasin, CEO of Mobio Networks, a provider of mobile applications. “Voice is still the dominant use of mobile phones with 60% to 70% of the market. But what are the emerging needs for the other 30% to 40%? They want direct access to the same artifacts they have on the Web, mobile content and social networking. But we need to get them to the end point in three clicks or less. But few even know these are available. There’s no true discovery mechanism.”
Perhaps. But in the meantime, the mission to find that mechanism is becoming top of mind for not only carriers, handset manufacturers and their supporting vendors, but the content community as well.
Concludes Wolf: “Handsets are much more powerful and sessions are growing, with full-length shows on mobile phones. I wonder if consumers will watch the majority of content on handsets, but they’re very powerful. Some day we may see an electronic program guide on handsets.”