More on Mobile Content

Posted on August 28, 2006
Filed Under Channels and Content |

Over the summer different opinion polls showed that American children don’t want to watch TV programmes on the mobile - at least fewer want to than was previously thought - and children and young adults in the UK are giving up the TV in favour of downloads to mobile devices.

Some of the difference is attributable to different histories of mobile phone use but there’s also the issue of where good content might be coming from and who can access it. It’s not only young people who want mobile content that is not just rehashed TV.

Here’s a brief look at a couple of mobile content initiatives, set against the background of changes in the priorities of network operators. Operators are finally being forced, the the realisation that past strategies are not working, to open up the customer relationship, and pricing, to the content provider.

There are around 1700 content channels on mobile content platform Sms.ac. Though many are personal or poorly produced, the medium is beginning to attract major names. Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoons are there and other content companies are aggregating high quality content from around the web and from podcasts for the mobile.

These include iTunes top comedy sites, IMDb movie reviews, high quality animations, historic choreography, well it’s a sparse list among the many hundreds there but intelligent content is not completely absent. And other mobile-only platforms, or content aggregator sites are also emerging.

Pixsense.com is a site that users can access from their mobile phones to upload and organize pictures and videos taken from the mobile.

Bango.com of course provides an alternative platform to SMS.ac and whereas SMS.ac have produced a platform that the average user might deploy to set up UGC channels bango is working with a number of professional content repurposing companies.

That’s not meant to be an exact and definitive comparison between the two, more a matter of where the emphasis lies for each. From the bango platform a couple of interesting content providers are emerging. Gawker, The Tate gallery in England, and candyspace, a site that majors on high quality artistic content.

That’s not exactly a groundswell of new, quality content but it’s very definitely a beginning. And if past lessons have been learned then the mobile industry will maintain a high level of transparency in charging. That doesn’t necessarily mean that charges will be low or even reasonable.

For good sense to finally overtake the mobile industry we may have to endure another period of sluggish development. Here’s hoping though that the penny drops quickly.


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