SIME Talks Season 2 Episode 7: The Mobile Edition – Location Based Services

Mobile is the future, no one really is contesting that. The value chain is getting very interesting with handset manufacturers / OEM’s and software providers getting a strong hold of the value chain which was once the uncontested territory of the operators. Traditionally operators have always held the billing relationship with the consumers, and hence were the gatekeepers to the money. However, the concept of app store seems to be have caught them napping. Google, Apple and RIM / Blackberry have caught the pulse of the market from the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Palm (do you even remember them?).

In this SIME Talks edition, we do a quick introduction of the mobile value chain, from the operators point of view, and go into 1 concept that is making the right noise in the mobile arena.

The Mobile Value Chain

i. Handset Manufacturers – folks who produce the hardware, the intelligent chip for the phone to work with operators.

ii. Software Providers - software for the mobile phone to talk to the hardware. With handset manufacturers controlling their own proprietary operating systems (OS), pure software plays like Microsoft Windows mobile are left in the hunt without any takers from handset manufacturers who want to control and own their OS. Nokia’s OS Symbian, Apple’s proprietary OS, Google’s Android are some examples. Interesting, Microsoft does not want to be left out of the race which they were coming in second (after Symbian) once upon a time are going upstream by manufacturing their handsets soon. Google works with HTC (Hardware manufacturer) to ship their Android OS, although they are coming with their own GPhone too.

iii. Operators – the front end of consumers. The folks who speak to the consumers, shape the experience of the phone and hence control the billing relationship.

Now, the landscape has changed thanks to 2 key developments that have turned the market upside down.

i. With a big surge of smart phones in the market, the concept of customization of the phone through the App store seems to have caught the operators by storm, with a big slice of the revenue pie taken off their control. Apps that can bypass the walled gardens of the operators have left them in a pickle.

ii. The surge in data usage to use the apps from handset manufacturers (and the open market) leaves the operators to invest heavily in their infrastructure to support their consumers without actually able to charge them for more due to reduction in pricing plans of data usage.

This concept of operators being left with no control is called a “dumb-pipe” phenomenon, just supplying the bits pipe for users to use their apps.

The Bottom of the Pyramid is a different story

Developing markets have a completely different story. Dominated by voice, calls and SMS’s are given for cents and pence, and lack of good data infrastructure leaves the ARPU (Ave. Revenue Per User – the most important metric for the operator) quite low. That said, there are 3B people who still do not have a phone and their first internet experience will be through the mobile in the next 5 years leaving operators some hope of investments in new markets.

The story is dismal, but one operator who seems to be bent upon beating the race and trying new things is Vodafone. From shopping on internet concepts, coming up with their own App store and integrating a host of services, Vodafone is innovating at the speed of life to retain their market. Vodafone 360 is such a concept that wants to provide an integrated experience for all its consumers irrespective of the hardware / software running on the phone to give you a social and utility experience based on your location.

In this SIME Talks edition, we feature one such service Vodafone has put its money on – Location Based Services (LBS). LBS basically is an umbrella term for all services (social, utility) that works based on where you are / where you want to be. Through GPS enabled phones (in the hardware) or through native Maps application on phones (think Google Maps on your phone), software developers add a layer of intelligence on the maps. From tracking where your facebook friends have “checked-in” to finding the nearest Italian ristorante near you, location based services is your ‘glocal’ friend.

Wayfinder AB is a Swedish company that offers navigation help on your phone and was acquired by Vodafone recently. Tommy Ahlers (who founded Zyb, a Danish mobile social networking company acquired by Vodafone as well) talks here about location based services, Vodafone 360 and some personal stuff that we think is interesting for you to watch.

Tommy Ahlers about location based services at SIME Stockholm 2009 from 23tv.de on Vimeo.

More to be featured in the mobile edition in the upcoming SIME Talks edition.

Seth Godin nails it!

Seth Godin has never been to SIME. He should be invited, he is just great. Below is a very interesting piece on telling a story line while selling your product. Exactly, what the last post was about with Real Time Storytelling by Steven Overman. It’s a first of cross posting of content not directly related to SIME (may be that’s good?), but this has to go down as a great story, a great learning for all of us.

You can read the original entry here or the text is below for your reference.
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SIME Talks Episode 6, Season 2: Story Telling is the product of great real time conversations (feat. Steven Overman)

Steven Overman believes in the process of story telling – tell a story, talk about your brand : the usual marketing jargon, but comes with a real time twist. He wants real time conversations about your brand to be the storyline of your brand, not your ego centric unidirectional message. An attitudinal change is needed to play the game today.

And the reason is two-fold.

i. Values and behaviors have changed – people want to be / are empowered, conscientious, transparent, anxious and impatient.

ii. Technology and Media have changed – new channels give way to new ways to express and communicate. Social, Intelligent, Context-Aware – the technology is breathing its own life of expression.

This he calls a Real Time Conversation. The passion of his is manifested in his Real Time Project that he co-founded.

Visit The Real Time Project Web here

A big SIME star, Steve was one of the most loved speakers in both SIME Helsinki and SIME Stockholm in 2009, giving riveting talks about story telling and love for real time. Below is an interview captured by our video production friends, Radon.

SIME 09 -STEVEN OVERMAN from SIME on Vimeo.

Steven Overman is a great personality. He is a co-founder The Realtime Project, communications pioneer including Lowe Worldwide Global Strategy Director for IPG Team Nokia and as one of the enthusiast behind Wired Magazine as well as in many other innovative teams. Steven was in the room -94 when the first banner was created…

Read more about Steve’s profile at Brandism
Steve’s Twitter, LinkedIN

Abu Dhabi Magical Media Summit by Ola Ahlvarsson Part III (feat. Eric Schmidt)

[The Abu Dhabi Chronicles continues]

Abu Dhabi Media Summit an invite-only event featuring the cream of the cream in the internet and media industry seem to have made ripples across the industry. With the top brass from NewsCorp, Google, AOL, Microsoft and other movers and shakers in the industry under one roof, it might have been silly to expect anything else actually. Our very own SIME Chairman, Ola Ahlvarsson was also around for the event this week, and inspiration seems to be an unspoken theme in all the 4 days from March 9-12, 2010. Below are some of the musings from Eric Schmidt’s keynote.

Read about Eric Schmidt here

The CEO of Google starts his keynote with a humble request to change the name of the whole event to Abu Dhabi Magical forum since the level of people, creativity and exchange of ideas are all sufficient to create magic. And to follow that metaphor I must say that Eric speech is magical and the informal discussion that follows holds the same level even though
it´s unrehearsed. Eric is not only the person in the world that sits with the most information on how the Internet really works, he can also draw mind boggling conclusions about the future, and in addition he is really funny and
accessible for anyone (well, at least anyone in the room).

The following is an attempt to relate the essence using his own words as much as I could but skipping some passages and questions. The full talk will later be available on youtube under Abu Dhabi Media forum.

“The Arab region grows more than 100% per year on the web which is exciting for a company like Google. There are some very important things that are fuelling the growth here and everywhere in the world.
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Abu Dhabi Magical Media Summit by Ola Ahlvarsson Part II (feat. Hans Vesterberg)

[The Abu Dhabi chronicles continues]

Read the jist of Rupert Murdoch keynote from the Media Summit

Abu Dhabi Media Summit an invite-only event featuring the cream of the cream in the internet and media industry seem to have made ripples across the industry. With the top brass from NewsCorp, Google, AOL, Microsoft and other movers and shakers in the industry under one roof, it might have been silly to expect anything else actually. Our very own SIME Chairman, Ola Ahlvarsson was also around for the event this week, and inspiration seems to be an unspoken theme in all the 4 days from March 9-12, 2010. Below is his recount of the talk given by Hans Vesterberg, VD of Ericsson

Read about Bloomberg’s press release on Hans Vesterberg

The world is mind boggling and has been developing tremendously. 4,6 billion phones, half a billion  broadband users will grow to 3 billion by 2014. As a point of reference 23 billion SMS were sent during one day on Chinese New Year. In 2014 there will be 7 billion mobile subscriptions. So is there a business case? Yes for sure but we need to do changes in models, networks and in us as an industry. People are prepared to pay more than before.
What will be the impact on society? Well that is hard to articulate development in the steel industry created railroads that in turn revolutionized transportation and many industries. Oil created the car industry.. What will be created as an extension of the IT and telecommunication developments? I see an installation phase and a deployment phase. We are still in the installation phase. Our vision is that in 2020 we will have 50 billion connections to the network through machine to machine, new types of connectivity, multiple subscriptions and many other reasons for being connected.  The mobile phone is like the light bulb in early electricity.  Other types of connectivity and gadgets will be every other appliance in the electricity metaphor and the innovation will be fuelled by telecom and content.  Ericsson is in the world of content, in video on demand, with broad casters, with fifa with tv4. We can deliver content to any bearer anywhere anytime. We work with operators in IP tv. We are in 175 countries with 375 million subscribers in the networks. Our duty is to work with all parts of society. There is a strong correlation between connectivity and gdp. Between diminishing co2 emissions and developing telecom. The world triplicates, and so will telecom have to do in order to have a sustainable world. We have the business reasons and we have the societal reasons to follow our vision.

Challenges: we need to have standards in order to deploy everywhere and cheap. We need fair pricing. Everybody needs their share of the cake and users need to pay. The consumer experience needs to be equal regardless of device, location and connection. Us telecom, media and other industries must cooperate.

The consumers are there, the money is there but we need standards.

Abu Dhabi Magical Media Summit by Ola Ahlvarsson Part I (feat. Rupert Murdoch)

People that not only have the power to change the media industry but, because of the power of the media industry, also to change the world in which we live in - Edward Borgerding, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Company

Abu Dhabi Media Summit an invite-only event featuring the cream of the cream in the media industry seems to have made ripples across the industry. With the top brass from NewsCorp, Google, AOL, Microsoft et al under one roof, it might have been silly to expect anything else actually. Our very own SIME Chairman, Ola Ahlvarsson was also around for the event this week, and inspiration seems to be an unsaid theme in all the 4 days from March 9-12, 2010. Below is his recount of the keynote by Rupert

The first day of Abu Dhabi Media forum. A World Economic forum like super elite gathering of media dignitaries where people like Rupert Murdoch, Eric Schmidt, Esther Dyson are chit chatting in the corridors with the royalties of the region ( disclaimer: I don´t consider myself being one of them but am very happy to be a fly on the wall J).

The opening statement by the BBC anchor

“ The people in the room are the smartest in media in the world. The media industry can change the world more than any other industry, over these days we will find out which future you will shape”.

Welcome Rupert Murdoch

Murdoch was clearly interested in the Arab region where he sees that old traditions if they are good are compatible with a sky touching modern skyline. He felt that the region has drawn from its strong past while pointing at the future….

“ There is a creative wind blowing from the dessert and it reeks of technology but it is easy to be blinded by the bling of technology and forget what is really interesting – content. What is an e-reader without good journalism or authors telling stories? Only meaningless toys. People will be drawn to creativity wherever they can find it and furthermore they will
add their own creativity. It is about unlocking creativity more than about technology. If you tell a good story people will listen. Avatar has already brought in close to 3 billion USD, it was produced to a large extent in New Zealand…

So how do you foster creativity in a region ( like the Arab world)? Well it takes money. You also have to create a market place where creativity can be funded and exit. The advertising market must be fair and transparent, copyright laws in place, international competition is essential to make the local companies and thoughts globally competitive. But it also takes individual freedom where governments must have a gentle touch if they have to interfere with creativity. The potential asset of creativity is larger than that of oil. It is also cleaner, endless, creates jobs, excites and ultimately creates a better world.”

For one, I am looking forward for tangible ways to help the media dinosaurs shift the bandwagon into the new spectrum, live in a new world where things have changed upside down. Media companies have more unsold ad inventory which they are not able to connect to good content or revenue model. People are paying less for “traditional” digital advertisements, and concepts such as behavioral
re-targeting and sharing analytics of visitors seems to be more relevant serving as a better investment for those advertising dollars. All in all, the landscape is interesting and we are looking forward for more personal recounts by Ola in the coming days.

Some coverage of the summit can be found here, here and here

SIME Talks Season 2 Episode 5: Facebook – too big to fail?

Andrew Roskin, a noted authority from the DealBook fame of NYTimes recently released a book on how the interconnected businesses between banks make them too big to fail. AIG has become the defacto case study for this phenomenon, since the Government was compelled to save the insurance mammoth in lieu of spending the money on creating more jobs or offering them back to the common man.

[Andrew Roskin's book is quite an interesting read. The amazon link is here. The phenomenon is explained here

Of course, too big to fail can also be used in other industry areas too, and notably Google has been often compared to being too big to fail, primarily since the internet is largely indexed by Google, the path to your online experience taps on Google one too many times every day across the internet-o-sphere.

[Google - too big to fail? or actually I think its too evil to fail - its become a necessary devil]

Now, Facebook seems to be slowly becoming a ‘too big to fail’ case study in their niche of connecting people and getting people into the social realm of things. May be, people can live without Facebook once the fad settles in, but still its slowly inching to becoming a great engagement channel for business and marketers alike, not to mention the number of hours spent on Facebook by the millions every day. Some stats from the Facebook universe:
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