The UK Mobile Report

Do analysts fess up?

Whatever next? An analyst gives a big thumbs-down to a new product and then confesses that he hadn't actually used it? I was somewhat surprised today when I read Dale Vile's blog. In summary, he stuck the boot in when RIM launched the BlackBerry Pearl, but retracted said boot as a result of a rethink after he had actually used the phone.

First things first. Dale is a well respected blogger. Secondly, in his first piece he didn't actually say he had used the Pearl, so he is perhaps being a bit hard on himself.

I remember reading his first piece and thinking it was a bit harsh. But it was opinion as opposed to review, so no specific damage to his integrity if he gave a different view as a result of actually using the phone. So I wonder what exactly is going on here? Not external pressure, surely? More likely he just had a complete rethink after using the phone. I just hope it doesn't stop him from expressing strong views in the future.

For the record, I have swapped back to a qwerty, 'wedgie' BlackBerry after using the Pearl. I quite liked the Pearl but the sound quality wasn't great and I never could get used to that Suretype system. I suspect Pearl will become the BlackBerry for executives that want to look good but don't actually use it very much. If -  as many BlackBerry users do - you use your BlackBerry for turbo email management, I think you will definitely stick with a 'wedgie'.

RIP UK Press Gazette

The UK Press Gazette died today. I will miss it. Its web site improved so much in the last year that I suspect that it only added to the reasons for not buying the paper. Food for thought. Seems The Gruaniad's Neil McIntosh came to the same conclusion. More on the excellent Minds blog. I wonder if they would be prepared to sell the site? Seems a shame to let it die when it was probably attracting healthy traffic.

Video of the day: Vodafone Ringdings

I suppose 'ringding' is dutch for ringtone. This beautifully filmed ad at least shows Vodafone knows its market (youthful, streetwise, style-conscious) but you can't help thinking: wouldn't that guy dance a whole lot better if he just let go of his phone for a minute?

UBC launches download service

UBC Media has launched a music download service that links radio listening to mobile phone downloads. Songs will cost £1.25 each, with payment based on up-front credit card pre-payment.

UBC was defensive over claims that charging more than iTunes (79 pence) was extortionate: "In our trial, price was not a barrier - it's an impulse service. You hear it on the radio, then use your mobile to download it. In the online world iTunes would not be a business were it not for the fact that it was owned by Apple and they were selling iPods." said Simon Cole, chief executive, UBC. The service goes live in London "early" next year 2007 and nationwide by May.

Newsflash: UN says Iraq 'on the brink'

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, says Iraq "could be on the brink of civil war unless urgent steps are taken." It's a depressing day of mainstream news. Annan's comments came along just after the news that three people were admitted to hospital due to fears of radiation poisoning related to the death of Russian former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Do operators fear Google?

Mobile phone operators are big powerful beasts that have no need to fear recent entrants to their market, right? Not according to this little piece on the Marketing Pilgrim blog, teasingly titled 'Mobile Operators quaking in their boots'. If Google have the confidence to go round saying stuff like that you know it is already a seriously disruptive force.

End2End hosts roundtable

This morning UKMR attended an excellent roundtable on mobile content, hosted by mobile data specialists End2End. The speakers were: Patrick Parodi, Chief Sales and Marketing officer, Amobee (chair for the session, pictured here); Adrian Letts, ex-head of Vodafone Content Global and now Director, BlinkBox; Matt Hatton, Senior Analyst, Yankee Group; Tom McLennan, Category Manager for Music, Vodafone; Niklas Hjelm Hansen, product manager End2End.

Broadly speaking, there was general agreement that mobile content is at an embryonic stage, "It's rather like the early days of the internet, when Mosaic had just been released," said Patrick Parodi. But naturally there were a range of views about what operators and content providers should do. In essence these ranged from 'stick to the knitting', to 'standardise on one OS', to 'get to know the customer better'.

Matt Hatton outlined Yankee's overall view on how the content market was shaping up: "messaging is clearly the biggest element, and as we progress the 'infotainment' element will grow. Ringtones and graphics and games will continue to take the lion's share, but graphics will decline, ringtones is being subverted by people making their own, while games still looks strong. TV and video will be the big drivers. The business case for music still needs to be proven. We are sceptical about over-the-air downloads."

But what most animated the panel was the hot issues of the day: YouTube on the horizon; 3's announcement of flat-rate broadband; the role of digital rights; and the potential for advertising on mobiles.

Adrian Letts wondered why operators couldn't concentrate less on content and more on offering their billing services to stitch the whole thing together.

Tom McLennan said that 3's flat-rate mobile broadband announcement was nothing more than a PR stunt, but admitted he hadn't had a chance to have a close look at it yet. He hinted that Vodafone had a response in the pipeline, saying: "We have a broadband proposition coming onto the marketplace, I actually don't know what it is."

Matt Hatton said he felt there would be a gradual shift by operators towards a flat-rate model, if 3's service proves attractive.

The DRM debate got incredibly technical, perhaps indicative of the confusion it presents for consumers. One journalist asked for it to be re-explained, despite the fact that he had been covering it for years. Personally I'm still miffed that I can't even put my own music on my iPod (yes, I know its possible, but my iPod software just won't let me).

Despite the general air of the discussion being anti-Microsoft with resptect to any Mobile OS dominating, Adrian Letts said he thought it was a price worth paying: "Why do I have to have so many differnt system experiences, lets just have one."

UKMR slotted in a question about YouTube talking with O2. What kind of a deal did the panel think would be on the cards? Matt Hatton said he though the deal wouldn't be exclusive, while Adrian Letts asked "what's the business model? YouTube had only made $15,000 before Google snapped it up." When asked if Vodafone had held talks with YouTube, McLennan said "probably".

Verdict: The mobile industry does not yet have a compelling enough offering for consumers or for the advertising industry, when it comes to mobile content. Most consumers don't want to pay for something they can get free or easily on the internet; while most advertisers are not interested in such a tiny demographic. But hey, there are plenty of people desperate to make it work, so, slowly but surely, operators look likely to deliver the lower cost offerings that will make content to mobiles fly; while also hitting upon more appropriate premium content must-have offerings. Or did they already do that? (See 'Shock Report' story below).

Mobile comparison service

Mobilesift is a new mobile comparison service aimed at consumers. I would tell you more, but they aren't answering their phone at the moment despite launching today. I think a good acid test will be to see how quickly it reacts when 3 announces its much awaited flat-rate pricing on Friday (assuming they do of course).

Two days later: I finally got to speak with Mobilesift founder Andy James. He told me the site competes with a number of other comparison sites but is better because it more rigorously tests to see if the features promised by the vendors are there on the phone. But he admitted that the current level of information is limited. Currently there is data from eight vendors. The good news is that Mobilesift only makes money from pushing your clicks through to vendor sites, whereas the bigger comparison sites make money from actually converting you to another contract on their site - an activity that could well compromise their integrity. MobileSift is a welcome new addition, lets hope it gives the others a run for their money.

Shock Report: Sex sells

It's amazing, but true. The adult content market will grow from $1.4 billion this year to over $3.3 billion by 2011, according to Juniper Research. Smut-hungry Europe is the biggest market, closely followed by the content-crazy Asia-Pac region.

I was going to add a racy graphic to go with this story but I can't compete with no-holds barred BIOS Magazine, where apparently 'technology means business'. Somehow I don't think Juniper will be using that graphic on the front of its report.

Four days later: I have decided that the story above is a bit one sided. There is more to life than sex on mobiles. There is also the sublime pleasure of viewing other people behaving in strange and quite disturbing ways - especially when that behaviour is ignored by others as if it were normal. Borat is right. Cities are wonderful but unforgiving places. This innocent dancing behaviour captured somewhere in Belarus would probably get the main offender committed if he performed anywhere within a 50 mile radius of London.

Pricing war hots up

Hmmmm....The EU has asked Britain to review mobile pricing. Reuters has the story. The interesting thing is Ofcom appears to have gone into a huddle. With Viviane Reding knocking on the door it doesn't look like Ofcom is the teeth-baring regulator it likes to think it is. Once again it raises the question: If we need Viviane Reding to sort out unfair pricing, what good is Ofcom?