Providers expected to strike the right balance
The words 'compelling content' trip off the tongue but rarely translate smoothly in the realm of the mobile phone. Squeezing memorable material on to a screen about the size of a business card takes some doing.
Most of us still only look at the screen to navigate and look at messages and thumbnail photos. It is hard to see the mobile in the same light as a TV.
Enter Jennifer Wilson, head of HWW Mobile, which supplies mobile content portal facilities to third-party content providers.
Ms Wilson, who has 20 years of experience in the interactive communications industry under her belt, is nothing if not blunt about the subject.
'We all know WAP is crap,' she said. 'The danger is that, much as was done with WAP, the opportunities will be oversold to the consumer and the experience under-delivered.
'If we continually promise them 'internet on your phone' and give them substandard experiences with less than fresh content, we will damage the industry for years.'
According to Ms Wilson, mobile content is vital. Consumers want more than the 'fancy clamshell phones' advertised by models who look ecstatically happy.
Mobile content needs to become integral to our lives just like the internet. She cited a recent survey conducted to determine what would happen if internet users were taken offline.
Even finding participants was hard. The researchers had to pay them A$950 ($5,710) for the two weeks. Only 28 individuals out of 750 would agree to become guinea pigs. The diary entries proved uniformly miserable - the subjects found that the net was much more embedded in their lives than they realised.
So how can mobile content become as vital to our fulfilment as the internet?
For one thing, it needs to be fairly speedy, as 3G is. 'Is it faster than the Net? No. Is it faster than WAP? You bet,' Ms Wilson said.
Content also needs to offer value for money. Potential users accustomed to accessing the internet at work for nothing will certainly refuse to shell out if the price is high. To reduce costs, Ms Wilson suggested product placement in content and adverts that the user must watch.
To reduce inhibition, suppliers will need to provide 'hygiene content' and 'hero content'. Hygiene means the standard stuff which consumers will expect and miss if absent - the news, the weather, jokes, horoscopes, sports results and 'downloadable content'.
Hero means material endowed with the power to influence which network a consumer chooses. That means frills such as animations, live comedy, mobile banking, eBay, locating map software, MP3 downloads and unique special offers.
Consumers will respond particularly well if the content is tailored, personal and relevant. 'I want my life, my restaurants, my bidding ... intimacy,' Ms Wilson said.
She warned that content providers must strike the right balance at all costs. 'A bad experience is a complete turn-off. A good experience is merely expected.' If the providers failed, 'it will be WAP all over again'.
