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Third-generation phones are the ideal tool for creating content for everyone

Conventional wisdom in the mobile industry is that there is no 'killer application' for 3G technology.

If there is, it is voice services, which are cheaper because 3G offers greater voice capacity. But the killer application is certainly not video downloads - when have you ever chosen an operator based on the attractiveness of its video content?

This is not to say that content could never be popular. It is just that mobile operators primarily approach content as though they were pay-television providers, striking licensing deals with football clubs and pornographers, and charging users for access.

In short, they see the mobile phone as a platform for delivering entertainment. Rarely do operators view the handset as an instrument for content creation.

This is too bad, because the 3G mobile phone is the perfect content creation tool. More to the point, it is the perfect blogging device.

Most phones can compose text messages and snap pictures, which can be posted to their blogs on the go. A 3G handset could also be used to record and post voice files for podcasts, or video files for video logs.

The internet is undergoing a renaissance, with portals such as MySpace and Flickr relying on user-generated content to attract visitors, a social trend Dale Dougherty of O'Reilly Media called 'Web 2.0'. But this renaissance has yet to reach the mobile internet, and few operators have opened content creation to participation by 3G users.

The handful of existing examples of participatory content creation can be found overseas. In Britain, Hutchison Whampoa has launched See Me TV, which combines user-generated content with the idea that contributors should be paid for their efforts.

Subscribers upload 30-second clips to Hutchison's 3G portal. Every time another user downloads a clip (the funnier the better), the producer receives one pence and Hutchison receives data transmission fees - monetisation ensured by the fact the clips are viewable only at Hutchison's 3G portal.

In a similar vein, Tom Online and Mop.com on the mainland accept content from amateur musicians and performers. When the content is accessed via mobile value-added services, the artist receives a cut.

The attractiveness of such content might be lost on the typical mobile executive, but cheaply produced reality-television and websites such as Big-Boys.com have primed the market for amateur-created entertainment.

In the United States, one service that is making waves is Rabble, which is offered to Verizon Wireless customers for a US$2.99 monthly fee.

With Rabble, members can use their phones as a multimedia blogging tool to keep online diaries or post information specific to their neighbourhood, such as restaurant reviews. Future versions will allow handset users to post video via 3G. Rabble's content is accessible only through the mobile-phone, ensuring payment for the carrier but limiting the potential audience to other Rabble members.

Blogging, however, is a trend borne from the internet and mobile operators would be wise to develop services that feed this phenomenon, rather than attempting to carve out separate spheres of participation.

Major blog hosting providers such as Google-owned Blogger, LiveJournal and TypePad now offer their users the ability to post via the mobile phone. In Hong Kong, M-Gen Mobile Technology has launched a mobile blogging service, mocasting.com.

But while the major hosting providers have global reach, in many cases their mobile services are limited to the home markets where these companies operate. Blogger can accept mobile postings from Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T/Cingular subscribers in the US but not international carriers, frustrating Blogger's overseas users.

This is a problem that could inhibit the long-term growth of mobile blogging. At present, there is no way for users in Hong Kong to send a text message or e-mail with photo or video attachments to overseas blog hosts for posting on their servers.

What operators must keep in mind is that telephone calls are not a one-way conversation, and neither is mobile entertainment. What is needed is a Web 2.0 for the mobile internet, where 3G content creation is open to greater participation by the users of the technology.



Blogging may be killer app