BBC's Darren Waters interviewed Andy Rubin, the main man behind the Android platform, and had him give a demo too. This is the kind of video I was expecting to see come out of the Mobile World Congress this year, only to be disappointed. Here's a video of the demo.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Challenges of Mobile Advertising
Mobile phones are intensely personal devices we carry with us pretty much everywhere. As such, it is hard-to-resist medium for advertisers. However, this platform can be a double-edged sword. Mobile advertisements are perhaps the most intrusive form of marketing, just a rung below telemarketing calls. So, there is a high potential for turning off prospective customers.
In this post we will examine some of the challenges of advertising on the mobile phone.
Limited Screensizes
Unlike TVs and computers with ever increasing screen sizes, the size of mobile phone screens will always remain small. Every millimeter of space on that screen is valuable. There are no convenient side bars, header banners and footer spaces where ads can be shown without too much distraction from the main content. So, where to squeeze some ad space without encroaching on content and irritating the user? One way of increasing screen space on mobile phones is to make the entire face of the phone a screen, with a touch interface, like the popular iPhone.
Reduced Receive-only Attention Span
By its very nature the mobile phone is a device for active interaction, whether we are talking or messaging. On every other platform, be it print, TV, radio or the computer, the amount of time we spend in non-interactive, receive-only mode is much higher compared to the phone. Receive-only mode is when we are only reading / viewing / listening to something, as opposed to interacting with it by providing our own inputs. Most of today's ads are geared towards audiences who are in the receive-only mode. These are passive ads.
Mobile phones are used in receive-only mode, only for short durations when we are looking for specific information or when we are passing time when waiting for an appointment or to reach a destination, etc. This substantially reduced receive-only attention span of mobile phone users presents another challenge for presenting ads.
This issue can be addressed in a couple of ways: a) Provide content which encourages people to spend more time in receive-only mode on the phones. b) Come up with clever interactive ads / marketing campaigns. These are active ads which require the audiences to play with them or provide inputs.
The one thing you do not want to do is interrupt the user with an ad when they are in active interaction mode - be it communicating with somebody or looking up information.
Rewards for unsolicited ads
The state of mobile devices and connectivity today is that showing ads on the phone involves a cost to the end-user. The ads may drain more power from the phone's limited battery source and it may increase the data usage for which the user may be paying by volume. In addition, the user will also be paying with her/his personal time and attention, which s/he might consider to be even more valuable than the battery power or data usage costs. As such, users will be loathe to consume unsolicited ads on the phone without being rewarded in return with something more than the information presented in the ad. Such rewards could be free voice or data connectivity, free phones, etc. As the market matures, I'm sure marketers will think of other innovative rewards with which to win over customer's attentions.
The rewarding of users with free stuff in exchange for viewing ads happens more often than we realize. Eg: Programming on many TV netword channels are available to us for free viewing, subsidized by ads.
Solicited Ads or Ads as (Search) Results
The most effective presentment of ads is as a response to a user request or search. I am not talking of contextual ads shown alongside search results. These contextual ads are still unsolicited ads because they are shown without the user asking to see them. Suppose, the user is looking for a store or a business via a search service or directory calling service on the mobile phone. The service would then show mostly (or perhaps exclusively) businesses which have paid to be listed as results of that search. This, of course, goes against the principles of fair and unbiased search results and such a service cannot strictly be called a search service. Nevertheless, if the results are of high quality and relevancy, it will be used by the people. Just Dial in India is one such directory service which charges businesses to list them as search results.
Summary
Advertising on mobile phones is not an easy proposition due to the scarce screen space, reduced attention span of users and risks of antagonizing the user by being too intrusive, or worse, costing her/him time and money to merely view the ad. However, the rewards are enormously high for anyone who successfully cracks this puzzle as effectively as Google cracked the contextual ads puzzle.
In a future column, we will explore some of the possible options for displaying ads on a mobile screen with the least intrusion to the user.
In this post we will examine some of the challenges of advertising on the mobile phone.
Limited Screensizes
Unlike TVs and computers with ever increasing screen sizes, the size of mobile phone screens will always remain small. Every millimeter of space on that screen is valuable. There are no convenient side bars, header banners and footer spaces where ads can be shown without too much distraction from the main content. So, where to squeeze some ad space without encroaching on content and irritating the user? One way of increasing screen space on mobile phones is to make the entire face of the phone a screen, with a touch interface, like the popular iPhone.
Reduced Receive-only Attention Span
By its very nature the mobile phone is a device for active interaction, whether we are talking or messaging. On every other platform, be it print, TV, radio or the computer, the amount of time we spend in non-interactive, receive-only mode is much higher compared to the phone. Receive-only mode is when we are only reading / viewing / listening to something, as opposed to interacting with it by providing our own inputs. Most of today's ads are geared towards audiences who are in the receive-only mode. These are passive ads.
Mobile phones are used in receive-only mode, only for short durations when we are looking for specific information or when we are passing time when waiting for an appointment or to reach a destination, etc. This substantially reduced receive-only attention span of mobile phone users presents another challenge for presenting ads.
This issue can be addressed in a couple of ways: a) Provide content which encourages people to spend more time in receive-only mode on the phones. b) Come up with clever interactive ads / marketing campaigns. These are active ads which require the audiences to play with them or provide inputs.
The one thing you do not want to do is interrupt the user with an ad when they are in active interaction mode - be it communicating with somebody or looking up information.
Rewards for unsolicited ads
The state of mobile devices and connectivity today is that showing ads on the phone involves a cost to the end-user. The ads may drain more power from the phone's limited battery source and it may increase the data usage for which the user may be paying by volume. In addition, the user will also be paying with her/his personal time and attention, which s/he might consider to be even more valuable than the battery power or data usage costs. As such, users will be loathe to consume unsolicited ads on the phone without being rewarded in return with something more than the information presented in the ad. Such rewards could be free voice or data connectivity, free phones, etc. As the market matures, I'm sure marketers will think of other innovative rewards with which to win over customer's attentions.
The rewarding of users with free stuff in exchange for viewing ads happens more often than we realize. Eg: Programming on many TV netword channels are available to us for free viewing, subsidized by ads.
Solicited Ads or Ads as (Search) Results
The most effective presentment of ads is as a response to a user request or search. I am not talking of contextual ads shown alongside search results. These contextual ads are still unsolicited ads because they are shown without the user asking to see them. Suppose, the user is looking for a store or a business via a search service or directory calling service on the mobile phone. The service would then show mostly (or perhaps exclusively) businesses which have paid to be listed as results of that search. This, of course, goes against the principles of fair and unbiased search results and such a service cannot strictly be called a search service. Nevertheless, if the results are of high quality and relevancy, it will be used by the people. Just Dial in India is one such directory service which charges businesses to list them as search results.
Summary
Advertising on mobile phones is not an easy proposition due to the scarce screen space, reduced attention span of users and risks of antagonizing the user by being too intrusive, or worse, costing her/him time and money to merely view the ad. However, the rewards are enormously high for anyone who successfully cracks this puzzle as effectively as Google cracked the contextual ads puzzle.
In a future column, we will explore some of the possible options for displaying ads on a mobile screen with the least intrusion to the user.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
It's a gPhone debut parade!
We had reported earlier on rumors of a gPhone debut at the Mobile World Congress, which opens next week. The rumors have taken on a tone of all but confirmed reporting in the past few days. Apparently, we won't see a debut of just one or two godPhones, but a parade of upto a dozen gPhone prototyes, according to this article on CNN Money:
a) How many of these "phone prototypes designed to operate with Android" will actually be running Android? I ask this only because the Winstron GW4 was being shown off as the "first Android-capable phone" at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, although it was decided not running on Android yet!
b) The above CNN Money article claims that, "the success of Google's effort to develop a next-generation mobile phone will largely depend on convincing independent developers". I have heard a similar thing from many others about how independent developers will make or break Android. Well... no! We have repeatedly seen great-looking, shiny new mobile phones becoming a huge hit in the market with no independent developer support. All it would take is the introduction of just one Android handset which one-ups the iPhone, and everybody, their grandmothers and their kids will be lining up for it. So, no, the success of a new mobile phone or platform does not largely depend on independent developers. However, I don't deny that independent developers do make an important contribution, especially towards the long-term adoption and sustenance of a new computing platform.
As many as one dozen handset makers and chip companies are expected next week to unveil mobile phone prototypes designed to operate with Google Inc.'s (GOOG) new Android software platform, a source familiar with the situation said Friday.Couple of points:
One analyst said the number companies preparing to show off their wares at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona amounts to "a small but symbolic step" forward for the Internet search and advertising giant, which has set it sights on the nascent but potentially lucrative mobile ad market.
"Having prototypes is a signal, but not a promise, that the phones will be out there," said Bill Hughes, analyst at In-Stat consultancy.
Hughes said the success of Google's effort to develop a next-generation mobile phone will largely depend on convincing independent developers - whom Google is counting on to add all the bells and whistles to its mobile phone software - that there will be a broad market for their applications.
a) How many of these "phone prototypes designed to operate with Android" will actually be running Android? I ask this only because the Winstron GW4 was being shown off as the "first Android-capable phone" at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, although it was decided not running on Android yet!
b) The above CNN Money article claims that, "the success of Google's effort to develop a next-generation mobile phone will largely depend on convincing independent developers". I have heard a similar thing from many others about how independent developers will make or break Android. Well... no! We have repeatedly seen great-looking, shiny new mobile phones becoming a huge hit in the market with no independent developer support. All it would take is the introduction of just one Android handset which one-ups the iPhone, and everybody, their grandmothers and their kids will be lining up for it. So, no, the success of a new mobile phone or platform does not largely depend on independent developers. However, I don't deny that independent developers do make an important contribution, especially towards the long-term adoption and sustenance of a new computing platform.
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