In the first of a series of quest columns Colm Healy – Vice President of EMEA services and General Manager of Xiam Technologies, a Qualcomm company – dissects the discovery dilemma.

Search, recommendation and discovery tools are commonplace on the web. We are used to having an intermediary between us and the content that we will eventually consume.

There are many ways in which that intermediary can appear, how we access it, and how it can go about its business, but its role is the same – to enable us to find content. Content that we are looking for; content that we might be looking for; and content that providers want us to see.

The reason that these tools exist is, quite simply, because there is too much content available to do without them. We need some service in place to help us find what we want.

The same now applies to mobile content, be it content designed specifically for mobile, or web content accessed via the mobile. The amount of content available has exploded in recent years to the point where the search, recommendation and discovery tools essential on the web are equally important in our mobile experience.

Key drivers for this explosion in content creation and availability have been led, first and foremost, by the adoption of mobile as an ever-present attachment to our lives, and, in turn, the reliance on the mobile device as a device for more than simply communications.

Evolving from this is the increasing sophistication of mobile handsets – from now so-called ‘Vanilla’ phones, to feature phones, to the emergence and unremitting growth of the smartphone category – users now have mobile handsets that are capable of processing any of the content out there on the web, including HD video. Enabled by the network developments to support increased bandwidth capacity and faster peak data rates, users are now capable of consuming almost any content through their mobile handset.

The user behaviour that this creates represents an incredible opportunity for content developers and publishers. And for the retailers that provide access to that content.

Yet the challenge for all players in the mobile ecosystem is centred on enabling users – buyers – to find the content that they want.

User Research

At Xiam, we recently commissioned TNS Global to carry out transnational – UK and US – research into the experiences of mobile content users which found clear evidence that discovery was standing in the way of a satisfactory mobile user experience. More importantly for the players in the mobile ecosystem, discovery of content is standing in the way of significant revenue opportunities, and creating a user experience that deters customers and will, ultimately, lead to increased customer churn.

The study, which began with a representative sample of 2,666 mobile content users and derived quantitative and qualitative research by focussing more closely on the most active users, revealed an enthusiastic but frustrated demand for easy to use content and applications.

A key finding of the research highlighted that content discoverability was a significant issue, with eight out of ten users reporting a problem obtaining content on their mobile handsets. When it came to finally finding the content for which they were searching, mobile Internet users were, on average, unsuccessful 27% of the time.

Users were frustrated by the time required to find the information they were searching for, and access the specific content that they wanted. Slow page loads, too many layers on websites, and too much irrelevant information are frequent annoyances for mobile content users.

Yet the opportunity presented by mobile content was reiterated by the fact that almost two-thirds (63%) of consumers surveyed indicated that they would spend more time browsing and purchase more content if it was personalized and easier to find.

How We Search

Though mobile content is a relatively new arrival on our plate of entertainment and services for consumption, users are already set in their ways, accessing the same types of content and doing so via the same search tools. Both, more often than not, an extension of their traditional, online content and search habits from their laptop or PC.

Mobile web browsers tend to use search engines (with Google the most frequently referenced), bookmarked sites or to enter URLs directly.

This reflects, very clearly, that there is no significant, regular influence on users as to the content for which they search:
• Search engines are a powerful tool for giving you specifically what you were looking for, though they are far from flawless
• Bookmarked sites are sites that the user has previously visited and had a productive experience of using
• Directly entered URLs indicate that the user knew precisely where on the mobile they wanted to go

Using the mobile network operator’s content portal is one of the less often used methods for accessing content, and was rated in our survey as least effective for finding desired content. Respondents reported that the service provider’s portal was often poorly organised, and that relevant content was not easily and directly accessible.

Those same users reported that they would increase the time and money spent on mobile web browsing if relevant content was easier to find. 59 percent said they would spend more time accessing content – translating to, on average, 65 minutes more per month. And 37 percent said they would spend more money on content purchases – translating to, on average, £5 more per month.

A further criticism of service provider portals was focusing too much on content downloads (i.e. sales) rather than on providing information and a service. Information on events and special promotions, as well as relevant recommendations based upon previous choices of the individual user would enhance the operator’s value to end users significantly.

This element – recommendation enabling discovery – is primary to any mobile content service as it cuts through the time consuming search procedure, and improves the experience of the user. The model adopted and made famous by Amazon – ‘if you liked this, you might also like this’ – is a simple and effective one. The more sophisticated this can be, the more effective the results will be.

And with the myriad different types of content and applications available, a tool to enable the discovery of content that is highly relevant but might otherwise go unnoticed can be especially valuable. Valuable to the user; valuable to the manager of the portal or store; and valuable to developers and publishers of the content, who will focus their efforts towards a provider that can enable their offering to be discovered.

One of Qualcomm’s key messages to the industry is that the mobile experience has to evolve beyond simple search and move toward personal discovery, making the user’s experience more intuitive. These results point to a huge opportunity for operators to increase mobile data usage and sales by providing personalized mobile apps, content and services.

Colm Healy is vice president of EMEA services and general manager of Xiam Technologies for Qualcomm Internet Services (QIS).  QIS helps accelerate consumer adoption and consumption of mobile content across all networks and devices by delivering a more engaging mobile experience that is contextual and relevant to consumers’ personal interests. In his current role, Healy manages all business relationship and deployments of Qualcomm’s services solutions within the EMEA region. As general manager of Xiam Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary acquired by Qualcomm in March 2008, he continues to lead the team’s efforts in selling and deploying Xiam’s discovery and recommendations products to a worldwide network of mobile operators including Vodafone, Orange, O2, AIS and Globe.

Disclaimer: Xiam is an MSG supporter.

At first, the endgame was about boosting personalization to improve the mobile operator portals (that forced us to navigate through multiple menus) and cut the clicks to content that we genuinely appreciated. Typically, operators implemented personalization tools to bubble up cool content to the idle screen, taking the hassle out of finding and buying content on the device.

Fast forward, and on-portal is no longer where (all) the action is. The explosion in the number of app stores — software applications supermarkets run by handset makers, operators and independent players such as GetJar – increases our interest in finding stuff we like, and the sheer abundance of apps turns up the pressure on companies across the emerging ecosystem to make finding cool stuff a no-brainer.

By way of background, the content discovery dilemma was expertly outlined in a recent post by Alfred DeRose, who heads Tego Interactive, a Web and mobile product and services company specialized in integrated solutions for converged businesses determined to get more out of their digital assets. Working with clients to address a variety of issues around content discovery has allowed Tego to create a series of “cheat sheets” and white papers describing the problem and offering suggestions/solutions. So, watch this space.

PERSONALIZATION FOR THE PEOPLE

Put another way, content discovery is back at the top of the agenda and interest in personalization/recommendation technologies (to expose people to apps they are likely to appreciate) is also on the rise.

I know this from my interviews with vendors and operators, and from studying a raft of recent stats confirming (through app downloads) that we do indeed want more mobile stuff than ever. However, a disturbing hole in the argument has been (until this week) a lack of insight into what the people want.

Indeed, the underlying assumption has been that poor discovery (and even more miserable mobile search, as this in-depth post from my last mobile search master class shows) frustrates us (because we can’t find what we want) and forces mobile companies (operators/content owners and now developers) to leave money on the table.

So – how serious is the content discovery dilemma, really? Are people really frustrated? And would they buy more if it was easier?

NEW SURVEY

Thanks to a new survey of 2,666 mobile users in the U.S. and the U.K. — conducted by research firm TNS Global on behalf of Xiam Technologies, a Qualcomm subsidiary providing discovery and recommendations solutions to mobile operators – we finally have some thought-provoking stats.

The key data point: 80 percent of people experience some sort of problem getting stuff. The three biggest barriers: stuff is hard to find, phone and interface issues are a pain and the content is just plain irrelevant.

MOBILE SEARCH DOESN’T CUT IT

People are relying on mobile search to discover content, with some 68 percent using search engines to find what they want. 58 percent type in the URL. But – when it comes to effectiveness – people report URLs (83 percent) and bookmarks (89 percent) are the best ways to find content. Mobile search comes in a close third. Interestingly, 67 percent said the handset manufacturer portal was an effective way to find content; 67 percent said operator/service provider portals were effective.

Overall, people complained they are unsuccessful in accessing/purchasing (!) content they want 27 percent of the time.

WOULD PERSONALIZATION HELP?

In principle, it would. Assuming it was easier to find personalized stuff, almost 60 percent would spend more time accessing content and almost 40 percent would spend more money. Would people accept customized recommendations to find stuff they like? Approximately half of people survey in both the U.S. and the U.K. would accept suggestions.

HOW MUCH MONEY CAN BE MADE

Specifically, people said they would spend over an hour a week (55 percent increase) more accessing stuff with their mobile phones and over $8 per month (148 percent increase) if finding and buying was a no-brainer.

In addition to these consumer insights, the report is chock-full with interesting stats about the type of content people download (apps lead the pack) and pay for (games); top mobile sites (service provider destinations/portal trail the likes of Google, Yahoo, Facebook and the BBC); and the gripes people have about their providers (too pricey, too difficult to use and un-cool content).

MOBILE SOCIAL FUTURE

My personal thanks to Martin Clancy, Xiam Marketing Manager, for bringing my attention to the report (in a pre-briefing) and for arranging an interview with Colm Healy, Xiam CEO, to connect the dots. Naturally, much of this analysis is reserved for my report.

However, one exciting observation I can share is the pivotal importance of “significant others” (peers, friends, like-minded people) in the content app suggestions we can expect moving forward.

As Colm put it: The space is “in the eye of the storm.” App stores up the ante and force companies across the ecosystem to focus on personalization and recommendation as means to expose people to the stuff they are likely to appreciate and – ultimately – purchase.

App stores are the place to go – but what is going to keep us coming back for more?

Colm believes that social discovery will provide that stickiness. As he puts it: Recommendations from our friends will be the way we find apps.

But the challenge is not just in harnessing rants and raves from our peers to complement personalization and drive discovery. The real work is in creating recommendations that will work across the plethora of app stores coming on line. “There are unique challenges related to app store fragmentation. If I’ve discovered a great app on an iPhone, obviously what I want to do is let my friend know about that great app. But – if they have a different phone – then the question is how to direct them to the right app for that particular phone.”

Another trend high on Colm’s radar: apps to discover apps. As Colm sees it: Smartphones are chock-full of features and functionalities — clever technology that providers could/should harness to sell us on the wealth of apps at our finger tips. It’s all about taking advantage the interface and features such as location, the compass and the accelerometer (to name a few) to help people get to apps they would likely appreciate.

My take: Personalization has been at the center of mobile since the start. First people bought content (such as ringtones) to personalize their devices. Then companies implemented technology to deliver personalized suggestions and idle-screen takeovers as a way to help people navigate the avalanche of content and cut the clicks to content. It’s work in progress. Now the explosion of app stores pushes the content discovery issue back to the top of the agenda for operators, handset makers, developers – everyone. As this report shows, people would spend more time and money accessing stuff on their mobile phones if it were easier to do. Moving forward, people will likely not only appreciate personalized recommendations (particularly if they come from their peers). They may even come to expect them.

Disclaimer: MSG relies on Tego Interactive for the creation and integration of its online and mobile destinations/strategies. Xiam has aligned with MSG to publish a sponsored series of thought leadership columns and contributions beginning in December 2009.

It was great to have the last few days off and even better to map out an exciting line-up of MSearchGroove projects for the next few months. One that I am particularly honored to announce: my collaboration with GigaOM Pro, the new research arm of the highly respected tech blog GigaOM. By way of background, GigaOM Pro has brought together an impressive roster of industry authorities and analysts (including my esteemed colleague Chetan Sharma) to “address the gap that exists in real-time expert industry analysis on emerging technology markets.” The GigaOM Pro solution: Make timely, highly relevant analysis and insights accessible and practical.

I’m on board to write an in-depth examination of personalization and recommendation technologies and business models, a natural next step given my long track record analyzing mobile search and my deep involvement in the recommender space. (This includes work with Strands, a major provider of recommender systems, on recommender industry events including RecSys 09 – October 22-25, NYC.)

The report is an ambitious undertaking and I am naturally interested in connecting with personalization/recommendation companies –so please contact me directly if you wish to be considered for inclusion. peggy@msearchgroove.com

Why the buzz about personalization?

The advance of Internet-specific smartphones and the spread of app store schemes turns up the pressure on mobile operators (and their content providers) to decipher data transactions (on and off the network), combine it with location and demographic data and use the results to create a 360-degree view of the individual.

Where does this shift leave mobile operators?

They are hard pushed to turn analytics into competitive advantage. Sensing this business opportunity (that execs tell me they estimate hovers in the hundreds of millions of dollars), a slew of companies (such as Amdocs, Bytemobile, Novarra and Qualcomm) are among the first out the gates with revamped offers to arm operators for the ultimate battle with Web giants for the mobile customer. This special series profiles the players jockeying for position in the marketplace.

This week we look at Openwave, which has recently productized its existing analytics capabilities and business intelligence know-how, and packaged it up as Mobile Analytics.

The solution – designed to aggregate usage data and behavioral information across a variety of sources, including on-portal surfing and open Web browsing, to generate meaningful reports –dovetails with other Openwave offers (behavioral targeting, profiling, usage pattern analysis) to lay the groundwork for the delivery of relevant content and advertising.

I caught up with Mayur Pitamber, Openwave Product Management Strategist, to discuss the role of the mobile operator, debate the value of personalization and what we can expect next in the Openwave product roadmap.

AN EXCERPT OF OUR Q&A

Q: Let’s talk about the fit with mobile advertising. You have just launched the complement to your own mobile advertising solution, which is Mobile Analytics. What’s the level of interest in mobile advertising? I’m hearing some operators get it, but many more don’t…

A: There was some hype about it at first, but operators are starting to see the value of it now and they are also beginning to understand the real value of the data they have. The last months have been marked by a surge of activity and RFIs and RFPs specifically for mobile analytics solutions, which is new in this market. We didn’t see this last year.

A lot of what happened and the initial excitement around mobile advertising industry was quite premature. It’s not just about offering targeted advertising; it’s about offering relevant products and services based on the user’s behavior. The operators can use analytics to gain profiles of these users, the sites they frequent and what they do while online. It’s when this information can be aggregated and provided to media agencies and brands that it really becomes valuable.

It’s all about helping operators to provide the mobile audience metrics that the brands are looking for. Not necessarily going through the GSMA, because they have some of that [covered in their] initiative, but doing that directly. With the solution we’re offering the operators can provide those metrics directly to the brands, to the media agencies, to the publishers, and be a vital part of that mobile advertising ecosystem. And with our solution there’s no need for us to insert tracking or cookies or JavaScript, or anything like that. Every Web page goes through our gateway and we can basically track on that. So, that’s a key differentiator.

Q: There are, of course, other solutions in this space. A long list of gateway providers: Qualcomm, Amdocs, Ericsson, Nokia, Bytemobile, Novarra. And the space is getting crowded.

A: Obviously, there are competitors out there.  All gateway providers can provide parts of this sort of solution. However, I haven’t come across a solution [similar to ours] with this [breadth] out there in the market at this point in time. Being a gateway provider for the last 10 years, we’ve been providing this type of reporting to operators. But now we’ve added more features and made it more user-friendly. So, it’s a mature business intelligence product that we’re bringing to the market.

Q: In early August, Telstra announced it had implemented your Mobile Analytics solution. The press release says it’s all about providing Telstra a “dashboard view of intelligent analytics and rich reporting capabilities across its mobile device portfolio.” To start, how many of your operator customers have this solution or perhaps the analytics solutions that preceded this?

A: We have deployed previous versions of this analytic solution to some six tier-1 operators around the world.

Q: Let’s say I’m an operator and I don’t have a solution from Openwave, but I like the analytics.  Can I just have that, or is it a package deal?

A: Previously, the solution was just built around Openwave products. But obviously, we want a bigger market share, so we’ve designed the solution such that it will work with any other gateway, any other vendor of gateway products.

Q: You said before competing on analytics is the way for operators to be “a vital part of the ecosystem.” Can operators really play this central role?

A: That’s a really good question. I think it’s quite difficult to answer as well. The operators have traditionally been sluggish. Their bread and butter has been voice revenues and SMS revenues. To really get them incentivized to offer new services such as mobile advertising, you need a compelling business case. I’ve spoken to dozens of operators around the world. Some of them are in advanced stages of creating any-time mobile advertising organizations. Others have only one or two mobile advertising product managers. For these operators, the business case – for whatever reason – is just not compelling enough for the decision makers to say okay, let’s really invest in this.

Q: This jives with what people told me while I was conducting interviews for Mobile Advertising Research UK. As one executive at a mobile infrastructure company that counts over 300 network operator clients observed: Mobile advertising only becomes interesting for an operator when “the type of revenue they can envisage is around 2 percent of their overall revenue to 5 percent, and with an opportunity to grow to 10 percent of revenue. This is the revenue that will really make them sit up and make it work.” Another figure that stands out: GBP 28.6 million, which is what the IAB reckons was the mobile ad spend in 2008. What’s your take?

A: I can believe the ad spend for the U.K. I think the hold up is the thinking about the role of the mobile operator. We have to be clear about what they can do. In my view, the role of the mobile operator will be to provide incentives for people to use new services so that additional inventory and mediums become available to insert ads. And obviously, once those mediums become available, that becomes attractive to brands and advertisers. But, right now, it’s difficult for operators to manage their inventories. They have SMS inventory, MMS inventory, on-portal, off-portal. All of these are different systems and it’s difficult to provide brands and advertisers a consolidated view of what is available out there. So, it’s when there is a clear view of the different inventories out there and the tools to manage these inventories, and make these inventories available to third-parties such as the brands and media agencies, that I think mobile advertising will really take off.

Q: Are you convinced operators can start acting like media companies? Or are there going to be a lot of carriers that focus on access over audience?

A: The tier-1s I talk with have created organizations to manage mobile advertising. They’ve created sales forces to go out and sell inventory. So, they are already acting as media agencies and helping brands identify which inventory they want to use. But again, these are just the big tier-1 operators.

Q: Advertising is messaging – and loads of it. Or it could borrow from TV and be video-centric? We don’t know. In any case, we have more data usage – both from people surfing with their smartphones and brands that want to reach them. What is the potential impact on the network side of things? What are you seeing?

A: We’re seeing huge increase in data traffic volumes. A data tsunami is going to hit operators within the next 12-24 months. And some operators are quite oblivious to this. So, [with Mobile Analytics] we’re helping the operators to identify trends on the operational front as well. We’re saying ‘Hey, you need to do capacity planning and optimize your networks because this is going to be your traffic in 6 months or 12 months.’

Q: Let’s move to the report on North American mobile Internet trends you issued that may have got lost in the CTIA shuffle. It made some interesting points, and I understand you are about to release another one soon. What were some of the key observations and what were the surprises?

A: That report was basically based on data from one of our customers in North America. Many of the trends we saw confirmed what the market was thinking. For example, everyone is doing social networking on mobile. The top sites, as you could guess, were Facebook and MySpace.

In terms of search, we were able to also track some keywords. Something that was interesting: people – when they wanted to find Google — wouldn’t enter Google on their mobile phone and go to Google. They would actually enter ‘Google’ in a Yahoo search engine. This operator had Yahoo as a search partner. Anyway, that tells us that a lot of search use may be because of usability. It’s easier to type it [a destination] in a search box than to navigate to it on the Web.

Q: Finally – what about app stores? They’re hot. What is the value-add, if any, from analytics?

A: One of the operators we’re working with is in the process of opening an app store. They know that not all users are going to go through the apps. If you figure the iPhone app store has tens of thousands of apps and growing, users would lose patience sifting through all that. This operator wants to analytics specifically on this [operator] app store to identify the top ten apps. But it goes beyond this to include how many times have the apps been downloaded; who has consumed them; and whether the users have shared apps with other people. More importantly, the operator is providing this app store data to the application developers, so they also have insight into how their apps are being used and how many people have downloaded their apps. So, Mobile Analytics can be used to identify the audiences going to these app stores – and that can be used to build the business.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Generally speaking, the value of data is not in the data itself, but in the mashups we create when we combine it with other data stores. Put another way, the way to wring the value out of analytics is to combine it with location and demographics data, which is why Openwave is keen to feature both in its Mobile Analytics solution. Mayur tells me we can expect location in the next months. (Openwave is also gearing up to announce another customer win for its analytics offer in South East Asia.)

Likewise recommendation capabilities are moving up the list to take a center spot in Openwave strategy. As Mayur put it: The next version of Mobile Analytics will come with recommenders “bolted on.” No word yet on what the recommender will allow (delivery of content or advertising – or both?), how it will achieve this (based on item-to-item or user-to user – or both?), or how it will integrate with Openwave’s underlying Integra platform. But read between the lines, and the sharpened focus on recommendation is at least a welcome testament to the timing and importance of my upcoming GigaOM report on the same topic.

Openwave, unlike some of the gateway providers I’ve examined/profiled in this series, is also bullish about mobile search. The company demo points out that Mobile Analytics potentially improves mobile search, allowing operators to deliver relevant results individuals will find useful.

I am reminded at this juncture of a related post I wrote about the potential for operator-centric, operator-powered, operator-controlled mobile search. With the right tools and technology mobile operators can follow our virtual breadcrumb trail to optimize our mobile search (and advertising) experiences, using our actual usage patterns to give us the answers/results we will most likely appreciate.

My take: Personalization is a hot topic but personalized recommendation and search are even hotter. The space is crowding with gateway providers that are using their position in the network to give their operator customers insights into what people are doing on the network (on- and off-portal). The end-game is about helping operators make business decisions based on new subscriber behaviors and trends. Openwave is one of a number of companies in this space – but it has its eye on the prize: drilling down in the data to help operators manage bandwidth allocation, deliver targeted mobile advertising AND fine-tune recommendation and mobile search. What better way for operators to compete against Internet and search engine giants, and potentially win?

Next in the series: We discuss personalization with Novarra.

But this time it’s more than warm-and-fuzzy lip-service. This time it’s hard-nosed business. Two developments – flat sales of  more traditional mobile entertainment offers such as games and ringtones (albeit at a high level), and the phenomenal popularity of apps and app stores – exacerbate the content discovery dilemma, forcing companies and operators alike to admit that better personalization is a must if higher revenues are the goal.

Last week I directed your attention to this excellent column from Mark Lowenstein, who drives home a point the significance of which I cannot overstate: “The most important way to differentiate in this growing but increasingly crowded market is to deliver a more personalized, contextual applications experience.” He was referring to app stores, where we are forced to sift through thousands of apps. (Déjà vu! It was our frustration with scrolling up and down mobile operator portals and hierarchical menus that opened the door for a variety of mobile search and content discovery solutions and providers that promised to take the pain out of finding and buying content.)

Put simply, personalization is not just central to app store schemes. It is critical to the delivery of content and advertising we will likely appreciate because it is in tune with our lifestyles (through profiling) as well as the important clues we leave behind though our browsing behavior, purchase patterns, and download history. (JumpTap, for example, has built a business connecting the dots between these data points to match relevant advertising to relevant consumer segments. As this MSG post recounts, the company  first released tapLink, a platform that builds targeting intelligence from multiple sources including search queries, browsing history, demographic and location data, and then followed up with the recent launch of tapMatch, its pay-per-click (PPC) performance mobile ad marketplace.)

As I have written many times on MSG, the new paradigm is personalized content-push based on a deep understanding of the individual. It’s even more compelling if the technology can learn users’ likes and dislikes over time to dynamically and consistently deliver the right content mix.

One company making its mark is Xiam Technologies, a Qualcomm company that I have tracked from the start. I recently caught up with Colm Healy, Xiam CEO, in a video interview to discuss the role of recommendation and personalized discovery techniques. (My personal thanks to Martin Clancy, Xiam Marketing Manager, for arranging the interview, and to Curtis Shmigelsky and the rest of the great people at bnetTV for including it in MSG video jukebox!)

I encourage you to check out the video interview in the sidebar. A highlight: Colm’s comments on the opportunities in personalization for mobile operators. As he puts it: “Mobile is a uniquely personal device and if you [operator/service provider] aren’t taking advantage of that by building in recommendations and personalized discovery techniques, you’re missing a beat.”

Almost as exciting as the array of business opportunities Colm describes, is his view of filtering. To cover all the material we did in a reality short video didn’t allow us the time to explore this topic as deeply as I would have liked. However, Martin has kindly offered to set up another interview following this week’s debut to delve into Colm’s vision for filters and systems that will – as he hinted in the video interview – “filter out the noise around us to focus in on the things that really make a difference to me.” His vision: “What you need is to get to a situation where a service becomes like a personal assistant that’s helping you get through the clutter and find what you really want.”

My take: Colm’s sharp focus on improving our mobile experiences – through improved personalization and, moving forward, the development and implementation of better filters – is the way to go. It’s also a perfect fit with a milestone, must-watch keynote speech by Clay Shirky, aptly entitled It’s not information overload. It’s filter failure. In this address, Clay puts his finger on the problem of our times: “What we’re dealing with now is not the problem of information overload, because we’re always dealing (and always have been dealing) with information overload…Thinking about information overload isn’t accurately describing the problem; thinking about filter failure is.” If we apply it to mobile, content and apps aren’t stalled because we don’t appreciate them or want to purchase them; we are confronted by a content overload problem and we need better filters that will help us find and buy what we – as individuals (hence the critical role of personalization) – appreciate even before we know we want it.

BTW: Qualcomm, which recently beefed up the personalization element in its Plaza suite of solutions to include Plaza Retail, has also reached out for a briefing to walk me through improvements to the storefront, and the nuts and bolts of the modular toolset it introduced for creating or managing app stores, and personalizing the content experiences they offer.

Disclaimer: Xiam sponsored the creation of the video, but did not influence the questions/topics covered in the interview.

Since teaming up with Rudy De Waele, blogger at mTrends and  dotopen founder, to develop mobile search case studies in preparation for a workshop on Mobile Search Future Prospects organized by JRC IPTS (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the European Commission), and seeing the positive response to our work to date, I’m convinced mobile search is back again at the top of the industry agenda. And with good reason: Search is the de facto interface to all things digital in the online space, and there is every indication that it will be the same in mobile.

From mobile advertising, where our queries trigger the delivery of related advertising (in the best case scenario, we’re not there yet), to social media, where the content we appreciate and discuss across destinations ranging from MySpace to Twitter allows us to restore balance in an otherwise purely algorithmic approach that tends to promote search engine optimized websites over what we find genuinely relevant and useful, mobile search is where the action is.

But as Rudy and I have both pointed out in our recent presentations, mobile search is not about the usual suspects (Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft). Rudy spoke at Next09, and you can find his slides  further on in this post; I spoke at the European Mobile Media Conference, and my deck can likewise be found after the jump.

Indeed, context and personalization change all the rules (!)

A highlight of our recent presentations: A comprehensive overview of the market and (thanks to Rudy) a SWOT analysis of the players that stand out in their category such as Google (universal search with a poor mobile offer and an even weaker grasp of social search), and Twitter (a case of mobile search + social media = real-time results that really reflect what we discuss/share).

In my own mobile search research – an on-going project that began back in 2004/2005 when I wrote the first report on mobile search and content discovery, a 220+ page report published by Informa Telecoms & Media – I have recently identified some 60+ companies and 10+ categories of mobile search I would like to share with you (below) for your feedback.

INTERACE

• Text: ChaCha, 4INFO,MINFO, textperts (acquired by 118118), Answers.com, AnyQuestionAnswered, Ask, AskMeNow
• Voice: Google, Yahoo, Vlingo, Microsoft, ChaCha (Watch this space for an expert assessment of the voice-enabled services offered by Google, Vlingo, and ChaCha. ( I am proud to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Peggy Albright, MSG Associate and founder of Albright Communications, and even prouder of the results.)
• Visual: IQ Engines, Kooaba, Mobile Acuity, Searchme, SnapNow, SnapTell, Tin Eye Mobile, Nokia
• Navigational: Boopsie, kannuu, Nuance (through Tegic acquisition)

ACTIONABLE

• Universal: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL (based on Google), Medio Systems, JumpTap (although a much stronger focus on mobile advertising)
• Federated: MCN, Motricity (managed mobile search platform providers)
• Operator-centric search: Amdocs, Qualcomm, IBM and this company coming out of stealth mode
• Alternative search: Defined as every service except for Google, and includes a long tail of 1500+ search engines (tracked by AltSearchEngines) with ambitions to go mobile – some sooner than later
• Vertical/content-specific search: abphone, vtap, Truveo
• Local search: Hundreds of players that offer local search via SMS services, on their own WAP sites, and/or as part of a nearby shopping scheme. (Fortunately, the local mobile search landscape is the topic of an upcoming column on MSG from Martin Wilson, founder of Indigo 102, an independent consultancy with a focus on mobile local search and services, so watch this space!)

SOCIAL

• abphone, ChaCha, Hiogi, Taptu
• Twitter in a class by itself!

It’s work in progress, but it’s all the more exciting if we remember that – in mobile search – the players that matter and the business models that deliver are wide open to discussion.

Indeed, the central role of mobile search in a wide variety of mobile services around sharing, advertising, location, and context-aware activities turns up the pressure on an even broader range of businesses (operators, brands, agencies, enablers – everyone!) to understand what mobile search delivers (and doesn’t) and the companies/models that do it best.

To help mobile professionals and practitioners navigate this tough terrain, Rudy and I have joined together on a project to produce the definitive mobile search market overview, a work that will draw from primary research, case studies, and exclusive forecasts to document this exciting space and present our recommendations for strategies to harness growth opportunities on the horizon.

I still have the opportunity to take your views and perspectives into account, and I would welcome your input. The project, widely distributed via our sites and via our network of sites, supporters, and influencers, will also offer a commercial opportunity to companies interested in conveying their value proposition to a growing community of senior executives and decision-makers in the mobile space.

If you are a mobile search company with an interest in being considered for an interview, please contact me directly or send an email to my assistant Andrea Henninge (andrea@msearchgroove.com).

U.K. MOBILE INTERNET: A new report from eMarketer – true to its name always an excellent source of mobile marketing stats and insights. U.K. Mobile Internet connects the dots in mobile user behavior. How many users are there? Between just 7.2 million and 17.4 million, depending on the report you read.

But the report conclusion is hardly subject to interpretation: The mobile Web is “gaining ground in the U.K., and soon the audience will be large and broad enough to interest mainstream advertisers.” Key drivers: iPhone and similar high-end devices, cool new apps, and improved usability. Still, more of the same are sorely needed to increase the number of people using the mobile Web.

LOCAL MOBILE SEARCH: The Kelsey Group gives us hard figures on the size of the local mobile search advertising opportunity in the U.S. It reckons mobile advertising revenues (search and display) will grow to $3.1 billion in 2013, from $160 million in 2008, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 81.2 percent. During the same forecast period, the research firm predicts mobile local search advertising revenues will increase from $20 million to $1.3 billion. On paper, local marketing looks promising. “There is a strong correlation between local search and the mobile use case, which will cause a good portion of the ongoing mobile application boom to focus on local,” Michael Boland, program director, Mobile Local Media (MLM), The Kelsey Group, said in a press statement. What’s missing is a sure-fire strategy to get local shops and businesses on board. And, if the end-game is location-aware advertising, then there are even more issues to solve before we can get to the revenues Kelsey is forecasting. The press release gleans over these details, so I suspect it’s a numbers-focused report. Nonetheless, there is some value to having the hard facts.

Among the findings:

• The percentage of mobile searches that have local intent will increase from 28 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2013
• Currently there are 54.5 million mobile Internet users in the U.S., representing 25 percent of online users
• Approximately 15 percent of iPhone applications are local

RINGRING MEDIA RESULTS: The email just came in that Ben Tatton-Brown, RingRing Managing Director, and I are set to discuss these new numbers and much more in a briefing later this week. In the meantime, RingRing is bullish on mobile search following some successful campaigns. We don’t know the base numbers, but the company has increased its own mobile search spending four-fold. Why? Because keyword campaigns run by RingRing on behalf of its clients have achieved click-through rates of up to 16 percent. The company says conversion rates have “peaked at over 110 percent, generating tens of thousands of content downloads at an unprecedented cost per acquisition.” As a result, clients are now attributing much more of their mobile advertising budgets to search. (By way of background, RingRing specializes in planning and buying mobile advertising and search campaigns, and has already booked substantial volumes of search this year through Yahoo and Google. This includes buying search terms across Yahoo’s mobile advertising network and on-portal directory links on mobile operators Vodafone and 3 in the U.K., as well as on Google Mobile. More on what RingRing Media does and how in an exclusive Q&A next week.)

Notice anyone missing? Service providers and mobile operators.

In fact, their absence in this line-up tells us these players are either content to leave it to the handset makers and Internet giants (a first step on a slippery slope to being a dumb pipe perhaps?), or are simply oblivious to the vast arsenal of capabilities at their disposal, capabilities such as customer relationship data, personalization technologies, and location information that allow them to fight back. In my view, if these players could open up to make all the above available to developers (in a standardized, no-brainer way), then they would cover the bases to be much more than just another application store. With their reach and resources, operators and service providers could be the super shopping malls of the mobile Internet.

Last week I explored this in a post that outlined how Qualcomm and its Plaza Mobile Internet platform potentially change all the rules, levelling the playing field and allowing operators and brands to play a central role in this brave new Open Web. This week I’m back with an exclusive look at Amdocs, a company preparing to take the wraps off an application store platform that ups the ante. Thanks to Jessica Francisco, Amdocs account manager at Weber Shandwick for reaching out, and thanks to Idan Carmeli, Business Development Manager, Amdocs Interactive, for giving MSG the inside track on the company’s app store strategy.

Idan’s controversial yet correct observation: Service providers must learn how to leverage third-party developers. “The biggest question that should be on operators’ minds is: How do I convince developers to use me and not any other of the app store channels that are available in the market?”

The answer: Operators must open up and offer their assets – their customer billing relationship, their customer information, their ability to deliver content personalized to customer segments, and their network capabilities – to developers. “Operators know how to sell content and bill for it. Now they have to be open to third-parties and give them the tools they need to sell to their customers.”

An excerpt of our Q&A:

Q: Some call the app store model the killer model. Google et al have app stores in place, what is the impact on off-portal?

A: It accelerates the move to off-portal, which isn’t good news for service providers. But there is another side to this. The increased interest of consumers in finding cool content and apps means it’s a good place for operators to be [in the middle of this exchange] if they can find ways to better monetize this marketplace.  We’re helping service providers create an environment – an ecosystem similar to what we’ve seen from Google and Apple – that leverages their [service provider's] unique assets to bring developers and application providers on board.

A: There is nothing written about your app store platform and offer at this time. What can you tell us about it?

Q: We will be formally launching this new solution [at WC 2009] next week in Barcelona, along with other Amdocs Interactive offerings. The app store is a platform that allows service providers to, on the one hand, provide tools for developer communities to create applications, and, on the other hand, gives them [developers] a channel to present these apps on the content store. So there are two sides: One, a commerce platform and all the enablers on top of the commerce platform that are derived from our acquisition of Qpass that allow developers to create, upload an application to an existing content store, define how much they want to sell it for, sign the contract with the service provider for the revenue share – the works. Two, the tools for developers to actually build applications that aren’t just generic applications because they can access service providers’ services, such as SMS, WAP access and location as well as other available customer information . The aim is to connect all this – in a convenient way — into developer toolkits that are provided by the service providers to the developers to help them build applications they can later sell through the [service provider's] app store channel.

Q: Does the application store come with apps to start? Or do you help service providers populate it with apps so they have something to sell from the get-go?

A; As part of Amdocs, we have our own framework in place for working with third parties in the mobile start-up arena and we have a framework for building relationships and creating a channel between the start-up community and the innovator community on behalf of our customers.  So, we can leverage these relationships and all these start-ups that are part of our program in order to populate an app store. It’s not the focus of our solution, but we can facilitate this.

Q: So you offer the nuts and bolts for an app store. But I also know that you have mobile search and personalization capabilities – through ChangingWorlds, for example – that could potentially make this a self-learning storefront…

A: Definitely. Our ultimate vision for everything we do in Amdocs Interactive is to bring to market solutions that leverage all our assets. So eventually we will want to embed relevant capabilities in our app store solution. For example, we recognize that personalizing the app store experience for the consumer is an important value-add for both the developer and the consumer as it solves the relevancy issue that’s causing real pains for third-party developers on other mobile platforms.

Q: In other words, developers might pay a premium to content providers for the ability to target individual consumers? What would the deal look like?

A: It would be the service provider saying to the developer ‘you have this app that certain consumers are more likely to appreciate than others, so let’s make a deal and I’ll make sure the apps consumers see are the ones most relevant. Something like that could be reflected as a premium in the revenue share model between the service provider and the application provider. But first service providers should get where they want to go, and that is being able to launch an app store as quickly as possible because nobody is waiting for them.

Q: A devil’s advocate question here: What is the USP of an app store run by a service provider? Apple and Google have a lot of mindshare already…

A: When opening up to third-parties, service providers  actually create an edge for themselves by creating an edge for their partners. Our app store is not just a content store, but  an end-to-end process and a set of tools for developers that allows them to offer apps to users in a way that they find compelling because they are personalized, or location-aware, or indicate presence, or simply build on the history of the consumer relationship because the developer has access to this data. That’s an edge Google can’t provide its developers.

Of course, the sharing of customer data would take place in a secure and controlled fashion because these are big issues. And let’s not forget reach. If I’m making a choice to develop something, say, for the Palm Pre platform, , I had to take into account it’s not that big a platform yet in terms of how many users are using that. But if I go to AT&T, I have a subscriber base of upwards of 70 million customers. This is scale the service provider needs to learn how to leverage and offer to third-party developers.

Q: Let’s talk about some business basics. What is the monetization model and where does mobile advertising fit in?

A: The basic monetization scheme is the revenue share from the download of the application.  On top of that the mobile operator can charge for the value-ads we identified, such as placement on the store, perhaps boosted by mobile advertising across the network, as well as access to personalization information. It’s easy to imagine a number of models. In one scenario, it’s an 80/20 split in favour of the developer for the basic upload and distribution through the store. But the operator could take 25 percent for better placement, or 30 percent for better personalization. Lots of business models are possible.

It all comes back to the core assets. Once service providers can make it easy for developers to do business with them, then there’s basically no one better placed than a mobile operator to monetize these apps. They know their customer base better than anyone, and that includes Facebook, Google and even Apple.

Q: What about the developer? What capabilities do you offer them to help monetize their apps? I could imagine top of the list would be mobile analytics and some visibility into sales and mobile advertising campaigns…

A: Definitely. In fact, in the very first concept mock-up that we developed for our product, the most prominent feature on the developer profile page – the page where the developer manages himself — is a dashboard of revenue and usage performance for his applications.  For us, this is an important piece of what the service provider needs to offer developers so they’ll come to their [service providers'] platform.

Q: What about mobile search? A gripe I hear is that people can’t find the apps they want. You have mobile search within Amdocs, are you going to use it to make shipping in your app store less of a chore?

A: Yes, search is absolutely part of our roadmap – that and our personalization capabilities will be part of the app store.  But there is more than that: Amdocs is also an established BSS player and systems integrator,  and we’re priming our solution to best leverage the differentiation potential of the customer data, the customer billing and the business intelligence that’s coming from the BSS.

Q: What about the marketing and the branding? Is it powered by Amdocs? And who gets the developers on board? Amdocs or the operators?

A: Good questions. I think we’re going to collaborate with our customers on this. In the case of making sure that everyone hears about their (service providers’] app platform, it’s ultimately going to be the responsibility of our customers to communicate the app store and why it’s a good proposition.

Q: A big picture question: Is it too late for mobile operators to join that app party? I mean we already have Apple, Google, all the big names…

A: We’re seeing increased interest from our customers because they realize they have to be in on this. They have to be on that train before it leaves the station.

Q: It hasn’t left already?

A: Everybody else is announcing app stores.  Any service provider that goes to the market now, it’s not going to be the first; it’s not going to be the second. But any service provider that enters the market now will need to offer an app store. It’s table stakes.

It’s all about the future of the mobile industry. It’s time [for service providers] to seriously bring partners into their business. That’s that bigger issue at play here. If you look at other examples, such as Amazon in the retail industry, it gets this. It’s a retailer with an online store. But with its Amazon Web Services offering, it’s suddenly become more than that. Now you can ask yourself: What does a retailer have to do with providing computing services to developers and application providers?  It’s only when you dig a little bit into that that you realize that if you want to make sure that your business keeps growing and expanding and capitalizing on 100 percent of the opportunities that you have, then you have to learn how to work with partners in the best way possible.

My take: I am reminded here of The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability, a must-read business book by Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In it he points out that scale, once an expression of internal operational and innovative capabilities, is fast becoming a measure of external resources and reach. Put simply, size is about “exerting influence over vast networks of companies and managing assets you don’t own.” All the big names – Microsoft, Google, Nokia, eBay and Amazon – are giants because they pursue a kind of keystone strategy that not only aggressively furthers their own interests but also promotes their ecosystems’ overall health. They have become undisputed market leaders because they appreciated the positive impact their platforms could have on their business ecosystems – and took steps to help other businesses in their ecosystem achieve high performance. This in turn has paved the way for sustainable results over decades.

Mobile operators should borrow a page from this winning strategy and leverage the broad range of content and capabilities available in their business ecosystems to improve the end user experience. Concretely, mobile operators should create platforms in the form of services, tools, or technologies and allow other members of the mobile content and services ecosystem free access.

With companies such as Amdocs and Qualcomm lining up to do just this -in the case of Qualcomm, it’s initially more about widgets -  it’s clear that Google, Apple, Nokia, Samsung, Microsoft and Handango (RIM) could get some serious company. We don’t have implementations yet – but we do have platforms that cover the bases to help operators gain a competitive position in the center of this value Web (NOT chain – that’s old school thinking)…

MSG is also proud to partner with bnetTV to conduct studio interviews with an exciting line-up of companies including AdMob, BuddyMob, BuzzCity,Gigafone, Gracenote, GyPSii, JumpTap, MCN, Mob4Hire, Movius, and VISTO. The finished segments will showcase on MSG (in the customized video player in the right-hand corner), so please check back regularly. You can also look for event coverage – as well as my regular columns – on this special Events page bnetTV created exclusively for MSG.

Which brings me to this week’s column and focus on Motricity, a provider of mobile data solutions and services, ranging from mobile portals and storefronts, to messaging aggregation, to a slew of mobile operators and content providers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, TracFone Wireless, PlayPhone, CNN, FOX News, A&E, and Condé Nast. The company had a banner year in 2008. It achieved over $100 million in revenue, exceeded acquisition integration targets, expanded customer relationships, and delivered over 11.5 billion pageviews across all deployments of its mCore Platform. (Over the past year, Motricity reports mobile Internet access has grown 45 percent, a sure sign that mobile data services are gaining serious traction.)

But the real news is mobile marketing, a sector Ryan Wuerch, Motricity Chairman and CEO, tells me is poised for impressive growth.

During a recent interview with bnetTV, Ryan identified three key drivers behind this trend: The advance of the mobile Web, the arrival of handsets such as the Apple iPhone that deliver a satisfactory end-user experience, and the increasing recognition among mobile operators, agencies, brands, and content companies that advertising is content, and should therefore be customized (translated: targeted) to individual consumers based on factors such as profile, preference, and permission.

Put simply, plain-vanilla mobile content tailored to mass-market tastes doesn’t cut it. It’s about delivering personalized, compelling experiences to consumers in order to increase data usage, ARPU, and brand recognition. As Ryan put it: “Content providers and brands are looking to leverage the data, intelligence and connectivity of the carriers in order to offer a personalized, relevant solution to consumers.”

Another shift transforming the mobile marketplace: The emergence of the open mobile Web and truly open models that blur the boundaries between on-portal and off-portal (on-deck and off-deck). In Ryan’s view, its “one multi-channel content marketplace” with the mobile phone – a device with features and functionality including a personal navigation system, a barcode scanner, a camera, a radio, a walkie-talkie, a TV, an electronic programming guide, a remote control, a digital music player, a photo album, and an archive – at its center. Operators and brands are more closely aligned in their strategies to encourage mobile advertising and Motricity is more sharply focused on “being in the center of the mobile ecosystem for the movement of content and data” between all the parties involved.

My take: There can be only one business model. OPEN. Ryan believes players up and down the value chain will ultimately embrace the open strategy. Why? Because inclusive is better than exclusive, particularly when the end-game is about forging partnerships that will grow the pie for everyone.

Ironically, this is also the message of my own white paper, sponsored by Motricity and slated for release in the next weeks. Aptly titled ‘There Can Be Only One,’ the white paper demonstrates the business benefits of a comprehensive, all-inclusive federated mobile search strategy that meets user demand for choice by combining results from storefronts, the Internet and the mobile Web. I argue that such a strategy creates a new and robust ecosystem and firmly places mobile operators at its center. More may be better, but open is always best.

Look for the white paper available for free download via MSearchGroove.

Disclaimer: Motricity is an MSG supporter.

In the course of conducting interviews with some 35 industry movers and shakers for the Netsize Guide – an in-depth analysis of the mobile industry – I learned that, across the board,  senior executives viewed the march of Internet giants such as Google into mobile, and the advance of handset makers such as Apple and Nokia into content and apps, as more of a cause for concern than celebration.

Qualcomm takes a different approach, crafting a one-of-a-kind mobile Internet strategy that allows mobile operators to control their own apps store – and their destiny.  We saw it coming back in April when the company snapped up Xiam Technologies (a move, as I wrote in my post, which gave them “the corporate DNA for a full-force push into the delivery of targeted, dynamically personalized content, apps and advertising”).

But the launch of Plaza (a comprehensive widget ecosystem I detail further down in this post) and tie up with Amobee Media Systems, a provider of advertising solutions for mobile operators that counts mobile operators among its investors, paves the way for operators (and publishers!) to ad-enable widgets and measure the results. Connect the dots, and Qualcomm is pulling together a capabilities mix fully focused on helping mobile operators – as well as brands and publishers – get feature-rich widgets in front of a mass-market audience and make some serious money in the process.

What’s next for Qualcomm? In the run up to Mobile World Congress (MWC),  I caught up with Noam Raffaelli, managing director of Plaza for Qualcomm Internet Services, to discuss the evolution of Plaza (and how it can be leveraged as a monetization platform); the role of widgets; and the increased focus on mobile advertising. Special thanks to Richard George, Qualcomm account manager at Hill & Knowlton, for arranging the briefing.

Excerpts from our Q&A:

By way of background, Qualcomm launched the Plaza Mobile Internet platform last May. The platform-agnostic service provides a framework for the development of mobile widgets — Web-based applications for mobile devices – and features a catalog of mobile widgets that will be made available to mobile operators worldwide. (Good move since mobile operators have already proven content creation is not their strength. Operators’ understanding of the developer community – and how to encourage innovation – also has its gaps.) The Amobee Media System comes in to help operators monetize the use of these widgets. Put simply, Amobee’s integration into the Plaza Mobile Internet platform means operators can create and sell new advertising inventory to brands and agencies that will run on these widgets. Amobee will dynamically insert relevant ads into appropriate widgets and round off the offer with analytics tools to measure and optimize these campaigns.

Q: Advertising and widgets are a good fit. We’ve seen Nokia sharpen its focus on ad-enabling widgets – in that case WidSets – through its own mobile advertising activities. But Plaza is more than ad-enabling. It seems to be focused on creating a kind of workflow that allows any company – operator or publisher – to monetize widgets any way they want. Is that correct?

A: Correct. But let me give you some context about Plaza. Plaza is a mobile Internet platform for mobile operators that want to bring the true Internet experience to their end-users. It allows them to mobilize the Web developer communities, and address fragmentation issues [inherent in] mobile devices, applications, and platforms. What’s more, it allows operators to make short- and long-tail content available to their users. On top of that, Plaza is structured around widgets. We are therefore speaking about a platform that is not necessarily BREW dependent or dependent on the Qualcomm chipset or anything like that. It’s completely platform agnostic. That’s what the Internet is all about: To mobilize the Internet [content and apps] you need to be able to get maximum reach and get to mass-market as well as high-end phones.

Q: There’s a lot of buzz about widgets. What are they and – more importantly – what aren’t they within the Qualcomm strategy and framework?

A: There is hype around widgets. You see a lot of companies coming up with all sorts of platforms that are basically just about launching in-built device applications, and stuff like that, and they call it widgets. A widget is – in the true sense of the word – obviously a Web-based application. In other words, those are applications that are basically acting as front-end to the Internet. It’s an important point, because we see widgets as a means to enable this long-tail creativity of Web-based applications to be mobilized, and be presented and present on mobile devices. The user experience is all about the ability of the user to personalize his phone and bring just a snippet of the information they want to the phone. Sure, some are much more accustomed to the experience of opening a full Web page on a desktop or on an iPhone or high-end phone. But, when you get to the mass market phones and feature phones, it’s [opening up a full page in a browser] not the perfect experience. We think that widgets, because of the limited screen and other constraints of the mobile device, are definitely a way forward in terms of the user experience. And we also think that widgets, because they leverage Web tools and the existing tools that Web developers use, represent a huge opportunity to unlock the long-tail of Web applications out there and mobilize them.

Q: Let’s talk advertising. What business models do you enable and what role does Amobee play in this?

A: We present Plaza as a platform, and advertising is a part of it. Operators are able to choose whatever business model they desire to implement. There could be markets where operators are going to say ‘I think that I can have some free widgets to provide to my end-users’, and others are going to say ‘I can offer some premium widgets or enable some content providers that want to sell widgets’. And there are going to be some opportunities for end-users to have user-generated widgets -  widgets created by end-users as utilities. In this scenario, a student at a university will be able to create their own widget, submit it, put it on a phone, and [through Plaza] viral-share it with friends and the community.

So there are going to be different business models. If we take the case of an operator that would like to offer widgets for free, then obviously the model would be around opportunities to derive advertising revenues in return for those free services. That’s what we’re trying to do with our relationship with Amobee. If you think about it, the ability of end-users to personalize their phone with different Web online preferences opens up a lot of possibilities for [companies] to create advertising push, relevant messaging, and relevant marketing [for different segments of users]. So if I’m a user and I have downloaded a Formula 1 widget, it tells you about my preferences and – obviously – allows companies to target their marketing message [to those preferences]. It creates the same kind of model and paradigm that exists on the Internet today.

Q: Amobee is the first. Are there more deals with mobile advertising solutions providers in the pipeline? I imagine you would want other mobile marketing and advertising companies to get onboard…

A: It’s not an exclusive relationship. Amobee is important because Amobee is by far the biggest in terms of market presence and in terms of their mobile advertising platform. So we see working with Amobee [as] creating a win-win between the two platforms, and creating use cases that are exciting for publishers and advertisers as something unique. But it’s not an exclusive relationship. Operators will come to us with different network preferences.

Q: Plaza is for operators and publishers and brands. And it’s not about BREW…

A: It’s platform agnostic, and I think that’s why we’re getting the traction. We’re creating a solution that will be based on the Web tools. It’s about making it possible for Web developers to create for the Web and also for the mobile phone, and make it as simple as possible to start developing mobile applications.

Q: But it’s also about making it simple for operators to go the way of an App Store on their own rather than give it all up to Apple or Google – and any other company getting into this space. I heard Samsung is thinking about content and apps…

A: You’ve got it. It’s about creating an ecosystem of content, of content across platforms, and of content that is not part of a walled garden in that it is specific to a particular device, platform, operating system, or device manufacturer. It’s about enabling the operators to open up their network and their portfolio to the many long-tail developers out there. Definitely.

Q: And where does Qualcomm fit in the picture? What are you saying to mobile operators, for example?

A: If you look at it, everybody attacks the mobile operators and comes down very hard on mobile operators and their walled gardens. But if you look closer, the iPhone and even some of the Internet companies themselves are very successful walled gardens. So what we’re saying to mobile operators is: You don’t need to be ashamed of what you’re trying to do [with walled gardens] because at the end of the day, the ability to control and to create something is important.

If you’re mobilizing the Internet, and if you think about mobilization without any control mechanisms, well, it’s going to be the wild, Wild West in terms of quality of service. There’s definitely a need for mobile operators to guarantee a certain quality of service, a quality of service [that applies] to the applications and to the overall end-user experience. There’s also an opportunity [for operators] to open up to Web developers and create an ecosystem that also addresses the long-tail needs of the different user segments.

Q: Aren’t you asking companies to choose between Plaza and app stores? We know companies want to monetize their content but isn’t it also limiting their options?

A: You don’t have to choose, Peggy. Operators will be able to say ‘we have apps on the iPhone. It’s part of our portfolio on devices.’ But for the mass-market phones, here’s a solution that will allow them to offer and monetize long-tail content. And again, the good thing about it is, it’s not only addressing mass market, but is also is based on Web standards and Web legacy tools. If you look at the evolution of mobile, some 2-3 years ago there were a lot of ODPs. These on-device portals gave users access to apps within a kind of walled garden, and allowed them to personalize their experiences to an extent. But at the end of the day the on-device portals were very proprietary. The widget changes that, and now we see applications evolving in one direction, evolving into one [Web] standard and one paradigm of [Web] tools.

Q: Still, the business model sounds quite similar to the Apple App Store. What’s the difference?

A: We’re providing a monetization platform for mobile operators to be able to monetize apps in terms of Internet revenue streams. That’s what it is. It allows mobile operators to choose their model and revenue share deal they do with the Amobees of the world as their app platform and with the developers. We are providing the enabling platform, and it’s up to operators in different markets to decide the different models they wish to implement.

Q: So you’re giving them a platform and the nuts and bolts of what is essentially their apps store. They cut the deal with Amobee and the revenue share is up to them.

Exactly. And let me emphasize that the implementation will include Java. Just as it will include BREW. It will also include others. If an operator is to be successful in monetizing the new revenue opportunities, they need to get maximum reach. And for the non-BREW operators, [we know] you need to address their device platforms and how to put those applications on the devices.

Q: It’s the only app store approach focused at mobile operators. Do you have mobile operator clients to announce?

A: We’re already engaging with operators, and we are in very progressed stages with operators, and we will soon announce those customer relationships and the deployments.  The platform puts operators in control, and there are a huge number of use cases. It unlocks a huge portfolio of opportunities for operators, allowing them to deploy applications that use the unique aspect of mobility and mobile retailing and marketing [apps] based on location information the operators have, for example.

My take: Apple does it, Google does it and RIM and Microsoft are next in line. Operator rivals have their app stores in place, and the market is wide open for solutions that potentially level the playing field and put service providers on a more even keel with this new breed of challenger. Qualcomm’s offer covers the bases – and now it’s up to operators/publishers to respond.

That day may come sooner than we think.

Qualcomm has invited me to speak at the Plaza Mobile Internet Forum, an exclusive event at MWC on February 18, where my topic will be mobile Internet, mobile advertising, and the strategies that will likely allow media companies to take advantage of the upswing in both. I’m excited about speaking, and delighted at the prospect of meeting attendees – including executives from Amazon, Turner Broadcasting System, and Universal McCann - during the cocktail hour following the forum. My personal thanks to Julian Harris at Qualcomm Europe and the rest of his team for reaching out to me with this exciting opportunity.

The companies teamed up in Norway along with MADS, a European mobile advertising technology provider, and Aspiro, a Scandinavian mobile content provider, to evaluate the effectiveness of federated mobile search – an approach that blends results from a variety of content sources and search engines – and personalized advertising.  Findings from the pilot tell us that CTRs for personalized ads “exceeded those for random ads by a 3:1 ratio.” What’s more, CTRs on ads also “increase in proportion to the degree of humor, context, and targeting associated with specific search queries.” Finally, nearly half of the users surveyed reported they were “satisfied or very satisfied” with the service, and 54 percent said they got the results they wanted. (Both results were more than double pre-study satisfaction levels.)

The takeaway: MCN CEO Marc Bookman is quoted as saying that the Telenor pilot has “confirmed the effectiveness of federated search to promote content availability, to rank and place relevant content, and to support the delivery of highly relevant and valuable advertising.” This conclusion dovetails well with my own work in this space, which I present in a white paper on federated mobile search, the first of its kind in the industry, sponsored by Motricity and slated (I’m told) to be released in the next weeks. I reserve judgment on the specific findings of the Telenor pilot until I know more about the methodology. (The press release is quite thin on this.) However, I’ll have a chance to get the inside track from the source soon. Andrea tells me I have a bnetTV interview scheduled with MCN co-founder Kimmo Paaso during Mobile World Congress (MWC), so please check for the video interview (on the MSG player) shortly after the event.

XIAM: A giant step forward for location-based advertising, content, and services. Xiam Technologies – a Qualcomm subsidiary providing discovery and recommendations solutions to mobile operators, and a company MSG has covered from the star – has added location to the mix, beefing up its platform to deliver “recommendations ranging from helping subscribers find their way around new cities, to locating products and services they need quickly, wherever they are.” According to a press statement, the addition of two new algorithms now allows Xiam to make location-based recommendations and assisted mobile Internet discovery available to its global customer base.

The platform’s open APIs pave the way for operators, publishers, and third-party brands (!) to make “geographically specific offers of content and services to subscribers.” How precise are these location-specific recommendations? The company says they are “accurate to the latitude and longitude of the device, providing relevant results in real-time for anything from local hotspots to retail outlets.”

The takeaway: This enhancement – plus the addition of an assisted mobile Internet browsing discovery service (allowing users to receive individual recommendations for mobile sites and widgets) – significantly strengthens Xiam’s (and Qualcomm’s) strategy to target publishers and brands. (Think Plaza and you’ll get where this is going. Add a multi-platform approach, which Xiam talked about here, and you’ll know why I’m excited to find out more.) Fortunately, Martin Clancy, Xiam Marketing Manager, has just reached out to offer me a briefing during MWC, so I’ll have a much more detailed take on this soon.

TOP KEYWORDS: A valuable post from Bryson Meunier, Associate Director of SEO at Resolution Media, an Omnicom Media Group, and leading SEO expert (my opinion). In this recent post, Bryson does the heavy-lifting for us all, compiling a must-read list of the top mobile search queries entered in 2008, as reported by Yahoo Mobile, AOL Mobile, and Google Mobile India.

Yahoo! Top Mobile Searches 2008

1. MySpace
2. Facebook
3. Craigslist
4. Movies
5. Weather
6. Olympics
7. The Dark Knight
8. Kim Kardashian
9. eBay
10. AIG

AOL Mobile Search Top Mobile Searches 2008

1. MySpace
2. AIM
3. iPhone
4. MocoSpace
5. Facebook
6. Craigslist
7. Weather
8. Free Ringtones
9. MapQuest
10. Match.com

Google Mobile Top Mobile Searches 2008 – Google India

1. orkut
2. yahoo
3. waptrick
4. gmail
5. games
6. katrina kaif
7. rediffmail
8. yahoomail
9. namitha
10. google

But Bryson doesn’t stop there. He also conducts an interesting experiment, assigning each keyword a volume according to Google’s new mobile keywords tool. His takeaway: “If you or your clients were selling anything in 2008 that related to any one of these things and you didn’t target mobile users, you missed out on millions of impressions and possible conversions.” The mobile opportunity is significant, and Bryson’s must-read blog gives us the context we need to understand and take advantage of it.

Disclaimer: Motricity is an MSG supporter; MCN has been an MSG supporter.

The valuable primer walks us through the opportunities and challenges for mobile operators, marketers and portals/publishers. The document takes a balanced view, reminding mobile operators that they are “ideally positioned to provide their customers with search tools” and outlining the options they can chose from to offer mobile search services. However, I miss a discussion of the pivotal importance of brand (for mobile operators) and reasons why mobile operators should employ all mobile search tools/services at their disposal – as long as they brand the most valuable piece of real estate: The mobile search results page. (I believe this control is a critical component of an effective mobile search strategy, a topic I address in my analysis of what’s really at stake in the Verizon-Google deal in another post later today.)

The section of the white paper on mobile search business cases is particularly valuable. A case study from JumpTap, for example, tells us how intelligent search increased ROI for Sega Mobile. In the first month of the campaign (no details on where/when etc…), Sega reported a 9 percent CTR, and 7 percent of these clicks resulted in a sale. The bottom line: Sega tallied up its sales and divided that by the total amount spent on buying keywords to calculate a 320 percent ROI. After re-running the campaign with new keywords, Sega saw a 530 percent ROI in the second month and 11 percent of clicks resulted in a sale. Not so much stellar figures – but a confirmation that success in mobile  should be measured in quality and quantity.

The case study from Medio Systems stresses the importance of keyword advertising, and illustrates how the right choices can generate high-quality leads and high conversion.

By way of background, 4INFO, a mobile search and advertising company that operates a mobile alert service delivering up-to-date information on sports, news, movies, etc… purchased advertising on Medio’s MobileNow search network targeting keywords and keyword categories. The outcome: “Initial results were extremely good; a 29 percent CTR and a 5 percent conversion rate. Simple but direct creatives such as NBA Score Alerts and NHL Live Updates compelled 29 percent of users to click on the ad, with 5 percent of these converting to subscribers.” 4INFO continues to advertise with Medio MobileNow.

My take: A helpful document for beginners – but not a roadmap. A bit thin on methodology. Nonetheless, it is a welcome primer and precisely what we need to get everyone on the same page and move this industry forward. You can download the white paper here.

Disclaimer: JumpTap is an MSG supporter.