Social refinement – all thanks to mobile

While we are tooling about town in the sunshine, we will mostly be making good use of social media to get the most out of our time off from Telemedia Towers. And how social media has changed. Refined from being just a series of check in services that let you win badges, or shoot birds or whatever, social media now uses the tools of location, recommendation and peer group pressure to create services that actually enhance your life.

The launch this week of Whatser – a Dutch location based service that lets people collect bars, restaurants, shops and places and share them with their friends – marks a sea change in how mature social media, especially on mobile, has become. No longer the stuff of kids, it is now shaping up to be a serious business tool. 

In the case of Whatser one that allows smaller, local businesses to grow organically and gives such businesses a valid and workable alternative to coupon services than can, for the smaller business, actually cause a lot of bottom line damage, rather than boost sales. 

For the bigger brands, companies such as One iota are opening up the joys of using Facebook – which to all intents and purposes these days is a mobile social network – to create a new way of selling.

Together these two services mark how social media services are becoming the back bone of m-commerce, especially in retail. They are also becoming increasingly embedded in TV and media interaction services thanks to the work of companies such as MIG. 

We touch on how social networks are becoming something of a new 'OS' for many developers, but this belies what social really offers; these services are using mobile technology to refine how people use and interact with the vast amounts of data coming their way from cyberspace. This is the true power of social media and how it will shift how money is made around the digital environment.

And that is why social media sits at the heart of the seminar sessions being undertaken at Telemedia360 in Leeds on 11 May, sponsored by Core Telecom. There will be a range of companies that are harnessing social media to create new revenue streams around media and commerce on hand and much of the debate at the show will centre on how to operate in this brave new world. So, before you tuck into your pile of chocolate Easter eggs, sign up at www.telemedia360.com

Mobile payments set to fragment?

Mobile payments, especially around retail, is becoming a very hot topic. The idea of using NFC for contactless payments from phones is gaining pace, even though bar one Nokia handset and some stickers, no one is doing it. It has, as ever, all been spurred on by rumour that Apple is going to build NFC and a card chip into iPhone 5 (well it was, then it wasn’t, now it seems to be on again). Google is also looking to do the same.

But with no hard evidence that any of this is actually going to happen any time soon, where does that leave mobile payments? As we saw last week, PRS revenues are growing, spurred to some degree by people using PSMS to buy Facebook credits to interact with TV shows, but when it comes to the real money pot – the retail sector – nothing really is happening.

Operator billing, as we all know, is too expensive for retailers to consider using. Then there is the problem that a growing number of people are accessing retail sites from mobile devices but using wifi (as many as 75% according to one company), so any form of operator billing becomes  clunky at best if plain irrelevant.

Then there is the issue of consumers themselves. A study by Kony Solutions, which builds apps management platforms finds that only 16% of consumers would prefer to use operator billing to pay for things, with the majority (75%) wanting it to be something directly linked to their card or their bank account.

The reason? They don’t trust the operator to get it right. Too many people have problems with their mobile phone bills as it is without having to trust it to cover other purchases.

So does this mean that telemedia billing as we know it is doomed to never get a slice of the retail space? Well no, but it is likely to be limited to the sub £10 mark. That said, however, that is a potentially very lucrative space in itself and, handled correctly, could well be a nice niche to carve out for that kind of payment – especially for those without credit and debit cards, or who wish not to use their cards for some purchases.

Mobile payments are meant to make things easy and simple, but the fragmentation that this turf war will bring could see it consume itself. Having one set of payment tools for low cost items, another for in store buying, yet another for online purchases – as well as having to have cards and cash for those places that won’t be doing contactless mobile payments – makes for a more problematic world for the consumer than we have at present. Progress this ain’t.

The debate will rage on for many months – not least until iPhone 5 arrives – but to get a clearer understanding of how the changing landscape effects mobile payments, our panel at Telemedia360 in Leeds on 11 May is set to at least try and clear up how the billing landscape may work in 2012 and beyond. Register here to learn more 

PRS starts to grow again driven by virtual goods on social sites

PRS in the UK is in recovery mode – well unless both PPP and AIME have gone, as my Belgian friend says, “complete banana” – with the sector recording some modest growth in 2010 and with more to follow in the coming year. The growth has been driven largely by media interaction, where PRS calls to vote are starting to make a huge impact, along with social media on mobile seeing a rise in people using PSMS based services.

But it is the growth in the purchase of virtual goods that really tickles my telemedia taste buds. Up 400% on the same period the previous year, it has become a market worth in the UK alone £8.1million in 2010.

Virtual goods include virtual currency to spend in games on social networking sites, ‘virtual gifts’ such as virtual birthday cakes and, more recently, virtual charity badges with a donation going towards the consumer’s good cause of choice. 

According to figures from Analysis Mason, 8.5% of consumers have bought a virtual gift or object related to a social networking site using a phone-paid mechanism, while 19.4% of 25-34 year olds and 16.5% of 18-24 year olds have bought a virtual gift using PRS in the past six months. The average micropayment per transaction for virtual goods is £2.41.

This is all great news for the telemedia industry as it shows that, while more traditional areas of revenue generation are plateauing or even tailing off, social media is starting to offer some real openings for new business.

Another element of this that is encouraging is that consumers are once again trusting phone-bill based micro-payment tools. Complaints to PPP fell to unprecedented levels in 2010, with just 3% of people saying that lack of trust in phone paid services stopped them using them.

While the general economy may be in turmoil – I would cry “up the workers” at this point, but I don’t want to get hurt as the health service won’t be able to look after me – the PRS sector is again bucking the trend. The old adage that these services always do well in a recession as people seek some cheap comfort and joy was ringing a tad hollow.

But social networking, smartphones and a general embracing of a new way of interacting with each other and brands, has seen consumers resurrect the PRS sector and offer some rays of hope.

This is why the timing of Telemedia360 in Leeds on 11 May couldn’t be better. Featuring a line up of media, service provider and operator speakers, the sessions all look at how the digital ‘media’ landscape is shifting and how media companies, brands, telcos and service providers need to think in new and agile ways about how to engage consumers and offer them the kinds of services that they will pay for.

Some of it centres on new things and new ways of thinking, but a lot will really just involve putting well understood practices onto a new platform: the social media platform.

To learn more about getting involved sign up at www.telemedia360.com

Billing branches out

Billing company MGt has secured £5million in funding to expand its frankly excellent PayWizard billing tool for it to be used around things other than content, opening up the vertical markets of travel, gaming, gambling and more to this highly flexible billing tool.

This move towards cornering multiple markets, especially hitherto untapped verticals such as travel and healthcare, should mark MGt out from the crowd, but instead is another exemplar of how micro-billing has evolved from a niche tool used to charge for some of the more exotic things on the web to something that is going to sit at the very heart of the mobile-commerce dominated world of tomorrow (which sounds like the strapline for a really bad 1950s B-Movie, if you say it in a gravelly voice).

And this is why billing still sits at the heart of our telemedia events. Telemedia360 in Leeds on 11 May is designed to be the event that not only offers some specialist insight into billing and payments, but also shows how, at the heart of the digitally connected world we live in, has to lie the ability to easily, quickly and securely pay for things.

MGt’s PayWizard has set the bar high, but all the other payment tools – including SMS, WAP billing, PRS and others – all have different things to offer different services, circumstances and budgets. And this is what Telemedia360 in Leeds will be seeking to lay before its media, brand and commerce audience. The days of trying to persuade media types that mobile and PRS had much to offer them is over… they get it. But there is still a gulf between what the likes of our supercool sponsor Core offer and what many businesses are actually doing; its time we showed the some really cool stuff.

For example we can help media companies overcome some of the more onerous things about running subs services through certain apps store billing mechanisms. We can unveil the use of PSMS as a proper commercial tool with great payouts. We can line up some of the key players in media, brands, retail and content commerce to show you how they have started to make things reall happen in the multiple device digital landscape.

We are finalising speakers and panellists as I type, so keep checking in at www.telemedia360.com through coming days for more details.

Telemedia360 is set to be the thought leaders’ thought leader, using all our expertise across the interactive market to pump out a raft of new ideas.

And to gear up for that, we are also having a golf day.

Like I say, the thought leaders’ thought leader. 

T360 Leeds leads the way

And we are off… the run up to Telemedia360 on 11 May has begun. We have a lead sponsor – Core Telecom – in place and the conference schedule is shaping up nicely to reflect how the print, broadcast, online, advertising and FMCG sectors are all once again looking at how to use the good old telephone to drive interaction and engagement.

And while much attention has been placed on how to develop apps and in-app interaction with TV brands, and while many FMCGs have chased the allure of social networking, the fact remains that the good old premium rate telephone market still provides a sure-fire way to engage consumers while creating revenues directly.

Don’t get me wrong, the apps stuff and all the social glue is also key and will become ever more prevalent over the next couple of years, but they still have yet to find revenue generating business models that stand the test of time. PRS doesn’t have to worry about that and, judiciously used, can generate all manner of valuable consumer data to boot.

At a time when regulator PPP is poised to publish its next Code of Practice – which will make up one of the key workshops at Telemedia360 on 11 May –featuring a landmark shift in how it apportions blame (sorry, I mean ‘responsibility’) as well as seeking to make it plain that it is in this to make things better, not to screw cash out of PRS companies and aggregators, T360 hits Leeds (Core’s home town) at a time when PRS is likely to see something of a resurgence.

And we hope to be playing an active role in making that resurgence happen. By getting leading media companies, broadcasters, brands, ad agencies, operators and telemedia companies together under one roof for a day and a night of full-on networking, chin-wagging and knowledge transfer, we hope to kick off the renaissance of PRS as an interaction and engagement media.

The event will of course look at how ‘old favourites’ such as chat and dating, psychic and horoscope can work for media and brands through PRS. We will also be looking at how, thanks to the new device landscape we find us in – and a world where comsumers value advocacy, interaction, but are reluctant to pay for anything – we can develop services and business models that have worked so well in PRS to drive revenue and engagement through these new channels and new devices.

We are also looking to run a series of special workshops at the event, drilling down into specific areas. Details to follow in the coming weeks. For now though, keep an eye on www.telemedia360.com for the latest news and developments of this key media interaction event and book your place.

Core Telecom announced as lead sponsor of Telemedia360 in May

Core Telecom has been unveiled as the lead sponsor of Telemedia360 (T360), which is taking place in Leeds on 10 and 11 May 2011.

Core Telecom is an independent network operator, providing a full range of 07, 08 and 09 numbers, coupled with industry-leading call management solutions and ultra-reliable outpayments.

T360 was established in 2009 but this is the first time it has been held in Yorkshire and Leeds-based Core Telecom was instrumental in bringing the conference over the Pennines from its previous incarnations in the North West.

Jarvis Todd, Director of T360 said: “Core Telecom is the ideal partner for T360. Not only are they based in Leeds but are also one of the rising stars in the telemedia industry thanks to their growing reputation for service excellence. We are absolutely delighted to be working with them”.

Mahmood Mazhar, Core Telecom’s Chief Executive added: “It was a natural fit for us to get involved in T360 as it brings together media companies, network operators, service providers, billing experts, trade associations and regulators to discuss, in a dynamic, interactive one-day forum. We know that we offer an unbeatable telecoms proposition for the creative industries and are proud to be associated with many of the resellers and service providers who will be delegates at the show, so this is a fabulous way to promote our services and put Yorkshire on the map at the same time”.

Apple taking a bite too far?

This week, we have mostly been at the FT Digital Media & Broadcasting conference, and have mostly been hearing everyone berating Apple – and now Google too – for “skimming” 30% off the price of everything and, Apple in particular, trying to control everyone and deny users choice.

I have to say as a consumer of digital media, content, music and so on from many years and having done it all almost exclusively through Apple I used to think its was just sour grapes: we didn’t think of it , and they did and its just not fair.

But I am starting to come round to the idea that actually, while iTunes was great at seeding the market and did the necessary in shaking up the moribund mobile content market, it now wields too much power, tries to control too much of what the consumer can do and is, frankly, a bit old hat.

But could it all be set to change? Independent apps store GetJar – the second largest apps store after Apple’s – is seeing some surprising results from letting users buy apps with one click billing and is getting rave reviews from developers about how it is making apps fun again – and not taking such a hefty cut.

Amazon is also planning its own apps store and rumour has it that one of its USPs will be that it won’t be taking as big a slice as Apple and Google.

And then there are the UK’s mobile network operators. I have written already this year (and at the tail end of last) that they are widely tipped to start offering much better revenue shares on mobile billed sales – partly to start making mobile billing seem more attractive to the vast number of retailers who want to see mobile become a payment too, but also to apps and other m-commerce related vendors, who are crying out for a better payment tool that delivers better revenues.

As the video on TelemediaTV suggests, this would give them not just the icing, but would give them the cake.

The idea is that developers could benefit so greatly from, say, a 90:10 split (rather than Apple’s 70:30) that they would do all in their power to plug operator billing as their preferred payment channel. This, in turn, would give operators and massive new revenue stream. Enough to more than make up for the historically high payout rate.

It would also open up operator billing – and related telemedia add ons – to a much wider use in retail and other m-commerce arenas. It would also be a massive boost to stopping MNOs becoming bit pipes. Not that I think there is anything wrong with being the pipe: we all need pipes.

Forget trying to be content providers, the networks can become the billing and payment channel – as well as being the delivery pipe. And the developers, SPs, telemedia companies, media players and brands – as well as the consumer – all win. And Apple looses. Surely that cheers all you Apple haters up?