Mobile content:what’s in hand?

Mike Chowney

Technical Director, LSM Ltd

Introduction to LSM (1/2)

• Small, independent company, est. 2004.

• Creates original comedy content (pictures, videos, animations) for mobile phones.

• Specially produced to suit the application (screens, bandwidth, users).

• Works directly with content creators to avoid complex licensing issues.

Introduction to LSM (2/2)

• Comic Clips brand

• Content examples:

Viralvideo clips

Originalcharacters

Animatedgreetings

Summary

• The story so far: ‘traditional’ content

• Content delivery & billing

• Technical challenges

• What’s hot

• Content in the cabin

The story so far - applications

• SMS– Competitions, voting, ticketing– Interaction with live TV, radio shows

• MMS

• Mobile Internet / WAP

• Video calls– 3G ‘killer app’ ...

The story so far - downloads

• Ring tones– Nokia, MIDI, real tones, sound effects

• Pictures– Operator logos, wallpapers, screen savers

• Games - Java / J2ME• Mobile video

– Java players, native players, video ring tones– Worth $7billion by 2010 (News International)

Who downloads content?

• Majority market is “Constrained youth”

• Have grown up with mobile phones

• Consider mobiles “essential”

• Limited by budget

• Up to 24 years old

• Significant proportionare female users

Why download content?

• Customisation / personalisation– pictures, screensavers, ring tones

• Greetings– send to a friend

• Kill time / boredom busters– video– “snacking”

Content delivery - methods

• Send to handset (ring tones, graphics)

• Download from WAP site– WAP push

• Java download agents

• Download via PC

• Wireless transfer (infrared, Bluetooth)

• Copy onto memory card

Content delivery - distribution

• Operator portals– aggregators– 3rd party sites

• Independent, “off-portal” sites– accounts for 70% of sales

• Search & discovery

Billing

• Payment– e.g. premium SMS, direct billing– 3rd party billing partners, e.g. Bango

• Content charge– event-based, subscription

• Data charge– transparency

Technical challenges

• Handset capabilities / recognition– screen sizes– processor speed– browser markup & interpretation

• Storage capacity

• Data bandwidth

Mobile data rates

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

GSM(2G)

GPRS(2.5G)

3G

Kbps, max

2Mbps

Digital Rights Management

• Open Mobile Alliance– open standard– protect content transmitted in any way

• OMA DRM 1.0– lightweight: forward lock

• OMA DRM 2.0– more flexible– progress slowed; patent licensing problems

Digital Rights Management

• Support for OMA appears to be eroding

• Proprietary systems– Windows Media DRM– Interoperability important

• Rights issues blocking progress with Hollywood content

What’s hot

WAP!• i-mode, Web‘n’Walk (T-Mobile), BBC push• TV tie-ins, “mobisodes”• “Me media”, e.g. SeeMe TV (3UK)• Mobile search: Google, Microsoft investing• Gambling• Mobile TV...

Mobile TV - delivery 1

• Streaming over 3G data channel– unlimited channels, existing network– bandwidth proportional to number of users

• Broadcast technology - digital tuners– DVB-H, T-DMB, ISDB-T, DAB-IP– Lower costs but new networks required

• MediaFLO (Qualcomm)– can be added to existing 3G networks

Mobile TV - delivery 2

• Analogue tuners (Japan)

• ROK TV– broadband internet, retransmits locally

• Korean handset manufacturers mostly technology agnostic

• Nokia, SonyEricsson, BenQ, Motorola appear to favour DVB-H

Mobile TV - 3G streaming

• More than a dozen commercial mobile TV services over 3G in Europe

• Sprint & Cingular in US

• Mobi TV (content aggregator)– 500,000 users @ $10-15 per month– 15 min average viewing time - commuters– 40% viewing at home - personal space

Mobile TV - broadcast

• T-DMB launched in Korea 2005– 600K users, many up to 90mins/day (Informa)

• O2 / Arqiva trial - Oct 05 - Mar 06– 375 users - Oxford - 16 channels - DVB-H– extend trial autumn 06, includes interactivity

• BT Movio / Virgin Mobile trial - June 05– 1000 users - London area - DAB-IP– commercial launch summer 06

Mobile TV - next steps

• World Cup 2006– Germany (5 cities) & Italy– mobile TV downloads worth $300M (Informa)

• Major UK trial later in 2006 to test enhancements of DAB– T-DMB and DAB-IP - cost effective– DVB-H frequencies may not be available in

UK till 2012

Mobile TV - predictions

• DataMonitor: 70M users within 3 years

• Informa (2006)– 10% of handset sales (120M phones) have

mobile broadcast receivers by 2011– DVB-H will have largest market share (63%)

followed by MediaFLO (12.5%)– Dominated by Japan & Korea (DMB) till 2011,

when US, China, Europe will take over

Content in the cabin

• Onboard connectivity– Cells on planes (OnAir GSM)– Bluetooth– WiFi on smart phones

• Onboard website– shopping, information, games, gambling

• “Bluestreaming” / “Bluecasting”– advertisements, special offers

Content in the cabin

• Downloads– audio “podcasts”, video “mobisodes”, games,

city guides; branded content

• Memory cards, preloaded with content

• Streaming– audio: extra / premium ‘radio’ channels– video: music videos, sketches, movie trailers ,

movies ??

Thank you