Returning from CTIA in Las Vegas last week and with only 2 days before going off on vacation to Florida, I found myself reflecting that two of the most interesting meetings I had at the show were with mobile operators.

During CTIA I spent some time with AT&T emerging devices and T-Mobile M2M teams and was impressed with how both these units had managed to cut (or at least untie) the cord to the mother ship and avoid having innovation stifled by the Borg up at Corporate.

• AT&T’s efforts to encourage a broad range of new applications and devices has definitely paid dividends with Mr. Lurie and his team adding an impressive 1M users in Q409 as a result of new device categories (mostly PND and EBR).
• T-Mobile revealed a somewhat unheralded pedigree in M2M.

Partnership is the order of the day.

AT&T highlighted partner applications ranging from location enabled pet collars (Apisphere) to glow cap bottles to aid compliance with medication schedules (Vitality) to a very cool new tablet from Openpeak which is very different to the announced but apparently supply side challenged iPad.  Verizon Wireless and Sprint are of course also praying at the alter of open development but perhaps with less public presence.

When I think of enterprise mobility, AT&T and Verizon Wireless are top of mind but T-Mobile has in fact quietly been developing strong competency in the M2M space over the last 7-8 years.

T-Mobile offers four different SIM form factors to suit specific applications and have enjoyed triple digit growth for the last four years. T-Mobile US has quietly activated “hundreds” of different device types on its network with only a handful of devices being rejected or pulled due to network unfriendly characteristics. These devices span Telematics, Connected Energy, Telemedicine and several other applications.

So what is the common DNA of two very different operators that has allowed them to innovate and focus on new opportunities? Separation and operational autonomy to facilitate and open funnel approach to partners and speed of execution not normally associated with US carriers.

In the case of AT&T, the Emerging Devices group was chartered with developing a new space and freed from the legacy of voice & data consumer tariffs and prepaid/postpaid categories which just don’t cut it in the new connected reality where users will have multiple devices connected but used in very different ways. Mr. Lurie and his team have been able to streamline device certification and experiment across the spectrum of business models for new connected applications.

For T-Mobile, speed of certification (days not months) and the independence of being a self-contained unit (own engineers, own sales although linked to broader enterprise group) reporting to Finance & Strategy have allowed them to pursue their “easiest to do business with” approach to the M2M markets.

So, the takeaway? Innovation is alive and well at US operators but separation from the collective corporate mind is essential.

David Kerr

Today is the start of March Madness – the US tournament that will crown the college basketball champion. March Madness was also the underlying theme of my most recent report, March Gladness – which looks at how print media can leverage lessons from sports to succeed in the world of mobile media.

But there is also an important lesson for multimedia content owners; despite what you think consumers will in fact pay for content.

As of this morning the iPhone application, CBS Sports NCAA Madness on Demand, selling for $9.99 was number nine on the top ten paid apps list (and expected to rise) and the current highest grossing application. The popularity of the app demonstrates the willingness of sports fans to pay for ubiquitous access to events – even if it is otherwise available for free via broadcast or online. And we are simply at the tip of the proverbial iceberg – World Cup, the Masters – each of these events have already or are planning to drive users to pay for content on their mobile devices – a phenomenon not easily replicated online.

And it is a smart decision for a number of reasons:

1. Conditioning. By educating users that everything online would be ad-supported, content owners found it difficult if not impossible to then charge for content that had so long been provided gratis. While some sports such as Major League Baseball have successfully avoided this, others such as the NCAA have not.

2. Avoiding cannibalization. By not relying on advertising dollars, content owners can better protect existing revenue be it broadcast or online without risking advertisers simply shifting money from one medium to another without growing the total pie.

3. Value. By offering lite versions of applications, content owners are still putting information into the hands of consumers but are maintaining that live content has additional value and thus should be paid for.

Now, NCAA online once had a paid online service when it launched in 2003 which eventually evolved into the free service available today. So, could a similar trend be seen for mobile? It’s unlikely on a large scale. Charging for mobile content is becoming accepted (despite grumbles from users who expect everything to be free) and companies will learn the lessons of the internet by avoiding devaluing their content by giving it away. Paid content may not be for everyone but there are millions of users who will pay for a la carte content that appeals to them and when taken in aggregate could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer spend within the next few years.

This week, Strategy Analytics' Global Wireless Practice analysts Bonny Joy, Alex Spektor, and Josh Martin discuss the issue of handset fragmentation in a two part podcast. Part 1 Description How did we get here? Wasn't Android intended to be the one platform to bind them all? Instead we have dozens of SKUs while Microsoft - a former advocate of the many varied handset strategy has made an about face. Part 2 Description Now we know how we got here but what does the future hold? Which platform will be the most dominant? Which handset manufacturer will be the most successful? What is the one overriding factor for success in the handset space? We will answer those questions and more in part 2 of this week's podcast. As always, our Podcasts can be found at http://strategyanalytics.mypodcast.com which offers multiple subscription options or you can subscribe using the button below. *Please note that on 3/17/2010 our podcast host will be upgrading their servers which will limit availability of the SA podcast temporarily. We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

The Olympics are now over and hours of wasted time are being planned as March Madness nears. Moving content online has helped sports leagues grow revenue and now they are making the leap once again to the mobile device. Strategy Analytics analysts Josh Martin, Alex Spektor, Jia Wiu, and John Lee discuss these issues and more in this premier podcast.

Sports & the Internet: A gold medal winner?

About SA Podcasts: SA Podcasts will be recorded weekly and will be on a range of topics featuring a rotating panel of analysts. The podcasts will be uploaded to the blogs, they can also be found at http://strategyanalytics.mypodcast.com which offers subscription options. The final option is iTunes. You can subscribe using the button below.