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Calling all UK Innovators! Register for the new FourSquare Innovation badge now! Please RT
If you work in a place where magic happens, O2, Wired UK, and FourSquare have teamed up to create a UK Innovation badge. We will be crowd sourcing innovation locations across the UK. If you check into one of these you will unlock the UK Innovation badge.
The badge launches at next weeks Wired 2011 Conference, with the nationwide launch happening shortly afterwards.
Nominate your innovation location by completing the entry form on the Wired UK Facebook page.
Why Mobile Operators have a crucial role to play in the second wave of “smart” apps
The following post is a reproduction of my guest blog on VisionMobile.com - please see here for the original.
The noise level around Apps and App Stores has reached saturation point. Every day a new launch, a new report, or a new statistic hits the newswires.
We have passed the point where there are now more people accessing the internet via a mobile device than via a PC, overall revenue from mobile apps (including ads, payments, and in-app transactions) is expected to grow to $17.5 billion in 2012 from $4.1 billion today, the iTunes store has delivered more than 3 billion downloads, an App is downloaded every 22 seconds from Nokia’s Ovi store, there are more than 30,000 Apps available in the Android store...you get the idea...
There can be no doubt that the explosion of interest around the App ecosystem brought home just how important mobile will be as a future content delivery channel, typified by the increasing number of App’s being produced by leading brands. No digital marketer worth their salt would now neglect having an app story in their digital marketing plan, even if in all honesty some are not quite sure why!
However, make no mistake that we are still firmly in the realms of a version 1.0 ecosystem. The App retail delivery platforms are still very basic; in fact they have not yet significantly evolved in terms of features and capabilities from the content delivery platforms that were offering mobile games, wallpapers and ringtones at the beginning of the decade.
The Apps themselves are clearly “dumb”. What do I mean by “dumb?” The vast majority of today’s App’s sit on the customer’s handset and have no understanding, or appreciation of its context or the person using it. Yes, increasing numbers of Apps are using location to introduce geographic context, but that is hardly pushing the boundaries of the art of the possible.
To take the App ecosystem to version 2.0, Apps have to become “smart”. I believe this is where Mobile Operators finally have a key role to play in the progression of the App ecosystem.
Of course this role is not a divine right. The Mobile Operators need to go through considerable change in order to be able to contribute effectively. That change is both technological: opening up “smart enablers” to allow developers to easily consume these capabilities, and secondly: culturally – to embrace the independent developer community and relax their traditional command and control philosophy for mutual gain.
So what does a “smart app” look like?
Well consider today’s customer experience. You run an app and it is a one size fits all experience i.e. the app behaves exactly the same way for every one of its users, regardless of who they are, and how they are using it. Imagine a “smart” app that could customise the user experience based on intelligent, real time, information delivered from the Mobile Operator.
Examples of a Mobile Operators unique enhancements to the customer experience could include:
- On the fly customisation of the App UI based on a detailed understanding of the device currently being used. Remember that increasing numbers of customers are SIM swapping. How do you know that a customer using your service on a Monday via an iPhone is now using your service on a Tuesday using the same SIM in a 3G dongle connected to a Netbook?
- On the fly customisation of content richness based on knowledge of the users current connection speed (e.g. 2.5g, 3G, WiFi). For example trying to force rich video content to a customer on a slower 2.5G data connection will probably deliver such a poor customer experience they will never use your app again. If you know in real time their connection speed, you can deliver the most appropriate experience.
- Personalisation of content and configuration of your App UI based on user demographics (gender, age, location, social economic profile, etc)
- Targeting & profiling of the audience based on segmentation information e.g. travel profile (stationary, commuter, jet-setter), spend segment (>€100 per month, €50-100 per month, €30-50, etc.
- Micro billing to the customer’s mobile bill or debits from their pre pay balance at VISA like transactions rates.
- In App interactivity via messaging or calling
- Up selling the customer from a basic service to a premium guaranteed service (for example low ping rate for multiplayer gaming apps).
- Then for the owner of the App, post usage analytics providing data like who, where, how long their users are consuming their services, and other customers of the Mobile Operator that match their current users profile, who could be targeted by a marketing campaign.
- Have you used a Mobile Operator enabler? What was the experience like?
- What enablers do you need to make your App “smart”?
- How can we effectively spread this message?
"Official" O2 Innovation Day Video
A little late, but here is the video created by the O2 team capturing the essence of the day:Also thanks for all the interest in the O2 Litmus Roadmapping event. We sold out the initial 40 tickets, but have just added another 20, so get 'em while they are hot ;-)
O2 Innovation Day
I was hoping to write this up sooner, but just a few thoughts on the recent O2 Innovation Day that was held at the rather nice Matter Club inside The O2 complex in London on the 16th March 2009.This was the second year in a row that my team had organised the Innovation Day.The idea behind the day is to get O2 people out of their day to day working environment. Bring in leading companies that are shaping the agenda of ours and adjacent industries, share knowledge, make connections and stimulate the creative juices.We learnt a lot from last year's event, and judging from the feedback I have seen I think we successfully applied a lot of the learning's. We brutally chopped the Powerpoint, we focused on panel debate and interactivity, and most importantly we opened up.This year saw a number of companies invited in to demo and network with O2's senior leadership team. O2 Litmus played its role, with two competition winners (Ribot and Fring) taking their place alongside more established O2 partners like Microsoft & Nokia. I hope this provided some interesting conversation and business development opportunities.You can read the thoughts of Antony from Ribot here.You can also watch a couple of Antony's video's:
O2 Innovation Day - morning hello part 1 from ribot on Vimeo.
O2 business strategy innovation from ribot on Vimeo.
James Parton introduces O2 Litmus from ribot on Vimeo.
James Parton on O2 Litmus part II from ribot on Vimeo.
James Parton on O2 Litmus part III from ribot on Vimeo.
O2 Innovation Day - Sesson 1, Mobile application and services from ribot on Vimeo.
O2 Innovation day - session 1, Mobile application and services part 2 from ribot on Vimeo.Hopefully events like this reinforce that O2 Litmus is helping to drive cultural change inside an Operator like O2, and shows we are willing to air our dirty laundry, wrestling with key challenges in an open and collaborative way.It also tangibly demonstrates we don't know all the answers, but by using vehicles like O2 Litmus we are genuinely looking to the market and our customers to help shape the future.
O2 Innovation Day - morning hello part 1 from ribot on Vimeo.
O2 business strategy innovation from ribot on Vimeo.
James Parton introduces O2 Litmus from ribot on Vimeo.
James Parton on O2 Litmus part II from ribot on Vimeo.
James Parton on O2 Litmus part III from ribot on Vimeo.
O2 Innovation Day - Sesson 1, Mobile application and services from ribot on Vimeo.
O2 Innovation day - session 1, Mobile application and services part 2 from ribot on Vimeo.Hopefully events like this reinforce that O2 Litmus is helping to drive cultural change inside an Operator like O2, and shows we are willing to air our dirty laundry, wrestling with key challenges in an open and collaborative way.It also tangibly demonstrates we don't know all the answers, but by using vehicles like O2 Litmus we are genuinely looking to the market and our customers to help shape the future.
