Mobile content: what’s in hand? Mike Chowney Technical Director, LSM Ltd

Introduction to LSM (1/2) Small, independent company, est 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: Viral video clips Original characters Animated greetings

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 proportion are 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 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 $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