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European Mobile Portals: And the Winner Is…| Jul 8, 2008 | Wireless Services - Europe | Advisory Report PerspectiveOnce unfashionable and unpopular – and all-too reminiscent of the failed ‘walled garden’ era of mobile content marketing – mobile portal products and services are experiencing a resurgence of operator focus and investment. Much of this, of course, is due to the recent explosion of mobile data usage, itself symptomatic of new, aggressive pricing policies, roaming regulation and emerging mobile data price wars across several markets. Although initially focused on the USB modem/dongle market for laptop access, operators now well understand the importance of allowing consumers off-portal browsing freedom, and the majority have now replaced (or are in the process of replacing) their former ‘on-portal only’ mobile data tariffs with broader, less restrictive mobile Internet services for general-usage access. In many cases (such as that of Vodafone live! across key European markets, O2 Active in Germany and Planet3 in several markets), operators have desisted from marketing the mobile portal service name, choosing instead to promote general access service models to front-end their own content shops. A Superior End User Experience Such a trend appears to indicate a growing acceptance of the dreaded ‘dumb-pipe’ role. However, this is an over-simplification. European operators are willing to take on the mantle of the dumb-pipe if it means growing their total mobile data user base, as boosting user numbers represents a larger content sales opportunity – if operators play their integrated fixed-mobile content service cards right, that is. Players outside the mobile operator community (as well as those seeking to enter the mobile portal services space) should see this movement towards the ‘access model’ as a ‘back-to-basics’ attempt to jump-start demand for content by making mobile data access more affordable, and therefore more attractive, in the first place. This does not at all mean that mobile operators have given up on mobile content and content services as a future significant revenue stream… far from it. European operators know all too well the resources and ambition of new portal entrants such as Yahoo!, Nokia and Google, and they are being forced to re-focus their mobile portal activities to deliver a superior end user experience. Functionality First Much of this mobile portal market renaissance is being driven at the functionality level, and one of the key insights of this new product class is a divergence of focus and emphasis in this area. Whilst Orange is continuing to diversify its content propositions by niche sector, operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone are investing heavily in the alternative: personalization tools and features to allow the end user to ‘self-customize’ his own mobile portal experience. The difference is one of approach. Whereas Orange has actively chosen to spin out separate mobile portal and on-device portal offerings for distinct user groups or interest groups, other operators have chosen to stick with the one-size-fits-all model, providing users with features to re-configure their own content positioning and even pull applications straight to the homepage, if required. Likewise, O2’s spotty use of content recommendation is in stark contrast to the broader initiatives of leading competitors to leverage both operator-driven and user-driven recommendation to steer end-user content choices. The treatment of location-based technology is also creating some major differentiation between the competitors’ portal offerings, both at a functionality level and at a services level. Competitive OverviewThe new Current Analysis Pan-European Mobile Portals Product Assessments provide a competitive overview of Vodafone live!, T-Mobile’s Web’n’walk, 3Group’s Planet3, O2 Active and Orange World in western Europe, looking at each portal’s treatment of personalization, segmentation, recommendation and search. Vodafone live! is the class winner within this initial research publication with the most comprehensive, end user-friendly and fully-rounded functionality rating, although Orange World came in for a close second.
Click here for the summaries of the Mobile Portals - Pan-European Product Assessments covered, Buying Criteria definitions, and Product Metrics.
The Evolving Story: The Mobile Portal and Integrated Services In the follow-up product assessment update, now currently in research and due for publication later this year, the class will see the addition of new competing products and services, such as Nokia’s Ovi, as well as new product comparison criteria based on the provision of fixed-mobile integrated services, as a PC-based extension of the mobile portal experience. Just how well will competitors fare in reaching consumers through the ‘two-screen approach,’ and where will the content focus lie in the short-term? The indications within the initial class publication point up mobile music as an obvious first-mover in the integrated fixed-mobile services domain, as exemplified by Vodafone Downloads and newer ‘unlimited’ models such as Orange France’s Musique Max or TDC’s Play. Leveraging the PC as a mobile portal customization tool (i.e., creating and then ‘pushing’ portal customization tools to the handset, from the comfort of a wide-screen PC) is also part of this story, as is the integration of existing ‘data management’ tools such as O2 UK’s Bluebook with user self-care mobile portal propositions. Recommended User Actions• Mobile users who feel hemmed in by limited content menu choices and multiple clicks to reach their favorite content should look for a mobile portal that excels in homepage creation and self-personalization tools. Vodafone live! is currently the class leader in this area. CLIENTS ONLY Recommended Vendor Actions| Client access - Full report in Wireless Services - Europe | More information |
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