LOS ANGELES–A quick tour of last week’s CTIA I.T. Wireless & Entertainment event showed there’s no shortage of hype regarding the future of wireless data. But there’s also plenty of uncertainty.
News Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Chernin did his best to add to the hype during his Wednesday keynote speech, touting the company’s $188 million acquisition of VeriSign Inc.’s mobile content business.
“I’m dead serious when I say that mobile could be one of the greatest entertainment platforms we’ve created,” Chernin said in the hyperbolic chamber that was Hall G of the Los Angeles Convention Center. “This joint venture will create the very first vertically integrated mobile entertainment company. Despite the buzz, we are still only sitting on the precipice of a consumer opportunity no one has ever seen before.”
Chernin outlined News Corp.’s aggressive plans for its joint venture centered on the Jamba brand. Rupert Murdoch’s media giant plans to launch a subscription-based mobile content service from the Fox hit “The Simpsons” and hopes to build a Jamba-powered engine to power a downloadable application for its increasingly popular mobile MySpace franchise.
But while the address was decidedly rosy, Chernin drew attention to a few thorns. The executive urged wireless carriers and fellow content providers to develop viable business models, build advertising revenues and create made-for-mobile content instead of relying on repurposed material from other media platforms. And the industry must do a better job of marketing its offerings, according to Chernin.
“(Content marketing) is confusing, it’s cheesy, and it’s often just bad,” Chernin opined. “Consumers don’t need mobile content; it’s the last thing we need. But we need to work together to make sure they desperately want it.”
And Chernin hammered a theme that appeared to be the motto for last week’s show: Try everything.
“Never stop experimenting,” he prodded. “If it doesn’t work, move on?. We must banish the word `failure’ from our vocabulary.”
Indeed, while there’s no shortage of mobile content?from video clips to full-length films to games and full-track downloads ?there are countless questions about how to monetize the stuff. On-deck or off-deck? A la carte or subscription? Premium services or ad-supported?
“We don’t know if things will work or if they won’t work,” said Larry Shapiro, executive vice president and general manager of Walt Disney Co. subsidiary Starwave Mobile. Starwave earlier last week announced new licensing deals from Beyonce Inc. and Sony BMG, and plans to publish a mobile game incorporating the pop star’s music and fashion line?an effort Shapiro said has “a fighting chance” of gaining traction. “We’re willing to take risks.”
But News Corp. will face the same challenges with Jamba that its previous owner faced, EA Mobile Senior Vice President Mitch Lasky pointed out during a discussion following Chernin’s speech. The media giant must use its marketing muscle to draw users to its direct-to-consumer mobile storefronts, which is far more difficult than luring users via high-profile deck placement.
“We’ve seen a history that the off-deck play is a very expensive way of acquiring customers,” Lasky said. On-deck placement “is a toll worth paying.”
The discussion also included a lively back-and-forth between moderator Walt Mossberg, who pens a technology column for the Wall Street Journal, and Verizon Wireless COO Lowell McAdam. Mossberg pressed McAdam on Verizon Wireless’ pricing for its full-track music download service?the carrier offers $1 per song for computer downloads but twice that sum for over-the-air tracks?and pounced when McAdam said the service allows users to “side-load” digital tunes from their computer libraries onto the handset.
“It was an awful experience,” Mossberg said of his efforts to move tracks from a PC to the phone. “It recognized none of the MP3 (files).”
The comment drew applause and underscored just one of the hurdles facing those looking to cash in on mobile content. It also highlighted the growing pressures carriers face to deploy consumer-friendly services at attractive prices before third-party vendors beat them to the punch. And while Jamba has long been a player in the direct-to-consumer space?including offering over-the-air downloads in Europe?Chernin said it’s crucial that operators continue to work with content providers to sell wares both on- and off-deck.
“We want to be your partner,” Chernin told the audience. “We’re in this in a big way.”
