Sling Media Inc. was only a blip on the wireless industry’s radar screen until April, when the company released its SlingPlayer Mobile software. The $30 software allows SlingBox owners to watch TV on any smartphone running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile 5.0, Symbian or Palm OS; there are no monthly fees aside from carrier data charges.
Predictably, the move was seen as a shot across the bow of wireless network operators, which view mobile video and other carrier-offered 3G services as a crucial way to make up for sagging voice revenues. Analysts speculated that a surge in such usage could cause logjams on cell sites, but leave carriers outside the mobile content revenue chain. And network operators have taken steps to deal with SlingBox-as well as rival place-shifting companies such as Orb Networks Inc. and Rok Entertainment Group Ltd.-by placing caps on their “all you can eat” data offerings, and forcing high-usage subscribers off the network.
Such resistance isn’t unusual in the world of place-shifting, of course. Sling Media has come under fire from cable TV companies and content owners that claim the company is taking proprietary content and unfairly distributing it.
At least a handful of network operators, though, are warming to the idea of place-shifting-or at least acquiescing. Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Paul Reddick said the carrier was talking with developers about deploying such offerings, and Sling scored a blockbuster deal late last year when Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 U.K. began offering unlimited access to mobile Internet services. Subscribers can pay a premium to use devices and software from Sling Media and Orb, which are partnering with 3 on the effort.
Welcome disruptions
Network operators should not block new disruptive technology, according to Martin Dunsby, senior vice president and general manager of global services at Openwave Systems Inc. Dunsby explained that wireless service providers should leverage their most important asset-namely, the network-to offer features and services no one else can.
“I don’t think any (U.S. operators) are keeping them at arm’s length,” Dunsby said of carriers’ attitudes toward place-shifting companies. “The challenge they’ve got is how to make sure they’re part of the value chain. Carriers have got to figure out how to add something of value.”
Right content at right time
Possibilities include using GPS technology to offer the right content at the right time-video when a user is on the subway, for instance, but music when he is on the highway behind the wheel-or forwarding a mobile call to a fixed line when a user is at home or in the office. A user on vacation could be allowed to configure settings that could accept calls only from friends and family, sending calls from colleagues straight to voicemail.
Another example: Openwave powers a music service for the French carrier Orange that tracks the tastes of each user, offering specific genres and artists based on each consumer’s preferences.
“There is no option but to engage the networked consumer,” agreed John Puterbaugh, CEO of Nellymoser Inc., a mobile media technology company. “Traditional mobile platform and infrastructure providers that deliver ‘static’ content are not equipped to handle the requirements of the next generation of digital lifestyles that expect on-demand, interactive, community-based experiences.”
Carriers should note that SlingBox sales also signal consumers’ eagerness to consume content away from home, Dunsby said. “There’s a huge, great new story in this. The subscribers want to do something other than just talk on their phones.”
