REVIEW: GoTV’s Rock On serves purpose, but that purpose should be free

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn’t. If you wish to submit your application or service for review, please contact us at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.
Application: Rock On Altitude by GoTV Networks Inc.
Running on: Sanyo Katana Eclipse X on Sprint Nextel’s EV-DO network
Yay: Hip content from today’s hottest music acts, full-length music videos and shamefully catty commentary from cynical young media types. And unlike much video footage in wireless, this stuff actually seems created for the medium.
Nay: Even made-for-mobile video can be tough to watch given the constraints of handsets, and interviews with wanna-be (or, someday, will-be) pop stars are embarrassingly inane. Also: five bucks a month for this stuff? Really? Lastly, why would anyone force me to endure a cover of “Born to be Wild?” in an app I actually have to pay for?
We say: It’s no sin (well, not a big one, anyway) for a mobile content company to cash in on stuff that will soon be available free. Rock On Altitude won’t rock your world – and it’s the kind of thing that can be had at countless destinations on the “real” Internet – but if you have to have the latest off-the-cuff (and often idiotic) insights from this year’s version of next year’s stars, it may be right up your alley.
Review: Faithful readers of RCRWireless.com know that we’re big on practical mobile applications. We like customizable sports text services from 4INFO, the “human guides” from ChaCha, easy-to-use wireless news feeds and washing machines that send an SMS when your laundry is done.
Which is why we’re not sure what to think of Rock On Altitude.
It’s easy to see why some users might be interested in Rock On Altitude, a wireless version of content targeted directly at Millennial Generation hipsters and other cutting-edge consumers. The lightweight (121 KB) app is available on several carrier decks, is easy to download and offers a reasonably navigable interface consisting of seven categories. After a quick and painless download, we accessed a landing page of “what’s new.” Among other things, we were invited to hear members of a band named Hinder dish on a band named Saving Abel in a mock-club interview setting; watch a report from a music festival in New Orleans; and endure a painful performance by Avril Lavigne covering a forgettable Joan Jett hit.
Most memorably, the landing page offered “Bikini Fight Club,” which consists of a less-than-riveting profile of a comely lass who wants to kick your . well, you get it. The clip, which coupled borderline titillation with a kind of personals ad: “I like . someone that can talk politics,” the pulchritudinous pugilist said. “Someone that can talk politics, or be like, ‘Oh yeah, I remember when that happened.'”
Thankfully, most of the rest of Rock On Altitude offered content of the more premium variety. One “channel” featured artist interviews (“The Wombats on Dennis Rodman Sex Tape”!) as well as some behind-the-scenes stuff from high-profile alternative tours and a handful of actual music videos and in-concert footage of a few full-length tunes. Oh, and some footage of bikini-clad women performing an intriguing variety of tasks including grocery shopping, cleaning and playing basketball.
It’s easy to see why many consumers – specifically, young men and teenage boys – might find this stuff compelling. Not only does much of the content have an “insider” feel, the video footage seems made for mobile, underscoring GoTV’s expertise in the space.
What’s less obvious, though, is why anyone would pay for it. Consumers already expect to get this kind of stuff free, and those expectations are increasingly being placed on phones as the Internet collides with the world of mobile.
Which helps explain why GoTv recently announced it is pursuing an ad-supported model. Access to Rock On Altitude for $60 per year seems like a pretty tough sell, but even non-Millennials may dip into Bikini Fight Club occasionally if all they have to do is sit through a couple of ads.