Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column where C-level executives and advisory firms from across the mobile industry share unique insights and experiences.
Consider this metaphor: The mobile home screen as a retail store.
What if, when you walked in to Walmart – the world’s largest retailer – and inquired about refrigerators, their “greeter” directed you across the street to Sears? What if they guided you to Dick’s Sporting Goods when you asked about football helmets, or to the Gap when you asked about jeans?
If this happened at every Walmart store, what would happen to Walmart’s sales? Worse yet, what if what was being said was a free-for-all – if every greeter sent every shopper to the store of the greeter’s choosing, rather than a standard list of recommended outlets? What if every store was different, if every day was different?
Walmart’s sales would be turned upside down.
And yet, this is what’s happening on the mobile home screen today, and yes – it is literally changing the face of mobile, handset by handset. Content publishers, app developers and carriers are all vying for consumer attention, and they’re making a play for the home screen as the ideal platform to state their case.
Let’s have a look at these players, what’s at stake for them – and how they could royally mess it up in a free-for-all.
Publishers: Google, Yahoo and ESPN are out to gain consumer attention. The more engagement they have, the more effectively they can monetize. The home screen represents that ideal spot for them to entertain users during “found time,” with little competition for attention. But with 100% share of voice, there can only be one winner.
In a free-for-all … if Yahoo gets the home screen, consumers will consume what they’re served – and Google and every other publisher will be left with the crumbs.
App developers: Can drive engagement via the home screen. Rather than relying on basic push messaging, home screen experiences can better engage and monetize a customer base.
In a free-for-all .. the risk here is that app developers will have to worry about how to interact with other home screen solutions. But until there’s a clear winner in the home screen space, individual app developers are actually the big winners. Today’s app developers can, as did Facebook did, roll out their own home screen solutions and lock their customer base into their own home screen experience.
Wireless Carriers: The home screen yields a tremendous opportunity to engage customers and build relationships. Ultimately, this group, who has invested heavily in winning their customers, has the most to gain – and lose. If I were the CEO, or perhaps the CMO at a big operator, I would be asking myself and my staff what we are doing to prevent losing this valuable real estate.
In a free-for-all … carriers would lose again. The sad story is that the carriers really own the home screen today. They are just too big and dumb to recognize it. They could leverage it for massive gains, given the relationship they have with customers and the amount of data they have that could guide relevant home screen communication. But they don’t. Instead, they give the keys to the castle to players like Facebook, HTC and Samsung.
The fact is, wireless carriers need to stake their claim on the home screen and do it now. It’s theirs to lose. Carriers can serve up a timely message right to their subscribers, partner with original equipment manufacturers or publishers and app developers – and be present without intruding on subscribers on their safe and sacred home screen. But if they don’t move quickly, they’ll lose their chance.
As Founder and CEO, Jon Jackson provides the vision and leadership behind Mobile Posse’s mission to create a revolutionary and trusted mobile channel through the active idle screen. Jackson brings more than 17 years of strategic, operational and technical leadership experience to Mobile Posse from recognized companies ranging from a major Internet powerhouse to a television cartoon studio. Prior to forming Mobile Posse, Jackson spent over eight years in a variety of management and technical roles at AOL, as the company brought interactive advertising into existence. Previously, Jackson was the CTO of Frederator, producers of the Emmy-nominated “The Fairly OddParents” and “Chalkzone.” A recognized expert in interactive advertising and new product development, Jackson has also provided management and technology consulting services to companies like HBO, Viacom, and Primedia. Jackson holds a BA in English Composition from George Mason University.
