REVIEW: Sports nuts get mixed results via mobile

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless New’ new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. 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 in the mobile content industry. If you wish to submit your application or service for review, please contact us at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.
Services: Fox Sports Mobile Pro ($5 a month) from Glu Mobile Inc. and 4INFO’s text alerts (free aside from carrier messaging charges).
Running on: LG’s VX 8300 on Verizon Wireless’ network.
Yay: Both offerings deliver real-time NFL scores and statistics, freeing sports fans from their couches on Sunday afternoons. That’s a good thing, right?
Nay: Five dollars a month? For an application that gives me little more than the stuff I can find on countless wireless Web sites? Um, I’ll take the free SMS service, thanks.
We say: If you’re looking to keep up with individual players on the go, 4INFO’s text alert service is hard to beat.
As far as I’m concerned, one of the very few redeeming features of fall is fantasy football. Yes, it’s a geeky, shameful waste of time, but it also gives me an excuse on Sundays not to dredge the gutters, rake the leaves or do any of the other awful chores that come with summer’s end.
Until now.
Fantasy nerds now have plenty of ways to keep tabs on their teams via mobile, from wireless Web sites to text alerts to downloadable applications. Glu’s Fox Sports Mobile Pro is the latter: the $5-a-month offering on Verizon Wireless’ deck, the application debuted in late 2004 and provides access to a wide range of sports information, from the four major U.S. sports leagues to college basketball to golf to, yes, NASCAR.
Users can personalize Fox Sports Mobile, allowing them to follow their favorites with just a few clicks, and can access audio clips and photos from recent contests. Most compellingly, the application delivers real-time graphical displays, enabling subscribers to “watch” games-or simulations, anyway-away from the television.
But Fox Sports Mobile falls short for wannabe pigskin GMs. Users are presented with an “NFL” option that presents several offerings, but the “Fantasy” link was a dead end: “There is no NFL Fantasy news available,” the application informed me on two occasions. “Please check again later.”
That was in the middle of Sunday afternoon. On the league’s opening day. After the first round of games had ended.
Other efforts were slightly more encouraging, if not exactly inspiring. Scores were easy to retrieve, and updated in real-time, but individual statistics were offered only for team leaders in passing, rushing and receiving-at least, as far as I could tell. And while the user interface was fairly intuitive, the application didn’t seem to cache much of the information on my phone, requiring a back-and-forth with the server just to back out of a page.
On the plus side, the application includes a scrolling ticker across the bottom, allowing fans to view updated scores from every major sport, and an “Audio” option delivered sound bites from recent action. For fantasy nerds, though, Fox Sports Mobile was no more useful than free mobile Internet sites from ESPN, The Sporting News and others.
Much better-and, yes, free-was the text-alert service from 4INFO. The company delivers local listings as well as news headlines and stock updates via SMS, but its sports offering may be the most compelling. For the hardcore fanatic-and those of us with super-sized messaging plans-the service sends texts whenever specified players score or accumulate predetermined yardage amounts.
Final stats for each player are sent at the end of each matchup. And while each missive included a marketing message from Chevy or another advertiser, the ads came at the end of the text and were hardly noticeable.
Signing up for 4INFO’s service isn’t exactly painless, though. Users can register online, choosing which players to follow and how often they want to receive updates, but the process seemed a bit cumbersome. Registering probably isn’t much of a headache if you’re adjusting your service for the season-I spent about 15 minutes online to prepare for Sunday’s games-but it’s likely to be a hassle if you want to track your opponent, requiring weekly readjustments.
Fox Sports Mobile provides a good alternative for fans who want to “watch” a specific game but can’t get in front of a TV. But that scenario seems unlikely for most users and, because the application requires airtime, could prove a costly way to run through your bucket of minutes.
For fantasy footballers, though, 4INFO’s service delivers timely, detailed information without the need to launch an application or fire up the WAP browser. And it does it at the right price.
But please, don’t tell my wife.