Over and over again, we’ve been told that compelling content is the key to surviving in the wireless Internet game.
A global start-up firm called Quios Inc. this week introduced a new tactic for gathering quality content with the launch of Planet Quios, a unique customized information service that relies on users to provide content.
“Rather than us signing deals with content providers, we’re turning our users into reporters and letting them share information,” said Marc Vanlerberghe, Quios chief executive officer.
The company’s existing instant messaging and content delivery services already boast 1 million users, mostly in Europe and Asia. Quios hopes to leverage this customer base by allowing users to create their own virtual communities based on common interests, similar to Internet newsgroups.
“It’s a tool that allows people to create micro communities of common interests,” Vanlerberghe said. “We can’t create all the content in the world, so we let them define what’s important.”
Quios has developed a list of 100 categories organizing various time-sensitive events. Users interested in providing updates can navigate through the menu categories to find an event they’re planning to attend, then offer themselves as a reporter covering a certain part of that event. One user may decide to provide content on the party scene of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, for instance, while another provides scores and another focuses on certain players.
Users not attending the event can then select the content they wish to receive, based on the event, subject, language and even the particular reporter. Quios allows users to rate reporters, as several may cover the same thing, and then choose the highest-rated reporter for each item.
“You as a subscriber can choose your reporter based on the subject he’s reporting on and the language he’s reporting in,” Vanlerberghe said. “The third element is the reputation that reporter has built in the community.”
Quios first entered the wireless Internet scene in July of last year, offering basic instant messaging from its Web site and content alert services. Content providers include ESPN, Reuters, AccuWeather, S&P Comstock and others.
Information updates were delivered via short message service technology, so any text-enabled handset could take advantage of the service. As such, Quios attracted subscribers mostly in Europe, where SMS is more popular. Today, only about 3 percent of Quios’ user base resides in the United States.
“SMS was our beachhead into the wireless market,” Vanlerberghe said. “So far, SMS has not been exploited in the U.S. Carriers skipped the messaging phase and jumped right into the mobile Internet.”
But the company hopes to change that with the launch of Planet Quios, which now supports both WAP and HDML devices. In addition, Vanlerberghe said he believes SMS use in the United States is on the rise.
“AT&T is starting to offer text messaging as part of their bundled One-Rate plan,” he said. “Nextel is starting to promote their two-way messaging services actively.”
Both the existing content service and the new Planet Quios service are free, supplemented by advertising messages tagged at the end of each update.
For marketing, Quios largely is relying on word of mouth, but it is negotiating to provide the service on a private-label basis to wireless carriers, who can then offer it as a value-added service.
Quios also is a wireless application service provider, delivering instant messaging and alert services to third-party providers, such as Excite Europe and MSN.com, also in Europe.
Viafone Inc. recently bundled Quios’ alert and instant messaging technologies with its m-commerce platform, allowing retailers to send custom alerts to potential customers, who can then respond and perform an m-commerce transaction from the device.
Between its ad-based content services and its third-party wireless ASP model, Quios said it hopes to transfer its success in Europe to the United States. Based on its SMS and WAP strategies, Vanlerberghe said he feels Europe and Asia are necessary stepping stones to U.S. market success, despite the difference in market factors.
“The U.S. has the lead in the Internet space, but mobile technology is more developed and popular in Europe and Asia,” he said. “You cannot be successful in the mobile Internet space without strong ties to Europe and Asia.”
