Spiral Arm News

Network eyes mobile advertising revenue.

Mobile network 3 is looking to open up their UK subscriber base to advertising, reports
The Guardian. "Other mobile phone companies, however, have so far shied away from bombarding their customers with ads. They believe 3 is seeking to persuade advertisers to subsidise content available on the service as customers themselves remain reticent about paying for it."

The experience of 3 today comes from an iPod advert, which was downloaded 160,000 times in a week.
'"We do offer advertisers a direct channel and crucially a return path," for interactive marketing, explained chief executive Bob Fuller yesterday. "Ads directed to individuals are going to be a significant part of our business."'

Council makes savings by going mobile.

Leeds City Council, in the UK, are on course to make "huge savings" by introducing a mobile data capture application. "'Our carers used to generate two million pieces of paper a year that had to be filed, managed and manually input into our systems', said Doug Sutherland, corporate business relationship manager at Leeds Council. 'Now they have digital pens that transmit what they are writing on a paper form back to our servers via mobile phone within a minute.'"

"We have said we will save GBP1.2m over the next two-and-a-half years, but that is a very modest estimate. We can divert those resources into frontline care where it is most needed".

Reported in Computing, 6 October 2005, p. 14.

Mobile use in-flight due in 2006.

As reported by The Guardian and Computing, two airlines are going to allow passengers "to make and receive calls, as well as send and receive emails and text messages, on flights within the UK and Europe. The service will be trialled once regulatory issues have been decided."

"This trial will guide us on usage patterns and some of the social issues in using mobile phones on aircraft," said BMI chief executive Nigel Turner. "It will also help us to confirm the business case for rolling the service out across the remainder of the fleet."

Medical uses for mobile.

The Economist (Technology Quarterly, September 17 2005, p. 8) looks at the use of mobile phones to deliver health care. Two examples:

• A new service called MyFoodPhone allows users to take pictures of their meals with their camera phones, which is far easier than writing a food log. Each week a nutritionist emails back a "dietary critique".


• SIMPill is a device which attaches to medication lids and sends a text each time the container is opened. If no message arrives with the central server, the patient (or carer or family) is contacted to make sure the medication is taken.

The article continues: "...more than 90m Americans have a chronic illness, and they account for over 75% of the nation's $1.4 trillion annual spending on health care. So the mobile phone could be a useful tool to combat both chronic disease and runaway medical costs."

Business uses of SMS.

Computing (29 September 2005, pp.28-30) reports on business uses of SMS, placing an emphasis on cost savings, productivity improvements, customer satisfaction. For example: "The AA patrol typically arrives in 35 minutes, but most people phone to check after half and hour. Sending regular texts automatically from the AA's customer care software—integrated using business text provider WIN's SMS Gateway—telling motorists how long they will have to wait reduces repeat calls by 80 per cent." (Disclaimer: Spiral Arm makes use of WIN's services).

The article discusses the reliability of text, noting that although SMS is not guaranteed, it is reliable enough for business. For the UK, using an SMS gateway that peers with the UK network operators means that messages may cost more but are less likely to get lost, duplicated or blocked compared to cheaper overseas networks.

Meanwhile, Mobhappy lists a "top 10" business uses of text, which we summarize as follows:

1. Job alerts — saving recruitment agencies "considerable time and money" in contacting candidates. We'll also add that candidates appreciate a discreet text compared to a call or checking email.


2. Entertainment and information services — revenue from jokes, competitions etc.


3. Promotions — used by clubs and bars to alert customers of special events, bringing in more custom.


4. Monitoring — alerting engineers to service issues, increasing performance.


5. Routing — couriers directing their drivers, increasing efficiencies.


6. Public service announcements — alerting parents that schools are closed.


7. Reminders — dentists reminding patents about appointments, to reducing lost time.


8. Customer service — car mechanics notifying customers of job progress, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing the costs of having to contact a customer by other means.


9. Payment collection — such as charities allowing customers to make pledges by text.


10. Quotations — insurers offering quotes and cover by text, allowing last minute purchases and access to information for those without internet access.

VOIP implications for mobile networks.

The Economist special report on telecoms and the internet (Sept 17, 2005, pp.81-84) highlights the challenges facing mobile networks. VOIP (voice over IP, the internet protocol) is expected to be the basis for all phone calls in the near future, making the cost of such calls zero. Mobile operators will need to find other ways of making money.

"New 'third-generation' (3G) networks were supposed to make possible whizzy new data services to compensate for flat and even declining revenues from voice, but consumer adoption has been slow. Worse, those very 3G networks that are supposed to provide future growth for the industry could now undermine it, since they make possible VOIP calling over mobile networks."

"Today, VOIP calling over 3G networks is still very much a minority sport, but as 3G coverage and transmission speeds improve—something the industry is racing to achieve—it will become common. This represents a mortal danger for mobile operators." Vodafone, for example, currently makes over 80% of its revenues from voice.

'"VOIP on mobile is the first real threat they [network operators] are going to face, and they are in a state of shock", says Mr Mewawalla [analyst at Westhall Capital].'