As the number of mobile device users continues to grow and carriers pursue new means of increasing Average Revenue per User (ARPU), the shape of the wireless world is evolving. As the carriers and the industry as a whole looks to new and exciting mobile applications, unique content through mobile search and digital mobile entertainment represent expansive areas gaining momentum as exemplified by recent reports from the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2005 trade show held late September.

As described by Juniper Research, “Higher ARPU from data services will come primarily from the ability to provide easy-to-use and intuitive/dynamic services that customers can both understand and manage, or, better still, that manage themselves contextually.” Applications working towards evolving current data services surround mobile search technology and mobile digital entertainment such as music downloads and TV.

Mobile Search Technology:

Mobile Search is a growing theme as companies look to add value for consumers and carriers through direct search capabilities and associated advertising programs. With significant differences from the PC arena, mobile search has had to contend with the challenges of slower connection speeds, limited display space and the mobile environment itself that demands quick, and direct answers on-the-go. Understanding these challenges and the needs of the user has created opportunities for firms within this environment.

Richi Jennings, Analyst with Ferris Research, Inc., a leading analysis and market research firm based in San Francisco describes the next big thing in wireless as Google’s moves within this arena, which has positioned them to take advantage of the integration between location dependence, Wi-Fi and Bandwidth for direct search capabilities through handsets. “If you are out shopping in brick and mortar stores, what if you could connect using your PDA over Google Wi-Fi, which knew where you were and could show you the closest place to purchase what you’re looking for?” describes Jennings.

Google is currently in the beta testing process for a Short Message Service (SMS) that provides users with the ability to submit search queries, and receive answers over handheld devices as text messages. The Company is also exploring an online question and answer service called Google Answers that utilizes over 500 researchers and allows users to bid on the price of each answer. The cost of each response through this service ranges from $2.50 per question and upwards, and returns answers often within 24 hours. While these avenues are still in the early stages, the concepts of direct query and response appear to be the theme of these pursuits and continue to shape the direction of the search arena.

Combining some of the concepts revealed by Google into a mobile solution is AskMeNow (InfoByPhone Corp. d.b.a. AskMeNow, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocean West Holding Corp.). The Company provides direct search capability, enabling users to ask questions using a toll free number or a downloadable application, with answers returned to a handheld device through an Email or SMS within minutes. Users can take advantage of either the standard formatted questions, which are free, or customers can utilize the Company’s AskMeAnything feature that offers free-form question formats for a small per use fee.

AskMeNow is hoping to answer the needs of carriers for ways of increasing their ARPU. Darryl Cohen, President and CEO of AskMeNow explains, “We have an interesting revenue model that will create ongoing transactional revenue for the carriers to share in through our AskMeAnything feature, which based on beta testing is a fee-per-use service that consumers are interested in using.”

According to the Company, the direction of mobile search is moving towards simple and direct responses rather than the antiquated search methods currently in use on the PC. As described by Walter Kostiak, Vice President of Global Business Development for AskMeNow, “The ability to ask direct questions and receive direct answers within moments makes searching the Internet a more useful service on mobile phones.” AskMeNow was recently given a favorable review by Walter Mossberg, in his column “The Mossberg Solution” on October 5th, 2005 aptly titled “Go Ahead, You Can Ask Anything.” http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20051005.html

InfoSpace, a provider and publisher of mobile content and applications, addresses the needs of the mobile community to access relevant information in a quick fashion by leveraging its online technology in query intelligence and metasearch to the mobile environment. “Our Mobile Local Search application greatly simplifies the process of finding the answers when on the move. Our one application combines the top mobile local search categories (dining, movies) to give the user quick and easy access to highly relevant information for one subscription cost,” said Jim Voelker, Chairman and CEO at InfoSpace.

Mobile Entertainment:

Mobile entertainment such as music and TV are content services that companies such as RealNetworks have been building on for some time. As described by Kevin Nakao, GM of Mobile Services, “RealNetworks, through its experience within the mobile arena, has developed to the point where it has a good sense of the type of content that consumers want, the user experience that needs to be optimized for mobile, and technical issues that need to be addressed as we are moving from early adopters to mainstream consumers specifically in mobile entertainment, but also in terms of the mobile arena at large.”

Developers of mobile TV and music applications are hoping to build on the momentum that the success of ring tone sales has established as it became a key driver to mobile entertainment. According to Juniper Research, streamed and broadcast TV services will grow from US$136 million in 2005 to approximately US$7.6 billion by 2010 with full-track music download revenues reaching US$1 billion by 2007, growing to $1.8 billion by 2009. “The first phase of mobile was all about text messaging and ringtones and we will continue to see these as being big drivers in the marketplace. Now as we get to mobile video it’s a whole new set of skills, the work just got a lot more complicated,” explains Nakao.

With significant capital investments already in place Warner Music Group is very excited about the direction that the mobile arena is taking and feel that they will be a main beneficiary of this growth. According to the Company, “Warner Music’s vision is the transformation of the company from a record and song company, to a music based content company in order to take advantage of the potential of all of our content through new channels and products with mobile clearly being one of the primary avenues. We have established a massive footprint already with our wireless carriers supporting Warner Music Group, which we expect to grow over time.”

The Path Ahead:

As mobile device technology in North America is maturing, new opportunities are being made available for consumers, carriers and application developers. Mobile entertainment and mobile search technology are creating a much richer user experience as they continue to blur the lines between the PC and handheld device offerings.