Telemedia-month JULY 12

Issue 31 • JULY 2012

London 2012 Olympics proving a mobile boon to brands and advertisers

global attention on London Olympics is likely to prove to be a boon to brands and advertisers looking to use the mobile channel as a hefty number of people are looking at the event on their portable devices, finds research from global mobile ad network Mojiva, IABUK and IAB mobile. And those ads are driving interactivity through mobile like never before.

According to the study, with 76% of UK respondents following the games closely on their mobile, it’s a huge market for brands and an opportunity for real time media interaction says the report.

A huge 71% will be following the Olympics on their mobile in some way at work – 19% actually streaming live, 20% checking up with high profile athletes on social networks and 23% search for event results and medal counts.

For brands and advertisers, the report finds that 36% of respondents are more likely to pay attention to an ad featuring a sport they love, compared to a measly 6% sitting up for a high profile athlete or celebrity. With the unofficial Nike campaign delivering more positive engagement than Adidas’ focus on high profile athletes. Is the power of personality not as strong as once thought?

Similarly, nearly 67% have or intend to download a dedicated Olympic app, with 55% only doing so if it was free, which is good news for Samsung’s “Take Part”, the BBC’s Olympics app and the likes of Journey Pro. The study, which also aimed to compare and contrast UK verses US consumer opinions on mobile ads around the Olympics, found that there are some significant differences between the two nations habits.

As hosts of the Olympiad, one might expect the UK to be paying the closest attention to how events unfold on mobile. However, mobile respondents in the UK were relatively less likely to say they would be watching the games closely than our American cousins (65% against 76% in the US). The sheer wealth of coverage in the UK media perhaps explains this.

When it comes to what kinds of mobile ads are likely to attract the attention of people accessing mobile content around the Olympics, the study found that there are some very different views between US and UK sports viewers. US respondents like amusing or entertaining mobile ads, while the Brits were more likely to focus on sports content related ads.

Similarly, UK mobile fans were more likely to respond to ads from official Olympic Continued page 2 >>

THIS MONTH...

News

The latest news from the industry, along with analysis of what that news means, including: • London Olympics bans wifi tethering and wifi hubs 3 • US Olympic viewers are kings of the mobile tweet 3 • O2 continues dominance in wifi with roll out across London 5 • More than half of gamers use mobile as home platform 5 • O2 rolls out Priority Moments to 23million high street shops 6 • Oxygen8Money cashes in on P2P money transfers with Cashtosend 7 • Mobile banking and payments using SMS exploding 8 • NFC payments to be worth $180bn by 2017, reckons Juniper 9 • C3 helps Sundial Telecom halve development time 10 • CSG International buys Ascade to boost wholesale business 11

Analysis Editorial txt? 2right m8 Paul Skeldon looks how text is now more popular than voice – and what it means for telemedia and WORLD TELEMEDIA MARBELLA 12 TELECOMS Telco managers too 80s MNO managers are children of the 1980s so just don’t really have digital in their blood, says John Strand 13 SMS Texting gets sexy Texting is more popular than evet according to Ofcom, but why are we so drawn to it and what are the opportiunities this hunger for SMS presents the industry? Paul Skeldon takes a look 14 WORLD TELEMEDIA MARBELLA Learn. Discuss. Inspire World Telemedia’s next live event – in Marbella 17-19 October is taking shape. Find out what is on offer and book your tickets 18

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Latest news at www.telemedia-news.com Catch our blog at www.telemedia360.blogspot.com

NEWS London Olympics bans 3G and wifi hubs, tethering and vuvuzelas in a move that could hamper what was looking to be the most connected Olympic Games ever, the latest directive from the London Olympic Committee has revealed that the organisation is banning the use of smartphone and tablets as 3G and wifi tethered hubs in a move dressed up as security but probably linked to not wanting to see revenues from mobile data fall. They have also banned vuvuzelas, tents and “Large quantities of food and drink”.

The directive – part of the latest iteration of LOCOG’s Prohibited Items advice to ticket holders bans “Personal/private wireless access points and 3G hubs”.

Smart devices such as Android phones, iPhones and tablets are permitted

inside the venues, but must not be used as wireless access points to connect multiple devices”.

O2 is running free wifi around the games – both in the venues and in other parts of London – but many operators are hoping to cash in on increased data roaming traffic from users. The tethering ban is likely a move to stop this being eroded by users sharing a signal.

“We’re just two days away from the start of the first ever Olympic Games in the modern, digital era,” Tomas Mendoza, Managing Director of Tep Wireless /www.tepwireless.com/) tells Telemedia-news.com. “But unfortunately the organisers clearly don’t appreciate the

advantages technology is offering – and what the public expect as a result.

“Fans are allowed to bring their iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets into Olympic venues – but strangely, they’re not allowed to use wireless access points to connect multiple devices. These are the people who’ve had to go to the considerable trouble – and expense – of buying tickets, booking flights and finding affordable accommodation in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Their next priority is to have reliable and affordable mobile Internet connectivity for all their devices so they can share their once in a lifetime experience with family and friends.”

US sports fans are Top Olympic Twits, finds TweetSport with america expected to dominate the official Olympic Medal table, Tweetsport has already named the USA as the Top Team for Tweets ahead of London 2012. Analysing the 100 most popular official accounts for athletes competing at the Games that feature on Tweetsport, they announced USA had claimed the Nation top spot with 19 million followers and US Basketball star Lebron James was Top Twit with 5 million.

“Ten days to go and we are getting in the spirit of the competition with our Tweetsport Olympic Top 10s which are based on our own ‘faster, higher, stronger,’ measure for success which is

‘followers, funnier, official,’ said founder Eilidh Donaldson. “USA winning isn’t a surprise but Lebron’s numbers are staggering. He is virtually a country in his own right; in fact he would have been second.”

The Top Olympic Sports, based on the highest number of followers for a single athlete, saw James’ Basketball beat out Serena’s Tennis and Chelsea’s Juan Mata’s Football for the Gold. Athletics, Cycling and Diving completed the top six.

“Mainstream sports were always likely to win but diving’s position shows the impact of one successful inspirational individual like Tom Daley. That being said this isn’t highly scientific, the top

spots owe a lot to six packs and tight sportswear as well as sporting prowess I’m sure.”

The first Social Olympics will allow fans to show support for their countries and heroes even if they are not at the stadiums. “People really showed the love for Andy Murray after his recent emotional appearance at Wimbledon.

His numbers got a boost and that is why he is our Team GB No 1 Twit.”

“Footballers from the Beckham-less squad claim 2 of the top 10 spots, there would have been more but the other players’ accounts did not meet the criteria for ‘interesting’ #epicfail #toomanynandos”

>> Olympic m-marketing boon (from page 1) sponsors , whereas US consumers were more attracted to ads featuring sports personalities they liked.

In both markets, however, the relevance of the content of the ad was key, finds the study.

Interaction through the mobile channel with ads is gaining ground thanks to the Olympics, the study found. Some 62% of UK respondents and 60% of

those from the US said that they interacted with ads at least sometimes. UK consumers showed a higher propensity to do so more frequently, with 32% saying that they interacted with a mobile ad at least daily, compared with just 25% of US consumers.

Both US and UK consumers are also starting to use mobile in pretty equal measure to watch the games as they

unfold. Just under a quarter in both the UK and US said that they would be watching the games on a mobile device, while 47% of both nations would be using their mobile to second screen while watching the Olympics on TV. US consumers – at a time zone disadvantage – were naturally more likely to use mobile to catch up of the Olympic highlights, found the study.

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NEWS Landmark free O2 wifi deal gives London another reason to celebrate this summer from the start of the London 2012 Olympics, tourists, visitors and Londoners alike can enjoy free O2 Wifi in some of the busiest parts of London.

Iconic areas such as Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Exhibition Road are amongst the seven squares and shopping streets benefiting from the landmark deal between Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and communications provider O2.

Running at no cost to the council or the taxpayer, the scheme enables millions of people living in or visiting the capital to enjoy fast, free, reliable wifi whilst out and about. O2 Wifi is free for everyone, regardless of network or broadband provider and once registered, customers will be automatically connected each time they enter a coverage area. With over a million visitors and commuters daily and a 13% increase expected during the Summers’ festivities the new network will enable Londoners and visitors to the city share their pictures and updates of the events, or check on transport links, for free.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “With millions of extra people coming to town for the Games, we want to ensure we showcase the capital as the best city in the world to work and visit, and the addition of free Wifi to some of our most popular landmarks is crucial in

helping to maintaining that reputation.”

Content on the homepage will be automatically updated depending on the users’ location and the UK’s leading premium department store, House of Fraser, will be the first exclusive advertiser across the outdoor O2 Wifi network.

A recent survey of Westminster residents revealed that 69% own a smartphone compared to 43% of the total UK population. This figure rises to 81% among 25-44 year-olds in Westminster and even 25% of over 60s have a smartphone. In addition, 23% of all Westminster residents own an iPad compared to just 12% of the population nationwide,

proving Westminster residents to be some of the most connected in the UK. Gavin Franks, MD of O2 Wifi said, “We are proud to announce that today, we can bring O2 Wifi to some of the busiest streets and squares of central London.

We are now providing Londoners and visitors alike with fast, free, reliable wifi when visiting some of the busiest areas in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.

This comes after a succession of venue announcements with partners like Costa Coffee, House of Fraser and McDonald’s.

O2 Wifi was launched 15 months ago and in that time we have transformed the wifi market with innovation and fresh thinking.”

Half of UK and US gamers choose mobile devices as their primary home gaming platform half of UK and US mobile gamers favour mobile devices as their primary home game platform, according to a new survey released today by PopCap Games, a division of EA and maker of some of the world’s most popular video games. Part of an extensive research project that projects a 125 million mobile gamer population in the UK and US the survey reveals that mobile gaming doesn’t necessarily mean “gaming on the go,” with many mobile

gamers stating that their favourite place to play mobile games is at home on the couch or while laying in bed. The survey also uncovered many surprising, quirky and naughty mobile gamer habits.

Conducted by independent research firm Information Solutions Group, the survey analysed the behaviour and play habits of mobile gamers, defined as those who have played a mobile game in the past month.

“We already know that people play mobile games ‘on the go,’ but now we are seeing mobile gamers largely favour their mobile devices for home use.” said Dennis Ryan, VP of Worldwide Publishing at PopCap. “If you add the fact we are seeing a deluge of new gamers coming in through mobile, we believe mobile gaming is invading the last bastion of video game consoles and personal computers: the home.”

NEWS

O2 rolls out priority moments to 23million local high street shops to kick start m-commerce o2 has revealed that the next phase in its Priority Moments service is being opened up to 23 million independent retailers and small businesses across the UK. From butchers, bookshops and bakers, to florists, hairdressers, driving schools and local tourist attractions, the next generation of Priority Moments will enable small local businesses up and down the country to create offers and experiences that are relevant, local and immediately redeemable, helping to drive footfall, build customer loyalty and boost profit.

Figures from the Local Data Company illustrate a sector on a knife edge, developing but in need to harness the power of technology to survive and grow. In 2011, independent retailers opened three times as many stores as multiple retailers and although 12.669% shut up shop, independent small businesses now account for 66% of all retail and leisure units in the UK and increase of 2.4%. These figures, whilst painting a positive background of a nation of entrepreneurial retailers and small businesses regenerating their communities need to be viewed against the backdrop; from 2008 to 2012 the percentage of empty shops has increased from 3% to 14.5% where it has remained for the last 18 months.

O2’s own customer research found that over a quarter 27% of small businesses cite marketing as one of the business tasks that they most struggle with, specifically to find the right way to reach new consumers or keep existing customers loyal. The service, which is completely free to use, provides participating small businesses with complete control and flexibility over the offers and experiences they create, from the type and quantity of the offer, through to the length of the promotion. Priority Moments will enable small companies to harness the power of digital, mobile and location-based technologies, reaching O2’s 23 millionstrong customer network, and putting their brand on the map directly with the consumers they want to reach.

O2 developed and built the service to enable small businesses to respond quickly to the evolving needs of a changing consumer climate. With shoppers increasingly on the hunt for better value, special offers and unique retail experiences, Priority Moments enables local independ-

ent businesses to compete and gives local shoppers to opportunity to support their local retailers; encouraging business back to the high street and contributing to the local community.

Andrea Cohen from Number 35, a fashion designer and retailer said: “We trialed the offer for a week and we noticed an increase in footfall which enabled us to build relationships with customers that otherwise never would have considered buying our products. As an independent retailer, it’s difficult for us to compete with bigger brands, so that’s why it’s great to have access to a service like Priority Moments which gives us the sort of marketing reach which is typically the preserve of multi million pound businesses.”

She continued: “While we are extremely proud of our brand, the majority of our time and resource goes on delivering a great service for our existing customers.

Quick and easy to use services like this provide a huge boost to our marketing while freeing up the team to do what we do best, make great clothes.”

With mobile devices becoming the ‘centre of your life’, consumers are increasingly using their handset to shop, watch, engage and participate. Since its launch in July 2011, Priority Moments has helped more than one million UK shoppers save more than £8 million through 3,400 exclusive offers from more than 300 high street brands. The Priority service gives access to your sporting passions through a recently announced partnership with Nike, Priority experiences in music tickets and high street shopping.

In advance of the launch, O2 invited more than 250 small businesses to trial the new service, in order to ensure that the experience and service was exactly what they wanted. Over a 135 offers have been created in three weeks with those on the trial seeing an increase in customer footfall, enabling them to build and foster new customer relationships.

Matthew Hopkinson, Director of The Local Data Company said: “Through our physical walking of over 2,700 locations the Local Data Company tracks over 280,000 independent businesses. Not only do these independent businesses account for 66% of all retail and leisure units in Great Britain but in 2011 they showed positive growth of 2.4% whilst the multiple

retailers shrank.

Independents are a significant part of our high streets and create a point of difference and variety in an ever increasing uniform world. This initiative by O2 gives these businesses the opportunity to harness some exciting technology which will enable them to engage with their customers in a way that many larger businesses already do and thus enable them to compete better in a fiercely competitive market.”

Small businesses now account for 99% of all enterprises and almost 60% of private sector employment, with a combined annual turnover of £1,500 billion.

Ben Dowd, Business Director at O2 commented: “The great thing about Priority Moments is that everyone wins. The consumer wins, the British high street wins and the independent retailer wins. We know the level of competition is intense with independent retailers fighting to have their share of voice and trying to find modern and cost-effective ways to reach their customers. An ad in the local newspaper simply doesn’t cut it in today’s digital universe.”

He continued: “Priority Moments will directly address these issues by opening up the world of mobile to some of the UK’s smallest, most exciting high street businesses, while at the same time giving O2 customers on the high street an exclusive opportunity to discover a completely new side to their local area.

No other company in this space has the direct, loyal relationship with the customer that O2 does. It’s an utterly unique proposition and one that we believe, in the long term, has the potential to transform the way our customers do business on the UK high street.”

To use the service, businesses will need to have a physical location (like a shop, high street service, leisure/recreation attraction or food and drink outlet). It cannot be part of a chain or franchise and it must be a B2C company. It takes just three minutes to create and offer on Priority Moments, O2 process the offer and 24 hours later it is live.

Once an offer has been created preapproved offers go live in a matter of hours. The offer is managed, controlled and can be updated by the business and the service has been specifically designed to be as flexible and responsive as possible.

NEWS

Oxygen8 Money launches Cashtosend, a new mobile credit transfer service oxygen8 money has launched its new service, Cashtosend, an innovative system that allows customers to send up to £2,000 via their mobile phone and bank accounts to family and friends overseas in a quick and easy manner.

The service that Cashtosend provides is simple to use, money can be sent to any mobile wallet or bank account, which is tied to the receiver’s mobile phone. The remittance is received immediately at a fixed fee, no matter how large or where the remittance is being sent. The recipient is notified by text message when the remittance has arrived for collection.

Recipients can pick up their money from any Cashtosend agent, such as Globe GCASH in the Philippines and Dollar East in Pakistan by showing the agent the unique code on the text.

Commenting on the launch Nouman Hashmi, CEO of Oxygen8 Money says: “With over five billion mobile subscrib-

ers and the wide spread agent distribution network coverage offered by mobile wallet providers, Cashtosend provides an ideal method for transferring money.

Cashtosend is a quick and easy way to send money overseas – low cost, secure and same day and we don’t charge expensive commissions”.

The launch of Cashtosend follows the recent launch of Topuptosend, which facilitates mobile users to send mobile

phone credit to 250 operators in 78 countries. Cashtosend is fully secure and is also registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) under the Payment Service Regulations 2009 for the provision of payment services.

NEWS

Mobile banking and SMS alerts showing explosive growth in Europe, finds Forrester

one fifth of Western European Net users use mobile banking, according to a new Forrester report based on more than 13,600 consumer surveys. SMS alerts are still the most popular form of mobile banking in most countries, but use of mobile banking apps is growing fastest.

As mobile Internet use explodes and mobile banking is displacing use of other channels, Forrester believes that ubiquitous mobile banking will mark a bigger strategic shift for the industry than home-based online banking.

Banks need mobile banking to provide a platform for mobile payments and to protect their retail payments businesses from digital disruption.

Consumers are most likely to use mobile banking to check balances, review transactions and transfer money between their accounts. Mobile banking app users are the biggest users of mobile transfers, with 36% of them using their mobile app to transfer money between their accounts in the past three months and 24% sending money to their friends or family.

SMS alerts are the most commonly used type of mobile banking in Europe: 14% of European Net users with mobile phones used them in 2011, compared with 13% in 2010. SMS alerts are particularly popular in Spain and Italy.

9% of users access mobile banking websites, whether their bank has optimized its site or not. Adoption is particularly high in Spain and Sweden,

where banks like Bankinter, la Caixa, and SEB are among the leaders in developing mobile banking.

Only 5% use apps to manage mobile banking in Europe. Mobile banking apps are most popular in Sweden and France, where 14% and 8% of online adults with a mobile phone, respectively, use a mobile app to access their accounts. In the UK, however, adoption is only at 2%, mainly because UK banks were slow to offer mobile banking apps. In Germany mobile banking app adoption is 3%. “The longer we spend researching mobile banking, the more convinced I become that mobile banking is the most important innovation, or cluster of innovations, in retail banking in years, arguably in a century,� writes Benjamin Ensor in a blog post on the new research which provides a detailed analysis of banking functionality offered by European banks and how customers are using mobile banking today

NEWS

NFC mobile payments set to exceed $180bn worldwide by 2017 as NFC becomes standard a new report from Juniper Research has found that the NFC retail payments market will exceed $180 billion globally by 2017, more than a seven-fold increase over 2012. The leading regions of North America, Western Europe and Far East & China will contribute 90% of this market value as smartphones with NFC payment technology become standard.

The report found that 2011 was a watershed year for NFC payments. Major technology infrastructure standards were finalised, many mobile network operators committed to the market and NFC payment pilots from both mobile operators and financial institutions transitioned to commercial service. Above all, NFC-enabled smartphone models were announced by almost all handset manufacturers and Google ignited the market by launching its wallet in the US. The report warned, however, that the market acceleration of 2011 revealed some parts of the ecosystem unprepared for the future. In particular, retailers are less

convinced of the benefits of NFC payments over existing card technologies and are unwilling to invest in contactless infrastructure so soon after the transition to CHIP&PIN. Education and “win-win” propositions from other ecosystem players are necessary to make retailers as committed to this opportunity as themselves.

According to report co-author Dr Windsor Holden, “This is a critical time for the NFC retail payments market.

Despite the significant progress being made today, the full potential of the market can only be fulfilled if all ecosystem players are equally committed and mobile wallet consortia remain in place. Our report analyses the various consortia models

being formed today and which types are expected to endure.”

The report also finds that more than 1 in 4 Mobile Users in the US and Western Europe will pay in-store using NFC by 2017. It also suggests that Mobile Network Operators can offset declining ARPU as they commit to NFC-based payment projects.

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NEWS Sundial Telecom halves development time using C3’s Fusion IVR call platform hosted telecommunications business Sundial Telecom has slashed time to market by up to 50%, and plans to take on a range of new projects as a result, thanks to Fusion IVR, an intuitive call handling platform from C3 that uses a drag and drop graphical interface to develop and deploy interactive voice response services.

Fusion IVR makes setting up and deploying new call services easy. The platform can be used by anyone – no specialist knowledge of programming language is required.

Sundial Telecom owner, Shane Carter, agrees that Fusion is very simple to use, meaning that developers can be trained quickly to use the software, and the company is able to work on more “speculative” projects.

“New call services are often ‘of the moment’ so developing that service quickly is obviously extremely impor-

tant to our clients,” says Shane. “In the three months we have been using Fusion, it has helped us cut development time by between 35-50%, dependent on the application, which we have been very impressed by.”

He adds: “We expect that, as we develop our own custom features and become more accustomed with the program, that we will be able to improve on that time even further.”

Shane explains that Fusion has given his development team the confidence to part-launch new call services, because making any subsequent coding changes to the call flow is so easy. This means that Sundial Telecom’s com-

mercial clients gain a competitive advantage by rapidly launching their products to market before potential competitors.

Sundial Telecom is using Fusion to develop a range of hosted call services for its clients.

The company has recently completed a betting tips service for Ian Bailey Racing, and is currently in the process of developing a call based marketing dialler for a UK based Property Development Company. More broadly, Shane sees “huge potential” for Fusion in developing inbound call recording services for Sundial Telecom’s corporate clients.

“We have a number of exciting projects in development and we see Fusion as essential to that process.”

Meet both companies at WORLD TELEMEDIA MARBELLA on 17-19 October (see www.wtevent.co.uk for details).

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NEWS CSG International buys Ascade to extend its wholesale reach

CSG systems International is to acquire Ascade, an independent Swedish software company who provides marketleading trading and routing software solutions to telecoms companies globally, for $19million. By bringing together Ascade’s flagship trading and routing solution, Ascade7, with CSG’s Wholesale Business Management Solution (WBMS), CSG firmly establishes its global leadership position in the telecommunications wholesale marketplace.

The acquisition expands and strengthens its geographic presence, bringing product specialists and support resources closer to its combined 300+ wholesale customers worldwide.

“As the leading wholesale billing provider for the telecom marketplace, our clients have come to expect innovative solutions from us that help expand and enhance their business operations,” said Peter Kalan, president and chief executive officer of CSG International, Inc. “Our acquisition of Ascade will help us continue to deliver market-leading solutions that help our clients operate nimbly and efficiently. Our combined offering and global presence ensures that operators of all types - fixed, mobile, wholesale, broadband, MVNOs and ISPs - have a partner in CSG with the breadth of functionality and flexibility in delivery models to meet their current and evolving wholesale needs.”

As telecom carrier partnerships expand and become more complex, the number of VoIP carriers is also growing as is the number of wholesale relationships with third party content owners. CSG’s extensive product portfolio enables these carriers to deliver best-in-

class customer service in this dynamic marketplace, with increasing automation and the greatest assurance for both their retail and wholesale revenue streams; a critical capability in this complex and ever-changing environment.

“For many carriers, their wholesale business has always represented a significant component of their overall revenue. As their business models evolve to address growth in areas such as digital content and M2M services, the wholesale component becomes more complex,” said Karl Whitelock, Director OSS/BSS Strategy, Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan. “This means communications service providers (CSPs) are increasingly looking for sophisticated, scalable technologies that can deliver wholesale transactions with accuracy, timeliness, and with a high level of service quality.”

The approximate $19 million purchase price translates into a revenue multiple of approximately 1.2 times 2011 Ascade revenues and approximately 16 times 2011 EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

CSG is not updating its 2012 financial guidance today to include the impact of the closing of the Ascade acquisition on July 13, 2012 as the company does not expect a material impact to 2012 revenues and earnings from the acquisition. CSG will provide updated 2012 non-GAAP financial guidance to reflect the impact of the acquisition on its regularly scheduled Q2 2012 earnings call on August 7, 2012. The final estimated impact on GAAP results will not be known until CSG completes the purchase accounting for the acquisition later in the year.

OPINION

COMMENT

txt? 2 right m8 :-) Text is the great leveller that will make m-commerce a success and WORLD TELEMEDIA MARBELLA will help showcase how this – and all the other tech out there – can really make some money it is very interesting that text is still very much on the agenda when consumers are asked as to what they want to do with mobile technology. According to Ofcom’s latest study of consumer’s ‘digital’ habits, the regulator found that the average UK consumer now sends 50 texts per week – which has more than doubled in four years – with over 150 billion text messages sent in 2011.

Almost another ninety minutes per week is spent accessing social networking sites and e-mail, or using a mobile to access the internet, while for the first time ever fewer phone calls are being made on both fixed and mobile phones.

Teenagers and young adults are leading these changes, increasingly socialising with friends and family online and through text messages despite saying they prefer to talk face to face.

According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2012, 96% of 16-24s are using some form of text based application on a daily basis to communicate with friends and family; with 90% using texts and nearly three quarters (73%) using social networking sites.

By comparison, talking on the phone is less popular among this younger age group, with 67% making mobile phone calls on a daily basis, and only 63% talking face to face.

The report shows that traditional forms of communications are declining in popularity, with the overall time spent on the phone falling by 5% in 2011. This reflects a 10% fall in the volume of calls from landlines, and for the first time ever, a fall in the volume of mobile calls (by just over 1%) in 2011.

These changes in communication habits reflect the rapid increase in ownership of internet-connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones – making access to web-based communications easier.

This shift away from calling marks a significant move in the world of communications. The dream of voice transmission over vast distances has been supplanted by the written word. As our feature this month points out, messaging of all sorts is very much the way the kids (and some adults) like to correspond, be that social, IM, BBM, whatsapp or good ole text.

And that plays very much to the strengths of telemedia, which while its pedigree is in voice calls, has over the past decade harnessed the power of text. And this is something that is set to be a key theme at the forthcoming WORLD TELEMEDIA show in Marbella on 17-19 October. While the show aims to look at the business opportunities around interactive media, marketing, commerce and retail (as well as the latest developments within the telemedia business itself ), text is, I suspect, going to feature quite highly.

There is a lot of really cool smartphone and tablet technology out there, but text works and it works for everyone. While judging several categories of the Meffy Awards this month, the role of simple text services to enable m-commerce for the vast majority of people has become clear. I can’t give away any of the details, but I have been surprised at how a lot of the innovation and moreover the successful services entered into the awards this year have used text to let the widest possible number of consumers into the m-commerce world.

This is vital. M-commerce has huge potential to shake up the way all businesses operate, but to do so it has to reach the most people out there and text really does offer that reach. Engaging everyone is becoming the theme of the m-commerce space and WORLD TELEMEDIA MARBELLA is going to showcase how this can be achieved – and point to how sometimes it’s the innovative use of existing technology that really holds the key to opening up new markets.

To find out more about what the show has to offer, to offer your stories and expertise and to see what’s what in telemedia, take a look at our brief outline of the event on page 17 and then book your ticket. See you in Marbella!

Editorial Editor Paul Skeldon paulskeldon@me.com | Sales & Marketing info@telemediamagazine.com | Production Director Annika Micheli annika@telemediamagazine.com | Publisher Jarvis Todd jarvis@telemediamagazine.com To subscribe, please go to www.telemedia-news.com What we’ve been listening to Toy | What we’ve been amused by Twenty Twelve | Who we’ve been following #meffys | What we’ve been reading about text services | August 2012 will bring... The details about our World Telemedia event in October in Marbella

OPINION

TELECOMS

Senior leaders in mobile operators don’t know much about the digital world They are the children of the 80s, the non-digital age, argues John Strand, and so they simply don’t understand natively how people live digitally. But maybe an understanding of fixed line and balances sheets is enough? we don’t blame them. They came of age in age in the early 1980s before email, the pc, and mobile phones.

The average age of a CEO in industry is 50. The Chairman is ten years older.

Naturally they know the classic telecommunication business—fixed line…. . And certainly they know the balance sheet.

But we live in a world of disruptive technology, much of it is undermining the classic business case for the telecommunications industry. Executives of mobile operators have to know many things, and they have many challenges, but keeping up with digital trends is also a challenge.

It was only 15 years ago that digital marketing took off. That was a time when direct marketing was sent in a letter with a stamp. Phone books were still a viable source of revenue for telephone companies.

In the new telecom world, the internet makes things transparent. Being able to leverage digital marketing is a competitive advantage. One the things we find interesting is the quality and sophistication of digital marketing between classic operators and virtual operators. As they have no offline stores, the virtual operator has to make sure that the digital experience works.

They maximize the productivity of their website with clear value propositions, strong call to actions and enterprise analytics software to provide continu-

ous insight, improvement and remarketing. Classic operators with an offline legacy, on the other hand, have higher overhead as well as an institutional memory which can slow decision making and risk taking.

Telcos can learn something from banking industry, which truly transformed itself from offline to online.

Chose financial institution by the quality of the digital experience. Banks have been shrewd to monetize the transition, offering different levels of payment and service depending on adoption.

Traditional telcos can adapt by hiring young and smart digital marketing managers who have ideas and energy which need to be synthesized in the company overall. But not all companies succeed to harness the new energy. It can be difficult to bridge the differences between age and rank in large, bureaucratic company. The senior management team is loath to sit down with the youngsters in an attempt to learn.

Mobile operators also hire digital agencies. While a number do quality work, many agencies, which themselves operate in a very competitive environment, will flog the latest thing…

Facebook, Twitter, mobile marketing, whether or not it has any relevance for the mobile operator.

While they purport to be marketing specialists, the marketing from agency to the next is largely indistinguishable.

Invariably they tout their latest Face-

book campaign and how many Likes they have driven for a customer. If you ask for numbers, they have a very hard time justifying their work in terms of new customers or reduced churn for the mobile operator.

There were a number of impresarios selling dreams to mobile operators to turn telcos into content companies, technology platforms and applications helping them to leverage the synergies of consumer products with their subscriber base. Apparently every brand wants access to the mobile operators’ subscriber base. They salivate of the cross-sells and upsells and every other add on imaginable. Too bad there is no money in it for operators. The world of search and digital advertising is dominated by one player, Google.

On top of all this, consumers themselves are bludgeoned with messages and marketing. Brands want to become broadcasters with their own YouTube channels and social media ambassadors. It’s not a surprise the E-nuff Already Movement coined by the Center for the Digital Future has a number of followers who complain of being overwhelmed by marketing technology and others complaining of “Facebook Fatigue” and disengage with the platform.

Amidst these challenges, it’s understandable that mobile operators have difficulty finding the right mix of marketing.

ANALYSIS

SMS

I want your text Texting is booming, so why is it so popular, what does it offer your business and why doesn’t the b2b sector capitalise on text enough? Paul Skeldon asks a series of experts to find out

TEXT BASED communications are surpassing traditional phone calls or meeting face to face as the most frequent ways of keeping in touch for UK adults.

The findings were revealed when adults were asked what methods they used at least once a day to communicate with friends and family.

The average UK consumer now sends 50 texts per week – which has more than doubled in four years – with over 150 billion text messages sent in 2011. Almost another ninety minutes per week is spent accessing social networking sites and e-mail, or using a mobile to access the internet, while for the first time ever fewer phone calls are being made on both fixed and mobile phones.

Teenagers and young adults are lead-

ing these changes, increasingly socialising with friends and family online and through text messages despite saying they prefer to talk face to face.

According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2012, 96% of 1624s are using some form of text based application on a daily basis to communicate with friends and family; with 90% using texts and nearly three quarters (73%) using social networking sites.

By comparison, talking on the phone is less popular among this younger age group, with 67% making mobile phone calls on a daily basis, and only 63% talking face to face.

The report shows that traditional forms of communications are decling in Cont page 16>>

Businesses still don’t understand the importance of text – and it’s costing everyone dear More people in the UK use their phones to text than call these days, proving that text messaging is still on the rise. Ofcom released a report today stating that there has been a clear shift away from traditional ways of staying in touch with only 47% making daily calls on their mobiles.

While this report uncovers the truth about how consumers like to send and receive information, Textlocal, the UK’s leading business mobile messaging company, states that there is still work to be done to educate businesses to communicate with their audiences in this way.

Alastair Shortland CEO of Textlocal said “Our own research indicates that many businesses are aware of mobile messag-

ing, but there are still some who are yet to tap into the full potential of how powerful it can be as a business driver. We know that, whether businesses have a mobile strategy or not, there will always be a place for opt-in bulk SMS within the marketing mix, as a personal communication tool, sales or promotion tool or simply to send alerts and updates. Texting leads the way in fast, low-cost, direct conversations with consumers.”

Textlocal believe that mobile messaging is based on trust and permission.

Their online system ‘Messenger’ enables any businesses to grow opt-in lists of customer data and intelligence and to text from PC, targeted communications

directly the palms of customer’s hands.

This powerful blend of design, usability and technology has been commended for being cost-effective, quick and proven to deliver results.

The fact that Ofcom have reported that text is on the rise, suggests that people want to communicate on the fly. Smart businesses give the customers what they want, while Textlocal provide those businesses with the tools to reach thousands of peopl 17 >>e instantly from one central place, managing responses and opening up long-term conversations and relationships. After all, isn’t texting about convenience, speed and that personal touch that no other medium offers?

ANALYSIS

SMS

The psychology of SMS: why do we still love to text?

According to a study into the psychology of texting by Acision, a global leader in mobile messaging, men text a larger number of contacts than women, sending text messages to an average of 17 people regularly, compared to women who habitually text the same 13 people.

Men most likely find texting a functional, easy way to communicate without getting into a conversation, so view it as a convenient way to get straight to a point and avoid lengthy phone calls. Women on the other hand, are more likely to send longer text messages (41%) or SMSs that say ‘I love you’ (54%), probably using it to deepen relationships. In the workplace for example, men are three times more likely to text a work colleague than women, however, as many as 15% of mobile users in the UK have called in sick via text message – again using text to avoid a conversation.

The research also uncovered differences in messaging habits across the age groups. Just 19% of young people communicate using services such as Skype and Twitter on their mobile, compared to 94% of 18-35 year olds who send SMS. The 18-25 year old bracket sends an average of 19 text messages per day, or 133 messages a week, more than double any other age group. Over 55 year olds mostly send text messages to reach family (55%), while only 19% of under 25s text their family with 45% of young people preferring to send messages to friends. A key reason for sending an SMS rather than an instant message was reliability of SMS with 46% stating that SMS is more reliable than other messaging services. In addition, SMS is preferred over other messaging services because of the immediacy – speed of delivery (40%) – and reach (40%).

The study was evaluated by psychologist and expert in internet-enabled communication Graham Jones, who

commented: “The fact that men communicate with more people doesn’t mean that they are more social – men tend to be more practical sending short messages, compared to women who may text less people, but use text messages to deepen relationships. Age also plays a part in how people send text messages – older people tend to find typing with thumbs comes less naturally, which could lead to texting being less common.

“People today are also compartmentalising their messages as they all have a specific purpose. Email is being used much less for personal communication and much more for business, whereas social networks tend to remain a medium to message friends and peers, sometimes on a one-to-many basis. Text messaging remains a functional communication tool, but still with a personal aspect, which could explain its longevity. You can say things in text you wouldn’t necessarily say on another communication tool.

Although there has been an influx in new broadband-based messaging services, which people are certainly experimenting with, people are differentiating services according to their need and using them as complimentary services as opposed to stopping usage of one or another messaging service.”

Jones concluded: “The findings of this study show that text messaging remains popular, and I believe this comes down to trust and reliability. If a user sends a message via a social network, it may feel less immediate, and there are more technological hurdles which could hinder the delivery. Texting however often elicits an immediate response. Indeed, text messaging could become even more popular as it evolves and is used by more enterprises to reach consumers. Additionally, the introduction of a plethora of new messaging services may mean that people may get confused and fall back

on the reliable SMS. Running in the back of the human mind is the need to do everything with the least possible effort, and we instinctively search for the easiest way to communicate. This is why we rely on and still love text messaging.”

Jorgen Nilsson, CEO of Acision states: “With 92% of Smartphone users still relying on text, in a world rife with new messaging services, these findings highlight the stability of SMS in people’s lives – to say I love you and send our thoughts in a reliable, immediate and personal manner. The practical uses for SMS are boundless, hence why after 20 years SMS is still as popular as ever. There is something incredibly powerful about SMS when 69% of users claim that they need it or couldn’t live without it. While it may evolve to incorporate new features and provide new services, people are clearly attached to text messaging, due to its ease of use and the fact that it can reach anybody, on any phone. People tend to check their text message instantly, which doesn’t necessarily happen with other services.”

Nilsson concluded: “The research comes at a time when more and more people are turning to the broadband enabled services for communication, but highlights the reasons why people still rely on and love SMS. We are at the stage in the messaging market where many end users and businesses are trying different messaging platforms. In fact, text messaging is now being integrated into many applications to enable functionality such as notifications, which adds a new dimension to communication to users.

However, as messaging technology continues to evolve there is still no single contender to SMS – we are firm in our beliefs that text messaging will continue to be the most trusted, most popular platform around the world for a long time to come.”

ANALYSIS

SMS

>>From page 14 popularity, with the overall time spent on the phone falling by 5% in 2011. This reflects a 10% fall in the volume of calls from landlines, and for the first time ever, a fall in the volume of mobile calls (by just over 1%) in 2011.

These changes in communication habits reflect the rapid increase in ownership of internet-connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones – making access to web-based communications easier. UK households now own on average three different types of internet-enabled device – such as a laptop, smartphone or internetenabled games console – with 15% owning six or more devices.

The smartphone revolution continues Four in ten (39%) adults now own a smartphone, a 12 percentage point increase on 2010. Forty-two per cent of these now say that their smartphone is the most important device for accessing the internet, with over four in ten (42%) regularly using social networking sites and half (51%) using e-mail.

Ofcom’s continued research also suggests that smartphones are leading to a substitution between devices. Owners say they are using PC and laptops less for a range of activities since getting a smartphone, including watching video clips (51%) and sending messages (47%).

Overall, the time spent using the internet on mobile devices is up by a quarter (24.7%) year on year, with the overall volume of mobile data consumed doubling in the 18 months to January 2012.

The rise of the ‘Robo shopper’ Smartphones are changing people’s shopping habits, encouraging online

bargain hunting – or Robo (Research offline buy online) shopping.

Over half of smartphone users claim to use their phone in some way when out shopping. This includes taking photos of products (31%), making online price comparisons (25%), scanning bar codes to get more product information (21%), reading product reviews online (19%) and researching product features (19%).

Tablets take off Ownership of tablet devices, such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, has risen rapidly in the last year from 2% of UK households in Q1 2011 to 11% in Q1 2012. This growth looks set to continue with over a third (34%) saying they could not live without their device and nearly one in five (17%) households saying they intend to buy a tablet in the next year.

Thirty-seven per cent of tablet owners say that they browse the internet more than they did before owning a tablet.

While entertainment is the most popular use for tablets, they are also used frequently for checking e-mail (63%) and accessing social networking sites (46%), with nearly a quarter of people (23%) saying they spend more time social networking than they did previously.

Two thirds of consumers share their tablet with the other people they live with, while 29% sometimes let other people use their tablet. Despite their portability, 9 in 10 mainly use their tablet at home.

E-readers increase reading One in ten (10%) UK adults now have an e-reader, with 41% of owners claiming to read more since buying the device.

However, owners are reading less on other formats. Six in ten (62%) people said they read less paper-based mate-

rial since owning an e-reader, driven by a decrease in reading paperback books (60%). One in ten (10%) say they read fewer paper magazines and 8% said they are reading printed newspapers less.

The rise of ‘Turfing’ Internet connected ‘smart TVs’ are growing in popularity with 5% of UK households now owning one, giving consumers the ability to ‘Turf’ – both watch TV and surf the web.

Many owners admitted they were initially ambivalent about the new technology, with around half (47%) saying they were unconcerned by the TV’s web-browsing capabilities when making their purchase. Despite this, over two thirds (65%) claim to have subsequently used the internet connection on their smart TV. As smart TVs grow in popularity, so is the physical size of the average TV screen. More than one third (35%) of TVs sold in the UK in Q1 2012 were either ‘super-large’ (33” to 42”) or ‘jumbo’ sized (43” and over). This compares with just 1% of TVs of these sizes that were sold in 2001.

London 2012 and all that According to Ofcom research, it is anticipated that at least 38 million adults in the UK will tune into the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on TV. And one quarter of working people plan to follow the Games while at work, with 25% planning to watch or listen to the Games during office hours.

New technology is also likely to have an effect on how people watch the sporting coverage. More than half (53%) of adults agree that it will make accessing coverage easier, while around one fifth (19%) said they are likely to follow developments on

ANALYSIS

SMS

many different devices.

Social networking sites will also be used by some viewers to keep tabs on results and medal tables, with over one quarter (26%) of respondents claiming that social networking sites will make following the Games easier.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s Director of Research, said: “Our research reveals that in just a few short years, new technology has fundamentally changed the way that we communicate. Talking

face to face or on the phone are no longer the most common ways for us to interact with each other.

“In their place, newer forms of communications are emerging which don’t require us to talk to each other – especially among younger age groups. This trend is set to continue as technology advances and we move further into the digital age.”

EVENTS

World Telemedia 2012

LEARN. DISCUSS. INSPIRE. Preparations for World Telemedia Marbella are now well underway, so before you all head of on holiday, here are some of the things we have planned for the show on 17-19 October world telemedia showcases the solutions, strategies, applications and technologies that connect consumers to media, content and billing they want. This is the telemedia industry’s annual trading exchange for domestic and international providers that link network delivery, micro billing technologies and other interactive functionality to an ever expanding range of content and media distribution channels.

Join more than 400 delegates for 3 days of thought provoking sessions that address the strategic issues that directly influence our industry’s ability to capitalise on current market trends and point the way towards opportunities in new markets and vertical sectors.

• Trends, Stats, Facts & Figures • Traditional & Social Media •Interactive Advertsing • Mobile Marketing • Bar Codes & QR Codes • Device Location & 2nd Screening • Essentials – Chat, Dating, Psychic etc • Services – Games & Gambling • Live Applications – Events, Sports • Virtual Goods & Games • Social Media & Premium Content Social Media & Social Voting • Social Media & Social Commerce • mPayments • PRS & PSMS• WAP & In App Billing • mCommerce & mRetail • Networking Markets • Fraud Prevention • Legal & Regulation everyone attending World Telemedia Marbella should leave having learned something new, discussed their key issues with colleagues and been inspired (or inspired themselves) with some of the most innovative uses of technology in the premium communications space. To facilitate this, we are creating a conference programme that will offer – in three very different environments around the show – the chance to do just this.

LEARN Uncover the issues, technology developments and trends that are shaping the tele- media industry, through panels, presentations and the ancient art of conferencing DISCUSS Join your industry peers to discuss, debate and shape the key issues facing the telemedia industry in a series of roundtable discussions INSPIRE Learn from what works and who is doing what innovatively with technology, servic- es and tools of the telemedia trade through a series of case studies, live demos and more on the show floor.

Who’s going to be there?

World Telemedia Marbella is going to be awash with talent from across the value chain in the telemedia sector, inlcuding: • Media, Marketing & Data Owners • Premium Content Publishers • App Development Companies • Aggregators & Resellers • Technology & Service Providers • Billing & Collection Companies • Network Operators & ISPs

Tickets are going like hot cakes so click here to SIGN UP now

EVENTS World Telemedia 2012

DAY ONE THURSDAY 18 OCTOBER DAY TWO FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER VERTICAL MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

TELEMEDIA SERVICES

10:00 – 10:30 LEARN The vertical opportunity Outlining what consumers want from mobile across a range of vertical markets 10:30 – 11:00 LEARN Interactive TV & print Drilling down into the role of telemedia in TV and print • Latest technology • Consumer trends • Social media • Traditional Telemedia services in new roles 11:00 – 11:30 LEARN Interactive Marketing & advertising Drilling down into the role of telemedia in marketing and advertising • Latest technology • Consumer interaction with ads • Social media • Traditional telemedia in new roles 11:30 _ 12:00 COFFEE & NETWORKING 12:00 _ 13:00 DISCUSS New Technology scams and fraud With new technology and services come the inevitable frauds and scams. Join in the discussion to assess: • What the new frauds are • How to overcome them • The role of regulation • Where technology fraud goes next 13:00 – 14:00 LUNCH & NETWORKING 14:00 – 15:30 LEARN Retail & Commerce The biggest opportunity for telemedia services is in retail and commerce. Through series of panels and presentations, find out • Latest trends • Market opportunities for what you do • What retailers are looking for • What consumers want 15:30 – 16:00 COFFEE & NETWORKING 16:00 – 17:00 LEARN Games, gambling and live event Games, gambling and making live events interactive is becoming a key market for telemedia services. Find out • What games companies, gambling operators and events companies are looking for • The opportunities in payments, ticketing and service delivery • Market opportunities for your existing tech 17:00 – 18:00 DISCUSS Regulation for a cross-border world As online services become ever more international and national borders start to fade, what does it mean for the regulation of the telemedia industry and how does that impact your business

10:00 – 11:00 DISCUSS Latest Developments & opportunities in Telemedia • What are the latest technologies available for traditional telemedia services • How can they be applied to new vertical sectors • What new opportunities exist for telemedia in a global marketplace… • … and what are the challenges 11:00 – 11:30 COFFEE & NETWORKING 11:30 – 13:00 LEARN Billing & Payments At the heart of telemedia lies billing and payment and now all vertical markets are looking for ways to use mobile and premium rate to collect money. Find out • What consumers want • What networks have to offer • How to use third party products • The significance of m-wallets • international payments 13:00 – 14:00 LUNCH & NETWORKING 14:00 – 15:00 LEARN Telemedia Essentials The latest developments in • Chat • Dating • Psychic & Horoscope • Adult • Lifestyle Coaching • New services • Technology and devices – and their impact • CASE STUDIES FROM ACROSS EUROPE

INSPIRE

CASE STUDY WORK SHOP NEEDS YOU! Got a great case study from the world of interactive media, marketing, m-commerce and retail, or telemedia? Then we want to hear from you. Contact Paul Skeldon on paulskeldon@me.com

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*

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EG Telecom

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