A good friend of mine recently complained to me that there are no good mobile finance solutions. He has a regular consumer mobile (SonyE w800i) “What about Yahoo Finance?“, I asked …”Na..doesn’t work” he quickly dismissed. When I learned about Google Finance for Mobile I quickly ran to compare. Google’s solution includes easy access to financial info on the go through text messaging or mobile browsing - but so does Yahoo so whats the big deal?

The deal is: elegance & simplicity - the atoms of execution. On the surface Yahoo’s solution should even be better. The Finance page is more informative, there is even a cool feature that enables you to send yourself an SMS with the web address instead of typing the address yourself. The problem started when I tried (God forbid) using it - I just couldn’t login. I got the link, tried to add a quote only to get a ‘turn off’ message - “Invalid Yahoo ID or password”. Now remember I got here by sending the SMS, the least you can do for me is let me login…NO. No link to login, “Help” didn’t help and the other roads I tried didn’t lead to Rome (login). So there I was, yet again disappointed of a Yahoo service that beat Google to the mark but missed on execution.

Google’s WAP browsing experience and portfolio management was a breeze to operate, a joy to use and has now become my official on the go stock tool - BAMM…Bookmarked!

Yet again Usability wins the day. I could care less about the tech behind these two platforms - when the execution is seamless and the basics are there, your a step a way from success…or as in Google’s case…swimming in it!

      

Stuart O’brien reports that Groove Mobile is launching a direct D2C full track download service. The service will be based on the technology Groove has developed for SonyBMG and Vodafone UK will be the first to offer the service as a channel. Groove is busy recruiting additional labels and operator channels. From what I understand, Groove licenses the music and the operator agrees to put the service “on deck”, meaning that data charges will not be added to the full track purchase price.

This business model is significant in a number of ways.

From a user perspective the new service eliminates the hated hidden costs. As O’Brien reports, “Groove’s agreement with Vodafone means it can wrap the cost of the data up into the price of a £1.29 or £1.50 track, charged using premium SMS.” This is a key parameter; Evidence shows users won’t pay twice - for data and for content - it’s either one or the other.

The second significant factor is the fact Groove is moving up in value chain. From an enabler (Sprint, 3) to a service provider. In a perfect world, this is where companies like Groove should be - between the content provider and the operator, but as a service. This structure is key to user satisfaction, content richness and competitive pricing. Let’s hope other operators follow in the footsteps of Vodafone UK.

      

Ok, so the hot news are cooliing off and we all had a chance to check out Mobile YouTube by now. It’s time to call the Jury back in and get an interim verdict. My first impression of the service was awesome. It looked good, worked well on my 3G Nokia E61. Sure, the content is handpicked and handicapped, but it’s still a good start. The main issue I had with it was with the fact it’s still not working well on too many operators and devices.

Itay Gissin discussed Mobile YouTube in our HooQs blog this morning and tried to understand whether it’s just a mobile version of the “Internet YouTube” or the other way around - a new “YouTube approach” to mobile media.  His conclusion, with which I agree, is that it’s a bit of both.

Starting with the good news. The most refreshing element of the new service is that it is Internet based and operator independent. In other words, it gives on deck portals a well deserved kick in the butt:

“Good news - No client needed, just come and get it with any Internet 3G phone! That’s exactly what this industry needed for a long time - an Internet giant meaning business & leveraging the Web’s open model on the mobile industry. Most other Internet content players view the operators as the “plug number” in their broken revenue model, trying to sell OPC (Other People’s Content) in traditional content models, overlooking the end-consumer reluctance to pay premium for content mobility.“

These are indeed great news and such that will help drive the industry much faster. After all, everyone looks at Google and YouTube when it comes to taking risks these days. Operators have realized by now they need to channel Internet content and not reinvent it, and such a move from such a significant player definetely helps drive the point. There are a couple of hard core issues though.

The first one is availability. Mobile YouTube is streaming based, a decision that can be probably attributed to legal caution. The video files are transcoded to 3GP format which means no iPhone, Windows Mobile or Blackberry. Streaming video is not a trivial end user feature and is still dependent on operator practices, proper device configuration and overall device support. Sticking to streaming video means that roughly 2 out of 3 potential 3G users are out of the game, without them even understanding why. The 3GP format is less of an issue and I expect YouTube to cover those other formats soon enough.

The second issue is the content itself. On the Internet, YouTube is a key media website, fitting well in the rich user environment. On mobile, users need better reasons to enter, not to say stick to a mobile portal. Mobile video is a different experience than Internet video. It involves more difficult navigation and has a price tag associated with it. The secret sauce of a successful mobile portal is made up of easy access and versatile content - variable sources, credible news, mobile use cases and so forth. YouTube is a part of that, but cannot cover the basic need by itself. As Itay summarizes:

“When I am on my mobile, I normally have a minute. Maybe two. The only way I will choose to go on the internet is if I know I am 2-3 clicks away from something that will Hook me up, and will be unique & forward-worthy. For that to happen, content sources will have to be much more varied than a YouTube. A community system will have to be working for me - Scouring the web, fetching content, filtering it for mobile consumption, connecting me with peers’ content, and more.”

Couldn’t agree more.

      

Live from the Globes Internet and Communication Conference, I just had the honor of hearing Craig Newmark - the man who started and still runs Craig’s list. What an amazing man!

During his talk he didn’t make any revolutionary statements, yet his clear, modest, focused and pleasant manner cut through the fuss, buzz and trash we hear all over. A few golden nuggets:
1. Feel and follow through

2. We take no advertising…no advertisers to make happy.

3. I’m the George Costanza of the internet

4. Listen and try hard to so something about it

5. I refused banner ads - didn’t feel right…I was happy and making enough money…

6. Twelve years later…I do full time customer service

7. We trust our community and they respond in a trustworthy way

8. Treat people in the site in the same way you want to be treated….

9. we don’t take money….we owe no debt.

That’s it. I realize now that reading these statements doesn’t seem like a big deal but the “Craig Package” the way he speaks and delivers is admirable. If you think about it, this is a perfect analogy to the success of his site. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, its totally simple, totally honest…and hugely successful. Makes you think!

      

Apple today announced that iPhone™ will deliver significantly longer battery life when it ships on June 29 than was originally estimated when iPhone was unveiled in January - ‘Cmon Steve, you expect me to believe this is a last minute improvement?

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also upgraded iPhone’s entire top surface from plastic to optical-quality glass for superior scratch resistance and clarity”. - is there such a thing as PRE launch upgrade?

A truly remarkable news release by Apple today. Not because we are 11 days away from the iPhone’s being in a regular users hand but mostly because at this stage this is a great ‘pumping of the guns’ move by Apple (showing up in blogs like mushrooms after the rain) . What will they discover 5 days before launch? - That it folds in half? that bold people are showing signs of new hair growth, that the blue pill is no longer needed (it will most certainly become a sign of manhood right )

Regardless, my guess is that this announcement has been planed for months before…why not fool around with the press and let everyone talk about possible battery problems ONLY to come out with the great news just before launch and fuel the hype.

“The entire top surface…” , as well as the “battery life extension” are logistic tasks that take months to execute. From testing, ordering, building up stock, replacing existing…etc. - this is NO last minute swicharoo. No way Steve got his team together two months ago and said…“listen guys…we can’t launch like this…you got to do better with the battery life problem…give me solutions people…go-go-go…and wait…while you are at it…lets upgrade the screen cover” .

It doesn’t work this way. To serve the expected nationwide supply, iPhones have been gathering dust in the stock rooms for many, many months now.
Once again, this is a classic Apple / Steve Jobs marketing hype case study - nice one Steve…I like it.

      

Remember I promised that I would keep DeGardener clean from work stuff?

I lied.

The official HooQs blog is up. Take a look!  My latest post is about the LG Prada and the iPhone going head to head. Try getting it on your mobile and tell me what you think.

      

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

Aner’s insights from MEM2007 zoom in on the transitional phase the mobile industry is going through. The company I co-founded (TriPlay) recently launched an internet-mobile service (SyncSpace) with an Israeli operator and if there was one highlight to this whole process is that “westbound” mobile operators are sailing in uncharted territory. Here are a few key points I learned that highlight some challenges I came across (far from the complete list which could fill a book):

1. Target audience - there is no doubt that the market leaders on the demand side for web-mobile service are young people (ages 15-25 and we know that even 15 might not be young enough). They breath mobile services, consume content and eat up data services like no other target group. How is this a problem? Because WE - the mobile/internet start-up’ists, the VC partner, executives at large corporates, ALL of us who define, create, build and fund related companies and services are at least twice that age.

How can we be sure we are creating the right service?

Solution - Talk , talk, talk to them, get feedback, have them involved in your development process. Don’t force your vision on them and expect them to comply. If you don’t expect to find out at launch that you are simply not cool enough, that you have given them far too little credit and that you don’t really cater to their need.

About a year ago I read through a fascinating 200 pages research paper focusing on mobile youth. The ONE sentence I still remember a year later is that “Messaging services that fail to reinforce peer groups offer little beyond their initial novelty value to youth“. This is true for any service - there is tendency to seek technological breakthrough with less thought invested in the real life scenarios it supposed to serve. Bottom line - focus on value first, technology second.

2. Mobile operator corporate culture - analyze the typical headcount at any mobile operator and you will find that most are experienced MOBILE professionals who know a lot about mobile but less about web services, content and entertainment. Yesterday’s mission for the mobile was to ‘connect people’ by voice. Today’s Mission is about connection, voice or data and content. Tomorrow - the mobile will be an ‘IP gateway’ through which the users ‘mobile life’ will be enabled. Where mobility is the focus and not the mobile device.

The mobile device will be the users’ setop-box, entertainment and multimedia device as well as the voice/data communicator. These offerings are not only technologically diversified across platforms but also combine different schools of thought on how to launch new services. The words BETA, rapid development, on the fly, viral and other funky web 2.0ish words contradict mobile operator’s mentality. I don’t believe they need to change their skin but some of the attributes that go hand in hand with creating successful businesses in the web and entertainment industries will have to meld into their corporate culture.

Since this is not an overnight revolution, I expect this to be solved over time. Some interesting times ahead for management, HR units in the mobile operator world as well as their supporting industries. Service providers too will have to go through this metamorphoses. One that will reflect the new role the mobile device has in the future world.

3. beta? Don’t be surprised if you get this reaction. Telco’s are not used to running beta, not to mention the famous Google’s “perpetual beta” mode. Beta mean you are tolerant to bugs, open to user feedback and ready to change requirements if the market says you should. Telco’s heritage is simply different. The good old ‘telco grade’ means that when you pick up the phone (old fixed line phone) you hear a dialing tone - no ifs and buts. Web 2.0 user services launch way before they are fully tested for mass market usage. By definition they are not built for scalability and reliability from day one. They launch in beta, make mistakes, learn, fix and invest in scalability when the market demand forces them do so. When the ‘worlds collide’ this will have to change.

Mobile operators launching web-mobile services will not be able to apply this ‘telco grade’ mentality from day one. If they do they will always lag with services and not be perceived by their users as providing them with ‘edgy’ services. If users find their telco is introducing web- mobile services months and even years after independent players do they will find that the leading target users are already engaged with a different ‘off-deck’ solution. Scalability will not be an issue then since no users will use them to begin with.

Nonetheless they don’t have to be complete 37signals’ type cavaliers and mange their projects on IM chats, no meetings and launch. Somewhere in the middle would do.

4. The handset factor - most of the PC’s in the world are about the same, same OS (windows), same browser (Firefox/Explorer), same keyboard, strong memory, big screen, sit on one network - the PC internet is WWW etc etc. In the mobile world the ball game is totally different. A highly diverse OS environment - J2ME, Symbian, Brew, Windows; Countless different browsers, different screen size, open garden / closed garden (E.G Verizon) etc etc. Therefore creating a smooth, unified, simple, reliable and more important PREDICTABLE mobile experience is a mammoth task. Solution - focus on your initial target audience - what OS are they on? what devices serve them, what are the future devices - don’t try to capture all at once. Define an acceptable experience, aim for the core and spread.

On a more macro level ‘the industry’ better get its act together and start to pin point preferred OS’s, browsers etc. and not let this jungle take over. There is no doubt that when the environment will be more standard, a plethora of new services will evolve.
5. AJAX (Web 2.0) meets WML / XHTML (Mobile 0.5 ) - not a problem! The mobile and PC web experiences are not meant to be the same. Stop raping the mobile phone with overly rich ‘web like experience’. On the mobile it is highly important to focus on simple and fast flows so not having the rich PC environment is not as big disadvantage as you think. A good and simple WAP page, can provide the required experience. In any case just like I mentioned above - focus on value (and now I am adding..) usability first and technology second. All in all exciting times are ahead. The paradigm shift I am seeing is that the mobile device will be my ‘handy’ extension to my mobile life…which can be used and enjoyed on the mobile device but has extensions on the PC and TV as well. As such, when designing such services one needs to think of the three dimensional ‘fused’ world we live in, serving real life / valuable scenarios and NOT focus on connecting two or three technological dots.

      

In March DeGardener broke out the scoop about PayPal intentions to launch Mobile Checkout. Now it’s finally formal. Matt Weathers, Moile Group Product Manager in PayPal tells us that PayPal will be formally announcing the availability of PayPal Mobile Checkout at the PayPal Developers Conference in Boston today. This is good news for any provider as premium SMS is complicated, sloppy and somewhat overly expensive. Our own web to mobile service, HooQs, will now be able to offer content providers a new monetizing route. 

According to Weathers, the PayPal Mobile Checkout flow is a two page WAP buyer checkout which is managed by APIs. A buyer can pay by logging in with user name and password or phone and PIN.  There’s no need for credit card info or bank info as the APIs are simplified versions of the existing Express Checkout APIs.  PayPal expects to drive selling of a range of products via mobile phone (tickets, services, hardgoods, donations, transportation cards, etc).  

“PayPal put a lot emphasis on reaching buyers and on solving the discovery challenges and have partnered with a set of design partners for that purpose. The APIs were designed to maximize merchant and developer control over the buyer experience.  Checkout can be plugged into the process regardless of bearer - SMS marketing, search, WAP sites or client.   The merchant sends the product details via the API and then gets a WAP link that can be delivered or displayed in SMS or WAP.  It can also be triggered by J2ME client (on most modern phones), which can present an almost unique option for game and mobile application developers outside the operator deck.”  

PayPal is very well positioned to take leadership of WAP based billing in the United States. This ecosystem takes a lot of presence and committed partners, and a player like PayPal holds a great position for obvious reasons. In Europe, however, PayPal will face quite some competition from quick runner Bango.  [correction: Bango works with PayPal as a channel and therefore they do not compete but collaborate - Thank Matt and Ray for correcting] In any case, these recent development is very good news for all service providers who wish to monetize the mobile channel.

A demonstration of the mobile search is now on PayPal’s WAP home page (https://mobile.paypal.com/) under the link “Buy something”.  Weather stresses that PayPal is definitely not getting into the search business,  “The search demonstration is purely designed to show the potential for mobile commerce”.

      

I spent the week in Monaco at MEM2007. From the personal perspective it was a very exciting show, after all, first time HOOQs was on display. From that perspective we had an excellent show - great feedback and lots of users and leads. We have work cut out for us, but the good news is that the market is HOT! The need for personalized, open, operator independent web to mobile services is all over the place and is welcomed by users, operators, content providers, analysts and bloggers.

MEM2007 is not really a classic exhibition, it’s more of a conference. Participation is nearly exclusive to industry insiders and the tracks, therefore, are very professional. To a start-up-ist, these represent rare opportunities to take a 30,000 feet view and collect some insights that extend beyond the daily challenges. My own personal climax was not a single industry lecture or panel, even though all were very interesting at their own merit. To me, the most insightful session was a focus group with 10 different teenagers. These young adults were gathered from different countries - Australia, England, France, Italy, Finland, Germany - and were all surveyed about their digital lives. Here is some of what they told us:

1. The key elements teenagers look for in their mobile phones is appearance. Then come ability to play music, quality of camera and feature richness. 

2. Nokia is the most popular handset brand. Out of the 10 participants, 5 had Nokias, 2 had Samsungs, 2 had LGs (Chocolate) and 1 had a Sony Ericsson. 7 out of 10 devices were 3G.

3. They don’t do mobile clients - only 1 participant ever downloaded a mobile application. A game. Used it a couple of times and ditched it.

4. Teenagers are smart shoppers. They don’t mind paying for Internet content, but hate buying stuff they can easily find for free. In other words, they will not buy songs for 3 Euros a pop. Contrary to popular belief, they buy a lot of CDs in addition to downloading free music. They know how to manage their music collection and how to get their favorite music on their mobile device.

5. On they other hand, all participants testified they would gladly buy new content if only they could find it easily. All participants agreed that the mobile operator portals are close to impossible to navigate through.

6. On top, the differences between operators and handsets make it impossible for users to share experiences. Not tracks or clips - pure information about where and how to find them!

7. They things they on their handsets are better Internet browsing and memory. They really don’t get why MP3 and Video enabled phones come with such little memory.

8. They don’t mind advertising if it makes content free. They are already used to online ant TV advertising, why object to mobile ads?

9. They all tried Google on their mobile and didn’t like it. The mobile experience does not provide anything close to the internet experience.

10. They don’t do MMS. All of them tried and all of them claim that “it doesn’t work”.

11. If they had to give up their TV, Mobile Phone or PC, 9 out of 10 would give up their TV (the only other answer was PC). None would let go of their mobile phone.

These young adults were not screaming in a vacuum. It was great to hear executives from operators presenting plans to further breakdown their walled gardens and push flat data rates. It seems like it’s only a question of price points now. This is music to the ears of user centric service providers. To me, however, getting the bartenders in front of our booth excited and HooQed was most rewarding than anything!

      

My day job has become my all-around-the-day job lately as you can tell from the lack of recent writing.  Well, the reason why is now out in beta!

HooQs is a user centric web to mobile service. You can search, create, save and share internet media with mobile phones.  Your personal media is aggregated in channels which we call HooQs. HooQs can be saved, managed, sent to mobile phones around the world and of course, enjoyed. Registration is optional, however as a user you get your own internet rich media portal tailored to your own personal taste.

Since the whole idea is to get personal, my own favorite HooQs at the moment are Paris Hilton in Jail, Vintage TV Commercials, Best of Monty Python and Computer Game Nostalgia.  My full HooQ board can be found here.

So get HooQed but be gentle, Beta means Beta! We do promise to do our best to continuously improve and personally I would more than welcome your feedback and comments! 

HooQs is best used on a 3G phone.

      

Techcrunch’s “sourced rumor” on a rock star team building the next gen search engine has generated some interesting reactions. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. I am writing about it… after reading about it on TechCrunch - so the headline “stealth” is probably not the most fitting. Note to self “Work on a new Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of RUMOR Diffraction”. For those of you wondering what the fu@#$ I am talking about - This was the mathematical theory on which the F-177 stealth bomber was based on. How about putting a star team together to make sure important projects don’t leak.

2. I hope they do a better job at working on it then hiding it.

3. I personally argued (just a few weeks ago) that MS should be operating in more of a start up mode. I know my “vision” was far fetched but this is a good start, i.e - Big corp engine takes care of the day-to-day stuff…’rock star’ teams work (uninterrupted I hope) on the future. Note to self - “make sure some STARS are left to deal with the day to day stuff otherwise there will be no future…”

4. The rumor states the engine to be “very cool” - reminds me of the time when I participated in a demo that ’showed off’ one of Intel’s new processors. After the running a few heavy apps the processor seemed to handle the load with ease - “how cool is that…Cheer to the the Processor” requested the host [ O.M.G., GET ME OUT OF HERE…was my gut reaction]. Note to self - “Don’t let geeks run your PR show…remember that ‘cool’ is subjective”

5. I’d be much more impressed if a search on live.com under “online word processing” yielded a Microsoft related service in the first 10 results TODAY. Note to self “..make sure to jump ship just before the titanic hits the iceberg”

      

As a die hard Basketball fan and as a novice sports writer I was thrilled to hear the news from Sportingo and FIBA. Together FIBA and Sportingo will collaborate on extending Basketball stories, news and commentaries to Basketball fans around the world.

The deal is yet another case study for the quick evolution of neo-journalism. Sportingo is a highly growing user generated content platform dedicated to sports fans around the world. FIBA is a heavyweight basketball mainstream media player. Both need each other and can help each other reach new markets and depth. Sportingo will now be enabling people that are interested in basketball from around the world get their content properly integrated. This way the reader gets to encounter off topic stories such as basketball in Jordan  as well as cover story materials such as Kobe wanting out of the Lakers.

To me Sportingo is proving that “user generated” content can actually mean better quality. There is a near infinite pool of talented sports fans who can write out there, that is if you know how to find and recruit them. At the end of the day, however, user generated content must integrate with mainstream sports media - where the intimate information is and where the large reader base already spends time and attention. Such integration is a must if you look to compete for being the sports fan choice for sports media.

The deal with FIBA is the third such deal Sportingo has put together, following similar deals with the Davis Cup and the New Zealand Rugby Team.