He’s been releasing homemade mixes of music he likes for his fans. Doesn’t sound particularly exciting? I think it is – its a great example of a musician using digital media to do for their fans the same things their fans do for each other.
Anyone who’s a music fan or ever had a crush has made someone a mixed CD (or mix tape if you’re my age!) and being able to get something similar from your favourite artist is just great. OK, maybe not QUITE so personal – but I’m still loving it, especially since James is putting some context about the music around it.
OK, so I probably shouldn’t be promoting books I haven’t actually read yet but wanted to put up a pointer to this one after reading a great excerpt last night. I’m excited to get the whole book – looks like a great read and what I read was full of good stats.
Sure the author is a guy with an agenda (heck, so am I) but he makes a very convincing case, not that mobile will replace all other media but that it is about to become a key part of the media ecosystem. Think about it – what’s the first device many of us look at when we wake up and the last one we look at when we go to bed?
I’m at MIPTV in Cannes and am incredibly impressed – almost shocked – at just how important many of the keynote speakers are saying mobile is. It’s amazing and great to hear some of the real big shots in the media carrying on about the space I’m working in – and it feels a little like 10 years ago when the industry really started taking the web seriously. So brace yourselves folks, I think this is yet another sign of alot of excitement to come.
The other good news was that while all the speeches I saw predicted a tough time ahead for TV, they predicted a bright future. Now, they would say that at a TV industry conference, wouldn’t they? But, there was some serious data and thought behind the predictions and again, mobile played a big role in their thinking.
Here’s what I took away from some of the keynotes:
TV will not die – network tv will still be effective for reaching large numbers quickly and cheaply. But, he predicted, it won’t have the same dominance. Sir Martin predicts the balance of advertising spend will redistribute itself like this: 20-25%, Newsapper 20-25%, Other 20-25% and New media around 25%. He predicted that an increase in mobile would make up a good part of the increasing spend in new media areas.
PC video and mobile content – especially mobile in B R I C s (his term for the Brazil, Russia, India and China markets) – would be especially important since this is where mobile can give cheap access to those who are not yet connected. He pointed out the significance of China Mobile having 450m subscribers out of a total 650m mobile subscriptions in China to emphasize this.
The ability for mobiles to become a distribution and consumption platform for TV/video content is what makes them important in combination and why it’s likely they’ll survive the tough times and come out stronger than before.
Jeffrey’s speech backed up Sir Martin’s predictions with some serious academic data that the Center for the Digital Future has been collecting for years.
His basic premise was that ‘all media survives.’ Media never get completely wiped out – they just change and often thier market dominance becomes smaller. He cited that radio was not wiped out by TV and (in America at least) is still a vibrant business, though not as huge as it once was. He predicted similar fates for music, film and newspapers (scarily he predicted there will only be 3 or 4 newspapers in America after the next few years).
TV is the exception, he said – “Rather than shrinking, television (video) will grow dramatically in importance.” People will watch TV on a small screen – including long form and series. TV is our constant companion and follows behaviour of people turning to their mobiles when they’re bored. This lines up with the way we’ve seen people using Mobile BBC iPlayer in my work. The myth that people will only watch tiny clips of short-form videos on phones disappears once you give them a means of easily accessing and consuming full length content. (Official/full post here.)
Niklas Savander from Nokia also echoed similar sentiments in his keynote; but this was mainly with the aim of promoting the long-talked-about Ovi store. Which sounded like a completely different Ovi to the one that Nokia were talking about here last year which was all about sharing media created on phones. Strange.
Video of Niklas:
I’ll be writing about some more highlights from the conference soon.
You may have already heard that BBC Mobile (the site I’m the managing editor of) launched a new beta homepage this week.
There’s been some great press coverage of it (phew!) – and we’ve gone through a lot to make it easily customisable, giving users a wider range of content that they can tailor to their needs when they’re on the go and that’s more suited to their devices.
Here’s what my colleagues blogged on the BBC Internet Blog about it:
The customisation has (for good reason, I think) been the big story. But from my perspective, what’s there now is just the tip of the editorial iceberg.
I think the content that we’re offering to let users customise with is a great base to grow from, but not the endgame. I’d like to see us offering a wider range of content and letting users do more with it.
In case you’re wondering, on my phone, I’ve added: Newsbeat (from Radio 1), 6 Music and London Local news.
So, if haven’t tried the new page, please do. And please, let me know what you think of the content selection? What do you like about it? What don’t you like? What’s missing? What would you love to be able to add/remove from it? Make me a wishlist and I’ll see what I can do…
Jakob Nielsen has just released a new take on mobile usability based on testing he’s conducted and the results are interesting.
The good news, for me, is that what he recommends is very much in line with what we do on the BBC Mobile site – publish different versions appropriate for different devices. It’s not great, of course, that he feels mobile usability isn’t moving fast enough – but it’s always good to have a challenge, right?
I think the most interesting point he makes is his final one:
“…not all sites need mobile versions.”
This is a point I’ve made when talking to people who create desktop (or ‘full fat’ as I like to call them) sites. Trying to offer the full functionality and content of every site simply doesn’t work – even if you have an iPhone. He sites that users only use their phones for a narrow range of activities and therefore these are the sites/activities for which mobile sites are most needed. I’d love to know what activities he found people were using them for in the testing. I’d hazard a guess they’re around: communication (social networking and web mail), news/sport/weather information and some basic transactional stuff. If anyone knows, let me know.
Christian Lindholm and his team at Fjord (whom the BBC have worked with on a number of occasions) has released a set of predictions for the mobile world in 2009 – and if they’re right, it sure looks like an exciting year ahead. In fact, taking an optimistic view of the trends, you might even say this could be THE year where mobile really comes centre stage. In the spirit of these being ‘Fjord Thoughts’ I wanted to share some of my own thoughts, which I’ve gathered under the headlines from the report. Make sure you read the full report and not just my comments – it’s really good stuff!
The app stores are clearly going to be a crucial access point between consumers and content/services for their devices – there’s no doubting that. However, what I thought was really interesting here was the prediction that “The long tail of the App Store will allow the iPhone to attract great content and emerge as a true mobile gaming platform that puts pressure on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.”
Sure, you’ve been able to download and play games on a range of devices before and sure, many portable games consoles can connect to the internet, but I think this blurring will be particularly interesting. First, interesting to see which devices become prefered/dominant with which types of users but, moreso, from my perspective because its potentially where content and gaming can come much closer. Anyone fancy an alternate reality game that gives you clues in news stories based on where you are and the proximity of other players?
The Cloud puts digital life at your fingertips
“The PC is displaced as the hub and takes its place as a powerful but non-mobile client.” When I first read this, all I could think was, “Wow!” and then “But REALLY?” Much as I’d love to believe this and it would be great with relation to what I do for a living, it seemed a little implausible – reading on into the report, this is refined a bit to talk about teens and people in developing countries, and I think this is more likely. We see this happening for a small wedge of UK users – a growing minority – but I don’t see a full reversal of hub/client devices this year for mainstream audiences. Watching the behaviour of those audiences who DO make this switch will be interesting though. My youngest brother and a teenager I work with already can’t see the point of having a laptop (nevermind a desktop) when they can have a Blackberry.
I think the other interesting thing about how ‘the cloud’ will affect our experiences that will emerge will be around how entertainment and media cross between equally connected clients. With over-the-air downloads from the iTunes store, does the music ‘live’ on your PC or your iPhone? And will this be the year that delivers on the dream of being able to ‘take’ a programme you were watching on TV away on your phone when you leave the house?
TV finally goes mobile
I can’t write about this report without being grateful for the praise that Fjord has given the BBC in this section naming us as one of the players who will help drive this trend. Nice. We’re already seeing “mobile couch potato” behaviour growing – peak time for the use of BBC iPlayer on mobile is between 8.00pm and midnight – times when people are relaxing at home (possibly in bed) and using their reliable, fast wifi connections. This is different to what’s seen on the desktop version of BBC iPlayer and later than peak time for traditional TV viewing so very interesting to keep an eye on.
I recently saw another presentation (by another company) looking at mobile in 2009 that predicted that Mobile TV was dead. At first these seemed contradictory – but actually, they were in agreement. What the other presentation meant was that TV on operator portals was dead; and that its time for other TV/video services to emerge – perhaps like BBC iPlayer on mobile and the others that Fjord are suggesting. Wouldn’t it be cool if we stopped watching video on our mobile screens this year and that its when “video goggles” (aka virtual retinal display) takes off?
Location becomes the new service bedrock Sure, I buy this. BUT… the editor in me would modify this prediction slightly. I think there’s going to be a proliferation of applications that use location – but I’m not convinced they’ll all be very useful or as easy to develop as some people think. I talk to a lot of people who make the assumption that if something’s near you, it’s automatically relevant – this isn’t always the case, and even if it is, it might not be what you want.
If I’m searching on my geo-aware device for information about an upcoming business trip or holiday, I definitely DON’T want information about what’s currently nearest to me. I’d probably like to know what hotels people who LIVE near me stayed in when they went to my destination – but I suspect working out these types of subtleties and the user experiences that make them excellent will be a little bit of a way off and that we might see a lot of gimmicks in the meantime (excluding maps, of course). And worse, the top 10 headlines near me, might actually do me a dis-service if it turns out that the raging fire a few towns over is the 11th story, meaning I never get to find out that my home is in danger.
I wanted to write a quick post to flag up something very cool that another part of the BBC has just launched using mobile messaging (SMS). Right up front, I should say I had nothing to do with this so can’t take credit for it.
Mobile Phone Drama
Proper Messy is a mobile-phone based drama for teenagers, proudced by BBC Switch. Along with video content, the service lets users get messages from the character of their choice and lets them interact with the plot. I won’t say too much more since the story is live right now but look out for some cool stuff here.
With SMS being such a pervasive and natural medium for teenagers, it seems like this could be a big hit. The messages I’ve seen thus far have me hooked – I’m dying to know who was involved with the fire…
In more news of things I can’t take credit for, Stephen Fry (a famous BBC presenter) has been Twittering away on his journey leading up to his next series, Last Chance to See. Which is about his quest to see endangered sepcies for, perhaps, the last time before they become extinct (or not). Last week he linked one of his Tweets to the official BBC Mobile site for Last Chance to See and sent a load of traffic our way (thanks, Stephen!). Here, he talks about why he enjoys Twittering so much. He’s got 50,000 followers already – Lily Allen, eat your heart out (she’s only got 648 followers).
And speaking of BBC talent on Twitter, here’s links to Steven’s page as well as the one from BBC bad-boy, Jonathan Ross.
That said, Twitter isn’t all fun and games – the BBC used it for its news coverage on US Election night by having members of the BBC bureau in Washington, DC using it. We also used it during the Mumbai attacks – here’s two links to posts about it from editors here, including one about where it might not have gone so well.
BBC Mobile (which I’m the managing editor of) has been lucky to get alot of recognition over the last few weeks. Sure, I’m bragging – the stuff we do is great – and its great to see everyone who I work with getting some recognition for the work we all do everyday.
.net award - click to enlarge
We won the Mobile Site of the Year award where the judges said: “BBC Mobile is an attempt to squeeze Britain’s biggest website onto some of the smallest screens around. The incredible thing about it is: it works’. “ Here’s a screen grab since the awards themselves aren’t posted on the website.
However, in some ways it was more interesting to me to see another award the BBC won in these awards.
The BBC iPlayer also won the Web Application of the Year Award. More great news for the Beeb, of course. I worked on the very first BBC iPlayer team many years ago and seeing it live and winning awards has been great.
The really interesting this about this award though is that the photo in the foreground is of BBC iPlayer on mobile. Awesome stuff and I think this just shows how in the last year the boundaries between web content on mobile and web conent made for desktop PCs is blurring. I think it sets us up for a really exciting year where the wealth of content and services available on mobiles will increase dramatically, as will usage. I also think it could be one of the drivers for making mobile AV go mainstream – and I certainly hope so.
