Feedback on activity advising mobile clients

Written by: Jonathan Briggs

April 12, 2006 [2069 views]

Over one hundred of you completed this exercise and generated between you over 50 typed pages for me to mark and comment upon. Thanks!

Here are some comments about your thinking about each of the case studies I gave you.

Nightclub proposal

64 % of you thought the technology choices were appropriate while 22% thought they were completely wrong. I agree with the first group if a survey of the membership proves that most of them have MMS compatible phones.

37% of you thought that the client would save money while 19% said there was no appropriate business model. I agree with the later group in this case. This could end up an expensive gimmick. I don’t believe that simply getting a message will make me more likely to come to the club and each message will cost up to 50p to send.

Some of your useful comments

1. The club should make sponsors pay for the messages
2. I don’t think it is necessary if the club is any good, people will go there anyway
3. SMS could be a cheaper alternative
4. Some recipients may see MMS as a nuisance
5. Customers would have to pay to download video or music clips even if only the data required to make the download
6. It would be better to create a (paid) “club” of regular members and allow them to opt-in for messages
7. Video may not be required
8. MMS is often not configured correctly on the handset

And some suggestions

1. A VIP club could use RFID tags to identify regulars as they walk into the club
2. Don’t stop using flyers and posters as these will attract customers who have not registered their mobiles
3. Give the choice of email, SMS or MMS to the customer when they sign up (online) as a VIP
4. Use Bluetooth to inform customers (free) about future nights while they are in the club

Some of you still think that sending SMS is free – it isn’t. Someone somewhere has to pick up the bill. Location based services are not sensible for this client. This would involve spamming customers in the local area and would be very unpopular.

Football club proposal

66% of you thought the technology was appropriate while 23% thought it completely wrong. 55% thought that the business would make money while 11% thought there was no business model. I think the technology is only OK and would worry about the cost of delivering video of goals to lots of people (particularly for high scoring games). I am also concerned that the client may be charged twice; once for the alert and secondly for the data being transferred. This would need investigating.

Some of your useful comments

1. Video running inside J2ME may be slow on many phones
2. Why use reverse billing for the subscription and share it with the operators? Surely it would be better to use a credit card and do the subscription online?
3. Would customers really be prepared to pay £2.95 a month for something they can see on TV?
4. 3 already provide the service. (JHB’s comment… In fact they don’t offer exactly this, they do offer downloadable highlights from matches using their normal video download service rather than a J2EE applet)
5. This could be expensive and hard to implement
6. MMS would be more appropriate in this case
7. The is no mention in the brief of the cost of buying rights, editing video or the costs of the technology

And some suggestions

1. Fans may want to choose goals from more matches (JHB – but consider the extra costs)
2. Charge more money and show the whole match (JHB – how much would you have to charge?)
3. Charge per goal

Advertising proposal

56% of you thought the technology was appropriate with 24% stating that it was completely wrong. I think it is appropriate. 39% believed the client could make money while 29% said there was no business model. I think that well planned it could be an interesting business but it would have to be carefully piloted.

Some of your useful comments

1. I don’t think people will want the adverts (JHB – they will be asked before they download the ad)
2. Many people will have Bluetooth switched off (JHB – the poster ads will have to tell them to turn it on)
3. If the adverts are good, I can see it being a success
4. This would be good if for example you had a film poster and by switching Bluetooth on you could download a trailer
5. It is good because there are no costs in transmitting the data
6. Bluetooth transmitters do not exist (JHB – they do)

And some suggestions

1. They should use WiFi (JHB – no they shouldn’t. There are very few WiFi phones and setting up WiFi nodes would be more expensive).
2. They should install RFID tags in people’s phones and let them swipe the phone near a reader installed in the advert. (JHB – Wait a minute! This is ridiculous. How could an advertising agency install tags in people’s phones?)
3. They should link this to remote location tracking of buses (JHB – Wait another minute! Don’t over complicate!)

Mobile TV Channel

68% thought the technology was OK (10% completely wrong). 14% thought the company would make money (42% no business model). I agree with the majorities in both cases.

Some of your useful comments

1. How would they make money from a free subscription? There is no business.
2. How will the company distribute the player? This service will not be part of the operator TV service unless negotiated with the operators. (JHB – be clear that the operators have all signed their own deals and distribute this content in a special way avoiding the download charges for clients that other video would incur)
3. The costs of broadcasting will be very high
4. Free subscription will entice 3G users (JHB – So? How does that help the client?)

Mobile researchers

66% liked the technology (20% wrong). 26% thought they could make money (18% thought not). 52% thought they should go ahead with the project. I think this is a stupid proposal with completely the wrong technology.

Some of your useful comments

1. GPS does not work inside buildings (JHB – latest versions are improving in this respect but expensive)
2. GPS measures location too accurately. A researcher in an area could simply state the location they are in. (JHB - The company surely knows where the researchers are and can send an SMS to the appropriate area)
3. SMS is too expensive (JHB – bulk SMS is quite cheap)
4. There is no way of linking requests to replies as SMS does not contain any return information

And some suggestions

1. RFID tags could be used to track items/prices (JHB – how? This suggests some real misunderstandings about RFID. You cannot go into a store and access data on competitor’s tags).
2. PDAs would be a better technology choice with form based applications and could use SMS or HTTP to send back results.

General comments

1. Some of you would do well if this was a set of exam questions, others would not.
2. You need to imagine the whole technology and business story for each situation
3. You can base your own case study on these scenarios but take great care. You will need to identify a real client for taking the ideas further and think about the actual technology and partners involved.

 

  

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