Music Downloads vs. Ringtones
I started off the day unfortunately missing Mitch Lasky's keynote on the future of mobile gaming, but catching most of a panel on "What's Hot" in mobile content. One debate centered on whether mobile music downlods is ready for primetime. Motorola cites research that 73 percent of consumers are interested in having music tracks on their device. But the panel's consensus was that mobile music won't happen at scale till 2006 because the infrastructure won't be ready.
This kind of debate about market timing is pretty typical for our industry. All the infrastructure *is* in place for selling ringtones, which is exactly why "boredom" can coexist with, as one operator put it, so very much more economic opportunity to broaden demographic penetration.
More "exciting" time-to-market technologies (here, mobile music downloads) potentially refactor the way existing markets (ringtone downloads) function because the TAM won't support the overhead of supply chain and operational support integration. Regardless of whether the technical and business hurdles demand it in steady state, refactoring sometimes seems the only way forward for purveyors of the new new thing. But there's only so far (so many accounts in time) refactoring can go, precisely because the effort is so intensive by its nature.
It is true that so much of the market isn't yet penetrated by even basic ringtones. As several panelists indicated, we should focus on getting a broader market of people comfortable with that first and focus on the technologies that will drive the micro-segmentation and easy discovery that promise to bring the Long Tail effect to ringtones.
The resolution of the music vs. ringtones debate really lies just in realizing how the consumer value propositon differs and how the timing of market evolution plays its role. Groove (formerly Chaoticom) CEO Bathseba Malsheen pointed out to me that early data show that one in ten subscribers buying a ringtone also buy the full track. The ringtones we buy are novelties while the full track is consumed and therefore portends higher involvement as real entertainment per se. In short, ringtones is personalization while music is just personal. Both markets are big and worthwhile for mobile. There's some significant overlap & opportunity between the two. But they're different markets at very different stages of evolution and requiring different value drivers to take their next steps.
At Motricity, we're getting prepared by partnering for the new and redoubling our focus on the now. For us and our operators, it's key that when music reaches where ringtones are today, each market has taken it's next step in a way that leverages what we've learning in the other.
[Posted from my Treo 600 with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]
This kind of debate about market timing is pretty typical for our industry. All the infrastructure *is* in place for selling ringtones, which is exactly why "boredom" can coexist with, as one operator put it, so very much more economic opportunity to broaden demographic penetration.
More "exciting" time-to-market technologies (here, mobile music downloads) potentially refactor the way existing markets (ringtone downloads) function because the TAM won't support the overhead of supply chain and operational support integration. Regardless of whether the technical and business hurdles demand it in steady state, refactoring sometimes seems the only way forward for purveyors of the new new thing. But there's only so far (so many accounts in time) refactoring can go, precisely because the effort is so intensive by its nature.
It is true that so much of the market isn't yet penetrated by even basic ringtones. As several panelists indicated, we should focus on getting a broader market of people comfortable with that first and focus on the technologies that will drive the micro-segmentation and easy discovery that promise to bring the Long Tail effect to ringtones.
The resolution of the music vs. ringtones debate really lies just in realizing how the consumer value propositon differs and how the timing of market evolution plays its role. Groove (formerly Chaoticom) CEO Bathseba Malsheen pointed out to me that early data show that one in ten subscribers buying a ringtone also buy the full track. The ringtones we buy are novelties while the full track is consumed and therefore portends higher involvement as real entertainment per se. In short, ringtones is personalization while music is just personal. Both markets are big and worthwhile for mobile. There's some significant overlap & opportunity between the two. But they're different markets at very different stages of evolution and requiring different value drivers to take their next steps.
At Motricity, we're getting prepared by partnering for the new and redoubling our focus on the now. For us and our operators, it's key that when music reaches where ringtones are today, each market has taken it's next step in a way that leverages what we've learning in the other.
[Posted from my Treo 600 with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]
posted by Brian Dally at
1:10 PM
