Of the four speaking slots I’m doing in four working days, three were mobile focused. MediaTech was more broadly attended by people in technology and the media (which kinda explains the name of the event!). Therefore it probably represented a good litmus test of where mobile fits in with tech generally – or how focused on the PC the rest of the world still is.
And frankly, I was completely underwhelmed by how most companies don’t get mobile or at best, see it something that’s bolted on as an afterthought – a sort of inferior computer than these tiresome consumers will insist on owning. This was by no means the view of everyone there – many delegates clearly “get” mobile – but it was common enough to be a noticeable phenomenon.
Culprits ranged from dear old Microsoft right down to many of the entrepreneurs.
Microsoft had a slide that showed their view of the universe, with “me” at the centre of a hub and spokes coming off it consisting of various (Microsoft) platforms – the PC, X Box, Media Centre etc. The idea being that Microsoft controls the platform whether we are at work, rest or play, though I guess they still need to figure out how to get to us while we sleep. Curiously, there was no TV there either, which seems somewhat premature.
This model is one step up from how they saw things a few years ago, where I’m sure that the PC would have been at the centre of the hub, rather than the more 21st Century and Right-On “me”.
But I would argue that this thinking doesn’t go quite far enough. In this post-mobile world, the centre of the hub should be “Mobile Me”, as the concept of mobility and portability of data is absolutely central to how we must interpret the way we interact and use technology.
Microsoft did talk about how our favorites, settings and data will be available on which ever platform or machine we want to use. But, I believe that the mobile will be the digital key to give us access to this information. In other words, you’ll dock your mobile into a PC, X Box, PSP or TV and your faves, settings and personal files and data delivered over the net, will instantly become available to you.
But Microsoft were by no means alone in their view of mobile. I don’t like to pick on entrepreneurs, especially apparently successful ones. But I will anyway. Boonty made a very convincing pitch to the VC community, with their casual gaming business. It’s a subscription based model, where for about £7 a month (or £12 for a premium service), punters get access to a whole bunch of high quality games.
We asked a question (via the sms system) about their mobile strategy and were assured that mobile gaming doesn’t work. They tried it once apparently and only got 4 downloads. To a company which gets 55 million downloads, I can see that this would be somewhat disappointing.
But surely a better interpretation, rather than dismissing the whole medium and the massive opportunity for casual gaming that mobile represents, would be to ask why it didn’t work, improve the proposition and positioning and to try again. And again. And again…until it does work – because it will.
Amusing quote from the French CEO “I don’t wish to be arro-gent, but I am French.” Don’t worry, Mon Ami, we know what you mean.
Anyway, Microsoft and Boonty were only two examples of many companies I spoke to who lacked any kind of mobile strategy, though I think that they are beginning at long last to be aware that this might not be a good thing exactly. Many VCs are also culpable in this regard, though again, attitudes seem to be changing pretty fast and I hope my presentation on the explosion of the mobile web played a small part in this.
One of my other favourite quotes of the day was from Bob Dylan (obviously not actually present, but referred to by Ajay Chowdhury of Acacia Capital) “If you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying” quoth The Man. Substitute “born” with “mobile” and you have a succinct view of my take on media and technology. Take note before it’s too late.
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I wrote a piece a few days ago about creating revenue from widely deployed technologies instead of bleeding edge ditto, and I think a fundamental mistake Microsoft is doing is to expect to be everywhere in the ecosystem, on the server-side and in the phones. Clearly they are not today, and might never be, and if their server business is tied up to communicating with specifically Windows Mobile in the phones they simply can’s succeed. They need to embrace the technologies that are deployed, and at the most basic end of things, pure and simple SMS.