M:Metrics, a relatively new and aggressive wireless research company, discussed the wireless podcast business and the music industry’s role in a weblog post on November 12, 2005.
I know, this is more than two months old, but (1) it still contains useful information and (2) I’d like this weblog as a resource that provides as much information as possible.
Here’s a large excerpt (with a few spelling errors I corrected) of the post by Mark Donovan, the vice president of products and senior analyst at M:Metrics:
“Pod2Mob is aggregating podcasts via a WAP site, users select content and it downloads and runs in a devices on board media player. This approach is reminiscent of the first multimedia apps that hit the market a couple of years ago.
“Last week I clicked to listen to podcast and it didn't appear to work so I just shrugged, went into a meeting, and then was surprised (as were my colleagues) when some ten minutes later my phone sprang to life and began playing audio. Clunky and not very satisfying.
“Mobile music company Melodeo has taken a much more impressive step with their mobilcast application, which provides a very slick, self-contained catalog of updated podcasts, allows you to preview content. The Melodeo folks have quickly repurposed the technology they've developed for OTA music for this emerging area; good on them.
“Other mobile music companies that could move into this space who have includes Musiwave (recently acquired by Openwave) and Groove Mobile, each of which is pursuing an ASP strategy which doesn't fit as neatly into a space where content is created and published in such a decentralized fashion.
“How people are going to make money here is much less clear, particularly in the mobile space where data tariffs are still an issue. There's been lots of talk of ‘the business model coming later’ and "pursue your passion, the money will follow" and of course ‘advertising advertising advertising.’
“As the Internet bubble was growing everyone made a mad dash to aggregate eyeballs; here I suppose people are in pursuit of . . . earballs?
“Our data, derived from our very large month survey of mobile subscribers indicates that this is still very much an early adopter thing:
“* Just over 6% of the mobile subscriber population has personally subscribed to a podcast,
“* 40% have never heard the term "podcast"; 27% have heard it but don't know what it means
“* Of those subscribing to podcasts, two-thirds are male (classic tech early adopter pattern) and 56% are under 34 years old“While the mobilcast business card suggests there are 700 million phone worldwide that could access podcasts today, that's grossly overstated. Depending on what technical solution you implemented, in the US the number is likely closer to 40 million.
“The fact remains, though, that the mobile phone is positioned to be the dominant and ubiquitous device for accessing portable multimedia content.
“More interesting than the hype around podcasting is what the phenomenon tells us about the potential for user created content or, to use a phrase coined by Noah Glass and his colleagues at Odeo ‘casual content creation.’ This is an area where the mobile phone will shine, whether it's photo/video messaging, blogging, or podcasting.
“Glass gave a passionate talk yesterday that beat one of my favorite drums: technology that helps people create content that helps them communicate and connect with others is sticky, meaningful, and a huge business opportunity.”
My thoughts
I’m surprised that Pod2Mob has been so low key. No press releases, no weblog and no regular podcasts from the company. There’s no doubt that Melodeo has been doing a much better job of promoting wireless podcasting, as I mentioned in the previous entry.
I also agree that relatively few people have heard of podcasting, let alone wireless-enabled podcasting. I also mentioned that in my previous entry, where I suggested Melodeo/Mobilcast provide much more information on its Web site to educate potential wireless podcast users.
So far, the cellular operators have done virtually nothing in the wireless podcasting space, although Verizon Wireless has dipped the very tip of its little toe into the water, as I previously wrote.
Just the start
I certainly can see people doing spur of the moment podcasts, such as while attending a conference, walking in the park, etc. Some people prefer to write their thoughts, some prefer to speak them and some people learn more by reading and others by listening.
In short, I believe this is just the beginning of a medium that will continue to expand and provide an extremely important method for obtaining information as well as for entertainment.
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