As yet another sign of growing recognition to the Israeli start up schene,
HooQs is a proud sponsor of the event. We will be celebrating the launch of HooQs v2 (currently in Alpha) which includes the first personalized mobile media recommender system.
These are very exiting times. The party will be held at the Galina Beach Club. Full details here.
See you there!
Thank you YouTube, for your rapid & effective launch of your mobile version! Following what seemed like a typical operator-approach exclusivity model with Verizon, looks like you really mean mass-market.
Good news - No client needed, just come and get it with any internet 3G phone! That's exactly what this industry needed for a long time - an Internet giant meaning business & leveraging the Web's open model on the mobile industry. Most other internet content players view the operators as the "plug number" in their broken revenue model, trying to sell OPC (Other People's Content) in traditional content models, overlooking the end-consumer reluctance to pay premium for content mobility.
Way to go, with respect to the general business strategy of going it alone! However, in the even more important part of the strategy - product-wise - YouTube still has a lot to learn about the mobile space, its past failures and mainly - the mobile life of users. The standard portal experience on mobile has made it hard, even for the most advanced users, to become addicted. Generalized & thin content lineups make it impossible for service providers to cater to all segments & individual tastes, which is needed to make a product truly mobile.
The products that DID succeed on mobile were those that enabled deep personalization & uniqueness to its users (Phone decoration, ringtones etc.).
Heavy browsing requirements for little content is something every mobile user has on his operator portal. At least there the content is local which means it is somehow targeted to its audience. With YouTube , its the same popular stuff consumed by all, with no value-add for mobility.
When I am on my mobile, I normally have a minute. Maybe two. The only way I will choose to go on the internet is if I know I am 2-3 clicks away from something that will Hook me up, and will be unique & forward-worthy. For that to happen, content sources will have to be much more varied than a YouTube. A community system will have to be working for me - Scouring the web, fetching content, filtering it for mobile consumption, connecting me with peers' content, and more.
In some sense, YouTube will always remain YouTube - an eclectic mix of user-generated & commercial content, targeting mainly the young and the bored. To truly mobilize the internet video revolution, a new type of access mode is required - one who puts the user in the center!
The following was published yesterday at DeGardener.
I spent the week in Monaco at MEM2007. From the personal perspective it was a very exciting show, after all, first time HOOQs was on display. From that perspective we had an excellent show - great feedback and lots of users and leads. We have work cut out for us, but the good news is that the market is HOT! The need for personalized, open, operator independent web to mobile services is all over the place and is welcomed by users, operators, content providers, analysts and bloggers.
MEM2007 is not really a classic exhibition, it's more of a conference. Participation is nearly exclusive to industry insiders and the tracks, therefore, are very professional. To a start-up-ist, these represent rare opportunities to take a 30,000 feet view and collect some insights that extend beyond the daily challenges. My own personal climax was not a single industry lecture or panel, even though all were very interesting at their own merit. To me, the most insightful session was a focus group with 10 different teenagers. These young adults were gathered from different countries - Australia, England, France, Italy, Finland, Germany - and were all surveyed about their digital lives. Here is some of what they told us:
1. The key elements teenagers look for in their mobile phones is appearance. Then come ability to play music, quality of camera and feature richness.
2. Nokia is the most popular handset brand. Out of the 10 participants, 5 had Nokias, 2 had Samsungs, 2 had LGs (Chocolate) and 1 had a Sony Ericsson. 7 out of 10 devices were 3G.
3. They don't do mobile clients - only 1 participant ever downloaded a mobile application. A game. Used it a couple of times and ditched it.
4. Teenagers are smart shoppers. They don't mind paying for Internet content, but hate buying stuff they can easily find for free. In other words, they will not buy songs for 3 Euros a pop. Contrary to popular belief, they buy a lot of CDs in addition to downloading free music. They know how to manage their music collection and how to get their favorite music on their mobile device.
5. On they other hand, all participants testified they would gladly buy new content if only they could find it easily. All participants agreed that the mobile operator portals are close to impossible to navigate through.
6. On top, the differences between operators and handsets make it impossible for users to share experiences. Not tracks or clips - pure information about where and how to find them!
7. They things they on their handsets are better Internet browsing and memory. They really don't get why MP3 and Video enabled phones come with such little memory.
8. They don't mind advertising if it makes content free. They are already used to online ant TV advertising, why object to mobile ads?
9. They all tried Google on their mobile and didn't like it. The mobile experience does not provide anything close to the internet experience.
10. They don't do MMS. All of them tried and all of them claim that "it doesn't work".
11. If they had to give up their TV, Mobile Phone or PC, 9 out of 10 would give up their TV (the only other answer was PC). None would let go of their mobile phone.
These young adults were not screaming in a vacuum. It was great to hear executives from operators presenting plans to further breakdown their walled gardens and push flat data rates. It seems like it's only a question of price points now. This is music to the ears of user centric service providers. To me, however, getting the bartenders in front of our booth excited and HooQed was most rewarding than anything!
HooQs is in Beta!
The Syncho team have worked quietly (& very hard) over the last year on building an open & personal environment for the mobile media user. We are still ramping up with enhancements but it's out and we would love to hear what you think and how we can make it work better for you.
The mobile Internet is full of hurdles (we overcome daily!), but it is still the same Internet!People tend to forget it & operators are not helping to explain it very well. So against the odds & with all of the wealth of Web 2.0 on our side, we are taking it on & directly offering it here (& on your own mobile Internet device).
We would like to start a conversation on how YOU would like to use the Internet on your phone. So give us a minute, we will make it worth you while!
Stay Tuned!
