By D.P. Venkatesh

Everyone in the mobile content business is trying to figure out how to get people to buy content and how to make money from it. But today, the majority of customers are not buying content. They don't know what mobile content is out there and it is too much of a hassle to figure it out. 

In terms of mobile content purchases, we haven't seen anything as intuitive as voice or the iPod yet. The mass market is not buying content today because of the clunky and unnatural user experience. The issue is not necessarily because the content isn't right or there is not enough content available. The issue is with the usability factor. The goal of usability for mobile content purchases should provide the best possible user experience for (1) finding (discovery), (2) previewing, and ultimately (3) purchasing mobile content in an easy, simple, and straightforward manner. In order to promote mass adoption of mobile content, service providers should examine the usability barriers in these three areas, and work to overcome them.

Finding content remains the biggest problem with mobile content purchases today. People can't browse on a mobile device like they do when shopping anywhere else. With today's user experience on a mobile device, you need to know what you want before you start. But mobile content today is not organized in the way a consumer thinks. Instead, content is organized into silos, with separate menus for ringtones, wallpapers, and games, rather than according to its theme - a film, an artist, or an actor, for instance. Content should be re-organized according to themes, menus should be pre-populated, and related content suggested. But content organization is only one part of the problem.  Aside from making menus consistent, the interface a consumer uses to access the content needs to be addressed. In order to maximize the potential of mobile content, the interface must make it easy to consume media and must be consistent across all mobile devices. The discovery of content such as entertainment should have prominence on idle screens and on keypads for one-touch access. 

Assuming the consumer has been able to find the content, most user experiences don't provide a mechanism to preview the content. People are not likely to buy something if they have to pay for a lengthy download process only to find out they don't want it. They are more prone to purchasing something they can snack on. Even if they can preview today, the architectures in place means content takes too long to arrive. You have to use the browser to find a link, click on it, go to a site, download another menu and so on. It's a back-and-forth, jerky way of downloading. Previewing should be available with one click, if you cache information locally - for instance, the first three levels of the menus - you only need to go back to the network for very critical pieces and download additional data as fits the user's habits and tastes in the background. With an effective user interface design, content previews could become a rich media experience where different applications are linked.

We've considered discovery and previewing. What about purchasing? If today's customer has stayed the course long enough to agree to buy something, he or she has put up with a long download process. To buy something else they have to go through the whole process again. It is not easy to buy another piece of content, or another type, that is from the same artist. Also, there is no way to control spending or offer recommendation for purchasing additional content. Purchasing of content should be straightforward and simple, again one click process. Moreover, if content was purchased two weeks ago, and one goes back to re-purchase the item, it would be good to be notified before purchasing the item that this item has already been downloaded and offer the subscriber another item to purchase under the same theme or artist. 

Overall, when designing services, service providers and handset manufacturers need to start by thinking about the customer experience, not how to protect their turf. They need to work backwards from the customer experience via the business model to the implementation. There are many different players jockeying for position in the mobile content race, but it is down to the service providers and the manufacturer to manage these alliances without losing sight on the customer experience.  

There is always a need for compelling content at good prices but without an improved user experience the best content in the world would be useless. Most people don't buy today because the process is kludgey and slow. Not until ease-of-use in discovery, previewing, and purchasing content come together will there be mass-market take-up.

D.P. Venkatesh, Founder and CEO of mPortal, has more than seventeen years experience in the telecommunications industry across Wireless, Internet, and Media sectors. His roles have varied from executive management to strategic planning and business development. As CEO of mPortal, Mr.Venkatesh oversees all aspects of strategy, sales, and marketing for mPortal. Over the past five years, he has led the company through its various growth stages.