Canadian operator Telus Mobility this week exited [1] the adult content business as quickly and with as little fanfare as it entered the space just a month ago, pulling the plug following threats of a boycott from consumers and Vancouver-area church leaders. Never mind that Telus seemed to take all the necessary steps to make the service secure and legal, implementing age-verification protocols to keep explicit content out of the hands of minors, and never mind that no reported cases of minors accessing off-limits content ever surfaced--faced with mounting public outcry, the carrier folded faster than Superman on laundry day.
Which begs a simple question: What was Telus doing making such a bold, provocative move in the first place? First the carrier launched its adult content platform with absolutely no publicity, almost as though it was ashamed of its decision to pursue such a market--and then, faced with the inevitable scrutiny and controversy, executives don't even bother to fight back, and simply shut the service down? None of it makes any sense. It seems unimaginable that Telus didn't anticipate some level of protest, and that they didn't have a plan in place to tackle the problem head-on whenever it finally erupted…and yet, the whole debacle seems to have caught the company with its pants down (in the proverbial sense, of course).
Regardless of whether you applaud or decry Telus' decision to abandon adult content, the company looks extremely foolish right about now. But its bumbling does not mean another North American carrier won't succeed where Telus failed, or that edgier, more controversial fare does not have a place on mobile operator decks. It could be a Playboy-branded MVNO, or a "Girls Gone Wild" mobile TV channel, but it will happen--and whatever the format, its essential elements will include the foresight and fortitude Telus decidedly lacked. - Jason [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/telus-scraps-adult-content/2007-02-21
[2] mailto:jankeny@fiercemarkets.com