Can Motricity reinvent itself?

[1]As we see the mobile content industry evolve from a world driven by content being aggregated and purchased off the carrier top deck to an atmosphere where applications are downloaded from app stores, a lot of mobile entertainment firms are scurrying to reinvent themselves. But retrofitting your business to fit this new evolving model isn't an easy task.

One firm that is trying to stay relevant in this rapidly changing world is Motricity. Motricity has built its business by helping operators distribute mobile content to their customers, and executives at the firm insist that this model isn't going away. I recently spoke with Jim Ryan, Motricity's chief strategy and marketing officer, about the company's vision--particularly in the wake of recent reports that AT&T is replacing Motricity's Fuel content distribution platform with Amdoc's platform [2]. Ryan, who is the former vice president of consumer data services at AT&T, insists that things are going very well for Motricity and says the company will likely file for an initial public offering sometime early next year.

However, he adds that the company believes as the industry evolves to this new open network, open device model, there is going to be a big opportunity for companies that can figure out how to deliver targeted personalized content to the consumer and monetize it without alienating the customer. That theory sounds good--but not particularly unique. Ryan says what may make Motricity different from all the other firms preaching the same thing is that Motricity currently has access to a lot of the necessary data to make the customer experience personalized and targeted. "We have a tremendous amount of data passing through our infrastructure," Ryan said. "We are the center of the tornado and we have a unique opportunity to capitalize on it."

Exactly how Motricity will capitalize on that data is still a little unclear. However, Ryan says the key is to let the customer control their own information and data and Motricity will work carriers to aggregate that data in a secure manner. "The only person controlling the end user--is the end user," Ryan said. 

When I've spoken to many firms in this space, most say that once the end user gives their permission to receive advertising, it will be up to the carrier and the content firm to determine the appropriate personalized content. I think Ryan's view is a little different in that Motricity wants to give control to the customer and keep it in their control. Of course, right now this is all theory and there are no specific deals to talk about. However, I'll be keeping a close eye on this space to see how firms like Motricity and others reinvent themselves and change the mobile entertainment landscape. -Sue [3]