FEATURE: Device Diversity is a Feature not a Problem

For Rich Mobile Content, Device Diversity is a Feature not a Problem Volantis' John Beale argues to embrace device diversity.

Wireless service providers are facing a tough challenge in introducing rich content and applications on mobile devices these days. Although we enjoyed phenomenal market growth when offering just voice services on early wireless networks, the bewildering array of new devices makes it difficult to develop and widely deploy new content services for third-generation wireless networks. The wave of 3G wireless growth may be broken on the reef of device diversity.

As 3G drives the industry toward data-centric services, the particularities of subscriber devices are a significant challenge to the development of compelling new digital-information offerings. Trying to format rich content to match each of the many thousands of mobile devices on the market is cost- and time-prohibitive if the content itself is developed for each device. And the inability to scale may reinforce a tendency to offer plain content and services that are easier to port, but are unlikely to get much of a response from the market.

Instead of settling for the lowest common denominator, we should view the diversified device environment as a great opportunity for service providers to offer richer, more personalized content and data services. It is a natural expression of consumer choice, the kind of enthusiastic personal expression that may lead us to a new era of compelling content services and vast opportunities to move beyond voice. Personalization is coming to the wireless industry and it brings with it greater demands for new content and service offerings. It also lures in major third-party content providers who succeed outside of the mobile industry by adapting their content for different tastes and preferences

Content Adaptation

To bring compelling new wireless content and services to the market content adaptation must be taken to a new level of optimization, delivering digital information in device-specific formats and protocols. This requires making content device-aware, launching it from a platform that supports adaptation of the content in real-time. Ultimately, content adaptation will optimize and format information to support the full capabilities of each individual device, to provide the richest, most compelling user experience.

There are many facets to content adaptation. The content must obviously be adapted to fit the display screen of the device, so it is sized properly and provides the best color depth and resolution. This not only delivers a richer user experience but is essential to conforming to the branding requirements of the content providers. Service providers already have strict style guidelines, but major consumer brands are perhaps even more demanding in requiring conformity for use of their brands.

Video content also requires adaptation to deliver the best format the device can support. But with video, in particular, the content must also adapt to still incomplete 3G network deployments. In addition to bandwidth, carrier adaptation may require optimizing the content for multi-level service subscriptions, service blackouts, pay-per-event offers and transactional applications.

All of this takes place in a dynamic environment. Mobile content is constantly being created, freshened, recycled and discarded.  Given the ever-shifting competitive environment, content for the mobile channel should ideally be managed via an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that masks the underlying complexity of adapting content to the wireless environment.

What it takes

Content must be optimized for the device, but building device-specific applications has proven to be too costly for mass appeal and distribution. The development costs cannot be spread among differing devices and the process is too slow to meet the expectations of a dynamic wireless subscriber audience.

The solution to this challenge is straightforward. Rather than building an application that is specific to a device, applications can instead be written so that they contain policy information that indicates how they should run on any device-but not on any one specific device. The behavior on a particular device is governed by preset policies that address themes and styles so it can be run anywhere.

Onward and upward

Optimizing rich content for the broad range of wireless devices on the market encourages the development of an equally diverse range of compelling service offerings. Content can be optimized for new, more powerful devices as they arrive on the market, but also be accessible and desirable for subscribers utilizing more basic devices. As subscribers enjoy a higher-quality user experience, demand for new content will broaden and its quality will improve.  

Greater demand for content will spur new providers to go mobile, no longer intimidated by the complexities of wireless technologies. A positive demand spiral will develop what we may well call The Mobile Information Age.

John Beale is VP of marketing at Volantis Systems.