FEATURE: Five Questions with Jay Emmet, President, mBlox Americas

Five Questions with Jay Emmet, President, mBlox Americas

mBlox is a mobile transaction network specializing in international operator connectivity and mobile billing, delivering messages to more 500 mobile operators in 170 countries each month.

Messaging services are finally gaining traction among demographics outside of the core 18-to-24 market. What brought about the change?

I still believe "American Idol" is a big training class for people to try texting and get used to it. There is phenomenal loyalty to "American Idol"--it gets bigger numbers than when it first came out. They are taking a passive TV experience and making it interactive. The mobile element isn't exclusively responsible for the success of "Idol," but allowing an interactive experience whereby users feel they're contributing builds long-term loyalty. When people make an emotional commitment and take the time to vote, they feel like they've invested something in it.

But why is television such a lucrative opportunity for messaging services?

TV is powerful because of the number of eyeballs. TV folks are smart, and they see the value in using mobile--it's an additional revenue source, and they believe it builds loyalty and client retention. Now you can't put a TV program on the air that doesn't have a mobile element. Hollywood loves the interactive aspect because you know who's watching your shows and what they find interesting. They're getting near-realtime feedback from viewers in a very transparent mode.

What needs to happen in the U.S. market to push messaging to the next level?

It's an operational issue--all of us in this ecosystem have worked hard to stay up with consumer growth, and we're seeing a lot of operator development and better services for subscribers. I'm on the board of directors with the Mobile Marketing Association, and we've released a consumer best practices document that is basically trying to define and set standards for interacting with people over mobile channels. We're trying to promote transparency and consumer awareness.

What must advertisers do to better translate their brand appeal to the mobile platform?

Advertisers are dying to get on mobile phones, but it's taking some time. I used to call carriers "slow," but now I call them "prudent." They're finally launching banner ads on WAP sites, and that's a big step. You need to remember that people are used to ads, and carriers have demonstrated that advertisements done in a useful and thoughtful manner have benefits. The issue is that carriers still have a bias to the major brands--they see them sharing the same risks. Both of them are trying to protect the value of their brands. In carriers' opinions, smaller brands just don't share the same risks.

What else can carriers do to encourage and develop premium content services?

Carriers are focusing on educating people around texting--we're seeing initiatives to improve search capabilities to enable people to discover content. You know, it's one thing to promote a product with a billboard--it's another thing if consumers don't see that billboard. But now carriers are developing on-deck and off-deck search capabilities. It's much easier if I type in a search and they respond to me with a list of vendors that have the particular ringtone I'm looking for. Most people know what they want when they look for a ringtone--as carriers develop more sophisticated search services, you will see a much greater uptake. There's no more wandering through a store, looking for that one thing you're trying to find.