Mobile content evolves from viewing to doing

 

Mobile content evolves from viewing to doing

Looking back on it now, it seems almost delusional that we ever expected
consumers to wholeheartedly embrace mobile entertainment. Television, video and
music are media best consumed at home, in comfortable chairs, in front of
flatscreen TVs, PCs and surround-sound stereo systems--not on the go. Inherent
in entertainment is a couch-potato inactivity that exists in diametric
opposition to mobility: Entertainment is a passive, inert experience and
mobility is a proactive, kinetic experience. Together they're as complementary
as drinking and driving, even if the results of their union haven't been quite
so disastrous.

As the mobile content sector descends on Las Vegas for CTIA Wireless 2008,
it's time to focus on a consumer experience that emphasizes the proactive, not
the passive. Forget about video and music--the real excitement is in
applications that enable subscribers to live richer, more interconnected lives
away from the home or office. From web surfing to search tools to social
networking services, consumers are seizing on mobile as a channel to discover
and broadcast information as life happens. Their handsets aren't media
players--they're tools subscribers use to make their own fun.

Mobile content has been reclining in its lounge chair for far too long.
Consumers are out in the real world doing, creating and living. Isn't it time
this industry joined them? -Jason

P.S. Fierce will once again host its popular networking
party.  Join us on April 1 from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. at Rain at The Palm in
Las Vegas.  RSVP here.