My mobile content wish list

With the holiday season approaching, I thought it was a perfect time to ask Santa to grant some of my mobile content wishes. Here's what I want this holiday season:  

1. A viable business model for broadcast mobile TV.  While Qualcomm's MediaFLO USA's FLO TV service has been available through Verizon Wireless for nearly two years and AT&T for several months, the mobile TV service still hasn't attracted a significant number of subscribers. Although there are no official subscriber totals, MediaFLO executive Matt Milne recently said that the subscriber number was "well north" of 100,000. While we don't know exactly what that means, I suspect it's probably not enough to justify the billions in spectrum and infrastructure costs that MediaFLO has incurred building out the MediaFLO network. Perhaps consumers have difficulty justifying the $15 per month subscription fee. In tough economic times that seems like an expendable cost.

2. Consistent benchmarks for mobile advertising measurement. Until wireless operators and content providers agree to consistent measurements regarding reach and advertising performance, advertisers are not likely to commit significant money to mobile advertising.  The industry needs consistent measurement tools to draw the necessary ad dollars.

3. A solution for overcoming consumer privacy concerns. No matter how many times the industry says that it will respect consumer privacy and require a double opt-in before sending mobile marketing or advertising messages to subscribers, there are still concerns.  In a recent iGR study for OSS firm Transverse, one of the main reservations people said they have about participating in an ad-driven incentive program is because of privacy concerns.  The industry needs to do a better job of educating consumers and building their trust.

My list may not be long, but my wishes aren't going to be easy to grant. I hope Santa has some business-savvy elves ready to buckle down and work on my list.  Let's not stop here-- send your mobile content holiday wish list to (sue@fiercemarkets.com) or comment below.   I'll share the results with readers next week. --Sue