Monetizing Mobile Requires More Than Just Waiting For Ad Dollars | TechCrunch
Brilliant analogy:
The guys who understand the concept of mobile best are the street vendors in New York City. They set-up carts on the street corners and they sell all sorts of items like DVDs and sunglasses and purses. But when they feel a few drops of rain, they all quickly flip their carts over and start selling umbrellas. This is a brilliant sales strategy because they are adjusting their marketing based on what people are doing (walking around NYC) and what is happening around them (it is raining) to deliver a message and product that really resonates.
I always thought the thing that would be big first on mobile would be Advertising Mobile Apps, because people could pay for performance. This seemed like a sweet spot for early ad networks (AdMob and Quattro), and it seems like a sweet spot for Facebook's Sponsored Mobile Stories.
Longer term, as the article points out, it's more challenging.
But it always has been challenging to figure out new media.
Whoever figures it out first -- Apple? Google? Facebook? Microsoft? Amazon? Startup? -- will make a LOT of money.
Everyone who follows the leader will also make a lot of money...
Eli is a smart guy, doing cool stuff.
A complementary article to this one is a somewhat recent blog post of his:
"If you visit iaventures.com on a PC you'll see a full-site that explains all of the ways that they are different and great. However, if you visit from your mobile device you are greeted with a message that says 'On your way to our office? Need some directions? Call us, get a map, or continue' They get the mobile use case."
( Though, they only get it to a point. If you click continue on your mobile, you're dropped into a site that is NOT a responsive design. )
What he's pointing out in this post and the TC article is that this is how the new media of mobile works. It's much more context aware.
I'd take it a step further and venture to say that it will need to be personalized towards the current task executed on your mobile, and at that given moment in time. Also, it's an entirely different experience, calling for a completely different way that we are going to feel comfortable interacting with it.
I really like Jack Dorsey's vision during his talk on Charlie Rose lately:
"The best technologies disappear, they fade into the background. They are relevant when you want to use them and they fade away when you don't." (paraphrased) -- @ timeline 3:33 & 16:01
I believe this really addresses the way we use mobile. It's hyper relevant to us for those 10 minutes of use while waiting in line at the grocery store. It's in the foreground. Any information pushed to me that is not hyper targeted to that exact situation is going to be ignored. Then, the technology quickly fades into the background as it becomes my turn in line to pay...
What I need to be able to do is understand that the person flipping through things on their mobile is a 35 year old female, she just bought a double mocha from Starbucks at 11am on a Saturday morning. I would like to present her a coupon for 25% off any pair of shoes, at the shoe shop two stores down from Starbucks, for the next 2 hours only. Now that would be powerful...
"Much more context aware." A salient point. That really seems to be the key. The difference between browsing at home and the office is summed up by NSFW. Mobile needs to go much further and do it from the ground up.
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