Event: Kelsey Group Drilling Down on Local Search 2005
Session Title: Keynote Address: Paul Reddick, VP, Sprint
Session Date: April 20, 2005
Session Time: 1:30 pm – 2:15 pm
Session Description: None
Session Participants:
Paul Reddick, VP, Business Development, Strategy, and Planning, Sprint
Related Posts: buzzhit!’s Drilling Down on Local Search 2005 Index Page
Session Details[*]:
– Data revenue growing; constitutes 10% ($6 of $60/mth) of monthly avg subscriber bill
– 61% domestic mobile penetration; 67% by 2007
– 1x data services out (144k); moving to EV-DO (330k+)
– Handset processor speeds improving; memory expanding as well, hard drives on the horizon
Why?
– People want to be un-thethered
– Assumed “access to the world”
Three core developments:
– Location based service; the ability to know where the device is
– Near field communication; the ability of the device to communicate with nearby objects
– Mobile payments; using the device to authorize payments
Application types:
– Communication: voice, email, IM, chat
– Entertainment: pictures, music, videos, gaming
– Information: click, internet, contact list
– Transactions: scheduling, purchases
-> Watch for more use of “short codes” in advertisements
Mobile Entertainment
– Games: $204M in 2004, $1.4B in 2008
– Music: $316M in 2004, $1.4B in 2008
– Video: $53M, $3.2B in 2008
– Local relevance: multiplayer community games, locally generated content, geographically licensed content
Communities and Communications
– Community Networks: mobile communities and peers; builds strong loyalty and enables word-of-mouth and peer recommendations
– Local relevance: location filters on IM buddy list, friend finders, push-to-talk “areas” and mobile blogs
Mobile Information
– Mobile local search; paid search will come, but the focus first is on user experience, not returning dozens of results
– Navigation/mapping; where am I relative to things – WaveMarket doing clever stuff
– Yellow pages; much like search…
– Traffic/Weather Alerts
– Points-of-interest
– Events (entertainment / sports)
Mobile Transactions – Targeted Advertising
– Advertising pull (e.g., short codes); can be reserved across carriers (basically a GUID)
– VERY targeted advertising push
– Movie ticket purchased while en route; i.e., “closing the deal”
– Fast food purchased at POS
Audience Q: Do you ever see free wireless, free mobile via advertising?
Reddick: I’m not bullish on full subsidy. I’d love to be able to offset some fees via advertising. Wireless mobile has a cost to transport; a 3 minute clip at 300K costs $0.10 a minute, going down to $0.05
Audience Q: With improvements in Voice XML, what’s the possibility for voice search?
Reddick: I think there’s great utility; it’s a good front end for 411 services (what state are you in, etc); also good for driving. But, when you’re at home, or just somewhere where you can text, it seems less useful.
Audience Q: Location based services have been coming “next year” for 4-5 years?
Reddick: Read the press in the coming days. Look at what Nextel is doing with GPS. We’ll be launching some services this year. It has been painful, but it really will be this year; not everything that can be done, but a solid start
Audience Q: Are you looking at product comparison via camera phone shots of UPC codes?
Reddick: Yeah, more than just cameras and UPC codes though; could even analyze an album cover and determine if you have the ring tone. RFID chips will be $0.10 soon; waving a handset over a movie poster (RFID enabled), could tell you who’s playing the movie nearby, transact on tickets
Q: How do you educate consumers to move them up the path
Reddick: One of the biggest challenges. All this functionality, but who uses it? We’re hoping some of it is relevant to each person. Looking for help from those who profit from all this taking off, e.g., media companies
Q: Don’t these services destroy your directory assistance business
Reddick: Don’t get in the way of things that will better serve your customer; we won’t restrict access to good services just to protect something (even though it’s a great, high margin business)
* These are raw, unproofed notes taken in real-time. Nothing attributed to any speaker should be assumed to be an exact quote. Rather, my goal was to capture and communicate the essence of what was said. If there is a significant mistake, please post a comment or email me; I will make a correction at my earliest opportunity.