Why not?
This year’s World Cup in Germany is set to be the most photographed sporting event in history says mobile device management company SmartTrust. Based on existing rates of camera phone usage, the company estimates that 4.5 million images will be captured on spectators’ phones over the tournament’s four week duration.
The findings are based the Mobile Trends survey , which showed that 63% of mobile users now own a camera phone. Those actively using their handset’s camera during their trip are expected to take an average of six pictures each.
The challenge for operators, SmartTrust says, is relating this opportunity into revenue after the same survey discovered that a photo taken with a camera phone has only a 30% chance of being forwarded by MMS. When being sent from overseas (roaming) SmartTrust suggests that the figure could drop even further.
Fewer than one million of the 4.5 million photos taken on a mobile phone during the tournament will be used in an MMS during the four week period. Existing barriers to using the service, such as inaccurate configuration of the handset, and consumer concerns over pricing and interoperability will be exasperated by the fact that users will be ‘roaming’ on a foreign network.
What consumers said:
· 90% are unsure of MMS pricing when roaming
· 64% are unsure if the message would be received back home
· 18% have suffered a failed MMS delivery because of poor handset configuration.
“Three million fans are expected to attend games during June. There is enormous opportunity to benefit from spectators keen to make their friends jealous by sending home an MMS of one of the greatest tournaments in the world. This is exactly what MMS was designed to do; enable a mobile user to capture a moment and share it with friends. This is an event where a picture paints a thousand words and a simple SMS or voice call just won’t be enough. Mobile operators have made significant investment in MMS – most notably in subsidizing camera phones for their customers. Events such as this are a great means of demonstrating the power of multimedia messaging and building a base of future users,” says Tim De Luca-Smith, communications manager at SmartTrust. The company’s mobile device management solutions are used across more than 30 mobile networks worldwide, helping operators to better manage the configuration of services such as MMS, WAP and GPRS.
“Despite the popularity of the camera phone, we know that there are barriers to MMS usage. In fact we have already seen growing instances of mobile users (most notably males under the age of 30) bypassing their operator’s network altogether and transferring camera phone pictures to their PCs before emailing them to friends and family. Something is blocking the camera phone experience going full-circle and, ideally, culminating in the sending of an MMS. It’s too easy to chalk it down to cost alone; we know consumers are willing to pay for mobile services that they value. Instead, there needs to be a combination of simplicity and transparency, especially for those looking to make the most of their handset when overseas,” adds De Luca-Smith.
The figures are based on findings from the company’s Mobile Trends Guide 2005 / 06; a report that studied mobile user habits across 15 countries and 6800 consumers. The same research suggests that it is the prepaid segment that suffers that most. Instances of poor handset configuration – which can result in a failed message – were notably higher than those amongst contract customers.