Speaking at the 2008 Mobile Internet Conference in Berlin, Professor Barry Smyth, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder of mobile personalisation company ChangingWorlds, highlighted the necessity of intelligent off portal personalization to ensure the success of the Mobile Internet.
According to Prof. Smyth, "As in the case of 'on-portal' browsing, the promise of open internet browsing on the mobile device, with restricted user interface and limited screen size, also presents significant content discovery and usability challenges for end-users. Off Portal Personalization, that takes account of a users' context, behaviour and content interests, is essential to enhance usability of the Mobile Internet and to ensure the uptake of Mobile Internet data services."
Throughout his presentation Prof. Smyth concentrated on the challenge of mobile content discovery on the Mobile Internet and the importance of using a highly advanced personalization and mobile subscriber intelligence solution to drive Mobile Internet usage and revenues. Drawing on ChangingWorlds' specialisation in this area, Prof. Smyth described how in-depth subscriber intelligence and real, granular personalization is essential in order to deliver Mobile Internet content that is relevant and that closely corresponds with an individual's context and interests.
Prof. Smyth emphasized that off portal personalization enables mobile operators to intelligently personalize the 'invisible' 90% of off-portal content, including content catalogues, content partner sites, networked content applications and freely available Mobile Internet content.