No, they’re not going to call it MySpace Lite
With MySpace announcing the launch of its mobile service this week, newly-appointed head of the division, Jean-Paul Sanchez, says that the service will be aimed at meeting the demands of its 130 million MySpace users to give mobile access to MySpace services. Further details were hard to come by, although he did say that as country specific sites were added, so would the mobile versions be launched.
With sites in UK, Germany and France already, it looks like Italy and Spain will be next in line to get their own MySpace sites.
“My priority is to take MySpace mobile, and the key driver in that will be to give the customer base access to the MySpace experience any time, any place, any where.”
MySpace talks about “core” MySpace services being made available to mobile users, although Sanchez said that didn’t mean that the mobile service would be a MySpace “light”.
“ We’re not calling it MySpace light, we’re definitely not calling that. We’re not trying to do everything at once. We have a practical approach to development.”
In terms of getting MySpace services onto phones, how does Sanchez see it working? “We’re looking at a number of different solutions, whether client or WAP based, depending on different distribution points and partners. Our ambition is to get MySpace Mobile into as many handsets as possible, through as many distribution points as possible”
Would that include working with operators, perhaps embedding the offering within an operators own portal? “You mean like on Vodafone live!? Yes. As I said we’re looking a a variety of distribution methods”
So what revenue opportunities does taking MySpace mobile offer? “I’m not going to discuss any of the commercial specifics?”
OK, but presumably going mobile means you can open up new revenue opportunities for advertisers and partners?
“In terms of the business model that underpin the mobile experience, it’s really a case of horses for courses, depending on the market dynamics, you could be looking at subscriptions, advertising, to pay as you go to free.”
“Obviously the company is built on the advertising model. We’re very well positioned to take advantage of that.”
And what will be the biggest challenge in implementing the strategy – the technology, route to market?
“There’s no one thing. It’s important to get the whole package right, technology, the proposition, the product and the distribution and marketing.”
So, to recap, the service will be about giving core functionality to mobile users, but won’t be MySpace lite. It will use a variety of methods to get to market, technically and in terms of distribution, and it will be supported on a “horses for courses” business model.
So now you know.