Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

It had to happen sooner or later. Mashable reports that Facebook takes its Open Graph to the Mobile.

In essence this means you’ll be able to see Recommendations and Like buttons and more, that will enhance your context socially.

In a recent article about Mobile strategies and the three aspects, I elaborated on Location, Relevancy and Immediacy.
When reading the given example by Eric Tseng, Head of Mobile products at Facebook, an interesting application of taking this to the Mobile is of course enhancing geo-centric marketing efforts.

The expansion of Facebook’s Open Graph perfectly fits the “triple play”. By tapping into the opportunities which are provided by location, the large amount of information that is pushed and/or searched by mobile users is contextually enhanced by your network.
How can users differentiate and make choices? Your network can at least help you making that choice.

Facebook is providing the ability to socially augment the users’ experience, instead of augmenting it with extra contents, which only adds more information and no relevant decision-making “mechanisms”.

Facebook’s user base is put on 150 million users, for application developers this could mean a new range of opportunities by the Facebook plugins. Users are already online, are already on Facebook, the extension to third party applications is logical and can fuel the usage of mobile and mobile applications.

What do you think the implications are?

Originally posted on Travolon – B2B Travel Experts

Again news for the travel industry, last week it was the rumor on a potential Google & ITA deal, now it’s Apple (increasing rivalry between them and Google) which comes with iTravel, Apple’s way of revolutionizing the travel industry.

What iTravel basically does is converging the complete travel process for the iPhone.
A complementary – thus competitive and unique – combination of iPhone hardware and software will enable travelers to search, plan and book flights, hotels, rentals and much more.
At the airport you’ll be able to handle luggage and boarding passes.

At this time, iTravel is in the patent stage, for more information on iTravel, have a look at PatentlyApple.

Two questions arise:
* What does this mean for travel marketers?
A new distribution channel might come available, because it’s Apple, will this mean a next step in disintermediation?

* Is Apple able to disrupt the travel industry, exactly because of the centralized position their device (iPhone) will have?
If Apple is able to penetrate key industries, the usage of one mighty device is in their advantage and reach.
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I had the pleasure to cooperate with Christine Perey by reviewing and providing comments on her Position Paper, on the revenue streams for Mobile Augmented Reality.
In the Mobile Augmented Reality Revenue Streams article is explained what the revenue sources are and how business can be created according to the Position Paper.
Click the link to read her paper “Where’s the Money? Mobile AR Revenue Streams“.

At the world’s first and largest commercial Augmented Reality event last 21st of April, the Augmented Reality Conference, Christine was a speaker where she elaborated on Mobile Augmented Reality revenue streams.

Find below her presentation that she gave.

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Interesting to have read the news that Boxee is looking for a Lead iPad and iPhone App Developer.
Their starting point is that they “consider ‘other screens’ as important as TVs for enjoying video.”
Signs of a furthering media convergent consumption continues.

I’m interested in seeing if and how they will differentiate the iPhone and iPad application in comparison to their television application. The iPhone screen isn’t too big, this might devaluate the watching experience. Maybe the focus of the iPhone application has a more social focus, whereas the iPad is a great substitution for the television screen?

What do you think the distinction between television, mobile and tablet will be?

For those who don’t know Boxee, check out this video taken from their website:

Almost a year passed by since I wrote The 3 Fundaments of Online Strategy.
Since then much has rapidly evolved, ubiquity is becoming a new standard.
New media devices are being released which expands the amount of channels and touch points for consumers. This challenges companies on a fast pace, keeping up with (technical/cultural) developments in order to offer that what consumers demand.

Emphasis must be put on mobile devices and how they change and add value to the marketing strategy.
The Online Strategy extends from the computer to all sorts of mobile devices which are being increasingly used in daily lives.

Every screen consists an application of its own three fundaments, moulding it in an integral marketing strategy.
The key is not to copy, but apply those aspects which fit the device and purpose/usage by user. Sometimes it means that it won’t be implemented, sometimes it does.

A good example is Linkedin. There’s a huge difference in purpose and final execution when you look at the “desktop” website and the iPhone app.
Another example is Lonely Planet, rapidly expanding its media exposure to the iPhone and iPad, it aren’t copies of their books or their core website. Both are well adapted products to the needs of the users in relation to the -mobile- device.
The company goes further though, it introduced as well the Lonely Planet Compass guides, an Augmented Reality application, again for the mobile device but with another purpose. The Compass Guides are a good example of the power and relevance of Location Based Services, it will grow in importance when we take into account the key mobile trend and technical pre-conditions by Morgan Stanley.
Last but not least, don’t underestimate the rise of Social TV, an extra screen to reach your target groups.

When the expanded functional strategy is formulated, be sure to evaluate your strategic options against Johnson and Scholes’ model of success criteria (Suitability, Feasibility, Acceptibility).
To reference to the hype around Social Media, jumping the bandwagon just because others do, is not based on strategic decision-making and it could harm the brand and corporate strategy overall.
It’s important to understand that this is just the beginning of mobile and understanding the effect on growth strategies and opportunities is a first step.

What’s your opinion on the expanding amount of channels and -possible- touch points with your target groups?

Last year Lonely Planet launched the Augmented Reality application called Lonely Planet Compass Guides.
Last Sunday -one day after the launch of the iPad- Lonely Planet has released an iPad application named Lonely Planet’s 1000 Ultimate Experiences.

Two quotes by the the CEO Matt Goldberg (taken from Travolution):

“The iPad is a ground breaking device that gives us the flexibility to publish content in extraordinary ways we would never have thought possible a year ago,” said Matt Goldberg, Lonely Planet chief executive.

“We are delighted to offer an exciting new product for the launch of iPad and are experimenting restlessly with new technologies and platforms as we build on our strategy to become the world’s leading travel media and services provider.”

The application is inspired on their book with the same name, giving the user a digital experience of the top 1000 places.

(taken from Tnooz)

Once again, it’s interesting to see the innovation within the travel industry and how it’s applied in new business opportunities. The same article by Travolution mentions that the InterContinental Hotels Group is going to equip their concierge teams with iPads. The iPad is a great device in showing visuals to their guests in a new, innovative and portable way.

On Lonely Planet’s corporate level, it’s a decision which fits into their long-term goal. The diffusion of their information, and the easy usage and access will benefit retention amongst their target groups. When iPads become available with non-WiFi Internet connection, the application can be enhanced with User Generated Content on the spot.

If you have an iPad and a traveler, would you buy this application or not? If not, why?

Finally, yesterday was the day that the iPad became available in the US.
Much is written about the iPad and about its launch. Now that it is available, check out the video below for a well in-depth introduction of the device.

Already, 2300 applications are available for the device.
This article discusses eight Twitter apps for the brand new iPad.
The article by the Wall Street Journal shows screenshots of several apps.
Ubiquity, social media and applications reinforce each other, the market of applications will remain growing explosively if the iPad proves its value.
If this will happen, businesses need to (re)think there strategies when it comes to platforms, target groups and visibility.
Desktop applications won’t suffice anymore, those who react on the omnipresent needs, might well win battles.
The bigger question will be: to build or not to build?
When the iPhone was released, tailormade application development had a reserved character by many, with the release of the iPad -and most probably many more to come-, mobile as a strategy becomes central.
‘Mobile First’ – Google’s new Mantra is an announcement of what is coming and will happen in the mobile and wireless industry.

How do you see the mobile industry react and evolve the next coming year?

Various media and websites already referred to the rumor of a mobile ad platform, called iAd.
MediaPost announces that Apple is preparing a personalized mobile advertising system which could well be “the next big thing”.

Interesting are the release dates of both the iPad and iAd.
April 3rd is the official launch of the iPad, only for days later is the supposed launch of iAd.
This could well mean that there are -any kind of- ties between iAd, iPad and the iPhone.

A mobile advertising platform means serving location based ads, adding contextual relevancy to the ads, creating a second generation of proximity marketing.
In the same article by MediaPost, it points out that Google has won patents on technologies that serve dynamically ads based upon one’s location.

All that can be concluded from this is that the battle between Apple and Google is by far not over. It makes it only more interesting, competitiveness raises and accelerates innovation and developments which only benefits the users.

Let’s wait and see what happens next week. A counter-attack on Google’s AdMob acquisition and development is bound to come, a possible launch in close relation to the iPad makes it more impacting.

What do you think of a possible mobile ad platform by Apple?

Tagwhat is a geo-centric mobile Augmented Reality application that by means of a social network, users can create and share content which can be seen on location.
Some of the opportunities -as can be seen in the video- are Local Businesses, keeping a journal, Videos, store locations and advertising.
Furthermore it’s possible to follow other people enabling a network of Augmented Reality tags.

Augmented Reality networks still have to validate their value, but novelty of such networks and the AR technology itself fuel initial interest of users.
A business model for Tagwhat is of course advertising which blends in with other types of tags, creating a less pushy advertising model. Besides this, context/location is key, making advertising more relevant and less disturbing.

Pre-conditions like the following make or break a social network:
*The amount of interaction between people.
*The amount of quality content/interaction between people.
*The amount of people.
*The amount of active people must be big enough, most people are passive, they like to sign up and read, but are not the content/interaction generators.
*The community must be relevant and specific to one or more segments, the more niche, the higher value added, but the fewer people and thus interaction.
*People need to make a choice.

The furthering fragmentation of the social network landscape will create increasing pressure on succession or failure. Augmented Reality has the power to uniquely position a platform in favor of its usage. It’s up to the users to adopt and integrate a network like Tagwhat in their daily lives.

Will such social Augmented Reality networks diffuse or not?
What could business models be for User Generated Content networks like these?

* * * * * * * * * * *
The paper mentioned in this post is reviewed and provided with comment by Gianluigi Cuccureddu to benefit this position paper for Mobile AR revenue streams.
* * * * * * * * * * *

A while back I wrote the article Complementing on Augmented Reality Business Models as a further elaboration on the efforts by Gary Hayes on this subject.
A new position paper has been published by Christine Perey -an industry analyst- for the Mobile AR Summit @MWC 2010 on the opportunities of revenue streams within Mobile Augmented Reality.

You can read the paper Where’s the Money? Mobile AR Revenue Streams on PDF.
For new technologies it is important and vital to have business cases and concrete revenue streams in order to take the technology and its opportunities to a mainstream adoption. It’s also needed to get the technology to the next phase of the Hype Cycle.
The paper distinguishes four kinds of sources, namely the Corporations, Small Businesses, Public Services and the End Users. For all the four sources there are revenue streams that can be tapped into when the applications are developed.
Where corporations benefit more from customized AR applications, the focus on small businesses, public services and end users will be on location, time and content (in relation to context).
For the sources mentioned in the paper, revenue streams are elaborated. What do you think of the revenue streams of corporations and end users?

I do believe here is where the power of Mobile AR will be shown. A flux of ubiquitous information requests (content) made relevant by interests (person), time and location (context).
Making sure these information requests are dynamic and only shown and offered when the need is there, will advance the coping of daily information overloads. This might not seem relevant at this point of time, but the real-time Web is just the beginning, and augmented information based on real-time streams will further increase information consumption and decrease information understanding.

One of the first and foremost challenges, put forth in the paper, is the distribution of revenues. Who is paying who, who is earning what?
This is important to keep the ecosystem ‘up and running’ without losing individual links due to a inbalance in monetary redistribution.
User Generated Content will add challenges to it, like UGC websites are already experiencing right now.

How do you think the Mobile AR relationships look like from a revenue distribution point of view?
What other revenue streams do you know which are not yet pointed out in the paper?