September 19, 2003
Why ringtones will save American Civilization
Scott Murff in an insightful article in mjuice, analyses the success of ringtones in Japan and why they are off to a slow start in the US.
"Why is the US ringtone market the way it is? The responsibility lies with US carriers. One thing that surprises me is how seldom the wireless carriers in their national advertising properly market ringtones. Like it or not, ringtones make money and yet most wireless advertising fails to push the data services people pay for or want the most. Pay attention the next time you see a carrier advertise data services and see what they're focusing on instead.
The barrier for American ringtones goes beyond marketing. Some carriers are hesitant to allow third-party companies to field their own ringtone service brands instead opting for a carrier-branded selection. That's certainly a far cry from NTT DoCoMo's encouragement of hundreds of unique content providers listed on its menus.
In addition, some delivery mechanisms for ringtones in the US are at times awkward. There are intermediate software components, alarming messages like "Are you really, really sure you want to start incurring charges", and a clumsy menu offering. It's a far cry from Vodafone Live! content services and menu layouts.
What's most disappointing is that this is not about high-tech and hardware, but rather adopting the labor intense care required to nurture content services. NTT DoCoMo was built on 9.8kbps transmission speeds, capable staff and the guts to turn over 90% of revenues to no-named, self-financed start-ups. Many US carriers (and a few big European ones) have been unable to find the humility to help content suppliers get up an running in wireless market and treat as equal partners, not seeing that prepping and hand-holding are keys to getting third-party services up to speed. Call it the fear of wireless nation-building if you want."
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