Focus on Price, says Logica

Research published recently by Informa Telecoms & Media revealed that mobile operators could cash in on millions of pounds of potential revenue if pricing was clearer on their mobile content packages.The research, into mobile content behaviour, found that 80% of consumers were not willing to purchase premium mobile content. Half of the consumers surveyed said the reason was that prices are too high.
Mike Beech, VP Product Management, Mobile Payments at LogicaCMG Telecoms/Acision, believes a clear message must be sent out to mobile operators intent on maximising revenues.
They should focus on the price and the payment experience for customers he says. Payment methods are not sophisticated enough, and users lack clarity on pricing, especially fees for downloads. A simple solution is for operators to offer an option to bundle the data download cost into the price of the content, perhaps for users on a content specific tariff plan.
Informa Telecoms & Media highlighted the need for operators to have the newest, funkiest music available. But Beech says this alone is not the solution.
Operators need to rapidly change pricing for tunes to encourage downloads, charging high prices for the latest downloads, lower prices for ones that have aged, and perhaps premium prices for classics he says. The business model needs to work for the content provider as well as the mobile operator. While users remain willing to pay a moderate fee for the convenience of mobile downloads, this cannot be a large premium compared to alternatives such as iTune downloads over the Internet. Tech savvy customers will use cheaper download methods if the premium is too high.
Beech believes that rights management issues are another area of concern, with many users sideloading content to their handset via their PC, meaning that there is no control on the distribution of content from their fixed devices.
A DRM solution needs to be implemented that allows similar flexibility for users downloading to their phone says Beech. If they can only play or view content on their phone, then its less valuable to them than content that they can share across multiple devices. Pricing flexibility has a role to play. Operators should offer a price differential depending on the distribution allowed for downloaded content.