3G services hold the key to mobile advertising

As mobile penetration has raced ahead of all other form of media and the device has moved beyond being just for communication, bigwigs of the Indian mobile industry presented their views on the future of mobile advertising and VAS at The Mobile Conclave. Organized by CellStrat and Amity Innovation Incubator at the Amity University campus in Noida on 22 January, dignitaries discussed the market opportunities and business models related to mobile media and apps.

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The first panel deliberated on "Mobile Advertising in India: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond". The main point of debate was if mobile as a media be compared to other traditional advertising medium- TV, radio and print. The panelists cited factors like small screen size, low speaker fidelity and penetration of high end multimedia phones as being drawbacks. Currently the new advertising media contributes to only one percent of the total advertising pie, which is going to increase, according to the panel members.

The successful role of 3G services which have been delayed in India is expected to enhance the multimedia experience and give the much required fillip to the mobile as an important advertising medium. The speakers feel that unless 3G comes around, the Indian Mobile sector is limited to low-cost low-end services. Not that innovation will be lacking in Indian Mobile sector, but the high-end services like video and Mobile apps will remain a slow moving phenomenon in absence of 3G - the new App Stores from the likes of Airtel, Aircel and Idea notwithstanding.

The second panel had a discussion focused on "Mobile Value Added services". The panel had representatives from VAS and mobile service providers. Though there are around 200 VAS services available in the Indian market, a majority of the few subscriptions are for Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket. Mobile service providers have to look out for ways to promote other Value-Added Services. All panelists agreed that M- Commerce including mobile banking, mobile money and mobile payment has potential in the market. Mobile social aggregation was also touted as a service which could become popular among the younger generation.


The third panel debated the "Mobile Web and Mobile Apps ecosystem in India". The general opinion was that the Indian market is yet to mature on this front due to the lack of 3G services and high-end handsets, as opposed to the West. Representatives from GPS firms MapMyIndia and SatNav listed the opportunities in mapping apps in India and recognized the lack of mapping data in the Indian context. Panel members agreed the Western Models like the Apple App Store need localized apps to take off along with high-end smartphone growth before the apps space will become a bigger market in India. But they concurred that this phase is round the corner with 3G auction to be conducted soon and several home grown App Stores in the process of being launched now. Almost as if on cue, the Idea Telecom App Store developed by Spice was announced.

The next panel was on "VC and Angel Investing in the Mobile and Telecom space". All the venture capitalists stressed that they are looking for scalable and viable models which have been proven to some level of success at least. "A man and a plan" strategy without a working prototype and no customers typically will not see investors who want to invest in the venture.

The Smart Techie magazine, a sister concern of Silicon India was the media partner for the event.