David LaPlante

Mobile ESPN Fumbles...Is Disney Next? Or will Apple's MVNO Get the Content? Plus: Why Cabela's Should Acquire the ESPN MVNO Assets.

 

The news of today in mobile is that ESPN is cutting it's Mobile ESPN MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) service. I'm sure this was a supervise to many, however, a long list of industry pundits have been on the Mobile ESPN deathwatch almost since its birth.

Many will drumbeat this as a "lost game", however, I think that this was a merely a First Quarter fumble and ESPN is still poised to win the mobile and wireless sports content game.

(What I do know is that a lot of bloggers -- including myself -- will use this as an opportunity to write some really bad sports cliches in their posts <grin>!)

A notice to the Mobile ESPN Web site today states:

"Thank you for your support of Mobile ESPN. We have been proud to provide fans like you the best wireless sports content experience.

We have, however, decided to change the direction of Mobile ESPN. As of December 31, 2006, Mobile ESPN will cease its wireless service...

...good news is the Mobile ESPN content you have come to enjoy and expect will soon be available through the service of another nationwide wireless provider."

Hmmm. So let's look at some scenarios moving forward that explain today's actions. Comment back what scenario you think is most likely, or add your own:

1. Disney/ESPN thinking: Let's cut all the branding, billing and MVNO overhead and pitch it back upstream to Sprint for an exclusive carrier-on-deck content deal.
2. Disney/ESPN thinking: Let's cut all the branding, billing and MVNO overhead and pitch it out to all the carriers for a long-term non-exclusive carrier-off-deck subscription fees and/or consumption "taxes".
3. Disney/ESPN/Apple thinking: Apple will have their "MVNO/i-phone" out in the next year...we'll scuttle Disney's MVNO and roll ESPN/Disney content in to an Apple MVNO exclusive. An iTunes/Disney/ESPN content conglomerate that only Elliot Spitzer could stop. After all, the only reason Dad will move the whole famdamily over to an Apple MVNO for the Disney iTunes is if there's "something in it for me". (Not that I would know <grin>!)

Anyway, one could easily get carried away with trying to "over-guess" this.

Bottom line is really simple: not enough subscribers. For this, however, there will be no simple answer. (Yes, one will be given, however, we know it ain't always simple to explain away these things.)

Was Sprint the wrong partner? This is doubtful, they were clearly the best network for pushing the 3G video content.

Was the phone selection too expensive or not age-demographic appropriate? Again, not clear. The phones were great, however, amid the Motorola Razr tsunami and a Windows Mobile 5.0 launch, the initially expensive Sanyo was a brand and a price that sports fans may have found too much to digest to switch carriers for.

My guess is it simply came down to the paradigm shift and timing of the content distribution. Should ESPN be available for fees and subscriptions to all major US carriers? Hell yes. Just as ESPN content is not exclusively restricted to just cable operators and not available to DirectTV satellite providers. And from a paradigm shift, we're still trying to piece together the social aspects of why MySpace -- with a clearly inferior user-interface and kludgy functionality -- blew the pants off of Friendster, Ryze, Tribe, Facebook, Xanga etc.

So does this spell disaster for the myriad of MVNO's out there today? Yes and no. Disney may be up the same creek. They're probably better off long-term focusing on making their content as "widely" distributed over as many carriers as possible than "exclusive" deals.

Cabela's MVNO Would Work

I've been joking around for at least three years now that Cabela's should startup an MVNO. My partners would be stoked just so I'd quit yammering about it. The social demographics of Cabela's customers are compelling and they have the distribution channels nailed. I would soooo love to be sitting in a London coffee shop at some trade show talking on an Advantage Camo cell phone. The stares from the London business elite alone would be worth a 30% premium price for the phone.

The Salt Lake City Cabela's store pulled in more visitors than the Mormon Temple in its first year. Cabela's is an Internet commerce, direct-mail catalogue, retail success story like no other right now:

• Cabela's is the nation's largest direct marketer
• Cabela's is the leading specialty retailer for
• hunting, fishing and camping (the nation's pastime)
• (more folks do these activities than get ESPN on cable, that's for sure)

Hunting, fishing and camping are social-oriented lifestyle brands that Cabela's can easily capitalize on, more than content like Disney, ESPN, or the Outdoor Channel for that matter.

Reno has promised our collective first-born sons (well at least their college education funds in my case <grin>) to get Cabela's to open a retail location here.

I can hope by the time it's open here they've acquired the ESPN MVNO assets and are offering cell phones in Wetland, Advatage and Scent-Lok! If you're from Cabela's and are reading this...give me a call. I've got three years of thought in to this one!

 
  Technorati : Apple, Cabela's, Disney, ESPN, ESPNMVNO, MVNO, Nevada, Reno, SLC, Salt Lake City, Sprint, carriers, marketing, mobile, mobileESPN, subscribers, wireless
Del.icio.us : Apple, Cabela's, Disney, ESPN, ESPNMVNO, MVNO, Nevada, Reno, SLC, Salt Lake City, Sprint, carriers, marketing, mobile, mobileESPN, subscribers, wireless

Diggnation promo's Reno-Tahoe

Gotta download and listen to Diggnation Episode #30 whereby we (Diggnation, Twelve Horses and the Reno-Tahoe destination) make Podcasting history. The first technology podcast to promote a vacation destination is in the iTunes can! Listen to the last 5 minutes...

What will be interesting here is the response rate...stay tuned!

Reno-Tahoe Snow Alerts

So I fell victim to my own mousetrap today. I had forgotten that I had signed up for the Reno-Tahoe Snow Alerts. I was sitting in a meeting and I got a text that read:

Reno-Tahoe resorts got 12-16 inches of fresh snow last night. Today's forecast: blue skies!

I got all excited. Started thinking of getting out on the hill. And then I remembered that my good folks at the RSCVA were just doing their job and I fell vicitm!

CES Las Vegas: 150,000 Gadget Geeks!

LAS VEGAS NV -- Holy crap! This town is packed. Never seen so many people in Vegas. This place is stuffed to the gills with A LOT of gadget geeks. There’s gotta be at least 75,000 pairs of Levi Docker’s running around down here! So I actually never even made it on to the show floor to snap photos of my favorite toys. I was stuffed in meetings the whole time. Bummer. Maybe CTIA… Kenzer made it to the Diggnation live podcast tho’. He’s stoked. I missed that too…here I am in Gadget Heaven and I’m being responsible and going to meetings and networking rather than fiddlin’ with the tech. Oh the agony!

Text Messaging: An emerging marketing tool

A story I wrote for Marketing Profs on text messaging hit the Web today. Below is a brief taste of the article's message—i.e. how text messaging is revolutionizing communications in the business world:

These days, businesses large and small are increasingly using a full range of communication methods including e-mail, web and fax to enhance relationships with existing customers, and to serve as a low-cost means of acquiring new ones. Now a new communication mode, text messaging—or Short Message Service (SMS)—provides an additional and extraordinary opportunity for companies and organizations of all industries to differentiate themselves.

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Future of Wireless is Advertising

Nice article on eWeek titled, "The Future of Wireless? Advertising, Of Course!" penned by Guy Kewney:

But if you look into my Web advert from your mobile device, I know a lot about you. I can, potentially, know exactly who you are, where you are and what retail outlets are within 500 yards of you. Increasingly, I can link through mobile payments schemes and learn how much you have available to spend. And I can look at your browsing habits and e-mail (yes, I can!) and discover what you're interested in, right now, this minute. Advertising with wireless ceases to be a case of: "In this socioeconomic group, there is a 3 percent chance that one of these readers will be in the market for a replacement vehicle in the next month, so let's run a car commercial." It starts to be: "Emergency! Billy Joe is on the corner of Roosevelt and Jackson, and he's looking into a Ford dealership! Tell him about the new Chrysler!"

Exactly. Relationship marketing will take on a whole new game of "Just-in-Time" marketing. Of course, this will rely heavily on connected and integrated messaging platforms to deliver that type of 1:1 relevant marketing dialog. And, of course, this is why Twelve Horses is in business ;-)

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TEXT MESSAGING SERVICES: Subtle selling

An article I wrote for THE DMA BOTTOM LINE hit the Web today:

TEXT MESSAGING SERVICES: Subtle Selling.

More than 165 million Americans now use mobile phones capable of sending and receiving SMS, or mobile text messages. But while Europe and Asia have long embraced "texting" - exchanging messages up to 160 characters long "thumbed" on a mobile keypad - the US has lagged for dozens of reasons. David LaPlante, CEO of Twelve Horses, a provider of mobile communications through a single platform, has some ideas on how to incorporate SMS into your marketing efforts. Read what he has to say, starting here:

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Text Messaging at UNR: Will it replace standard phone calls?

Nice artile written by Caren Roblin in the University of Nevada's Sagebrush:

Talking thumbs: Text messaging is replacing standard phone calls

Love it or hate it, text messaging has mushroomed in popularity with college students throughout the country, and University of Nevada, Reno is not left unaffected by this rapidly growing phenomenon.

All over campus, students are fixated on their cell phones, oblivious to the outside world, as they type messages to friends, relatives and whomever else they can think of.

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UK: 2.3 Billion P2P SMS sent in October

The Mobile Data Association reports that 2.3 billion person-to-person SMS messages were sent during October in the UK. That's a new record.

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More Thoughts on Timing of SMS Campaigns

Time is a huge factor of relevance with SMS.

Try this:

Configure your e-mail client to play a sound similar to the beep on your phone when you receive a text message. Associate several of your favorite subscriptions to play that sound. Now leave that computer on and turn the volume up. If you have a laptop, put it next to your bed. As you endure one night of sleeplessness, you will never forget that sending the right message at the right time has never before been so important.

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