Release Window Opens; in South Korea

Warner Bros. Entertainment recently decided to release movies online before releasing them on DVD, at least in South Korea.  This reverses the long-established Hollywood distribution model and may open the door to a major increase in movie downloads. Why in South Korea? Film piracy.

Moving the more secure online system earlier in the release window is viewed as a way to keep pirated content out of the public domain a bit longer.

But researchers at MultiMedia Intelligence see the Warner Bros. initiative in Korea as being the start of a trend in implementing early release window content online. Already television studios are experimenting with online distribution windows that precede TV broadcast or DVD release windows. 

Make no mistake: it's all about the money. When content owners think they can make more money by giving online distribution a higher priority, they will do so. Today it is the DVD market which provides the highest profit and gross revenue, but not many expect that to remain the case forever. 

Mobile Enterprise Demand Grows

Enterprise information technology managers are badly underestimating the future demand for mobility devices and services in the enterprise arena, overlooking a new emerging class of mobile workers that rely on smart phones, where the traditional demand has been provided by traveling workers. 

On-the-road executives or managers, telecommuters or field service employees currently represent 20 percent of the workforce, says Forrester analyst Michele Pelino.

Call the workers driving the demand "mobile wannabes," if you like. Already, nearly a third of smart phone users expense all or some of their monthly bills for wireless voice services to their employers, while 40 percent expense the cost of their wireless data access to their company. Forrester Research estimates that by 2012, 73 percent of the workforce will be considered mobile.

This new class of workers represents just six percent of the present workforce, but Forrester estimates that they will grow to 25 percent of workers within the next four years. In fact, Forrester estimates 73 percent of the workforce will be considered some sort of mobile worker by 2012. 

Mobile wannabes include executive assistants, human resource workers and finance department employees who are generally at their desks most of the day but use smart phones to access email and other corporate applications while commuting to work or while away from their desks. Millennials, workers younger than 30 years of age also expect mobile support.

Most of this growing group of users buy their own devices, so the trick is to create new service plans that are affordable enough to encourage broader use of mobile data services, Forrester says.

IPhone Competitors Emerging

What percentage of the online iPhone researchers on AT&T's site were looking at other mobile devices in July and August? Quite a few, say reserarchers at Compete.

Sprint's Samsung Instinct seems to have been the iPhone's best competition so far, Compete says. About five percent of visitors checking out the iPhone also checked out the Instinct. In both July and August, it was the alternative most viewed by iPhone 3G researchers.

The AT&T Tilt and the LG Dare were viewed by more iPhone 3G researchers in August than they were in Julyn Compete says, getting three to four percent of iPhone investigators to take a look.

But the big question is, what makes a good iPhone alternative? So far, the touchscreen seems to be a key factor – the Instinct, Dare, and VU all have one – but there's clearly more to the appeal to the iPhone than that, Compete argues.

Nokia is answering the integration of music with the iPhone (via iTunes) with the "Comes with Music" feature.

The G1, offered by T-Mobile and featuring Android also should be a factor at some point, as should the new line of touch screen BlackBerrys, Compete argues. Google might be able to leverrage its open apps environment, while enterprise users hungry for a touch screen interface on their BlackBerries will drive adoption of those new devices.

The point is that Apple's iPhone has recast the device market.

Verizon Wireless to Start Charging for Messaging Fees

Effective November 1, 2008, Verizon Wireless is assessing a transaction fee of $0.03 for every commercial text message (terminated on a moble handset). The new rules do not apply to people sending text messages to each other, but rather to content firms that today pay fees to send or receive commercial text messages of one sort or another. The new fees also do not apply to text message applications, even if commercially-based, if they are free to the end user or are sent or received  by non-profit entities.

Interactive voting and text search or text alert applications most likely are covered by the new fees. 

Current commercial text messaging fees are said to cost the commercial sender anywhere from a fraction of a penny to a few cents, so the plan will have huge impact on use of such commercial text messaging apps. Predictably, commercial users will cry "foul." Perhaps Verizon should have, or still can, scale the increases in a more-gradual way, allowing their commercial customers time to adjust. 

In principle, though, we ought to expect similar sorts of moves on a rather broad range of fronts as broadband and mobile providers try to create new revenue models that involve some sort of revenue sharing between content providers and the carriers themselves. 

Commercial customers have sound financial reasons for objecting to the practice: free or cheap distribution is a better cost model for content providers than having to share revenue or pay fees for any number of conceivable services an ISP or access provider might provide. 

What is not contestable is that if the global service provider industry is in the midst of a fundamental business model evolution--where voice revenues in fact continue to decline as the industry revenue mainstay--then other revenue sources must be developed to replace virtually all of the lost voice revenue and margin. The actual cost of creating and operating a text message infrastructure is not the issue: lots of products are priced at retail in a way that is not strictly related to the cost of providing them. Sales and loss leaders are widespread retail practices, and products run a gamut: some are low-margin or negative margin, others are modest margin products and some are high-margin products. Production cost is only part of the retail price equation. 

The Verizon move is indicative of the seriousness of the revenue transformation. Voice is going away as the foundational revenue driver and must be replaced. Service providers have no choice in the matter.

Content providers won't like the change. But these and similar moves in other parts of the business are inevitable. If the future of communications network revenues cannot be based on voice or simple broadband, it must be based on something else. And if more content begins to be delivered using broadband networks of all sorts, some revenue-sharing model, where service providers are part of the revenue chain, must be created.

That doesn't mean content providers have to like the change. But in the absence of meaningful ways to sustain the networks on voice or broadband access revenues, service providers do not have a choice. So look for more "channel conflict" in the years to come. It is inevitable. 

There is no Free Lunch

Mobile providers in the Phillippines say they will have to raise text messaging prices if the government seizes half of text messaging revenues to fund  new health and education initiatives in the country. Under the proposed plan, the government will claim13.5 centavos of the 27 centavos currently charged. 

At the end of the day, consumers always bear the burden of all taxes, fees and charges. Businesses simply collect those fees and forward them to government agencies. What else would any manager do, given the need to make a profit margin of "X," on a cost structure of Y, when it is clear a cost structure now is "Y+N?" 

Rogers Drops 256 kbps Broadband Tier

Rogers Communications seems to be dropping support for a low-speed wireless broadband service, Broadband Reports says. Apparently Rogers has discontinued its "Portable Internet Basic" tier. That plan, costing $24.95 a month, supplied 256kbps downstream and 64 kbps upstream. The "Rogers Portable Internet High Speed" costs $49.95 a month and supplies 1.5 Mbps downstream and 256 kbps upstream. 

Both services have a 30 GByte monthly usage cap. Rogers apparently now wants to offer just a single tier of service, the  1.5Mbps version, though they've lowered the price to $44.95. 

At least some users will complain about the inability to buy the lower-speed tier. Personally, I think it is odd to offer a 256 kbps "broadband" tier in the first place, though Rogers might have considered a tier offering more bandwidth than 256 kbps and less than 1.5 Mbps. 

Verizon Launches Tech Support Services

Need more evidence that the historic demarcation between wide area networks and premises networks is gone? Verizon Communications has launched an "Expert Care" service plans that offer 24 by 7, in-depth technical support for computer software and hardware problems, as well as repair or replacement coverage for computers, TVs and telephone equipment.

Expert Care offers three types of service plans providing consumers a wide range of choices in coverage and support for low monthly or one-time fees that can be added to consumers' Verizon bills. The plans include device repair and replacement of multiple computers, TVs and telephones regardless of age, size or place of purchase. The plans range from $4.99 to $19.99 a month, depending on the equipment covered, and may also include repair or replacement of original equipment remote controls, keyboards, mice, monitors and backup batteries for Verizon's FiOS service.

A premium technical support plan, priced at $14.99 a month, includes telephone and online support for issues such as virus and spyware detection and removal, virtual private network problems, help with firewalls, problems with computer operating systems, gaming connectivity problems, and software and hardware help. Telephone and online technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Premium on-site support also is available, with the work provided in partnership with Circuit City's Firedog tech support operation. This plan includes on-site support ranging from operating system installations to full PC and home network setups, billed on a per-use basis. There are several offerings, tailored to specific needs and priced from $99.99 to $249.99.

AT&T also offers similar support for premises networks, equipment and software. The point is that the neat distinction between what "network service providers" do, and what value-added resellers, system integrators, interconnects or audio-video specialists do, is eroding.

With the advent of Internet Protocol services, it is necessary to support end user devices and applications to ensure proper functioning of applications and services.