“Dan Baker Blog” |
| Posted: 12 Jul 2010 12:30 PM PDT
Well, being a PC user, I've downloaded many a program from CNET's Download.com, a site that distributes freeware and shareware apps. I made a quick visit to the CNET site and discovered that Download.com distributes about 20,000 applications for the Windows platform. Hmm, I wondered. If the iPhone was only released in late 2007, how could it have 10 times more supported software than CNET? It doesn't make sense. Well, if you're a skeptic like me and you wonder how that army of iPhone developers got so productive, then you need to know about AirKast, a mobile app provisioning company that specializes in helping newspaper, magazine, radio, and other publishers create highly interactive and multimedia-rich mobile apps. I ran into Diane Robinette, AirKast's Marketing VP, almost by chance at CTIA. Actually I slipped into a conference room where I didn't belong. I mean, what's a B/OSS analyst doing in a room with 150 mobile app geeks? So as I sat there listening and getting confused by the presentations, Diane got up to speak and started using familiar words like "provisioning" which caused my ears to perk up. I decided to learn who this company was. AirKast, based in Cupertino, Calif., is the over-the-top equivalent of provisioning companies like Comptel, Telcordia, and Netcracker. AirKast serves the content publishers and broadcasters, not the telcos. As you'd expect, AirKast was born outside of telecom's ivory tower, so it doesn't speak the language of network connectivity, bandwidth policy, and service delivery platforms. Yet remarkably, the company's framework leverages plenty of network intelligence: For instance, it knows the identity and configuration of mobile handsets as well as where the user is located based on GPS. And its business numbers are impressive. Today, AirKast's mobile application framework, TuneKast, is used by more than 850 terrestrial and Internet-based radio stations. The company's AirBridge mobile provisioning platform delivers these applications to multiple devices. This week, in fact, AirKast signed a contract with Radio One to bring both iPhone and BlackBerry mobile applications to 51 of that firm's coast-to-coast radio stations by summer's end with Android applications coming soon after. I figured folks in the B/OSS world would be curious to know more about this innovative over-the-top provisioner. Diane was kind enough to grant me an interview: Dan Baker, TRI: Diane, it would be great if you could give us a few more details about your solution. What is it about your apps framework and real-time provisioning service that radio broadcasters and national publishers find so attractive? Diane Robinette, AirKast: Dan, we're all about helping radio stations plus newspaper and magazine publishers take their content to the mobile phone. We deliver the technological infrastructure needed to combine text, ads, graphics, video, and audio. What we figured out was a way to deliver a more compelling and interactive experience for the user. For advertisers and brands, we offer multimedia-rich experiences as opposed to static banner ads. In addition, we offer geolocation-targeting services. For instance, we can offer advertisers the ability to target audiences multiple ways almost simultaneously. If a listener happens to be near a Barnes & Noble, the station can send the listener a graphic ad via the viewable app, e-mail a coupon and include an audio ad in the radio stream. If they're on the iPhone, they can click and see a full-length video. We make it easy for users to call advertisers directly, or we can push them to a Web page tailored to their specific demographic or interest. DB: But don't many of the publishers of content you sell to want to port their content to mobile on their own? DR: Certainly some of the large publishers and broadcasters such as ABC have the in-house creative talent to do this. However, most of those people are not high-tech folks and are geared to support the infrastructure a broadcaster has, not mobile technologies. So that's why we have customers like ABC and some of the larger radio stations: They chose to outsource this capability rather than worry about staffing up this area or maintaining their own apps. In addition, they like the fact that we give them much faster time-to-market and an ability to change things dynamically. For example, you can change all the campaigns instantly, the graphics, all in real-time. Pre-roll videos can be in or out, new graphics, new sponsors, new background graphics — and all of this is dynamically brandable. Finally we consult with them — give them advice on the best ways of putting content together so it has the biggest impact. It could be a message across the bottom of the display, a link to YouTube videos, or – for radio stations – the ability to create a playlist. DB: What's your primary distribution to market? And how do the end user customers acquire the apps you develop? DR: Our primary channel to market is major publishing or broadcast companies who have multiple outlets. So we don't work with individual radio stations per se but their parent company like Salem Communications, Radio One, Next Media, and Citadel — and those firms own many stations and want to have a mobile presence. The applications we create are ultimately downloaded by users through iTunes, Blackberry App World or Android Market. DB: I'm curious how advertising plays into the picture. Do the ESPNs and ABCs end up placing ads in their content — and what's driving them to mobile in the first place? DR: It varies by the particular content publisher you're talking about. Some are interested in ad inserts; others are not. Many sports and entertainment companies are more keen on mobile branding and sponsorship as opposed to traditional ads. Their customers are on the mobile Web, so they need to be there too. Radio stations, on the other hand, are more comfortable with the advertising model so they will continue to do that. In the background, our platform, AirBridge, integrates ads that come from both the customer as well as third party ad networks. We bind those content streams with the information we get from the mobile device, then present it in a way that makes sense for a particular end user and our customer, the publisher. DB: Diane, I'm impressed how AirKast's technology has helped bring so many mobile apps to market, but it still leaves open the question: What exactly is meant by the term "mobile app"? It's a unique beast, isn't it? DR: It's interesting. Expectations are different – higher – for mobile apps. Part of it is generational; the mobile generation always wants to be kept entertained. They require apps to not only be beautiful to look at (multimedia rich), but highly interactive and the content has to dynamic and interesting. So, to meet these new expectations, the infrastructure behind mobile apps needs to be more sophisticated and, as you say, more network-aware. We want to know if the phone is a Blackberry Storm, an iPhone, or Android so we can to take full advantage of the particular device and provide the best user experience. And GPS-location becomes extremely useful in deciding where to place specific ads and content. Looking to the future, we see the precise targeting of mobile users becoming even more important. Car dealerships, for example, are excited about the possibility of displaying ads if – and only if – the user is in the vicinity of their dealership. So that's a good example of where we're headed. The car dealers are already heavy advertisers for radio stations, so this greater level of targeting should be the next step for them. DB: Diane, thanks for sharing these insights into your business. And I'm personally grateful that you've solved part of my puzzle: I now know how at least 850 iPhone applications made it to market. And that leaves only 199,150 apps unaccounted for... With more than 20 years in the technology field, Diane Robinette has an intimate knowledge of a broad spectrum of technologies that affect today's consumer mobile market. Prior to AirKast, Ms. Robinette held senior management positions at BroadVision, Contivo, Covigna, and Perfect Commerce where she successfully defined and launched numerous products. Her background includes management positions at KPMG Consulting (now Bearing Point) and Ernst & Young (now Capgemini) where she guided her clients with strategic consulting. Ms. Robinette holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. Dan Baker is Technology Research Institute's (TRI) principal market synthesizer and co-founder. He is a former market analyst at Venture Development Corporation (VDC), where he tracked the telecom and real-time computer markets. In 1992 while at VDC he authored one of the first multi-client research reports on the Advanced Intelligent Network software and systems market. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
According to Apple, more than 200,000 apps have now been developed for the iPhone. It's an astounding figure that conjures up images of iFanatic developers working all hours of the night in their basements. And one of them, to be sure, is Ethan Nicholas, the urban legend and developer of the iShoot game who reportedly wrote the app in his spare time and has netted about $800,000 for his efforts.
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