Exploring the future of the digital content space
Basebone CMO Benito Alvarez discusses the importance of carrier billing in its strategy, and the opportunities and challenges around Baseplay, its suite of digital content services for emerging markets. In emerging markets where the average amount a user can pay for content can be seen as comparatively low, it can be difficult to deliver the quality of content that we aspire to.
Foldables. Trucks. Cows. Cadavers. The big take aways from MWC 2019
109,000 people went to MWC 2019. And one cow. And Tim Green. Here is his round-up of all the big talking points from the Fira de Europa…
Did you see the cow? The MWC cow. Located between halls 3 and 4. Looked like a Red Poll to me. I’m fairly certain it was the first cow to make an appearance at the world’s premier mobile expo. Now, I think the official reason for its presence was to illustrate the power of 5G and the cellular IoT to transform agriculture.
MEF Connects Digital: future options for monetising mobile content
The app economy is worth over a trillion dollars. Much of it goes to Google and Facebook. Is there an alternative? And how can consumers in developing markets acquire the data connections to ensure they engage with mobile content too? We convened a MEF Connects Digital webinar to find out.
Nearly 20 years MEF was created as a response to any entirely new phenomenon: mobile content. Though mobile telephony had existed since the mid 1980s, the idea of people consuming ‘value added services’ on their handsets was new.
Executive Insights: Carrier Billing Global Outlook & Opportunities – Fernando Luciano, Telefônica Vivo
Direct carrier billing is a convenient alternative to cards for millions of users. But for those without cards, it’s a route to healthcare, education and vital utilities. In this DCB video supported by Bango, Fernando Luciano, director of digital services and innovation at Telefônica Vivo, explains why.
Most people think of direct carrier billing (DCB) as something that works best with entertainment – paying for virtual goods in a mobile game; buying a music track; subscribing to a TV service.
10 take-ways from MEF Connects Digital – what’s next for African digital content?
Africa stands on the brink of a digital content revolution. A vast mobile-first audience is ready to embrace affordable streaming services in huge quantities. Well, that’s the theory. It is feasible? Last week’s MEF Connects Digital webinar, supported by Content Connect Africa, convened five insiders to find out…
There are two ways to look at the African digital content market.
The first focuses on a continent of rising economic wealth with a youthful mobile-first population hungry for entertainment.
Moving Beyond the Data Plan
Ahead of an exclusive panel at MWC examining the next generation of disruptive content services, Syntonic Co-Founder and CEO Gary Greenbaum here discusses the market opportunities for content solutions that allow consumers to experience the mobile internet beyond their data plan with unrestricted access to apps and content.
Today’s basic data plan is built around ‘megabytes’ and ‘gigabytes’ of data, however, the concept of data is fundamentally abstract and confusing for the consumer.
Executive Insights: Carrier Billing Global Outlook & Opportunities – Grahame Riddell, Microsoft
Microsoft is creating a single ‘store experience’ for all of its devices. It’s giving developers the option to write once for any device from tablet to 88 inch Surface Hub – and it believes direct carrier billing will be key to monetising this content post-sale. In a third exclusive DCB video supported by Bango, Grahame Riddell, Microsoft’s Director of Carrier Billing, explains why.
There’s a received wisdom that direct carrier billing is for spontaneous digital purchases only. Or for low-ticket items where a friction-free purchase really counts.
How TurnUp Music is upturning South Africa’s music scene…
Streaming music is taking over the world. But not in developing markets, where data is pricey and handsets are basic. As a result, piracy reigns. Here, Thabiet Allie explains why he built a legal alternative: TurnUp Music…
Piracy is annihilating Africa’s vibrant music scene, as it has the rest of the world. But whereas mature market users are learning to embrace services like Spotify and Deezer, Africa needs a different kind of remedy.
2017 in mobile: What was supposed to happen – but didn’t
The last 12 months in mobile has been amazing. But never mind that. What about the stuff that flopped? Here, Tim Green presents a round-up of all the products we didn’t buy, tech we didn’t adopt and deals that didn’t materialise.
2016 saw the second coming of VR. All the big headsets launched, and there was that picture of Mark Zuckerberg at MWC marching past hundreds of be-goggled press conference attendees. VR was the future. Then 2017 happened. The hangover. The top headsets cut their prices, but still the only buyers were hardcore gamers. Some projects got cancelled: Intel’s Project Alloy and a standalone HTC Daydream.
Executive Insights: Carrier Billing Global Outlook & Opportunities – Herman Singh, MTN Group
How is ‘charge to bill’ powering Africa’s booming mobile commerce market? In a second exclusive carrier billing video supported by Bango, we hear the insights of Herman Singh, chief digital officer of MTN Group…
Africans love music and gaming. Ok, everyone loves music and gaming. But Africa is, of course, the mobile-first continent, so the way that its people consume entertainment has developed a little differently from the rest of the world. In short, the phone rules. But not necessarily the smartphone. And not necessarily apps.
