I was reading with great amazement the stats revealed by the MD of Nokia India on India's mobile revolution. But before I go to the statement, it ought to be noted that the MD of a mobile phone company was speaking at Goafest which is all about advertising, marketing and media planning. Read Saurabh Garg's or Rajiv Dhingra for more . So what's the relation between advertising and mobile phones?
The connection is content, as well as new emergent channel of 3G services of mobile, which allow content to be captured and shared with much ease. And when there is content and a channel, advertising cannot be far behind.
Now look at the slightly hyperbolic statement from D Shivakumar, MD of Nokia India.
“If YouTube is big, 3G services here will redefine the space. YouTube will pale into insignificance in the next few years with India user-generated content”
If you wish to point out that YouTube does not enable content creation, only dissemination, your point is taken. He too perhaps means dissemination alone. The beauty is, the same device will be able to do so quiet efficiently, once 3G services are rolled out.
But look at his following predictions. Scary ones!
By 2010, India will have 500 million phones.
Out of 500 million, 60 million would have video capabilities.
10 million would have music capabilities
200 million would have in built radio (Did you say the radio is dead? Think again)
250 million camera phones
250 million would have net connection
And 2010 is just seven quarters from now. And with 3G networks, you would have a capability multiplier added. The diversity of services being sold on the 3G network would be much more. Japan and South Korea are already more than 50% 3G network.
That set me thinking, what would happen few years down, if I send a freshly shot video clip to a friend of mine. Perhaps, a context sensitive ad would play before the real film plays? How would it know the demographics and psychographics of the recipient to serve relevant advertising, when all it knows are two devices?
At one level, it would be such a pain to be seeing the ads on mobile phones, something that has mercifully not invaded our phones yet. Like calling your wife and being forced to listen an ad before she comes on the line. An another level, the best brains are talking and there are megabucks. Looks like mobile excitement is not stopping so soon.
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