3UK Chief Comes Out Fighting On Strategy

Bob Fuller, the chief of 3UK, gave a speech at the FT World Communications Conference outlining the experience his company has had in the 3G market and where he sees it as going…interestingly the telco gets 13% of its revenues from things other than voice and text — higher than most but still a minority of consumer spending…”Well firstly, the notion of a ‘killer application’ is misleading. By killer application we mean – the most used product…If you dissect 3G there are three layers that cross all revenue steams: audio, data, and video. If you ask me which feature will define the technology, it is video. It’s not complicated – video is what makes 3G different…But if you are looking for some currently unknown product that will drive one massive revenue stream you are not going to find it. Why? Because 3G delivers multiple-revenue streams and that means multiple killer applications.”
On mobile TV he has this to say: “People say that television will be a killer application for 3G. They are right in one respect, video content, be it music videos, sport, or whatever, will be the future. If you really understand how the consumer behaves, you know that short clips are the key to this. People will watch highlights and behind the scenes clips. So yes, there will be TV channels, but not as we know them. Like music, the TV offer will work if you are led by consumer patterns of behaviour.”
He then goes on to argue against the idea that 3G mobiles are MP3 players, saying that 3G offered the benefit of video and that was why the record labels were partnering with 3UK to launch music videos on the service…
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