OPINION: Wireless carriers entrench with marketing partnerships

Sometimes in this business a story opportunity doesn’t pan out the way you thought it might. There’s no news; the news there is isn’t relevant to your audience; the angle’s really not what you thought it was.

A recent case in point: I had a briefing with the folks from Rogers regarding their new Wireless Box Office service in conjunction with music promoter Live Nation. The service allows mobile users to buy tickets from Rogers’ preferred pool from their handset, with the “ticket” — a 2-D bar code — sent to the handset as an MMS message. The phone literally becomes the ticket, which, let’s face it, is kinda cool.

However, from the network perspective, it’s a little thin. No new infrastructure. No new technology. Heck, not even a new handset. For news value, a bit of a head-scratcher.

When life hands me a lemon, I cut it into wedges and ask for an iced tea — I’m really not that big on lemonade. Chewing it over, though, the announcement really does underline a couple trends in the wireless market.

Network World Canada

For more articles on networking and communications technologies, visit Network World Canada

First up, there are still many new mobile application possibilities that aren’t dependent on next-gen technology. There are some great examples in Howard Solomon’s story, 10 young Canadian wireless companies worth watching.

Second, carriers are increasingly looking to marketing partnerships, not necessarily technological ones, to differentiate.

There must be some sense of urgency for the incumbents to get these deals done — now — and not just to earn share from each other. There is a wireless spectrum auction coming up, and the incumbents will be facing more competition — in, perhaps, a year or so. The more marketing deals like this, the more bundling, the more a user can do without leaving the platform they hold in their hands, the deeper entrenched and more insulated the incumbents are from the coming competition. And the harder the new entrants will have to work to gain share in a market where churn isn’t a significant factor.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Dave Webb
Dave Webb
Dave Webb is a freelance editor and writer. A veteran journalist of more than 20 years' experience (15 of them in technology), he has held senior editorial positions with a number of technology publications. He was honoured with an Andersen Consulting Award for Excellence in Business Journalism in 2000, and several Canadian Online Publishing Awards as part of the ComputerWorld Canada team.

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now