November 09 Round up
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Members & Colleagues, We may be approaching the end of 2009, but there’s no let up in our Executive’s activity through December. With working group meetings and 3 consultations that have to be completed by mid-January it appears the regulators leave little room for Christmas cheer.There’s also a couple of opportunities for members to gather and network this month and we hope to see you. We look forward to welcoming you to the next K&N evening seminar and drinks on the 3rd Dec - ‘Alternative & Innovative Payment Solutions for Web & Mobile Billing’ - limited places still available. Also, don't miss out on the General Meeting on the 8th and networking drinks afterwards, where AIME's Chairman and CEO of Harvest Media Group, Edward Boddington, has agreed to sponsor the drinks as a thank you for all your time and energy spent supporting AIME initiatives over the year - get there fast!! The GM also offers a good opportunity for potential new members to get an understanding of the issues AIME is working across and membership value to their business. If you have any partner companies you feel should be members please get in touch with Zoe and we will look to invite them - if they're unable to make the meeting please bring them along to the drinks and we'll work on them there. Lastly, AIME is very pleased to welcome new Member talkbackTHAMES. Toby
Padgham |
Chairman's Brief
Dear Members,
As we approach the end of 2009, your Trade Association is busier than ever and ends the year in good heart. I hope that as many members as possible will be attending the General Meeting on December 8th and afterwards for a few drinks.
This month has seen plenty of activity. We are working across various initiatives including the Central Industry Database and various meetings have been held with PPP to discuss how this can be best implemented in an integrated and cost effective way, more on this at the GM. The SMS voting group, a sub-committee formed from the Interactive Broadcast Forum met with the Mobile Operators to discuss a plan for bringing back SMS voting to prime time formats. A meeting was held at the Radio centre and it was agreed to hold a joint workshop with their members to look at a plan for bringing back premium listener services. In addition, AIME’s 3-year plan should be ready for presentation to Members shortly, as part of this there have been a number of meetings held with other Stakeholders including MDA, MMA and IAB.
At the GM on 8th December, we will be presenting updates to members on various fronts. The Vice chair will be reporting at the GM feedback from the latest ILP which was held on November 17th. We will also be updating on consultations including PRS Bad Debt and PTV3. There will be a summary of issues discussed at the PPP Forum held on November 5th. We are joined by guest speaker, Alex Kozloff of Orange, at the GM.
AIME membership has held up well in a tough economic climate and whilst our cash reserves are slightly lower than this time last year, our new members and membership retention has been encouraging. AIME is looking to increasingly focus on the issues that will make the biggest difference whether it be reacting to issues as they arise or planning for the future.
Finally, I would like to thank my board colleagues for all of their input to AIME this year: Jeremy Flynn, David Sheridan, Rory Maguire, Adam Maxted, Bindi Norwell, Rudd Apsey, Tony Couch, Paul Lynch and Sally Weatherall, together with the Executive team consisting of Toby, Roy, Zoe and Bianca.
Edward Boddington
AIME Chair
Showcase
Qualcomm shows off its IQ
New AIME member Qualcomm held an interesting event last month, called Innovation Qualcomm ( IQ ), to demonstrate and showcase the US company’s latest technologies and strategy roadmap for the foreseeable future.
Some people are still asking the question: “Why is Qualcomm interested in Europe?” when its traditional markets remain in the US and Far Eastern regions. Qualcomm EVP and President, Andrew Gilbert, didn’t waste any time before tackling this issue.
“Europe is an incredibly important part of the market,” said Gilbert. “With nearly half of all European mobile users predicted to be on 3G connections by the end of 2010.”
And if Western Europe is considered a major market for 3G then just take a look at growth prospects for Eastern Europe, where current 3G penetration resides at a lowly 7 percent but is forecast to grow to 11 percent next year, according to Gilbert.
The question which Qualcomm is asking, as well as the collective minds of the mobile industry is, what will people actually do with all this 3G capacity? “It’s always about the new,” said Gilbert. “And the new can come about in some strange ways.”
In terms of mobile applications, Qualcomm’s BREW platform has delivered more than two billion paid-for apps, said Gilbert and is still the largest premium mobile applications store on the market. But what about the iPhone?! I hear you shout. Well, the iPhone iTunes store might have seen more downloads in numbers, but a lot of those apps are free. With Brew, they are all paid for.
In addition, Qualcomm has achieved these figures on a feature phone platform, not a smartphone platform, said Gilbert. “Not just a single OS with four or five different device types. We’ve got some previous in this market, some ability to execute in this space.”
Despite the relative demise of the Brew platform over the past couple years, app stores continue to remain central to Qualcomm’s content strategy and reflecting this is the rise of Plaza. “We’re going beyond the notion of a single app store,” said Gilbert. “You’re going to see that market segment, mature and fragment.” It won’t just be operators and handset manufacturers owning app stores, but also web portals and big name brands too. The Qualcomm pitch will be to run app stores for companies as an outsourced service.
This is something AIME’s K&N Seminars will be taking a look at next year, see here...
RepresentationMeetings
Central Industry Database
Interactive Broadcast Forum
Interactive Radio
Payforit
AIME Mobile Operator Road Show
Industry ConsultationsOfcom: Participation TV
Ofcom: Wholesale Charges for Number Translation Services and
Premium Rate Numbers
Ofcom PRS Scope Review
PhonepayPlus 12th Code of Practice
Upcoming Consultations
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Information
- Member news articles on AIME website in November 09
- Member email alerts sent out
including:
- AIME Regulatory Update
- Consultation Update - OFCOM Participation TV Part 3
- Opportunity to participate in AIME Member Survey
- Minutes from PRS Bad Debt Review meeting held 3rd November
- AIME press release - Ofcom PTV3 - Rules on the promotion of premium rate services
- AIME interviewed by New Media Markets regarding Ofcom Participation TV Consultation
Member News
- Billing the Unbillable
Newspapers, magazines and TV are still seeing circulations and audiences tumble and ad revenues fall as their clients go online ( ironically trying to advertise to the people on Facebook, You Tube et al who seem to be ignoring the ads ), or simply won’t shell out for such untargeted marketing in this highly focussed long tail content sector.
- Square 1 Comms Launch PHS Direct
The service is called PHS Direct ( Pet Health Service )
This is a live 24 hr vets at home help & advice service. The service is fully staffed by fully qualified Veterinary Nurses that offer a range of Pet Heath Advice and help to the public. - Mobile Donations Raise £1.75M for BBC
Children in Need
BBC Children in Need launched SMS donations on Monday 26th October 2009 and has raised an incredible £1.75m via mobile through £5 donations, marking a first for the charity.
Networking
- New members TalkbackTHAMES
- Attended PPP Forum - 5th November
- Attended ME Quarterly Meet-Up - 30th November
- AIME Supporting Association at the Media Festival, Digital TV World Summit, Mobile USer Experience, Mobile Web 2.0 and Mobile Squared Roadshow
Dates for your diary!2nd December -
PTV3
Conference Call -
members only If you would like further information on any of AIME's activities,inititiatives or benefits of membership please contact me on zoe@aimelink.org Kind Regards, Zoe Patterson |
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Sponsors
AIME - Success in Interactive Media
AIME | www.aimelink.org
| Tel: 44 (0) 8445 828 828 | 28 Foundry St, Brighton, BN1
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