Excuse me, I just fring-ed

I'm not sure if ahead of the curve or behind it on this one, but I just added a new application on my mobile phone: fring. It not only fills a "want" in my mobile life, but also provided a great user experience during set up and with the user interface. Therefore, I wanted to reward them with a little free PR. I'd heard of it a while ago, but didn't pay much attention until saw that it allows you to add Skype as an add-on. Having family in the US, we have long used Skype and, more recently, Oovoo a lot for free video calls. I have a US SkypeIn phone number and keep a balance for SkypeOut balance for international calls. I forward calls from Skype to my Ukraine mobile phone for "when I'm mobile", in case my family tries to call. The only piece of the puzzle missing for me was the ability to make outgoing international calls and send messages from my mobile without paying high mobile calling rates. And it would come in handy because I occasionally find myself running late for our weekly family call, and want to let others know. Now I usually just send a quick email from my phone, but there is no guarantee that they will see it in time. So, all in all, outgoing mobile Skype capability is a "nice to have", not a "need to have". But it's also cool to have the regular phone numbers in my Skype contacts list on my mobile in case I want/need to make international calls while "on the go". And it also has all Skype features, so I can send files (e.g. photos) stored on my phone in addition to voice and IM. I can email them probably just as easily and to multiple people, but it's nice to have options. Of course, the next challenge is to find a way to use Skype while avoiding hefty roaming charges while traveling outside of Ukraine.

As for the user experience, the website was extremely clean and easy to navigate. All I did was enter my country and mobile phone number, and within 1 minute I had the SMS with the link to download the app. The online instructions for adding VoIP services weren't too helpful, but the installation process on the phone was so easy I didn't even need it. I literally had the thing up and running under 2 minutes. The user interface on the phone is also quite clean and easy to use. The ease of using the service and the set up process is almost too good to be true. Having become somewhat cynical about the quality of many mobile apps, I am preparing myself for disappointment down the road. It can't be this easy. And how can fring do it while Skype is only offering a beta version for mobile that only has full calling capabilities with select countries, of which Ukraine and the US are not included. I'll have to look into that further. But kudos to fring so far.

By the way, fring has its own IM service, which makes me respect them even more. Instead of trying to force you to use their service, their app lets you also choose to use Skype, Facebook, MSN Messenger, ICQ (which is the most popular IM service in Ukraine), and others. I don't know if they have a Russian-language version. The menu is so simple, they may not need it, but it might help adoption.

The mobile operators may fight them, though, because they would cut into their international calling revenue. But I think there is probably a business case for a, ahem, forward-thinking operator, to embrace an application like this as a way to generate more messaging traffic. Another avenue may be to work with a mobile device maker to get the app pre-installed. Hmm, that might just be crazy enough to work.

Customer experience is key - even in Ukraine

The Telco 2.0 blog is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Their analyses always combine broad, high-level, forward-thinking approaches to the mobile business with an in-depth understanding of the underlying technology that lead some really thought-provoking insights. That they tend to support my own views, albeit usually in more cogent and factual way, doesn't hurt either. ;-)

In this post from October 2007, the author makes three assertions about the mobile business that really resonate with me:

1. Communication is king and presence is a prince; content merely provides ways to communicate. The 3 types of communication are: presence, storytelling, and information transfer. Focusing on one type like storytelling misses the bigger problem with how we communicate. I also surpised by the supporting statistic that global revenue from games, movies and music are less than that of SMS.


2. The job of Nokia (and all device makers) is to create "fantastic user experiences" by helping the operators overcome structural issues and producing products that align with the current horizontal industry structure instead of trying to compete with them.


3. Customer data and the customer relationship has great value. Mobile operators own that and the handset makers shouldn't try to muscle in on that area.

These intuitively make sense to me, and I have expressed similar opinions in my work, particularly with operators here in Ukraine. In my conversations with mobile operator folks here in Ukraine, I have also emphasized the untapped potential represented by creating a better user experience, exploiting messaging services like MMS and premium SMS, and partnering with content providers. I expressed in one of several articles I've written during the past year. There is huge short- and long-term revenue potential being forfeited here all for want some very basic and relatively inexpensive improvements. For example, I have yet to be able to send an MMS with my Nokia N73 despite several attempts at downloading the settings and talking to my operator's customer care reps. Practically every other mobile user I've complained to about this tells me they have the same problem, and have long since given up trying. Upon telling this to one of the managers at my operator, he suggested that it's because my particular phone was probably illegally sold on the market and thus my local operator's settings would not work on this phone. Yes, illegal phones on the market is a big problem in Ukraine, but I've asked both a content product manager and a senior network manager at two other operators here and both of them said that sounds very strange. I can see now that there is likely substantial intertia against fixing this problem within the operator, as they have created a culture to blame it on piracy rather than invest the resources to try and fix it either technologically or through better business processes.

None of my aforementioned articles are online but if you'd like to read them, please email me and I'll be glad to send them to you.

Needless to say, as far as I know, my opinions haven't particularly inspired anyone in the industry. I'm not particularly surprised since the operators have done quite well financially so far merely riding the wave of rising consumer incomes and strong economic growth with "status quo" or worse services. As a shareholder in the two leading Ukrainian mobile operators, I haven't had too much to complain about the past several years. But, as an industry marketing professional here in Ukraine, I would love to see this market become a leader for mobile innovation, a laboratory for new products and services that could actually be leveraged in other markets. Drug companies find Ukrainians good enough to test new drugs in clinical trials, the results of which can be applied to other world markets. Apparently not so with mobile services.

Quoth one of my friends who has lived in Ukraine continuously since we both arrived in 1997, "It's never easy." Truer words were never spoken about today's Ukraine. The past 17 tumultuous years have thrown almost every aspect of life into some level of chaos - families, politics, markets, communication. Life for the average Ukrainian is quite difficult to navigate, from finding out why your water or electricity has been shut off and when it will come back, to buying a car and getting what you ordered, to setting up your mobile phone to send MMS and email. So when something IS easy, people notice it.

However, the paradox of the Ukrainian consumer is that while they have been conditioned to accept poor quality service and products, they often haven't recognized or rewarded brands that offer good quality. And they have rarely been willing to pay extra for better quality, primarily due to low incomes of most people. Companies understandably wouldn't want to invest in new and improved products if they will not reap more profit from them?

But I contend that this is yesterday's thinking. Incomes are rising quickly, particularly in the major cities. These rising incomes are driven by more demanding jobs, which in turn makes time and convenience more valuable commodities to people. New competitors are entering the market constantly, each one doing something different, if not better, than the encumbants. This is particularly evident in the retail business, specifically supermarkets, restaurants and cafes. Consumer credit is flooding the market to allow people to buy more big - and even small - ticket items (maybe too many items). So today's marketer, particularly one in the communications business, has more and more freedom to innovate. No, not freedom. They have more and more an obligation to innovate. Expectations of upwardly-mobile Ukrainians are rising with their incomes, and they have more and more alternatives to choose from.

Ukrainians' rising expectations, just like those of consumers in other countries, require the operators, device makers, application developers, content providers, and all other contributors to the value chain to decide which business each one is in, and work together to improve the customer experience. Only then will the full potential of mobile communication be unlocked. But, as pointed out by Marek Pawlowski in his article on the MEX (which stands for mobile user experience) blog, the leading device makers and operators still have an identity crisis about which business they are actually in.

Verizon and Alltel

Chalk this one up to one of my gleams of light that I'll have to take from a stranger. I'd thought several weeks ago writing a post about the regional mobile operators in the United States and how they might be a better model for the Ukrainian operators (at least the smaller ones) than the Big 4, because the regionals had to work harder for customers and therefore were doing more innovative things.

Well, the article Is Verizon Buying ALLTEL For Its Assets or For Its Culture of Innovation? tells me that others also recognize the spirit of innovation in these regional operators. In one of my consulting projects, I used alltel Wireless' "My Circle" campaign as a great example of an integrated marketing campaign that included online advertising. Alltel was the first mobile operators in the U.S. I'd seen who tried to create an elaborate viral campaign. Although the storyline and execution wasn't the greatest, it garnered Alltel national attention and respect as an innovative brand.

I also hold up Verizon Wireless' marketing as a great example of a brand that understood what was important customers (network quality), delivering on that brand promise (making sure their network quality was the best), and creating an extremely effective communication campaign to drive the message home ("Can you hear me now?").

For Ukrainian mobile operators, Verizon provides an excellent case study in the benefits of "blocking and tackling" marketing - knowing what is most important to customers, making sure your product best meets their needs, and communicating this message in a clear and focused way. And they can learn a lot from Alltel about innovation.

Tail beginning to wag the dog?

Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer recently previewed Windows 7, which features a touch user interface. While watching the video embedded in the post, it was the first time I looked at a computer as a big mobile phone instead of the other way around. I'm sure it's because of iPhone and the touch interface. But I found it interesting that these two things converged in my mind. Maybe we are seeing the beginning of a reversal of the computer driving mobile device design?

You say you want a revolution?

RCR Wireless recently began a regular editorial section called "Worst of Week". I haven't found these particularly insightful, but the last one I read did lead me to ask myself an important question about the mobile consumer's behavior and use of mobile services, and the state of those services today. The author's piece was titled "Where is my camera phone revolution?". Like most of these editorials it seemed hastily written. I question at least one of his main assumption that "the vast majority of those phones include a digital camera of at least marginal quality." I think "marginal quality" is one of the reasons why more people DON'T use their phone's camera. I think there are still a lot of 2.0 megapixel camera phones in circulation and, in my opinion, photos at that low resolution are painful to look especially if you have at least a 3.0 megapixel digital camera. I think the camera phone must be at least 3 megapixels for anyone to consider changing their habits. I have a Nokia N73 with a 3.2 megapixel and Carl Ziess lens (0.2 megapixels more than my digital camera). I now rarely use my digital camera, and actually take many more "slice of life" photos than I had before.

There are also other mental hurdles that prevent the "camera phone revolution". First, people need to inherently remember that they have a camera with them all of the time. Most people's minds are still hardwired to think that they need a separate device (probably at home) to take a photo, so even when they see something photo-worthy they don't make the connection in their minds to pull out their phones. They must begin to see life as a continuous photo opp before they begin to reach for their phones.

Second, camera phones are not good at capturing quick, spontaneous moments. I've missed a lot of photos due to latency of my camera phone. I think this may be partially due to memory limitations. Camera phones still can't compete with digital cameras in this area.

On a positive note, Nokia has made it easier to get my photos out of my phone. I use a wireless Bluetooth connection and Windows Explorer to transfer my photos onto my computer. I don't even need to use Nokia PC Suite anymore.

I do agree with the author's call for the mobile operators to offer more services that make it easier and more useful to take and exchange photos. The problem is that they apparently don't see this as worthy of the investment.

Steve Ballmer of Microsoft visits Kyiv, Ukraine

Yesterday I took the opportunity to hear Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, address a select group of Microsoft's partners and customers in Ukraine. The vist was part of his whirlwind tour of Central & Eastern Europe. His tour got off to a somewhat messy start in Budapest, with a disgruntled student -probably a Mac user :-) - hurling a few eggs at him.

Ballmer made no major announcements, unless you count offering to send the 14-year-old son of a Kyiv businessman a free Xbox game. It was a "thank you" in return for the boy's question (conveyed by his father to Mr. Ballmer) as to why Microsoft charges for some Xbox content that Sony's Playstation provides for free.

He received several questions regarding Microsoft's plans to open an R&D center in Ukraine, to which he made no commitment, saying that where Microsoft open centers is driven by 1.) adopting them through acquisitions; 2.) the quality of a country's university system; 3.) the country's education system to churn out LOTS of math, science and computer graduates. Although it appears that Microsoft plans to open an Innovation Center at Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv.

Ballmer came to CEE to highlight the fact that is Microsoft's fastest growing region - even bigger than China - and it's importance to the company. Microsoft is facing even more stiff competition in its developed markets from Google, Apple and RIM particularly in mobile devices like MP3 players and smartphones. Microsoft, like elsewhere, is still the dominate player in business and desktop software in Ukraine but, here too, it is coming under increasing competitive pressure. Although anecdotal, I think Apple is catching more Ukrainians' attention, both in the computer and mobile device market, due to the iPhone.

My feeling was supported today when I saw this sign over over a shop in Kyiv's main street, Khreshatyk. This sign must have gone up in the past month or so. The funny thing is that the iPhone isn't officially offered in Ukraine yet, but many of the devices have been brought in and hacked illegally. Apparently supply is ample enough for this shop to advertise tech support for them openly.

That said, while I give Apple credit for being the first to introduce a very cool touch navigation user interface and sleek, attractive device, I think 1.) the hype is fading quickly, and 2.) competitors, including those running Windows Mobile, are quickly introducing their own touch devices. I think Apple once again was on the cutting edge of innovation, but the iPhone's market share growth will quickly slow and likely decrease unless it really gets serious about being in the phone business.

And the friend with whom I attended the Ballmer talk said that her company is switching to Blackberry, even though they will have to switch mobile operators and phone numbers to do so. Why not switch to devices running Windows Mobile?

But, unfortunately, the thing that stuck most with me about Ballmer's talk was his reference to Ukraine as "the Ukraine", which is like nails across a chalkboard to most Ukrainians. And he said it about 20 times during his hour speech. Its a language and cultural subtly that is a common mistake by foreigners, but by putting "the" in front of the country's name indicates that it is a region of another country (i.e. Russia) and not an independent country. Russia still calls Ukraine's statehood into question today, so it still very much a live issue here. Someone should have briefed Mr. Ballmer about this prior to his talk.

A more minor and entertaining faux pas was when Ballmer, as many of we Americans do, finished a couple of sentences with "blah blah blah". Phoenetically, that word means "whore" in the Ukrainian and Russian languages. Difficult to warn someone about that one.

What is this blog? Take 2...

Well, my first post of this, my second attempt at starting a blog, has gotten off to an inauspicious start. After spending a few hours on a carefully-worded introduction, Blogger.com abruptly deleted my draft before I finished. Ironically, this kind of thing is one of the topics I plan to address in my blog: user/customer experiences. In this case, a bad one. What makes it worse is that the help forum shows that this has been a problem for at least a year and hasn't been fixed. The amount of negative energy, lost ideas, and forgotten creative turns of phrase over that time must be huge. And for a person for whom it's taken a few years to get up the gumption to start a blog because it takes so much time and mind power, it makes me again question my decision to start one.

Anyway, I'm not really a negative person, so don't think this blog will be regular rant about what's wrong with everything. On the contrary, I plan to include observations, insights and ideas about cool, funny, sad and maybe even helpful things from different aspects of life: society, culture, business, politics.

This is a very broad list of topics, but there will probably be a few common threads and themes in all of my posts:

Ukraine and the US: I am American and live in Ukraine.

Telecom/Tech marketing: Pretty much my entire career has been in this area, so I tend to see things through this prism.

Customer/User experience: From a business improvement perspective but also my personal perspective as a customer and user.

In case you're wondering, my blog name comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, Self Reliance, which I first read in high school and which has stayed with me since then:

"A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages... Else, tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another."

Some of the gleams you read here may be dim and small, but hopefully there will also be a few that are big and bright. In that spirit, I encourage you to leave your own gleams that may flash across your mind as you read this blog.