Apple Unveils Subscription Service for Digital Content Publishers

On Tuesday, Apple published details relating to its new App Store subscription services. The new policy outlines precisely how content publisher may provide subscription-based magazines, newspapers, videos, etc. through the App Store.

As widely anticipated ahead of the policy’s publication, publishers of content-based applications can offer recurring billing. However, they are strictly prohibited from including external links to websites where the content subscriptions are similarly available.

Apple is requiring that all subscription payments go through the App Store’s new recurring billing option. The process secures a 30% share of the subscription cost for Apple, but only when Apple generates the new subscription.

“Our philosophy is simple — when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs.

“All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”

Protecting customer privacy, Apple notes, remains of vital importance to the company – a situation that has proven a headache to publishers eager to get their hands on highly valuable personal subscriber data.

Apple, however, is meeting publishers half-way in this matter. That is, customers purchasing a subscription through the App Store will be given the option of providing the publisher with their name, email address and zip code when they subscribe. “The use of such information will be governed by the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s,” the Cupertino, California-based tech giant announced. “Publishers may seek additional information from App Store customers provided those customers are given a clear choice, and are informed that any additional information will be handled under the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s.”source

Google Voice soon coming to INDIA.

68% of Total Mobile & Digital Income reported by PPL in 2010

Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), a copyright society for Sound Recordings in India, which administers the Broadcasting / Telecasing and Public Performance Rights for over 139 music companies, reported a Mobile and Digital Income of Rs. 139 crore in the financial year ending March 31st 2010 (FY10), according to annual reports filed with India’s Registrar of Companies, sourced by Intellectual Property focused blog Spicy IP.
As per our analysis of the documents, Mobile and Digital segments have grown the most and the fastest since FY05, and this is indicative of the music industry’s dependence on the segment. The segment has  been the dominant source of revenue for PPL at least since FY05, when it accounted for 39.18% of total income, and in FY10, it accounted for 67.75% of total Net Income.

Note that Mobile and Digital:
- Has grown 1753.33% since FY05, from Rs. 7.43 crore in FY05 to Rs. 137.81 crore in FY10
- From FY05 to FY08, in line with the growth in the mobile VAS industry, Mobile and Digital revenuesalmost doubled each year.- In FY09 and FY10, in line with the uncertainty in the mobile space – multi SIM environment, entry of multiple new telecom operators, and regulatory uncertainty from the TRAI, Mobile and Digital revenues grew 42.71% and 39.01% respectively.
- Caller Ringback Tones (CRBT) went from accounting for 5.72% of total mobile and digital revenue in FY05 to 57.2% of total Mobile and Digital Revenue in FY06. Subsequently, PPL stopped reporting CRBT and Ringtone revenues separately.
- CRBT and Ringtones together accounted for most of Mobile and Digital Revenues in  FY05 and FY06.In just one year (FY05 vs FY06), CRBT overtook Ringtones as a the key source of mobile net income for PPL.


Complete Overview Of PPL’s Net Operating Income
Below is a table that gives you an overview of PPL’s Net Operating Income from FY05 to FY10, which we’ve prepared on the basis of annual reports published at SpiceIP:

Some notes to accounts that we’ve culled out:
FY06
- Rediff.com was responsible for PPL’s webcasting revenue in FY06, but it discontinued the deal due to a decline in revenue from Rs. 12.04 lakh in FY05 to Rs. 2.48 Lakh in FY06
- An unnamed Audio on Demand licensee did not renew the license
FY07
- Ringtone and Ringback Tone Revenues were clubbed together as Mobile Revenues
- Webcast Licensing Fees, Jukebox Licensing Fees and IVR Fees clubbed together as ‘Others’. Given that these are included as digital revenues in FY08, we’ve represented this as ‘Others (Digital)’ in the chart above.
- Radio and Telecasting Fees clubbed together as ‘Broadcasting’
FY08
- Mobile and ‘Others’ revenues were clubbed together in FY08 as ‘Mobile and Digital’.
- Telecasting Fees and Radio revenues were clubbed together as ‘Broadcasting’
FY09
- Mobile Radio business picked up, but the Ringtone business suffered on account of piracy. PPL also faced payment delays from a few content aggregators.
According to PPL’s Notes to the financial statements: “IVR license fees, Ringtone Service Fees, Ringback Tone Service Fees, Juke Box License Fees, Webcasting License Fees and Telecsting Fees have been accounted on the base of usage report submitted by parties at rates as per agreements. Estimates are made on a prudent basis wherever applicable.” and “Ringback Tone Service Royalty, IVR, Webasting License Royalty have been accounted for to the extent of the corresponding income for the year from fees, net of legal and administrative expenses”. source

IndiaTimes join hands with Reliance for WorldCup

The rights, bagged from Reliance Communication Limited, include mobile content services including all the needed services like SMS , voice & video alerts, live audio commentary, mobile content downloads and 2G and 3G.

Mahesh Prasad the president of Reliance communication said that, Indiatimes had an absolute and broad network services on 58888 and had the largest collection of infotainment content, it was therefore a strong natural choice for them distribution partnership. He added that they believe that with media strength alongside, Times would bring great value to the mobile subscribers.

Commenting on Reliance Mobile’s association with ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Mr. Anil Pande, Head VAS, Reliance Communications said that, as ICC's 'Global Partner' till 2015 they were honored to be associated with the game that was gaining popularity across the World.

' The Name Tunes' service fromTata Docomo

Tata DOCOMO has introduced a new innovative feature - Name Tunes, a VAS application in partnership with mCarbon.

You can now greet your caller with your name, not just tunes, with Tata DOCOMO’s 'Name Tunes'. Adding another exciting, new feature in its 'Call Me Tunes' portfolio and continuing to Do the New, Tata DOCOMO, has announced another new innovative feature—Name Tunes. The pioneering VAS application, a first-of-its-kind globally—is a result of Tata DOCOMO’s partnership with mCarbon, one of the leading VAS providers in the telecom industry.

Name Tunes allows subscriber to greet callers with his/her name and a personalized message of their choice, chosen easily from the Template Messages, thereby allowing callers a refreshing experience, rather than making them listen to the traditional ring tones or caller tunes. The offer is available exclusively to Tata DOCOMO subscribers.

"Name Tunes is in line with our way of doing things in a Refreshingly Different manner and brings in an element of fun and newness to the existing set of VAS offerings. Greeting callers with their own name, and then with a personalized message while the phone rings, will enable our subscribers to make their conversations even more pleasant and special, Mr Rishi Mohan Malhotra, the Value-Added Services Head at Tata DOCOMO, said while announcing the launch of the service. 

"This offers a new vista of Caller Tune opportunities for our subscribers who want to stand out and be different. For Tata DOCOMO, this is an opportunity to reach out to the untapped market of personalized 'Call Me Tunes'. We are delighted with our association with mCarbon, which has helped us launch a global-first service, in keeping with our objective of redefining the telecom experience," he added.

Activating this service is quick and easy—Tata DOCOMO subscribers simply have to SMS 'First Name' to 52100, toll free. Subscription charges are Rs 30 per month and Name Tunes downloads will be charged at Rs 15 for 90 days.

So don’t waste any time, DO the New with this cool service and make an impression on your friends everytime they call you!source

New Study Reveals the Mobile Channel is First.

Neustar, Inc., (NYSE: NSR), a provider of market-leading, innovative solutions and directory services to enable trusted communication across networks, and Aepona, a provider of software solutions for Mobile Cloud Computing, today released the results of a new industry white paper*, authored by Yankee Group, called, "The Mobile Cloud: Unlocking New Profits". The research investigates the growing demand from consumers for high-speed mobile services and its impact on mobile network operators (MNOs), brands, advertisers, content owners, and enterprises. The report reveals that these stakeholders have an opportunity to differentiate themselves and add new revenue-generating services by harnessing mobile cloud computing (mobile cloud).

"Yankee Group is bullish on the prospects for the entire mobile ecosystem - if stakeholders have the ability to work together more efficiently. The industry needs capable stakeholders to step up and reduce the friction that currently stymies the creation of an efficient and profitable mobile platform," said Brian Partridge, vice president, Anywhere Network Research at Yankee Group. "Solutions that can successfully address these key challenges can help the entire mobile ecosystem create more profits."source
Highlights: 

•     MNOs will require new sources of revenue that harness the value of the network investments;
•      Yankee Group believes that the mobile cloud has the potential to change how consumers work, transact commerce, socialize, and entertain themselves.
•      In the last five years, the mobile channel has moved from the bottom of the value stack to the top priority.
•      Enterprise IT managers must deal with the growing need for enterprise application mobility and the impact from productivity tools created in the consumer world that are increasingly being brought into the work environment.
•      Application developers face significant choices about which platform they should target for development and how to achieve wholesale access to MNO APIs.

"The study conducted by Yankee Group confirms our view that the mobile marketplace is at an inflection point," said Steve Edwards, senior vice president, Carrier Services. "Operators need monetize their network investments and support consumers' increasing appetite for rich media services. The Neustar Intelligent Cloud changes the mobile services business model by reducing operating costs and improving the consumer experience, while creating new revenue streams."
Key Findings:
Based on an examination of the mobile marketplace and ecosystem, the Yankee Group believes that a well-executed mobile cloud service eliminates the commercial and technical fragmentation that has proven to be a barrier in the past. The firm believes that by combining mobile cloud services with a motivated ecosystem, there are significant opportunities to enrich the entire marketplace.
"The Aepona software engine powers the convergence of open mobile networks with Mobile Cloud Computing," said Al Snyder, Chief Executive Officer, Aepona. "Through our work with OneAPI, we saw the need for a service that streamlines the path to market for mobile services. By working with Neustar, we are able to enable a rich variety of applications and series that utilize the mobile network features and intelligence available on-demand via the mobile cloud."
The complete white paper titled "The Mobile Cloud: Unlocking New Profits" can be downloaded at: http:// www.neustarintelligentcloud.biz/.