New Rules of the Content Road
As wireless content grows in consumer popularity, the industry sets standards for developers to ensure customer satisfaction.
By: Mary Lou Jay
People rely on their wireless devices for much more than conversation or text messaging these days. They’re downloading ringtones of popular songs, wallpapers from hit movies, and mobile versions of their favorite video games. They’re subscribing to services that send them weather updates, daily jokes, or horoscopes, and mobile video is one of the more fascinating prospects for the future of the technology.
Third-party companies are developing much of this content and delivering it to wireless customers under agreements with wireless carriers. Since charges for the services appear on customers’ mobile phone bills, the carriers have a real interest in seeing that subscribers are happy with these transactions. To protect mobile customers, CTIA-The Wireless Association® and its member companies, working in cooperation with the Mobile Marketing Association, have developed a set of best practices for content providers, and CTIA will soon be implementing an auditing process to verify that providers are following those rules.
“Content distribution is a relatively new business for carriers, who have been primarily in the voice communications business,” explains Mark Desautels, CTIA Vice President, Wireless Internet Development. “They are now retailers of multi-media content in the same way that cable companies distribute video, download sites distribute music, and stores such as Best Buy sell music, games, and video. So carriers are putting in place the processes and tools that will allow them to distribute that content responsibly.
“Among those responsibilities is making sure that consumers know exactly what it is they’re purchasing and that they understand the terms of the commercial arrangement they’re entering into. The carriers also want to ensure that customers get the content that they have ordered and that the content being provided is appropriate.”
Through the auditing process, the wireless industry will have a way of reviewing all of the content applications that run on each car-riers’ handsets. The process will include monitoring transactions to verify that the application or content that’s being advertised is what’s being sold, and that the terms of purchasing the content and terms for using the content are well-stated and clear to the subscribers before they make a purchase. The auditing process will also ensure that the con-tent provider makes it easy for subscribers to cancel their subscriptions, should they wish to do so.
