Mobile operators must look at social networking applications if they want to
attract consumers to data services, Trip Hawkins, chief executive of
Digital
Chocolate, told delegates at the
CTIA Wireless IT and
Entertainment tradeshow in San Francisco.
Hawkins is the founder and former chief executive of
EA Games, the
world's largest games developer. His new venture develops games for mobile
devices.
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Voice services currently generate about $98bn a year for operators, while
data services generate only $4bn, Hawkins pointed out. This gap exists because
today's data services are too hard to use on mobile devices and lack strong
appeal.
To break down this barrier, carriers need to start offering appealing
applications tailored to mobile devices. Consumers will only bother to use the
devices if they deliver "social value", and Hawkins is betting that multiplayer
games could deliver such value.
Social games offer users an excuse to meet new people and engage in social
contact with people they already know.
"The bottom line [of social games] to the consumer is not the content, but
the ability to meet people," said Hawkins. "If you offer anything which says:
'You might hook up,' people will do it. Most people just need some plausible
deniability [in the form of a fun game]."
The loyalty that comes with mobile social games also promises a windfall for
operators and game developers, as they deliver monthly recurring revenues from
subscription fees.
Digital Chocolate plans to launch its first social mobile game next month,
entitled Mobile League Sports Network Sports Pick. The game allows
players to make predictions about upcoming sports games.
It offers an overall ranking of players that make the most accurate
predictions, and lets users create closed leagues with friends. The game will
initially be available in the US to subscribers of
Sprint,
Verizon and
Cingular.
The games developer is also working on AvaFlirting and
AvaCars. In the first the player creates a person, or avatar, that will
flirt with other players' characters in the game. In AvaCars players
design their own automobile.
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