Cellcom Israel Ltd. has launched a move that marks its main arena for content activities - user-generated content.
Cellcom’s rival, Partner Communications (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR; LSE:PCCD), marked out its own arena through video calls, while Pele-Phone Communications Ltd. followed a similar procedure with television. Each of the companies provides a number of content-based services, primarily on 3G platforms, although each has has leveraged these services in a manner that differentiates it from the others.
Cellcom’s previous attempt to leverage its services through the i-Mode platform failed, and it is now attempting to “take responsibility” for “user generated content”. To this end, it has set up through its content company Logia, a non-cellular website for content creation, editing and presentation. The site will be open to everyone, although Cellcom subscribers will also be able to access it through cellular applications, enabling them to view content on their handset and use their handset’s built in camera to photocopy content displayed on the site.
The new site will be called “Cellcom Hip” and will constitute, according to the company, a “communal content scene.” The site’s content will be rated by the number of hits and responses by users. Cellcom also plans to add video and voice content, meaning production of short movie and music clips.
Cellcom VP marketing Adi Cohen said, “We expect the cellular content communities to be a success since mobility is a winner. Everyone has advanced cellular devices and we continually encounter the realities of life everywhere we go, so there is a big advantage in being mobile and accessible.”
Since the content in question is fairly rich, it is suited for high speed and quality viewing and creation on 3G handsets, which are virtually non-existent on Cellcom’s network at present. However, it can provide a reasonable quality of content sharing on 2.5G handsets using EDGE technology, of which there are several hundred thousand in use on the Cellcom network. The company’s subscribers, especially younger users, will most likely upgrade their sets eventually, thereby increasing the use of the content. In addition, a critical mass of interesting content must be accumulated to create a genuine attraction to Cellcom’s world, while differentiating the content on offer from that of rival networks.
Cellcom’s move is based on the viral success worldwide of what has been described by many as Web 2.0, which incorporates all the different ways of creating and sharing user-generated content. Cellcom is currently marketing a unlimited surfing package for NIS 26 a month, and a 100MB package for 3G handsets, and 30MB package for other sets for NIS 19 a month. Use through the Cellcom website is free.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 3, 2006
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