New MSearchGroove Special Report Series: Personalization and Content Discovery Will Drive the Mobile Internet

ChangingWorlds’ Chief Scientist and Leading Analyst Launch Personalization Thought Leader Column

Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday May 13th 2008

ChangingWorlds’ Chief Scientist Prof. Barry Smyth, together with Peggy Anne Salz, leading industry analyst in the area of mobile search and content discovery technologies, today introduced the first in their new series of Thought Leadership articles focused on personalization and content discovery for the mobile Internet.    

Since its inception, ChangingWorlds has pioneered the intelligent delivery of personalized content to ensure the delivery of the right content to the right user. The company's track record, which includes over 50 deployments of its dynamic personalization technology worldwide, speaks for itself.

In addition to his role at ChangingWorlds, Prof. Smyth is a leading researcher on the topic of personalization technologies for mobile information access and a recognized expert in the area of artificial intelligence & advanced personalization. His work has won numerous international awards and has been widely published. Salz, the chief analyst and publisher of MSearchGroove, an online source of analysis and commentary on mobile search, content discovery, and mobile advertising, is a brave new voice in the mobile content industry. Internationally recognized for her in-depth research and reports in this area, she speaks regularly at industry conferences on the topics of mobile search, content discovery, social media and personalization.

The combination of Prof. Smyth's expertise and the media profile enjoyed by Salz and her online destination will ensure that this Thought Leadership series becomes an essential read for mobile executives and the mobile industry at large.

The first in this series of quarterly articles from Prof. Smyth is titled ‘Overcoming Subscriber Interaction Costs Using Personalization to Increase the Value of the Mobile Internet.’ This column examines the hidden interaction costs associated with surfing and exploring the Mobile Internet and concludes that these costs – a sum of the time and effort required by subscribers to access the relevant content they demand – are prohibitive, frustrating, and threaten the future of mobile data usage worldwide.

Granted interaction costs cannot be listed as a line-item on the monthly bill consumers receive from their mobile operators, but they are nonetheless a drain on users' time and attention resources. Unable to access relevant mobile content quickly and easily, users may avoid exploring the wealth of mobile content at their finger tips, a behavior that would hardly bode well for mobile operators and content providers.

According to Prof. Smyth, recognizing the role that both monetary and interaction costs play in the mobile Internet experience is critical if mobile operators and other companies in the business ecosystem are to successfully adapt their business models, jumpstart Mobile Internet usage and deliver value to their shareholders and to their end-customers. To this end, mobile operators must not only reduce the cost of surfing the Mobile Internet; they must address the significant interaction costs associated with accessing relevant mobile content.

As Prof. Smyth points out: "Personalizing the Mobile Internet can significantly reduce the interaction costs to deliver the right content to the right individual user – even before they expressly ask for it. Technology that automatically learns about the individual user preferences paves the way for mobile operators to provide their customers a more proactive and relevant Mobile Internet experience, whether it be browsing or searching for content, on-portal or off."

The quarterly series of Thought Leadership articles will cut through the industry hype to deliver answers around what we really mean by personalization, best-practice for the implementation of personalization strategies to deliver measurable results, and the pivotal role of personalization on mobile search, mobile advertising, and the mobile Internet content and services as a whole.