Get over hardware mentality, Weber tells Mobile Internet World attendees

By Mickey Alam Khan

November 15, 2007

Larry Weber, chairman of W2Group Inc.

BOSTON – Larry Weber knew he was about to create enemies among the technologists in the room, but that didn’t stop him from speaking his mind at the Mobile Internet World conference.

The chairman of W2Group Inc., Waltham, MA, said the mobile world is currently where the computing business was in the early 1980s – owned by the hardware industry. He doesn’t see that as a good sign.

“That’s the biggest hurdle – getting over the hardware mentality in the mobile community,” he told an audience of mobile technology and marketing executives Nov. 15.

Mr. Weber, who recently sold his Third Screen Media mobile ad network to AOL, said the Internet is in its fourth phase, graduating from basic site-building and browser development in the mid-1990s to the social Web in the latter half of the decade. Phase four is the emotive Web.

“The marriage of broadband to media is the closest thing we have to physical life,” Mr. Weber said.

For the mobile Web to succeed, the industry has to move from a hardware-centric approach to one where the software application industry takes charge, he said. The user interface will drive the industry.

“Apple is successful because of software,” Mr. Weber said. “They have the best software in the world.”

He sees the potential for the mobile Web opportunity.

Citing Harris Interactive research, he said that consumers ages 16 to 24 are embracing the mobile Web: 53 percent said they have used the mobile Internet. Thirty-six percent said they use the mobile Internet at least once a week.

Also, 25 percent of respondents to a National Healthline Interview Survey said they only use mobile phones and have no landline connections.

Kids today view mobile phones as a fashion accessory and a statement about who they are, Mr. Weber said.

“Mobile devices are going to be a great resource of mapping and tracking behavior,” he said.

Mobile companies should focus on the interface, Mr. Weber said. He doesn’t understand the lack of interactivity on the handsets or the hard-to-use interface. The whole type of design and interface has to change and mobile carriers’ control of content has to relax.

The Mobile Web’s growth is also driven by changing media consumption patterns, he said. Newspaper circulation has been falling steadily every year for the last 13 years. There is no paper nationwide with a circulation of more than 2 million. But a group blog such as Boing Boing attracts 5 million users.

“Media is going to continually change and mobile is going to be a big part of that,” Mr. Weber said.

He sees a parallel between search and mobile – contextual, social and local. Also, social peer-to-peer social networking is going to be big in mobile. However, he doesn’t think blogging will gain much traction on mobile.

“What mobile does is make our lives what it really is – a verb and not a noun,” Mr. Weber said.

In terms of marketing, he believes more content will follow the “brought to you by” sponsorship advertising model. He expects to see couponing as well.

Mr. Weber was optimistic enough to forecast that mobile advertising will grow faster than Internet advertising. It took seven years for the Internet to get 5 percent of total advertising spend. He didn’t speculate on mobile’s share.

Marketers are certainly going to take a closer look at spends with changing media consumption habits. Mr. Weber said $110 billion will be spent this year on television advertising. A third of that will be DVRed, he said, or recorded on ad-skipping devices such as TiVo.

“CEOs are not going to put up with that – that it’ll go to Web and mobile,” he said. “In 2008 you’ll see big shifts from TV going to mobile and social networks.”

For all its growth potential, the mobile industry does face challenges, he said. First, mobile phones are highly personal devices and consumers will be in charge. Second, mobile is not a single medium but a combination of Web, video, text, gaming, music and more.

“We’re all too technically focused – even MIT grads don’t ask what’s under the hood anymore,” Mr. Weber said.

Also, mobile companies are currently selling platforms and technologies, but advertisers want audiences.

Overall, Mr. Weber made the case for making experience the focus of mobile and not technology.

“The mobile phone has a killer app – it’s conversation,” Mr. Weber said. “It’s like hello – no pun intended.”