Monday, August 04, 2008

On the road again

Last weekend I journeyed across parts of two 'I' states and an 'O' state to visit relatives. On the way, I participated in a call with a client. No big deal.

So I decided to try an experiment...use my smartphone's broadband card while in motion. No, I wasn't driving, but from the passenger seat I was able to get--and keep--a pretty decent connection. I was able to launch an online survey for a client, conduct a quick IM session with a colleague back in the office and, of course check email and the financial news, all while travelling at slightly-above-the-posted speed limit. Ok, but what about something that actually required broadband?

That's where things got interesting...here's the score:

1. Music: iTunes connection...lags (resulting in rebuffering the music stream) were unacceptable
2. Video: YouTube video worked pretty well. Two of three videos worked without midstream buffering lags
3. Gaming: Runescape--full resolution mode--played flawlessly...until we lost the connection for about 10 minutes in a particularly remote area of corn country.

So what?

If rich media ads are to work with the increasingly mobile nature of computing, effective broadband connections--wherever the devices are--will be a pre-requisite.

In fact, according to the Accenture Global Content Study (2008), a consistent user experience is the biggest barrier to adoption of mobile broadband after consumer readiness.




More important, though, is the opportunity that mobile broadband holds for enabling engaging experiences, ad-based or otherwise, that might make ready the consumer audience. One can imagine networked, multiplayer gaming setups like Runescape--or those available thru gaming platforms like the Wii, XBox, PS3--combining GPS and mobile broadband to make the storyline and interaction integrated with localized features of culture and landscape.

See that car passing you on the left? Maybe that's a trading partner for you in Runescape...or an enemy scout in Halo. One thing's for sure, the mobile class' time killers won't be found in one place.

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    My name is Chris I'm the owner of couple of Runescape sites and I'm looking to advertise some of my guides and articles that are on my site, and am willing to pay Runescape bloggers quite good money to post blog posts on their blogs talking about and linking to articles and guides on my sites.

    Please email me at cnc85@hotmail.com with the Email title "Paid Blogging for Runescape" if you are interested in earning some money from blogging about Runescape.

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete