MSNBC to Provide Mobile Video, News
AT CTIA WIRELESS MSNBC is expected to announce Wednesday a new application for Windows Mobile devices that would allow users of the Web site to access news and video content from PDAs and smartphones. Using technology from mobile application firm Action Engine, the service breaks new ground in the mobile delivery of news content.
The service will be provided free of charge through an innovative advertising model developed by both MSNBC and Action Engine. The two companies researched extensively on how to best deliver ads in a way that wouldn't scare off the consumer, and have settled on banner and video ads within the application
"We found that users find banners and video ads acceptable when its both entertaining and relevant," Action Engine director of product management Amar Patel told BetaNews in an interview last week. Thus, depending on the information viewed, the ad would be specifically targeted to that content.
While all available ad space through the three-month beta period has been bought by the Windows Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, once the program is taken out of beta in July Action Engine would begin to target the ads, the company said.
Users would be able to read news headlines from MSNBC, as well as view headline and business news videos from the device. MSNBC's popular "The Week in Pictures" feature would be ported to the application, complete with the capability to save news articles to a folder for viewing offline.
Additionally, the company would provide video from other NBC News properties, MSNBC said. This includes news packages from "The Today Show," "NBC Nightly News" and "Dateline NBC."
"We'd ultimately like to figure out a way to bring breaking news to the service," added MSNBC.com director of product strategy Andrew Locke.
The application would come in two formats, one for low-bandwidth connections such as GPRS, and another for higher-bandwidth connections such as EDGE, UMTS and CDMA EV-DO. However, bandwidth would only be a concern for the video portion of the service, said MSNBC's manager of business strategy Dan Mucha.
Mucha also gave reasoning as to why the news site was pursuing an application based strategy for its offering. "Trying to transplant a Web browser into a cell phone just does not work," he said. Rather, providing an application solution helps MSNBC to have more control over the user experience.
While the new service would initially only be available on the Windows Mobile platform, Patel said Action Engine was working on a Java-based solution as well, using Java's P-MDP 2.0. A version for BREW-based devices is also in the works, but the product is not expected to be available at launch.
Patel stressed that any solution needed to be platform-agnostic in order to succeed, and the MSNBC application would follow this philosophy.
Although Action Engine has been around since 2000, up until recently it had sold its technologies as a "blank slate" to operators interested in delivering content to their users. Anne Baker, Action Engine's marketing director, told BetaNews that the company recently switched its business philosophy to deal with the content provider itself, as it has proven to be more profitable.
Action Engine was also behind the TiVo Mobile application now provided by Verizon Wireless.
"These are our first two announcements," Baker said, alluding to the possibility that more may be on the way.