Genie Rides The Internet Boom

Internet achieved 50 million subscribers world-wide in just five years, much faster than radio which took 38 years, and even TV which took 13 years. Internet, which allows easy and inexpensive access to a wealth of information, will play a key role in future communications growth. We are already aware of the profound effect that the mobile telephony has had on the lives of millions as an "anytime-anywhere" access tool. As both the mobile users and Internet users are "early adapters", this overlap can be exploited for the common benefit. The growing convergence between telecommunications and IT offers a major opportunity to use Internet to increase customer loyalty of mobile users by pushing tailored information to target segments.

The revenue per subscriber of cellular operators is dropping world-wide, requiring operators to find ways to improve service provision. With GSM’s data capability, the GSM cellular operators, particularly in Europe, are already trying to let their users create a single service profile providing centralized communications and information management to allow the mobile phone meet their information needs whenever and wherever they desire.

Besides various information related applications, Internet has also become an accepted news medium. But the problem has been that the user does not know when the news of interest appears. One cannot always remain logged on to Internet, waiting for news about one’s favourite football team.

Cellnet, the GSM cellular operator in the UK (over three million subscribers), has tried to address such needs with its new "Genie" service, which brings together the Internet’s capabilities and mobile telephony. Genie, inaugurated in late 1997 by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, strives to combine the range of the Internet services with the convenience, ease of use, and reach of a mobile phone. Personalized news and information is delivered directly to the user’s GSM handset or to any E-mail address from the Genie website. Users can receive only those news that they want, directly and faster than checking a web site themselves. This self-provisioning lets the user decide what information is important to him/her.

The Genie service is activated by the user logging on to the website through a PC, and setting out parameters for the information that he wishes to receive. The user can request E-mail or short message alerts which are automatically sent when a pertinent event occurs. For example, alerts can be requested for share prices (or even entertainment listings) and a customer can be alerted when a specific share price changes by a specific amount. Cellnet hopes to continue to add additional categories to the service. The Genie messaging structure also gives users their own Internet mail-box from which they can forward E-mail headers to their mobile phones.

Genie’s "radio service" enables customers to hear radio news reports on request. On receipt of a news headline from Genie, the user can press a button on his/her mobile handset to hear an audio news report covering the story that has just been received. Eventually, Cellnet foresees the introduction of specialized programmes, such as financial briefings and pre-sports match interviews, onto the radio service.

The interaction between the mobile handset and the web is built on four main capabilities:

• Universal mailbox: Allows access and control over messaging across both mobile and web.
• Content send: Allows users to interrogate web content and send results to mobile or E-mail.
• Content push: Intelligent agents defined by user on the web push results to mobile or E-mail.
• Content pull: User defined enquires that pull content from web to either PC desktop or Smartphone.

A service like Genie can achieve operator’s objective of increased mobile usage, with people coming to rely on their mobiles for much more than just voice communication. Genie service has been initially offered free to subscribers to encourage and familiarize themselves with the service and earn their loyalty. In the beginning, this magical service is believed to have registered a thousand subscribers a day. The popularization of Smart Phones and SIM Tool Kit is likely to drive such services even more.

Alladdin’s magic comes alive with today’s chirag—the mobile phone!