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Oct 16
martinharris
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Vive La France! Well as long as you are happy with the French “Gallery”.
France has a unique structure for mobile content with the Walled Gardens of their operator portals surrounded by a Fortified Field called “Gallery”. This is not true off-portal as there is a strict approval procedure which is run by the mobile operators. Outside gallery is the mobile desert where mobile billing can only be done by credit card.
I get a sense, however, that French mobile content companies are now eager to break out of their constrained local marketplace.
The walled garden is explained perfectly by the cartoonist Hugh, but in France, the mobile content market is a bit more like a sushi roll with the operator portals in the centre and a bit of fertile ground outside. Beyond that is the arid area called off-portal.
The problem is that instead of there being thousands or tens of thousands of companies selling off-portal in France, there are a few hundred and many of those exist on-portal as well. Its not good for the market because there is less encouragement to create new content companies and neither does it serve the consumer well. It has also created an environment where the local companies are not familiar with the mechanics of operating in a true off-portal environment and therefore they cannot understand the possibilities they may have in other territories.
The good news is that there is a movement among French mobile companies to expand into proper off-portal in the UK, Spain and the USA. A few French companies such as Gameloft have already pioneered the move to off-portal and are reaping the rewards. I met with several other French content providers last week and there were some common themes:
Work is now being done by many content providers to make sure foreign language versions (in English, Spanish etc) of their sites and content are made ready for launches in early 2009.
Watch out as the French content companies expand their horizons.
France has a unique structure for mobile content with the Walled Gardens of their operator portals surrounded by a Fortified Field called “Gallery”. This is not true off-portal as there is a strict approval procedure which is run by the mobile operators. Outside gallery is the mobile desert where mobile billing can only be done by credit card.
The French Gallery!
The walled garden is explained perfectly by the cartoonist Hugh, but in France, the mobile content market is a bit more like a sushi roll with the operator portals in the centre and a bit of fertile ground outside. Beyond that is the arid area called off-portal.
The problem is that instead of there being thousands or tens of thousands of companies selling off-portal in France, there are a few hundred and many of those exist on-portal as well. Its not good for the market because there is less encouragement to create new content companies and neither does it serve the consumer well. It has also created an environment where the local companies are not familiar with the mechanics of operating in a true off-portal environment and therefore they cannot understand the possibilities they may have in other territories.
The good news is that there is a movement among French mobile companies to expand into proper off-portal in the UK, Spain and the USA. A few French companies such as Gameloft have already pioneered the move to off-portal and are reaping the rewards. I met with several other French content providers last week and there were some common themes:
- There is a lot of innovation and drive amongst French mobile companies.
- The local French mobile content market is not bad, but there is limited choice for consumers.
- Gallery is onerous even for the local companies and is a nightmare for foreign ones.
- Their eyes are opening to the fact that off-portal markets in many other countries are strong and worth addressing. Target countries mentioned to me include: UK, Germany, Spain, USA, South Africa, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Australia.
Work is now being done by many content providers to make sure foreign language versions (in English, Spanish etc) of their sites and content are made ready for launches in early 2009.
Watch out as the French content companies expand their horizons.
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