Where Is Content?

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday Google would launch a search service for mobile content. Content - based services are in their infancy now. The reason is - it is still extremely difficult to find content we really like. Take music. You have to know the name of an artist or a song title. Then you go to google.com and search for it. Or go directly to Amazon or iTunes for a purchase. This is the traditional way. Boring... Music is about emotions. How often we hear something on the radio and scream "I want it now". Artist? Title? Don't know and don't want to wait - I like it, give it to me.

For a long time Pandora has been the only service close to the above mentioned scenario: I like it, give me more like this, now. But with all due respect, Pandora is hand - made in fact. There are people who listen to songs, classify them into categories - no magic, just hard work. Google announcement does not bring us any closer to a content search we would love to have. At least not in this version, as they seem to be focused on being more of a content broker for now, not really enabling us with a new way to search and navigate content. On the other hand Google's move is welcome, as while computer is not the best device to look for content, the mobile phone is. Content searches are unexpected and impulsive in nature. And a cellphone is far more convenient to reach for most of the time. You probably won't have a chance to use computer - based music search while driving a car or watching movie.

A cellphone is not only a natural device to look for music. It is also a natural device to purchase and consume music - in form of a song being played over the headphones while commuting to work or in form of a ring tone or in form of a ringback tone. Actually the lack of a cellphone - based music search service is stopping the potential explosion of mobile content business. And if you think it has already exploded - think twice. How easy it is to find a good ringtone? Not the one from the preloaded gallery on your mobile. Your personal ringtone, expressing yourself. I guess it takes a good hour and some 1% people or less actually do it. Same with ringback tones. Of course you can go to your self service web application hosted by your carrier and select it from the menu they serve you. But how limiting this is! Some carriers allow you to upload your own music clip to be used as a ringback tone. But again - saying 1% of us does that would be an exaggeration. I would love to be able to set a theme from Pirates of the Caribbean as my ringback tone, when watching the movie, not when I come back home and turn my computer on. Difficult? C'mon... It's code should be printed on a cinema ticket as a 2D Data Matrix code to be scanned using the phone's camera.

There is no doubt ubiquitous search and access to content, especially music, from a cellphone would trigger a massive shift in usage patterns. If backed by the Labels, it should set them free from worries of falling CD sales. Ringtones and ringback tones market itself can easy grow by a factor of ten, if coupled with a good, easy and accurate content search and distribution engine. The task is not easy to fulfill, but the potential is rewarding for all parties. A couple of billion people will spend a dollar or two a month on content gadgets. Why not let them do that?