Regular as clockwork (well almost, anyway) every Tuesday night, I sit down and write another edition of the Naked Net. Sometimes, I run out of ideas. You try writing something of interest and vaguely well argued every week. It`s just not likely that there are people with day jobs who can do this without the occasional glitch. Fortunately, my good friends at ITWeb (thanks guys!) are helping me out with editorial meetings and the odd forwarded news story.
I`d also be a little worried about forcing content down my users` throats.
Of those received, the most noteworthy this week was about Ericsson. Yes, the phone company. As part of the worldwide tendency of telecommunications companies to become more Internet-savvy, Ericsson Network Intelligence has launched a new product called "Internet Advertiser".
In an online world where Net advertising strategy and sales have almost become common parlance, where international and local companies are in fierce competition with each other for what amounts to relatively limited revenue from banner advertising, I hear you say: "So?" Well, at first glance there`s nothing particularly different or notable about "Internet Advertiser". Ericsson has designed a system that allows ISPs or other Internetworked organisations to offer free e-mail. While users check or send mail, advertising banners are shown. So far, so good. This seems like a well-known recipe for free e-mail success.
There`s a catch in Ericsson`s product, though. (Why else do you think I`m writing about this?) The catch is that the ads can`t be bypassed. The product, judging from the press story, is tamper-proof, "fraud free". This means that users cannot turn off the ads or close the windows they appear in. Under normal circumstances, and in all other free e-mail offerings that I know of, you can "opt out" of the adverts. Fine, perhaps this is not an easy thing to do in all cases, but if you really choose not to see the GIFs or JPEGs with messages from the sponsors, it`s do-able.
Close that window
Not with Ericsson`s product, however. Users can`t close the ad windows. Sound a bit like Big Brother to you? Apparently, no ISPs have bought the product yet and who can blame them? I`d also be a little worried about forcing content down my users` throats.
For me, one of the key issues in both Internet access provision and content creation has always been the freedom of choice. No, I`m not going off on a soapbox tangent again, but the question of what makes an acceptable online experience keeps coming to mind. The challenge, as I see it, lies in making users want to read or look at something. Forcing advertising down their helpless throats doesn`t seem like a particularly crafty way of doing things. Personally, I think that those companies, which somehow manage to present content in a smart way, will win. If you`re going to create an online marketplace, at least make sure there`s choice.
Grand announcements
Talking of choice and smart, I wondered this week about Vodacom`s grand announcements regarding its "new" yebo!net Internet service. I deliberately put "new" in inverted commas because I don`t know about you, but I`ve known about this for many years now (I peg its existing user base at around 3 500 consumers). Yebo Internet has been around for at least two years. And while I don`t typically make a point of using this page to comment on competitors, I did find myself intrigued, nay mystified, at Vodacom`s grand style.
By Christmas this year, it apparently wants to have more Yebo Internet users than any other ISP. Given that M-Web (about 60 000) and UUNET Internet Africa (about 80 000) -- currently pretty much the undisputed market leaders -- took rather a long time to build up their large and loyal customer bases, this seems an unlikely scenario. As at least one current participant in the market has shown during the past year, throwing virtually unlimited funds at marketing doesn`t always prove best.
Apparently, Vodacom`s strength lies in access provision, not content. But, one may be justified in asking, why is it that even internationally access providers struggle to keep their user bases while those who lead the combined content/access attack thrive? AOL and CompuServe come to mind. In South Africa, those ISPs partnered with solid local content offerings appear to do well, while access-only providers aren`t necessarily the market leaders.
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