The Art of Asking

Not long ago I received a link from a friend to a TED talk called “The Art of Asking” by Amanda Palmer. This was a remarkable talk by music artist, Amanda Palmer, that demonstrated an alternative kind of thinking about music fans, sales, and human interaction.

Instead of just selling her music to her listeners, Amanda tries to connect with them. Rather than having people pay for her music, she uses social applications to ask for donations while offering her art for free. The results are astonishing. Amanda has made more money giving her music away for free than she would having selling it. And at the same time, she has developed a relationship with her fans that benefits both herself and her listeners. This is an unprecedented phenomena.

Mobile operators can learn a lot from Amanda. Just as the music industry and the way artists interact with their fans is changing, the way operators do business should also be changing.

Now, as LTE becomes increasingly pervasive, operators are looking for ways to return their massive investment in infrastructure. Some turn to the promotion of sophisticated pricing plans as a way to increase their revenues from LTE networks. However, taking an example from Amanda, mobile operators could generate revenues by engaging with their subscribers, rather than just focusing on selling data packages. They already provide their subscribers the means to connect to online content, applications, emails, videos and all other mobile data activity. And they now have a unique opportunity to become an integral part of the mobile Internet experience.

By changing their business model, mobile operators can generate revenues not directly from their subscribers, but indirectly from revenue-sharing agreements with content providers. It’s a win-win-win opportunity. Users benefit from more personalized and relevant content; content providers can promote their content directly to their desired audiences; and operators generate new revenues while offering their subscribers an improved and differentiated user experience.  

Just as Amanda has turned the music industry on its head, now is the time for mobile operators to do the same for the mobile Internet.

-- Yoav Shay Daniely, Director of Product Management