My OperaA modest proposal - how Opera can get customers for life
Sunday, January 22, 2006 2:54:14 PM
Should Opera focus on the youth market? I think the answer is yes, but only up to a point. With the radical success of online services like Myspace, with 20 million or so members, every browser company wants to be the interface of choice for this demographic of 20-30 year old social bloggers. Well, what about people who are older? How do they fit into Opera's plans or not?
There certainly are marketing efforts that need to reach the youth demographic in addition to MTV or fast food chains. I think there are specific instances when an organization that wants to target the youth demographic should hire from that population cohort. Here is a good one. Dartmouth College wants someone to do outreach to recent alumni, which one would assume are age 22-26. The job announcement is here.
Opera on the other hand has the whole spectrum of the population in any market, e.g. Europe, U.S., etc., that it wants to each. By limiting its desktop and/or mobile marketing to the youth cohort, it risks establishing a marketing profile as a niche or segment player rather than for the general browser market for all platforms, e.g., desktop, mobile, entertainment. etc.
Youth markets are often seen as "early adopters" of technologies and cell phones and mobile devices are certainly markets where this is a strong influence. The cell phone text messaging phenomenon and ring tones are good examples of youth market phenomenon that later caught on, albeit to a limited degree, with older demographic groups.
The the next "hip" application like text messaging is social blogging via cell phones and their integration with web services like MySpace. Opera is very aware of this so I won't spend more time on it. However, it is based on an assumption that 20 somethings have lots of free time not being burdened by families, mortgages, and community responsibilities. As they move into being married, having kids, etc., this free time evaporates along with participation in social blogging.
Like General Motors, which always hoped that Chevrolet buyers would trade up to Pontiacs or Buicks, Opera can develop a strategy to catch the next life phase of 20 somethings as they move further into adult life.
Palm Pilot, Blackberry, and other vendors of mobile devices which offer text messaging are targeting enterprise customers as well as individual entrepreneurs and professional people like doctors, lawyers, accountants, real estate brokers, etc. All of these types of customers are older than the "recent alumni" market" demographics. Since mobile devices are a primary source of revenue for Opera, it makes sense to consider the "needs" of older knowledge workers who rely on mobile devices for their work.
Opera has made marketing progress through bundling its browser on various product lines of manufacturers of mobile devices. This strategy makes sense. The Opera mini technology will likely catch on first with youth markets, but I don't know if it will migrate to other age groups. In the U.S. I am not sure there is a trend for people to browse the web with mobile devices. The primary applications for mobile devices still are email, phone, and calendar.
Integration of the desktop with mobile devices is occurring through calendar applications. For instance, at work our administrative staff enters a meeting in my desktop calendar, via shared collaboration tools, and the calendar software sends a text message reminder to my cell phone. I have a similar arrangement for my home calendar via Yahoo. Its calendar will also send a text message reminder of a meeting, event, etc., to my cell phone at any interval, e.g., hour, day, etc. It is very useful.
This suggests that if Opera teamed up with a calendar software firm that had a product that lived on desktops, it could integrate its browser on the desktop with an Opera browser on a mobile device. I think this is an avenue for Opera to reach out to knowledge workers for both the desktop and mobile platforms. Obviously, if Opera is the browser of choice for an integrate desktop/calendar platform, it can also expect to capture search revenues from queries from either platform.
In terms of the competition, the missing piece in Mozilla's product line (browser, email) is a calendar. A race is on between Microsoft (Outlook) and IBM (Lotus Notes) for enterprise desktops and related collaboration tools. While these competitive efforts target very large enterprises, there may be opportunities for small business, e.g., less than 500 employees or less than $50M sales, to acquire similar tools. Can Opera enter that market?
Also, Opera could promote itself on mobile devices that synchronize calendars via wireless networks as well as offering email. Some of these devices do not offer voice services, but are high end, e.g., $400-500 and supplement cell phone services. Take a look at HP's product line of handheld PCs, e.g., iPAQ. These devices are usually out of reach in terms of price for 20 somethings looking for the next party on MySpaces. However, as they move into the workforce, they may use the same technologies, e.g., text messaging, voice mail, synchronized calendars, etc., and some Internet search via mobile device.
Opera could benefit from offering synchronizations services with wireless devices for calendars, address books, and RSS feeds. With more people using multiple devices on the Internet (desktop, laptop, mobile device), synchronization of personal data becomes even more significant. The browser that offers access to synchronization first wins.
A good example of desktop and mobile device synchronization for RSS feeds is the work being done by Nick Bradbury on Feeddemon with Newsgator. Users of the product can synchronize RSS feeds for their home PC, work desktop PC, and laptop through Newsgator's website. Since Opera already offers a built in RSS reader, offering a server side synchronization service, either for fee or based on advertising, ought to be a logical next step. Newsgator offers a subscription model for various levels of use.
So my unsolicited advice is that Opera needs to position its marketing for the life stages of its customers and not just target the youth and leave it at that. If you want customers for life, then understand how people live their lives at each age and the technologies / platforms they will use.
There certainly are marketing efforts that need to reach the youth demographic in addition to MTV or fast food chains. I think there are specific instances when an organization that wants to target the youth demographic should hire from that population cohort. Here is a good one. Dartmouth College wants someone to do outreach to recent alumni, which one would assume are age 22-26. The job announcement is here.
Opera on the other hand has the whole spectrum of the population in any market, e.g. Europe, U.S., etc., that it wants to each. By limiting its desktop and/or mobile marketing to the youth cohort, it risks establishing a marketing profile as a niche or segment player rather than for the general browser market for all platforms, e.g., desktop, mobile, entertainment. etc.
Youth markets are often seen as "early adopters" of technologies and cell phones and mobile devices are certainly markets where this is a strong influence. The cell phone text messaging phenomenon and ring tones are good examples of youth market phenomenon that later caught on, albeit to a limited degree, with older demographic groups.
The the next "hip" application like text messaging is social blogging via cell phones and their integration with web services like MySpace. Opera is very aware of this so I won't spend more time on it. However, it is based on an assumption that 20 somethings have lots of free time not being burdened by families, mortgages, and community responsibilities. As they move into being married, having kids, etc., this free time evaporates along with participation in social blogging.
Like General Motors, which always hoped that Chevrolet buyers would trade up to Pontiacs or Buicks, Opera can develop a strategy to catch the next life phase of 20 somethings as they move further into adult life.
Palm Pilot, Blackberry, and other vendors of mobile devices which offer text messaging are targeting enterprise customers as well as individual entrepreneurs and professional people like doctors, lawyers, accountants, real estate brokers, etc. All of these types of customers are older than the "recent alumni" market" demographics. Since mobile devices are a primary source of revenue for Opera, it makes sense to consider the "needs" of older knowledge workers who rely on mobile devices for their work.
Opera has made marketing progress through bundling its browser on various product lines of manufacturers of mobile devices. This strategy makes sense. The Opera mini technology will likely catch on first with youth markets, but I don't know if it will migrate to other age groups. In the U.S. I am not sure there is a trend for people to browse the web with mobile devices. The primary applications for mobile devices still are email, phone, and calendar.
Integration of the desktop with mobile devices is occurring through calendar applications. For instance, at work our administrative staff enters a meeting in my desktop calendar, via shared collaboration tools, and the calendar software sends a text message reminder to my cell phone. I have a similar arrangement for my home calendar via Yahoo. Its calendar will also send a text message reminder of a meeting, event, etc., to my cell phone at any interval, e.g., hour, day, etc. It is very useful.
This suggests that if Opera teamed up with a calendar software firm that had a product that lived on desktops, it could integrate its browser on the desktop with an Opera browser on a mobile device. I think this is an avenue for Opera to reach out to knowledge workers for both the desktop and mobile platforms. Obviously, if Opera is the browser of choice for an integrate desktop/calendar platform, it can also expect to capture search revenues from queries from either platform.
In terms of the competition, the missing piece in Mozilla's product line (browser, email) is a calendar. A race is on between Microsoft (Outlook) and IBM (Lotus Notes) for enterprise desktops and related collaboration tools. While these competitive efforts target very large enterprises, there may be opportunities for small business, e.g., less than 500 employees or less than $50M sales, to acquire similar tools. Can Opera enter that market?
Also, Opera could promote itself on mobile devices that synchronize calendars via wireless networks as well as offering email. Some of these devices do not offer voice services, but are high end, e.g., $400-500 and supplement cell phone services. Take a look at HP's product line of handheld PCs, e.g., iPAQ. These devices are usually out of reach in terms of price for 20 somethings looking for the next party on MySpaces. However, as they move into the workforce, they may use the same technologies, e.g., text messaging, voice mail, synchronized calendars, etc., and some Internet search via mobile device.
Opera could benefit from offering synchronizations services with wireless devices for calendars, address books, and RSS feeds. With more people using multiple devices on the Internet (desktop, laptop, mobile device), synchronization of personal data becomes even more significant. The browser that offers access to synchronization first wins.
A good example of desktop and mobile device synchronization for RSS feeds is the work being done by Nick Bradbury on Feeddemon with Newsgator. Users of the product can synchronize RSS feeds for their home PC, work desktop PC, and laptop through Newsgator's website. Since Opera already offers a built in RSS reader, offering a server side synchronization service, either for fee or based on advertising, ought to be a logical next step. Newsgator offers a subscription model for various levels of use.
So my unsolicited advice is that Opera needs to position its marketing for the life stages of its customers and not just target the youth and leave it at that. If you want customers for life, then understand how people live their lives at each age and the technologies / platforms they will use.
