Doug Goodwin is business development director of Tao Group, producer of the Intent universal multimedia platform, writes about the mobile content industry for NewMediaZero.

Compared to TV's successful 60-year history, mobile content is still very much in its infancy. However, the two industries have similar characteristics: network operators, like broadcasters, are 'pipelines' for customers to experience content services. Mobile handsets, like TV sets, are the experience enabler. TV could prove to be a great role model for mobile as it becomes a fully grown entertainment experience.

For example, when the BBC made its first colour TV broadcast in the summer of 1967, producers and writers came alive to the possibilities of the medium. 37 years later and the mobile phone industry is embracing colour screen technology. Colour screens have had the effect of shifting the perception of the mobile phone from being a tool for voice calls to becoming an entertainment device, and are a key driver in the purchase/upgrade cycle for handsets. This has made the creative community sit up and take notice of this new interface and entertainment-hungry audience.

For the mobile industry, the importance of appealing to true artistic content creators can't be underestimated. The mobile industry has, until recently, been shrouded in technobabble that has been a barrier to entry for creative talents. Thankfully, behind-the-scenes technologies now exist that enable creative people to generate content in the medium of their choice (film, music, games and so on) and be confident that it will run with consistent behaviour regardless of network or handset. It's the same principle as making a TV programme and knowing that it will be viewed in the same way irrespective of which brand of TV set is used or on which channel it's broadcast.

TV broadcasters know that people aren't loyal to a channel, they're loyal to its content. Since service providers are unlikely to be seeing a slice of the TV licence fee any time soon, they should concentrate on what has worked for pay-per-view TV providers: sport, movies and pornography. Girls, games and gambling is the oldest 3G cliché, but what's important is that this is how the service should be marketed, rather than as the latest technology standard. It's the content that will keep customers loyal and churn rates down.
Perhaps the most interesting development will be the way the mobile market engages with advertisers. The UK TV advertising industry is worth in the region of £3bn annually. Advertising on our TV screens is moving beyond 30-second commercials into programme sponsorship, product placement and paid-for-programming. If mobile operators want to stimulate the content market but can't, or won't, pay the development bill, then courting the ad community could be a way of achieving this.

However, mobile operators must tread carefully. For many people the mobile phone is a very personal interaction with technology and there could be a sense of invaded privacy. To dilute this resistance, operators can link content and advertising to customers' lifestyles or a hobby-based association. The lesson from TV here is that consumers will accept advertising provided it comes hand-in-hand with desirable and targeted content. In this case, mobile operators should chose their advertising partners very carefully.

Mobile still has some way to go before it reaches the pervasiveness or creativity of TV, but with 55m viewers in the UK alone, TV isn't a bad role model to have. platform.