Cingular to test social networking on the move
By Reuters
news.com.com
Story last modified Thu Mar 09 06:21:27 PST 2006
Cingular Wireless aims to extend the popularity of online communities to cell phones with Rabble, a service aimed at connecting like-minded young people, the companies said Thursday.
Rabble, run by San Diego-based Intercasting, now has deals with the two biggest U.S. mobile services, giving it a chance to get enough customers to create some of the buzz that social-networking sites like MySpace.com enjoy.
Rabble, which costs $2.99 a month, lets people share everything from opinions and photographs to details about local events or places via mobile phones with other subscribers.
Cingular, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, is a venture of AT&T and BellSouth. The No. 2 U.S. mobile service is Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone.
Only about 2 percent of U.S. wireless customers currently use social networking services on their cell phones, according to Jupiter analyst Julie Ask.
Ask said it is too early to say whether such services will reach wide popularity but added that Rabble may have a better chance now that it has deals with both Cingular and Verizon Wireless, which serve half the U.S. mobile users between them.
"The potential exists on the cell phone. It's just very early," said Ask, who believes that the biggest market for such services could be teenagers.
"They just have a real need to be connected, to be liked, to know what their friends are doing," she said.
Mobile phone companies have been trying for years to get customers to do more than talk on their cell phones, but phone calls still make up the vast majority of U.S. wireless revenue.
But Shawn Conahan, chief executive of Rabble, said that when people find there are more immediate ways to post content, such as photos and opinions from a live concert, services like his will flourish.
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"You mark my words this is going to be bigger than Web-based blogging in a couple of years," Conahan said.
Conahan said that mobile networking services are less of a security risk than Web-based services such as MySpace.com, whose reputation has been damaged by allegations that adult sexual predators have used it to meet minors.
His argument is that while the Internet is relatively anonymous, predators may be put off by the fact that every Rabble subscriber has a cell phone number that the telephone operator can trace to the subscriber's billing address.
Jupiter's Ask said that popular networking sites will always need to be also accessible on the traditional Internet because phones, with their tiny screens and keyboards, will always be at a natural disadvantage to computers.
But Conahan said phone size does not limit his customers, who see their first cell phone as their first taste of freedom, similar to the role of the first car for previous generations of teens.
"Never underestimate the amount of time that a teenage girl has to spend with her cell phone," he said. |
