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Qualcomm Offers Companies The Chance To Market, Sell Services Off-Deck

In the first of what is sure to be a flurry of news from the BREW conference in San Diego this week, Qualcomm has announced its BREW BrandXtend Signature Solution. The offering is aimed at brands looking to make their products available to mobile users both on- and off-deck. Will companies take a sip of this new brew?

A hefty chunk of the mobile content available to people in the U.S. these days comes from the channels put in place by their network operator. Want ringtones? Gotta get 'em through your carrier's ringtone app and chosen ringtone supplier. Hankering to download the latest version of World of Warcraft for your phone? Ditto. You often have to snag it from your operator's mobile portal, or deck. For companies not lucky enough to score distribution rights with the carriers, the options for marketing and delivering content are a little bit murky.

No longer. This new service from Qualcomm will give them an opportunity to reach mobile customers using BREW-enabled handsets on their own terms.

"Multiple customer channels for the discovery and delivery of content have become essential, as the wireless industry continues to expand to include both on-deck and off-deck content," said Nick Lane, principal analyst, Informa Telecoms and Media in a prepared statement. "In the UK, more than 70% of content revenues come from off-deck sources. While not as high in other key markets, the percentage of off-deck revenues is growing rapidly. Not only are operators now embracing the emergence of the off-deck market, but so are brands. Major brands are developing a dual on- and off-deck strategy designed to maximize revenues. This shift will enable brands to be more active in the creation and promotion of their rich mobile content."

BrandXtend ties many aspects of content delivery and management into a single platform and includes things such as billing, reporting and marketing tools. Since the mobile market has gobs of revenue potential still untapped, this is one way for companies interested in offering mobile services to get the ball rolling.

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