{"id":983,"date":"2008-08-29T00:30:36","date_gmt":"2008-08-29T05:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=983"},"modified":"2008-08-29T00:30:36","modified_gmt":"2008-08-29T05:30:36","slug":"mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts","title":{"rendered":"MNP here; mobile content thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is a busy week for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skmm.gov.my\/\">MCMC<\/a>. They&#8217;ve just <a href=\"http:\/\/thestar.com.my\/news\/story.asp?file=\/2008\/8\/28\/nation\/20080828115854&#038;sec=nation\">announced<\/a> that Mobile Number Portability (MNP), will now be a reality (a rather <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2006\/10\/30\/number-portability-only-next-year-wake-up-mcmc\">delayed reality<\/a>. There is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skmm.gov.my\/ViewWhatIsNew.asp?cc=67863102&#038;winrid=77247257\">FAQ<\/a> available. Key things to note:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t terminate your mobile number before porting &#8211; only active numbers can be ported<\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;re contractually bound (12 months, etc &#8211; such offers apparently can exist, with incentives to consumers) porting will be denied (unless you break your contract, I guess)<\/li>\n<li>Prepaid users beware &#8211; all existing credit doesn&#8217;t transfer over &#8211; so use it all up!<\/li>\n<li>A request to port, therefore, is notice to your current provider to terminate subscription<\/li>\n<li>Porting can take between 5-10 business days (utter bollocks, this kind of thing should take hours)<\/li>\n<li>You may get suspended international roaming during porting, so beware<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Its about time. It will only cost a minuscule RM25 to change the provider. Customer service will clearly have to improve (this would be the sole reason I move off a network, IMHO)<\/p>\n<p>A long time ago, Adam (017 &#8211; now owned by Maxis) used to offer &#8220;free calls&#8221; to 017 numbers, for users on a postpaid plan; plus they had the cheapest prepaid options. I was a heavy phone user in those days &#8211; it was a long time ago, during the Nokia 5110 days (so late 90s?). <\/p>\n<p>Wonder how many new service offerings like this will crop up? Optus has free 20 minute calls to Optus customers (Yes Time, from 8pm-midnight), 3 has free 3-to-3 calls for 10 minutes anytime of the day, and so on. But knowing what service provider people are on, is key. This is the main reason I carried 2 SIM cards (and phones) in Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>Well, here&#8217;s to saying goodbye to 012\/017 being Maxis, 013\/019 being Celcom, and 016 being DiGi. <\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I&#8217;m sitting here at a talk about the mobile industry now, and its all mostly focused on an overview of the mobile platform(s). Its basic (for me, but from the wide range of attendees, I think they got a lot out of it)&#8230; Location based services, APIs, Java, XHTML, all the joyous buzzwords. There&#8217;s plenty to do in the mobile industry, in terms of content creation in Malaysia (and Australia, fwiw). Lots of sites don&#8217;t have mobile specific sites, and scrolling, etc. is a pain. <\/p>\n<p>Wild idea being thrown around in my head&#8230; Content creation isn&#8217;t complicated. At the last government event I attended, apparently, MOSTI has got lots of money to throw around. Some of the amusing things people got 5-figure funding for, included a guide to Malaysian beaches (not mobile related) available. Smells to me like a weekend hack for easy money.<\/p>\n<p>Bandwidth is a problem&#8230; Metered bandwidth per kilobyte\/megabyte isn&#8217;t something many in Malaysia think about (anyone in Australia knows the pain of this &#8211; but limitations make us present content better, IMHO). Its expensive. But I think this is a problem that will fix itself, as mobile data becomes more ubiquitous.<\/p>\n<p>Then comes how to monetise this whole shindig. An interstitial does not work &#8211; they are annoying, they are a waste of bandwidth, and Mowser tried them and I believe removed them because they were largely a failure.<\/p>\n<p>Mobile AdWords? Google doesn&#8217;t believe there is a market for this in Malaysia (or maybe anywhere else outside of the US). Its chicken-and-egg &#8211; till a market is built, Google won&#8217;t enter it, I&#8217;d guess. <\/p>\n<p>Banners? The Star has it on their mobile site. They don&#8217;t have any public information as to how successful they&#8217;ve been. But this seems like the strongest option, currently &#8211; use an ad system powered by Slash, go out to advertisers and create unique tiny banners for them. However, this goes beyond the weekend hack idea&#8230; and that just becomes too much work.<\/p>\n<p>Location based services tied into a mobile website. This could work&#8230; My social life is largely unplanned (professional life on the other hand is driven by calendars, that SMS me of appointments, even). Say I&#8217;m around the MidValley Shopping Mall, its 12:10am, and I decide I have time to kill. Access the site, it figures that there&#8217;s activity at MidValley at that time: bowling, The Dark Knight in Gold Class starting in 10 minutes, etc. Book a ticket through the site, get a commission? Banner ad for bowling, so its a &#8220;promoted&#8221; link\/sponsored link, over the regular stuff (again, breaks the weekend hack rule).<\/p>\n<p>If data is always on, coupled with your location, if you&#8217;re near a Burger King, it might blast you with ads saying &#8220;bring this coupon in, buy a meal, get a free ice cream&#8221;. Bluetooth based advertisers, beware &#8211; always on data+location will kick you in the nads.<\/p>\n<p>OK, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.entrepreneurs.my\/google-and-the-mobile-business\/\">talk&#8217;s over<\/a>, time to be social! Looks like we won&#8217;t have the Google talk after all&#8230; Thanks again to Daniel for organising this&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20MNP%20here%3B%20mobile%20content%20thoughts&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bytebot.net%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F08%2F29%2Fmnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself.\" data-email-share-nonce=\"9b1e3e837b\" data-email-share-track-url=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=email\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-983\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-983\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-983\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a busy week for the MCMC. They&#8217;ve just announced that Mobile Number Portability (MNP), will now be a reality (a rather delayed reality. There is a FAQ available. Key things to note: Don&#8217;t terminate your mobile number before porting &#8211; only active numbers can be ported If you&#8217;re contractually bound (12 months, etc [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20MNP%20here%3B%20mobile%20content%20thoughts&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bytebot.net%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F08%2F29%2Fmnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself.\" data-email-share-nonce=\"9b1e3e837b\" data-email-share-track-url=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=email\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-983\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-983\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-983\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/29\/mnp-here-mobile-content-thoughts?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1],"tags":[171,436,441,439,440,431,434,437,435,438],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4vJD-fR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":438,"url":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2006\/10\/30\/number-portability-only-next-year-wake-up-mcmc","url_meta":{"origin":983,"position":0},"title":"Number portability, only next year? Wake up MCMC","date":"30\/10\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has decided that by December, next year mobile number portability will be available in Malaysia. This has been available in Australia since September, and more importantly in Singapore since 1997! (read more on mobile number portability). A proposal has been floating around since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1387,"url":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2009\/03\/23\/mobile-number-portability-and-the-switch-to-digi","url_meta":{"origin":983,"position":1},"title":"Mobile Number Portability and the switch to DiGi","date":"23\/3\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The one telco that I have never had the pleasure of dealing with yet, is DiGi. I've heard good things about them, and was slowly tiring of my Maxis subscription (a SIM card that I've held for over eight years, running mostly idle when I wasn't living in the country).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2754,"url":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2013\/07\/04\/mcmc-policing-blcoks-6400-websites-since-2008","url_meta":{"origin":983,"position":2},"title":"MCMC policing blocks 6,400 websites since 2008","date":"4\/7\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I just read that MCMC blocked 6,640 websites since 2008. That's an average of about 1,300 sites blocked a year. Reasons to get blocked: fake bank websites copyright infringement (I presume these are torrent search engines, MP3\/MP4 hosts, etc) pornography\u00a0 insulting the royal institution I have less issue with blocking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Malaysia&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1032,"url":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/09\/17\/malaysia-stops-censoring-bloggers","url_meta":{"origin":983,"position":3},"title":"Malaysia stops censoring bloggers","date":"17\/9\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"So, the MCMC decided to come to their senses and scrap blocking websites. Internet censorship only lasted a few weeks (read previously Malaysia starts censoring bloggers). Of course, to control the victim of the latest censorship act, they used the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), but that's a whole other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2649,"url":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2013\/01\/30\/smartphone-rebates-in-malaysia","url_meta":{"origin":983,"position":4},"title":"smartphone rebates in malaysia","date":"30\/1\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote a lengthy email (on 7 January 2013) about smartphone rebates for a journalist, but I think it didn't fit with their planned story, so I'm pasting it here instead. The story, of course, never ran. Today I see that Maxis is already recycling spectrum that they own for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":965,"url":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/27\/malaysia-starts-censoring-bloggers","url_meta":{"origin":983,"position":5},"title":"Malaysia starts censoring bloggers","date":"27\/8\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, is one that I consider, a dark day in Malaysian Internet history. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), ordered all ISPs to block access to a website, thereby violating the MSC Bill of Guarantees, which clearly states: Ensure no Internet censorship. Join the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":985,"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions\/985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}