Some time ago, I was giving a talk about \"Challenges and Opportunities in the Mobile Value Added Service Space.\" I was talking about the ARPU, CAPEX, OPEX and competition challenges operators are facing, but I also talked about the opportunities out there to differentiate and to innovative, particularly with video applications. One area I drilled into a little bit was offering \"personalization\" to the consumer, that is, offering ring tones, video ring tones, different kinds of applications, and potentially more customized services/payment plans that made sense to the consumer.

 

After the talk, someone came to speak to me about mobile phone wallpapers, which would be what you see on your screen when it's inactive. Yes, downloading a wallpaper would be another type of video service. Think about a music ring tone. You only hear that when you make or receive a call. With a wallpaper, you see that much more - in fact, every time you look at your phone.   Many people I know (right now, myself included) either go with the basic wallpaper that the phone offers, or put one of their pictures taken by the mobile device up on the screen. 

 

But there is a substantial market for downloaded (i.e. paid for) wallpapers for the right price (similar to music ring tones). Yes, there are many free wallpapers but there are also wallpapers that people would be willing to pay for, such as wallpapers of famous paintings or wallpapers related to movies, or wallpapers that behave like screen savers, animated wallpapers, and wallpapers that update automatically with information.  If every video-enabled phone downloaded a wallpaper and paid \$1.00 for it, wow, that's a market...