Comments on: How and Why to work with Telecos as a startup – a PixSense story http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/ Coffee Sessions for the Industry! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:06:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: YouPark.com - a distribution partner for your mobile app : Green & White http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/comment-page-1/#comment-148662 YouPark.com - a distribution partner for your mobile app : Green & White Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:24:17 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/#comment-148662 [...] network for such applications. So if you have a great mobile application and dont agree with teleco pricing structures, you could let YouPark sell the app from their site and split the revenue with [...] [...] network for such applications. So if you have a great mobile application and dont agree with teleco pricing structures, you could let YouPark sell the app from their site and split the revenue with [...]

]]> By: Nash http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/comment-page-1/#comment-9444 Nash Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:44:24 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/#comment-9444 Dealing with large enterprises as a startup? It's tricky, dangerous and risky. The returns are great though. Marc Andreessen (the father of Mosaic web browser and VC) has a great writeup about it, I'm sure many people dealing with large corps can relate to it: http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the-pmarca-gu-3.html Dealing with large enterprises as a startup? It’s tricky, dangerous and risky. The returns are great though. Marc Andreessen (the father of Mosaic web browser and VC) has a great writeup about it, I’m sure many people dealing with large corps can relate to it:

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the-pmarca-gu-3.html

]]> By: Babar Bhatti http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/comment-page-1/#comment-9333 Babar Bhatti Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:40:15 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/#comment-9333 Very interesting .. will share this on TelecomPk. Very interesting .. will share this on TelecomPk.

]]> By: Adnan http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/comment-page-1/#comment-8811 Adnan Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:07:00 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/#comment-8811 So it really depends on the application. For applications that are not data intensive, this will work. For data intensive apps like ours, the model is a little different. And yes, your price to the wireless operator totally depends on your negotiating power! -Adnan PixSense So it really depends on the application. For applications that are not data intensive, this will work. For data intensive apps like ours, the model is a little different.

And yes, your price to the wireless operator totally depends on your negotiating power!

-Adnan
PixSense

]]> By: Adnan Ali http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/comment-page-1/#comment-8808 Adnan Ali Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:41:48 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/#comment-8808 Great writeup Osama. I would agree with Adnan but only to some extent. The issue I have with basing your product/service around the telco setup is the inherent pricing structure. For any common VAS (Value Added Service) the telcos keep the major share of the offered price. All Pakistani telcos start at a 70%-30% threshold when sitting for commercials negotiation. In my experience, strong negotiation skills can change that ratio to 60%-40%, albeit still in the telco's favour. I went for a different approach when dealing with the telcos. Pakistani telcos have had a signficant drop in ARPU (Avg. Revenue Per User) over the pase couple of years. Mobilink's ARPU/month came down from $18 to around $4 in a matter of few years. This has lead to change in pricing and advertisement strategy. All telcos are moving towards a data-centric approach for revenue. They desperately need to set up offerings with diverse applications. My approach has been to go for a community-driven model. I have leveraged the telco's current requirements and signed contracts with them to put my mobile applications on their portals for free. Their subscribers will be able to download them for free and as many times as they want. I will in return share some of the advertising revenue with the telco, which I earn by putting ads within the mobile applications at appropriate places. If you are planning to develop an idea into a mobile application, this is the right time to leverage the telco's hunger for data specific applications and develop a community of users from the demographics which appeal to heavy spending advertisers. Adnan Ali Great writeup Osama. I would agree with Adnan but only to some extent.

The issue I have with basing your product/service around the telco setup is the inherent pricing structure. For any common VAS (Value Added Service) the telcos keep the major share of the offered price. All Pakistani telcos start at a 70%-30% threshold when sitting for commercials negotiation. In my experience, strong negotiation skills can change that ratio to 60%-40%, albeit still in the telco’s favour.

I went for a different approach when dealing with the telcos. Pakistani telcos have had a signficant drop in ARPU (Avg. Revenue Per User) over the pase couple of years. Mobilink’s ARPU/month came down from $18 to around $4 in a matter of few years. This has lead to change in pricing and advertisement strategy. All telcos are moving towards a data-centric approach for revenue. They desperately need to set up offerings with diverse applications.

My approach has been to go for a community-driven model. I have leveraged the telco’s current requirements and signed contracts with them to put my mobile applications on their portals for free. Their subscribers will be able to download them for free and as many times as they want. I will in return share some of the advertising revenue with the telco, which I earn by putting ads within the mobile applications at appropriate places.

If you are planning to develop an idea into a mobile application, this is the right time to leverage the telco’s hunger for data specific applications and develop a community of users from the demographics which appeal to heavy spending advertisers.

Adnan Ali

]]> By: Adnan http://greenwhite.org/blog/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/comment-page-1/#comment-8805 Adnan Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:00:11 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2008/03/19/how-and-why-to-work-with-telecos-as-a-startup-a-pixsense-story/#comment-8805 Thanks for the story Osama. If there are startups out there who want to know more about this space and learn from our experiences, give me a shout: agboat@gmail.com -Adnan Founder PixSense Thanks for the story Osama.

If there are startups out there who want to know more about this space and learn from our experiences, give me a shout: agboat@gmail.com

-Adnan
Founder
PixSense

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