All Rise to Social Games

10 years ago, our impression of social gaming was limited to the simple online turn based games such as Yahoo Pool or card games. Certain social games are still characterized by physical board games i.e. Monopoly, Scrabble and Chess. However, much has evolved since then. No doubt online social gaming has taken away a lot of face time and the personal touch associated with traditional board games, it has made up with the ability to connect people at different ends of the world with interesting games and forming close knit communities around each game. Traditional handheld gaming platforms i.e. PSPs, Nintendo DS, have suffered as a result of their inability to add the human aspect to their games.

Reasons for the Rise

1. Powerful Mediums

The increased adoption of the online social games has to be credited to the rise of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook. In fact, social gaming and social networks complement each other well. People are spending a lot more time on Facebook and its pageviews has already exceeded Google. Social gaming is partly responsible for the reported drop in office productivity.

Secondly, the introduction of smartphones have also provided another wide-reaching medium for social games. Global smartphone sales is rising close to 50% year on year, and in some markets, it is outselling feature by phones four to one. Mobile gaming is a successful off-shoot of social gaming due to its nature of the games which are quick and easy to play. Almost all the blockbuster social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars have a corresponding smartphone application.

2. Show off your Virtual Achievements

Another lure factor of social games is the opportunity to display your achievements for all to see. I am always fascinated by how colorful and vibrant the farms, hotels and restaurants are developed by my nephews. It has become a competition between the gamers to see who can build the prettiest house or earn the highest virtual income from their assets. Oh, did I miss out the possession of rare virtual items that will truly differentiate the owner from the rest?

3. Simple and Engaging

First of all, social games are by their nature, simple and engaging. It doesn't take a lot for one to master the game with its simple interface and colorful buttons. Gamers's age range from six years old to those their 40s. It has also become easier for parents to relate to their children since they are playing the same games. Somehow, it is this simplicity and attractive gameplay that got most people addicted and constantly upgrading their online property.

4. Easy to develop

The game development model is different for social games and traditional handhelds. The latter depends on prominent studios investing multi-million dollars to develop blockbuster games......and success is not guaranteed. On the other hand, developing social games is much easier faster with less resources required per game. The games do not have a linear storyline and instead gives gamers the opportunity to shape their gameplay. The key to social gaming is the innovation. Who would have thought that the simple rearing of farm animals and planting crops could make Farmville a 100 million user base. Any unknown garage studio can make it big overnight if they hit the jackpot.

Making Money in Social Games

Social games is now the new gold mine which everyone is rushing into. Studios with early success are already snapped up by incumbents who have been too slow to venture into this space.

Electronic Arts kicked off this buying spree with the acquisition of Playfish. Cost: $400 million. Disney followed that up with the purchase of Playdom. Cost: $763 million.

Google, with its intention to set up its own social network, bought SocialDeck and also invested $100 million in the No.1 social games developer Zynga.

Besides earning their revenues by selling virtual world goods and currency, there are many other ways to monetize the social games. Users of social games are usually very engaged in the virtual worlds. Therefore, Ad impressions will have the biggest effect. Recently, Honda paid for an Ad to publicize its latest car model in the game, Car Town. Global Advertising in social games will be at least $300 million next year.

Service Delivery Platform...Web 2.0 meets Telecom

Service Delivery Platform (SDP) is not an entirely new concept to be introduced in the telecoms sector. However, it has gained the attention of major telecom operators who view SDP as the core with which they will build future networks around.

So why is the deployment of SDP gaining momentum? It traces back to the Apple App store launched in 2008. This watershed event has put the spotlight on mobile applications and services. The case for SDP comes from two angles, the first being the explosive growth of service providers and developers, operators have to find a more efficient way of managing external providers which can be local or overseas. SDP provides a unified management for billing and revenue settlement with external parties. The second is the varying access methods users have to consume the services, this includes the telecom network, mobile and fixed Internet.

SDP can be seen as the meeting point between Web 2.0 and Telecom. With SDP, operators have an environment to expand the richness of contents currently on offer. SDP is the platform that integrates applications traditionally residing in the IT domain to the Telecoms industry. SDP forms the core of the new generation telecom networks, aggregating services and applications from the NorthBound interface and deliver them to disparate networks

in the SouthBound interface. I will describe functions of the SDP and the eco-system created around it.

NorthBound

This is the top layer of the SDP platform that is exposed to 3rd party service/content providers. It forms the point of entry for external parties to plug in to the SDP A telecom network's capabilities such as Location, SMS, MMS, Presence etc are packaged as standard Web Service

for developers to tap upon. Content providers can supply ringtones, images using FTP to the network. The value of this layer lies in the convenience it provides to developers. Instead of developing interface seperately to the capabilities, they only need to develop a single interface with the SDP which takes over the interfacing work.

Management

This is essentially the heart of the SDP dealing with all related management work from the north and south. It manages all the core functions of the SDP such as service level agreements with the service providers, content management and settlement. It also links with the core BOSS system of the operator.

SouthBound

This layer is also called the network abstraction layer where operators will find the most valuable in using the SDP. It converts the protocols invoked by the service providers in the northbound interface to those required by each network element.

Have IPTV...Now What?

Although IPTV is not considered a new technology, it only gained traction in recent years. Despite the lure of the PC and console gaming, home entertainment has been and will always revolve around watching television. The average person spends 4 hours a day in front of the TV.

However, for IPTV to be a runaway success, it needs to find its killer app. Just like how social gaming has made social networks such as Facebook prominent, and how the App Store concept propelled smartphone adoption rate. IPTV needs to finds its own shining knight to save it from falling into obscurity even before it has gained any recognition.

Imagine imagine imagine...

Traditionally, watching TV has been a very laid back experience for most people, it is supposed to be a passive activity where we just take what is shown on the TV or simply channel surf until we see something interesting. (By the way, I looove channel surfing) With IPTV, a whole suite of services can actually be provided on top of the usual contents.

Personalize......Localize......

Each IPTV set top deployed in household is able to be identified individually by the central system. Therefore operators are able to know the usage habits of users. Personalized services such a a digital concierge, recommended shows and relevant services can be pushed to the users. Operators need a powerful engine to conduct behavioral analysis and serve target services as much as possible. Think Google.

Since each STB is deployed in different physical locations, is there a way of providing the services that are available in the locality of the household? For example "Dan's restaurant round the street corner is offering a 1 for 1 dinner special. Click for home delivery." or

"Special Offer for Spa Package, Click to receive SMS voucher"...we can go on forever about location specific advertisements, but I guess you got the idea.

We are entering the age of Intelligent Home which, in essence, refers to smart home appliances. Near field communications protocols such as Bluetooth and WiFi are mature and able to support smooth media streaming. DLNA is the industry standard for multiple devices to work together.

Have you heard about the fridge that is able to tell you which items i.e. egg, milk are you running low? That message can be transmitted to the STB which will be shown on the screen under the "Home Management" section. You can re-stock the items by purchasing online from the nearby grocery shop. Before you know it, the things are delivered to your doorstep.

All these can be done through your digital concierge. It can also scour the web on your behalf and present the latest promotions or happenings in your locality or country. Blog it! Tweet it! Facebook it! Digg it!

Potential Pitfall to avoid

I have always felt that playing games on the TV, not referring gaming consoles, are a waste of time. I do not think it will take off simply because the alternatives are much better: PS3, XBOX, Wii and PC. Gaming on TV will be last on this list, if it even makes it. The truth is, users do not switch on their STB to play games, they just want to know "Whats up recently".

The STB simply does not have the capability to run games of decent visual quality. Moreover, developers' attention are now on any other platforms but IPTV. "Hey IPTV, Gaming is not your war!". IPTV has a better chance of succeeding in the Services space.

Fixed Mobile Convergence

FMC refers to the integration of Fixed and Mobile networks such that services and applications are used interchangeably. Currently, each of these networks operates independently with its own set of protocols and services. Increasingly, we observed the overlapping of the services offered as both networks grew too large and the growing appetite of consumers for uniform services.

IPTV would be a very good example to showcase the concept of Fixed Mobile Convergence to consumers. It is also where they will be able to feel the most value add to their lives. Imagine you record a show using the IPTV network today, you can choose to view it on your mobile phone anytime anywhere. Basically, operators will have a centralized storage for each user and the contents can be distributed via any medium i.e. Web, Mobile and IPTV. This seamless way of media consumption will prove to be attractive to the current Internet generation.

Please feel free to throw your ideas onto the pot.

Future of IPTV

So whats with the current boom in IPTV?

IPTV is not an entirely new concept today, the first media stream over Internet was introduced by ABC World News way back in 1994.

There are many reasons why IPTV service is gaining momentum in recent years. As consumers are getting more media savvy, traditional broadcasts no longer appeals to them. There is no need for one to rush home just to catch the start of a show. They can easily stream or watch the program in their own time online. In fact, I have friends who do not have a television at home!

Despite the lure of content on-demand using the Internet, we cannot take away the fact that the goggle box is still the favorite past time that engages the whole family at the same time. There are still intangible benefits the TV has built up for almost 100 years that we cannot take away. Therefore, to attract the crowd back in front of traditional TV, operators have to evolve the way TV contents are delivered. The whole point is to get people interested in watching TV again.

Internet

Without a doubt, the Internet has changed billions, of lives since it came online in the last decade and a half. The world seems to have gotten smaller overnight. TCP/IP has become the most efficient way of delivering information anywhere in the world. Every time a user hooks up to the Net, he is identifiable by an IP address. Therein lies the way for IPTV operators to get closer to their subscribers. Personal profiles can be recorded and targeted contents can be recommended to the users. This is a more valuable monetization of the users than traditional broadcasting. The latter focuses on "golden" periods to earn higher advertising income whereas, with IPTV, the "golden" period is 24 hours a day. Knowing what your consumer wants is better than thinking what he might want.

H264/MPEG-4 AVC

The H264/MPEG-4 Advance Video Coding has to be one of the drivers for IPTV technology. This video compression method is 50% more efficient than its predecessor MPEG-2. It is widely used in Blu-ray, teleconferencing and high definition broadcasts. So why is this coding method used to compress video formats and how it relates to IPTV? Think this way, if the pipe can transmit 3mbps but only 1.5mbps is used for video transmission, can we do more with the other half? Sure we can! It is where we can transmit data to users and enhance the whole IPTV experience with services and applications.

Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)

The advancement in DLNA standards has contributed significantly to home electronic devices. Nowadays, most electrical equipments such as LCD TVs, DVR players and even mobile phones come equipped with DLNA-enabled stickers. With DLNA, the devices are able to effectively talk to each other and exchange contents seamlessly. The new generation of IPTV set-top boxes are DLNA-ready. It allows the existing TV sets to display media stored in other independent devices such as laptops, mobile phones and Network Attached Storage or NAS.

Future of IPTV and its challenges

The rise of the Internet has brought with it a new taxonomy of navigating within a content rich world. If you are interested in a particular word or concept, it is just a hyperlink away to getting your answer. It is that easy to consume contents over the Net.

However, IPTV is mainly delivered via set top boxes which are inherently lacking in data processing and graphics display. IPTV cannot compete with directly with WebTV due to limitations in the performance of set top box vis-a-vis the PC. It is a different ball game to offering TV online. Users should not be bogged down by too many clicks of the remote control to get what they want. User interface and controls play a critical role in determining if users will consume the various services available. Success can still be achieved if the user experience is managed right.

Services and applications available in IPTV should not be too similar to what one gets online or through mobile App Store. We have to consider the usual crowd who will gather around the TV. I will throw more ideas on the possible services offered through IPTV in another post.

Tech Giants also want a piece of the Pie

Operators who are launching or have launched IPTV services will have their work cut out for them with tech giants Google and Yahoo's Widget TV coming into the fold. Recently, Google teamed up with Sony and Intel to develop Google TV. Now, it doesn't take a lot for one to realize this is a triple power play at work. We have the leading Processor people in Intel, the omnipresent Technology platform in Google and the time tested TV Manufacturer Sony. Just when the operators are breaking out of their dumb pipe business model, the IT industry is pushing them back in.

Whatever it is, the rapid development within the nascent IPTV industry holds much promises for suppliers and consumers. The competition is still open and the holy grail of IPTV, as yet unknown, will only become clearer as more services are being launched. One thing is for sure, watching TV will never be the same again...sorry for the cliche :)

Feel free to contribute your thoughts on IPTV Now and the Future.