inbabble.com

Just over a fortnight ago ROK Entertainment released a new product called ROK Talk. I mentioned it in a roundup post and recently chatted to Bruce Renny, ROK Marketing Director, about the significance of the product for consumers and for ROK Entertainment. i.e. why would people use it and how will ROK make money! In my opinion (and initially to my surprise) the product has some unique features for both users and to mobile operators.

When I read the initial press release I have to admit I didn’t see what was unique about the product. Bruce pointed out that making a conference call on a mobile phone is not something people traditionally consider; it is too expensive and logistically hard to organise. I agree. You need a predefined conference number and then you rely on everyone remembering to join the conference (think 3+ participants).

This is where ROK Talk appears to have a unique proposition. The idea is to provide a service that lends itself to users creating on-demand conferences when they are away from the office. The initiator uses the ROK Talk application to nominate the conference participants and then ROK Talk immediately and simultaneously calls the participants and adds them to the conference. Only the initiator not the participants need the ROK Talk application. No need to find a fixed line, no need to reserve a conference number and no need for people to call in (they get called).

An example may be a sales manager (in their car with a mobile) needing an urgent conference call (think customer deal) with their pre-sales tech (who is “somewhere” offsite) the account manager and the finance manager. Using ROK Talk you could initiate this conference call quickly and relatively easily. I cannot think of convenient alternatives for initiating an on demand conference call from a mobile. Normally you would wait till you got to your office and use either a fixed line conference facility or you would individually dial each participant and add them to the same call.

So here’s where things get a bit more interesting. How will Rok distribute the product and make money? Well mobile operators have the most to gain by getting people making mobile initiated conference calls. It drives revenue to them and away from the fixed line operators. Thus a key part of the ROK strategy is delivering the service via mobile operators and having them push the product. I cant fault the logic.

There is still a key question on cost. Bruce tells me the cost will be competitive to traditional conferencing solutions. This in part will be achieved through using VoIP to transit calls between destinations when possible, but ultimately pricing may depend on the agreements ROK reaches with mobile operators and in turn the pricing they offer to consumers (there may also be a direct ROK offering).

ROK Talk is currently in beta. If the service is as easy to use as described and if mobile carriers pick up the offering together with developing a competitive pricing then I can personally see the service being a huge success in the business market. If it gets cheap enough this will extend to consumer offerings (think 6 teenagers discussing where to meet).

Richard T.