For operators to take a share of the evolving mobile media market, they must push these sophisticated services into the hands of their customers. And the quicker they meet consumer demand, the faster they will reap the lucrative benefits of this growing mobile medium.

Operators can find themselves going round in circles when it comes to mobile content management. While sourcing optimal services and finding the right media formats, they must also deal with the intricacies of digital rights management. This dizzy digital mess is giving operators a headache. Ericsson, however, has the remedy, as Claes Ödman, head of Ericsson's Multimedia Solutions, explains.

"Content management is very important and operators are beginning to realize that it is a vital step in offering customers a great user experience," he says.

Ericsson has two ways to help operators build a profitable platform simply and efficiently, allowing them to deploy mobile content and attractive services. The first is an operator-owned solution, with Ericsson providing a well-structured and integrated service-delivery platform that supports service creation, sourcing and launches with common functions, testing and integration.

The second is a hosted solution in which Ericsson offers proven consumer services and takes full responsibility for integration, operation and maintenance of portals and applications.

As Ödman says: "The benefit to operators is the same in both cases: we can provide a very flexible platform on which they can design and launch new services." Ericsson has proven experience in this area, with numerous customized service-delivery platforms in use among operators around the world.

Ericsson's Automatic Device Configuration (ADC) solution is one of the cornerstones of this offering. It lets operators get an accurate overview of the mobile models customers are using, as well as being able to track device capabilities. The solution, currently used by about 45 Ericsson customers around the world, recognizes more than 10,000 different handset models and how they need to be configured. As Ödman says, this significantly optimizes usage when new services are launched.

"ADC detects the necessary settings automatically, which ensures users always have the handset configuration they need to use the most advanced services," Ödman says. "We have seen that this capability enables operators to increase overall data usage in the network by 5-10 percent."

Indeed, ease of use and delivery speed, as well as awareness, pricing and service quality, all make up the optimal "end-user experience." Ödman says this is fundamental in maximizing service uptake among consumers while maximizing operator revenues at the same time.

"The end-user experience is what determines which services succeed in the market," he says. "Services need to be fun and enriching, and when operators succeed, they benefit from greater uptake of the service."

Maximizing service uptake was on Ericsson's agenda at the CTIA Wireless 2006 event in Las Vegas in April.

Ödman says the company's integrated and structured approach to helping operators launch services successfully was well received. "This is something that is very much at the forefront for operators around the world," he says. "Customers are demanding richer mobile content and that is putting pressure on operators to launch new services."

Newly launched services typically are adopted gradually; once the service peaks, interest tapers off and usage naturally declines. "But faster adoption means faster time-to-revenue for operators," Ödman says. "We need to keep the usage high for as long as possible and take measures as soon as we see it starting to decline."

Finally, when the relevance of the service appears to have passed, it is time to upgrade. "We then migrate it to a new, similar service, which offers something new to end users to capture their interest again," Ödman says. "That is maximizing service uptake."

He says the key to the offering is working with operators to segment their markets, identify optimal services and bring them to market effectively, as well as offering a continuous life-cycle management process.

"Operators benefit from our end-to-end capabilities, which are unique in the telecoms arena," he says. "We have the knowledge, experience and tools to provide a full solution for operators to launch new, quality services, and to maintain and profit from them."

So establishing a profitable platform for mobile content does not have to be complicated. Either the operator owns the solution and Ericsson provides support for service creation, sourcing and launches, with common functions, testing and integration. Or it can be even simpler by choosing a hosted solution where Ericsson takes care of everything.