Next-generation social TV app is set for mobile debut.
Of all the new apps and startups we saw at Mobile World Congress this month, it was Fuugo that most impressed us. It’s the work of Finnish mobile firm Axel Technologies.
The service aggregates shows from broadcast and mobile TV, as well as UGC sites, and then serves them up in a slick touchscreen interface, letting users swipe between channels.
It will also offer social recommendations, and in time a TiVo-esque ability to learn the user’s preferences to personalise what’s on offer.
“More and more people are not just watching ordinary linear TV any more, on their smartbooks, laptops and smartphones,” says CEO Petri Kalske.
“It’s not just TV either: they’re watching online media like YouTube, and chatting at the same time. And there wasn’t really a good app for that.”
The best introduction is probably to watch the company’s teaser video for Fuugo, which shows its basic features and interface:
Kalske says that Fuugo was born out of a decision by Axel Technologies to focus on consumers, rather than its traditional customers from the mobile industry.
“We wanted to give people an easy way to find content, and hide all the technologies, content sources and even the TV channels,” he says. “These aren’t interesting necessarily for people: they just want to watch football, Sex In The City or whatever.”
However, he’s keen to stress that Fuugo isn’t about cutting broadcasters out of the equation, but rather helping their shows to be watched by more people. He cites the BBC’s iPlayer and Hulu in the US as examples that show the broadcasters are already thinking along these lines.
Fuugo will launch in three stages. The first will focus on the core user experience, letting people change channels and watch TV in the traditional sense. The second stage will add in connectivity, to bring in content from more sources. And the third stage will add the personalisation aspects. Kalske says Fuugo will target various devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops.
However, Fuugo isn’t a D2C service, even if it looks like one. Axel Technologies is looking for device partners to take it to market, and is focusing first on the US. “The most innovative device vendors are US-based – and I don’t just mean Apple,” says Kalske.
“Dell are reinventing themselves, and HP are doing the same thing, as are Palm and Motorola. Plus services like Hulu are already very popular in the US, and the broadcasters are behind the ATSC-M/H mobile TV standard. They have the content and the network, so they can just start it, compared to Europe where the broadcasters, regulators and operators are all fighting!”
Kalske says Axel is looking to sign distribution deals with Tier 1 device makers in the US, although Fuugo is also eliciting interest in South Korea and Taiwan, and its first customers may come from there rather than North America.
And the business model? Axel has traditionally licensed its technology to companies with a royalty-based structure – something he thinks some device makers will be happy to do with Fuugo. However, he says some are already talking about an alternative, where a basic version of Fuugo is preloaded on devices, but then users pay for premium features.
“Some have even asked if they can put the whole thing in their app store, offering a 30-day trial with the device,” says Kalske. “That would change our situation quite a lot, as we will be selling directly to consumers. So it’s variations on our traditional business model.”
Advertising could also have a place within Fuugo, although it’s not in Axel’s immediate plans. Kalske says that one method would be context-sensitive searches – where if users are searching for a specific search, ads could be presented alongside.
Content deals could be an interesting area for Fuugo. Kalske says that pulling in content from broadcast TV is no problem, but that other services – particularly online TV aggregators like Hulu – will require deals.
“We’ll do some of those integrations, but not all,” he says. “We will publish an open API and instructions so anyone can bring their favourite services to Fuugo. So if you are interested in a Brazilian football TV service, for example, you’ll be able to follow our instructions to bring it into the service.”
The social side of Fuugo will also be interesting. Users will be able to get show recommendations from their friends, including Twitter and Facebook integration – so when someone tweets a show from within Fuugo, any friends who have the app will see that recommendation within the app itself, as well as on Twitter. And the same for Facebook.
“It’s about making TV social again,” says Kalske. “For us, it’s really a core thing."
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