Former Hands-On exec addresses innovation at the Connected Creativity Forum.
Robert Tercek was once a key executive at mobile entertainment firm Mforma, as it rebranded as Hands-On Mobile. In recent years he's taken roles outside the mobile industry, but has kept a keen eye on developments.
Today, he took the stage at the Connected Creativity Forum in Cannes, part of the MIPTV show. Although his speech was an introduction to the day, he managed to squeeze in some insight too.
"We quietly crossed a threshold in the past year," he said. "We've entered the second century of electronic media, and the dynamics of this second century are going to be dramatically different from the previous 100 years."
Tercek was at the MIP show in 2001 showing off one of the first mobile TV demos, and he broke down some of the changes since then.
"Back in 2000, there were only 250 million people using the internet worldwide, and there were 500 million mobile phones in existence, but they were very... incapable."
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Now, there are two billion internet users and five billion mobile phones. A tenfold increase on both counts, near enough.
Tercek pointed out that there are now 550 million people with fixed broadband connections, and one billion with mobile broadband connections - albeit not spread out evenly around the world.
"We still have plenty of room to grow before the entire planet is connected," he said. "In the not too distant future, though, everyone on the planet will have access in some way... all of the world's information, and all of the world's media. It's a powerful thought."
Tercek also said that ten years ago, the traditional media companies were "unaware" of the potential of new media and mobile, and warned that those attitudes persist in some areas.
What's driving this second century of electronic media? Telephony, according to Tercek. "Telephony has absorbed all forms of media. Print, music, television, games..."
He also said that the closed walled gardens of industries like gaming and television is under "tremendous pressure" as there has been a surge of new types of social media sites and services.
"These are companies that don't need anyone's permission to publish," he said. "That is hitherto unknown in the media business, and this is a tremendous shift."
Tercek talked about the invasion of the tablets, and the impact on models like the cable TV networks. "2011 will clearly be the year that dozens and dozens of new form factors will be introduced," he said.
"There are at least 40 new Android-powered devices coming from various manufacturers... New types of devices that will enable new types of experiences at a variety of different price points."
Tercek also talked about a surge in content published on YouTube, where 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. "Consumers are creating video in massive quantities... and the quality has also increased tremendously in the last five years."
He warned that TV companies have underestimated this trend, but that all this YouTube video is "stealing viewership" from traditional TV.
Tercek also talked about young consumers who are accustomed to watching 'whatever, whenever wherever' - "we are shifting from a world of fixed media to pure information products that can be shared instantaneously," he said.
"From a world of physical products to a world of virtual goods... from a world of one-way programmed broadcasting, to a world of two-way dialogue... from a world where attention is directed into channels and scarcity can be imposed into a world of markets, where content must compete on a level basis with all the other kinds of content."
Tercek also said we are moving from a world of search to a world of social discovery, citing iPad app Flipboard as an example - the content is programmed by the user's friends, effectively.
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