The user-generated content (UGC) market is one of the most dynamic and rapidly changing sectors in the web economy and companies like MySpace, Facebook and Second Life have grown to become major web brands commanding huge valuations. With handset penetration far exceeding that of internet penetration, along with the phone’s multimedia, connected and location-aware capabilities, mobile operators, UGC service providers, as well as hardware and platform vendors, have been quick to see the huge potential of mobile Web 2.0 services. While early handset-based UGC offerings were simple ‘remote control’ applications enabling users to access their profile and their messages when on the move, true mobile UGC is much more than simply a mobile conduit for web-based user-generated content.

This report presents an in-depth analysis of the user-generated content transition to mobile. The technology and market drivers fuelling the development, deployment and uptake of phone-based UGC services are discussed, and the challenges and opportunities which this new market presents to operators, services providers and platform vendors are examined. The regulation and privacy issues which arise when UGC goes mobile are also investigated, and the potential revenue models are scrutinized.

Topics of coverage include:

• Overview of user-generated content and Web 2.0
• Technology and market drivers fuelling the uptake of phone-based UGC
• Round-up of UGC activity and trends within the mobile market to date
• Widgets as a UGC enabler
• The principle sources of revenue for mobile UGC
• Company profiles for the most active players in mobile UGC
• Analysis of the commercial opportunities for the key stakeholders
• Discussion of the UGC technology trends: from SMS to avatars and IP upload to A-GPS
• Forecast for the growth in mobile UGC revenue broken down by revenue source and content category

Companies mentioned, discussed or reviewed include:

3 UK AA Activefone Adidas AdMob Adobe Aka Aki Altell Amazon AOL Apple AT&T AvaPeeps Axel Springer BBC Bebo Bell Mobility Boost Mobile BT Buzz.net BuzzCity BuzzLogic Buzznet Carphone Warehouse CBS Channel 4 Clearwire ClixSmart CNN Coca Cola Colibria Comcast Comverse Technology Crowdstorm Cyworld Dash DC Comics Disney Dobo Dodgeball Earthlink Earthlink eBay Edipresse Emap EMI Enpocket Ericsson Facebook First Direct Flickr Flirtomatic Flixster Fox Freedom4 Freever Frengo Friendster FunkySexyCool FunMobility Gaia Online GeoSentric Glu Mobile

GoFresh Google Habbo Helio HP IBM Imity Intel iPoint-media Itsmy.com ITU Jaiku Joost Jumbuck Kaboodle KDDI Kodak KylieKonnect Kyte.tv LG Linden Labs LinkedIn Loopt M6 Match.com Maxis Medio Systems MeetMoi Meez Microsoft Ministry of Sound Mobeon MobileOne MonsterMob Motorola Motricity mPortal MSN MTV MyLifeBrand MyPickList MySpace MyStrands NBC Neovia New Horizon Interactive NewBay News Corp. Nickelodeon Nike Nokia NTT DoCoMo O2 Openwave Opera Orange Orkut Pageflakes Pantech Phling! PIXOTA Purple Ace Qualcomm

Reuters Rhythm NewMedia RightCart River Run Red Ryanair Samsung Scoopt Second Life SeeMeTV Shanda Interactive ShopWiki ShoZu SK Telecom Skema Sky Skype SkyRock Sling Media Sony Sony BMG Sony Ericsson Sprint Nextel Sulake Sun Swisscom Symbian Synterra TagWorld Telefonica Moviles TeliaSonera Tesco T-Mobile Trilibis TruePosition Twango Twitter T-Works Unilever Universal Pictures Universl Music Unwired Verizon Viacom VideoEgg Viewmy.tv Virgin Voafone Vonage VSNL Warner Bros Web2Text WhatsBuzzing Widsets Wikipedia WiMAX Telecom Wishpot Wists XING Yahoo Yamgo YouTube Zlio Zumobi

Answers and opinions are provided with respect to the following essential questions:

• What role will operators play in the evolution of mobile UGC and how will they maximise their return?
• Which business models are succeeding in mobile UGC?
• What are the major technology trends in mobile UGC?
• Who are the major players in the mobile UGC market?
• How have the major Web 2.0 brands transitioned to mobile?
• What is the size of the market for mobile UGC?
• What are the dynamics of the mobile UGC value chain?
• What unique advantages does mobile bestow on user generated content?
• How are privacy issues being addressed in the mobile Web 2.0 space?
• What are the critical success factors in building mobile communities?