Today I received an email press release from a Finnish mobile tech firm that’s in part behind National Public Radio’s (NPR) new mobile strategy. Coincidentally, I came across this article today about the same, but from NPR’s perspective.
Both pieces of information contain useful insights for marketers, even those outside the realm of broadcast communications.
Like many companies, NPR jumped on the mobile apps bandwagon by first building an iPhone application that has thus far experienced a lot of success (millions of downloads and 15 minute average use times).
Although the iPhone made sense initially, NPR found limitations which has led to a revamped mobile strategy that greatly increases the population of listeners who can access NPR content on the go. What’s interesting about their new strategy is that it is as much about reaching more listeners across a variety of mobile devices as getting its member stations to benefit from mobile. To achieve this, Google’s Android platform was the ideal choice:
“With the Android app, we can let the stations incorporate their own apps into ours. Some stations are more advanced digitally than others. We’re working with them about becoming more robust providers of local news, which will keep them relevant. And we can share our programming and theirs on one app. That expands the opportunities for all of us.”
A much more robust mobile web presence is also part of the equation, and is apparently based on technology from that Finnish firm I mentioned. Yet it’s the greater flexibility offered by Google Android, relative to the iPhone, that appears central to NPR’s mobile strategy.
This is the first example I’ve seen where the discussion is not about the reach (or lack thereof) offered by the iPhone. Instead, NPR chose Android because it fit their business model better by offering its member stations a more relevant marketing platform. That is the kind of logic and thoughtful approach which should help make 2010 the year of mobile.
