I’ve read an interesting post in MobileCrunch about NBA 2 Go and the cost of the service. I’m going to summarize the scenario in order to allow you to obtain your own conclusions about it.
Until now, you were able to access NBA Mobile to check NBA information on the go. Now, NBA have launched a new application based service called NBA 2 Go, charging a variable amount of money for it (from $2.99 to $9.99, depending on the carrier). You don’t pay for the application but for the service. The information provided is little more than the NBA Mobile version. Moreover, all this content is already available on the web.
I don’t find the point in these kind of services. Why should I pay for something I already have available? Why mobility should be a luxury? I don’t really know the number of people paying for such service, but I suspect that not so much. It’s true that creating these applications takes time and money, but NBA can afford it easily. The marketing benefits obtain for this application freely distributed are surely more valuable than the cost of creating the application.
Would you pay for such a service?
Link MobileCrunch
February 1st, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Would I pay for this? I do pay for it. Have you seen the application or did you write this just based on hearing about it? I am an NBA fan - I love the game and having this app for my phone allows me to skin it for my favorite team, it allows me to track all of my fantasy players - get live play-by-play and program it to track news stories on my favorite team. Yes I can get a lot of this information for free on the web - but that holds true for almost all mobile vs. PC/web things. I can talk for FREE on the web, I can play FREE games on the web, I can get FREE wallpapers from the web - why would I pay money for them for my phone? When you take away that argument, this application provides me with both customization and convenience, and as an NBA fan I am happy to pay for it.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hi Jason, thanks for your comment.
I understand and respect your point of view. I only complain about certain services that offer little difference between mobile web and mobile applications, being charge in the second version but not in the first one. I think NBA shouldn’t get money out of this, as long as its business is obviously in other different place. IMO, the benefits of giving this application for free are much bigger than the money obtained from the carriers.
But this is my opinion.