The lords of the ringing tones and icons

Cellular phones, aside from being ubiquitous communication devices, can also be considered extensions of their users’ personality. Handset manufacturers have made it a point to create fashion-friendly phones that can be accessorized and whose casings can be changed to suit users’ moods and attitudes.

An entire aftermarket industry for handset accessories such as covers, casings, colored backlights and headsets, ranging from the stylish to the gaudy, fuels this personalization mania.

What really gives handsets personalities, however, are their ringing tones and their operator logos. No one knows this better than Rainer Leinonen, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Wireless Services Asia. His company has rooted itself in the Filipino text culture and is one of the pre-eminent suppliers of content for mobile phones locally and abroad. Many would argue though that ringing tones, logos and such are not vital necessities to the communication aspect of cellular phone use.

The popularity of these add-ons has made them a sizable business, and the Philippines has, in a way, become one of the leading hubs for the creation of this content and other countries in Asia and Europe have followed suit. Perhaps, this is a result of the Philippines being a widely developed and advanced user of cellular communications; we aren’t considered the "text capital" of the world for nothing.

Wireless Services Asia or WSA is one of the country’s most successful developers of content and applications for GSM networks. Tied up with Globe Telecom and Touch Mobile locally, WSA’s services include the creation of ringing tones, operator logos and picture messages, mobile games as well as other value-added services catering to cellphone users.

WSA, realizing the potential of providing content for GSM networks and providers, has been in existence since 1999. Since then, it has been able to forge important content development and creation partnerships not only with Globe Telecom (yes, most of the promos for ringing tones and logos from Globe Telecom were created by WSA) but also with Singapore Telecom (or SingTel, Globe Telecom’s foreign partner), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Sony Music, Universal, Warner Brothers and other multinational companies around the world.

In this Q&A with The Telecoms Section, Leinonen discusses the present and future of mobile content and why the Philippines provides the perfect scenario for developing this content.

TELECOMS: How long has WSA been in existence? Who are the people behind it?

Leinonen: Wireless Services Asia was incorporated in September 1999. At the moment, we have 25 employees: 20 Filipinos, one Canadian and four Finns. The president of the company is Edgardo Limon. We have offices in Manila, Helsinki and Singapore. Our business is to develop mobile value-added services for the leading GSM operators like Globe Telecom in the Philippines.

TELECOMS: Is there a specific reason why you considered establishing your business in the Philippines?

Leinonen: The Philippines is a leading country when it comes to cellular communications. It was the best country for us to start with in Asia; it is also a very fast growing and innovative market.

TELECOMS: How and why did your company decide to get into this niche?

Leinonen: We knew that text messaging would be a big success in the Philippines and we understood how to implement new innovative services to personalize the mobile phone experience like innovative text messaging-based (applications) to download and forward ringing tones, icons and text cards.

We also knew how to develop mobile gaming applications. We felt that consumers would want these services and that these would be good value-added services for GSM operators. We felt that these services would provide operators a competitive edge and (help them) build consumer loyalty.

TELECOMS: How is your workforce?

Leinonen: Our average age is 25. WSA has employed young, professional and creative people in various fields like software engineering, content production, marketing and sales and operations.

We have successfully combined our Filipino and Finnish development teams to work together, producing really competitive content, innovative applications and reliable, high-capacity service platform. and our international content partners like Warner Brothers allow us to provide branded services. We believe that these are the differentiators that give us and our clients the competitive edge.

TELECOMS: What other value-added services do you specialize in? What areas will your company diversify in?

Leinonen: We have also introduced the first mobile commerce application in the Philippines. That’s our GSM greeting card service, which was the first mobile greeting card service worldwide. At the moment, we are also developing Java games as well as Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) services for upcoming mobile phones.

TELECOMS: What will your company specialize in once 3G phones, if ever, become the norm?

Leinonen: We would still focus on mobile entertainment type of services like mobile imaging, music, mobile gaming services. 3G phones will support color images, animation and higher data speeds. This will enable us to enhance our existing services:

With 3G, our icons can be animated, ringing tones can include short video clips, and our 3G games can support online real-time gaming that is very popular on the Internet these days. When 3G is ready so are we with service enhancements and new services. We have a number of applications currently under development for 3G.

TELECOMS: How does your company know what to focus on in terms of trends for logos and ringing tones? Do you have a research team dedicated to studying popular culture?

Leinonen: We have a content development team that gets feedback from leading users to capture the themes of the season. We have a promo almost every week. We have to be innovative and we need to always work fast.

TELECOMS: What are your bestsellers or most popular ringing tones and logos?

Leinonen: Hit lists and movie theme songs are selling very well. This week’s hit is the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones theme song. Some classical ringing tones are doing well. Also, seasonal ringing tones like, for example, Christmas songs.

People also like to personalize their phone display with icons that are related to their (lifestyles) and interests. We have a library of over 2,000 pictures where people can choose from. People can also create their own icons using our Web-based design tool. At the moment, movie and cartoon-related icons are popular like Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester, Elmer and Taz.

TELECOMS: When creating ringing tones, do you get permission and pay royalties?

Leinonen: Yes, we have contracts with music publishers for creating ringing tones. We have contracts with both local and international music publishers.

TELECOMS: What are your company’s future plans?

Leinonen: We will keep developing new services and content as well as enhancing our existing services. We will also continue to focus on research and development and we will continue to expand abroad.