PERSPECTIVES

Q&A with RCR Wireless reporter, Colin Gibbs
By Heather Edell, November 2006

One might think that a reporter trying to sustain the constant revolution of the wireless industry would undoubtedly resemble a corporate-version of Tom Hanks in Castaway - emaciated with unruly shaggy hair, one eye glued to a slew of incoming emails, the other trying to focus on writing notes, all while the ear is attached to a receiver, attempting to decipher a CEO’s jargon of the newest product or service to hit the market. Colin Gibbs, a reporter with RCR Wireless since 2004, admits that he can at times be “heads-down,” but is able to balance his life’s work and his life’s loves.

No shaggy hair here. Gibbs is a proud father of two daughters, three and six months, politics buff, Denver Rockies fan, occasional skier and self-proclaimed “Internet hound.” So, from a person who doesn’t believe in only catching rays from the florescent lights above his desk, we wanted to find out what a typical day for him was like, and what direction he sees the mobile industry going toward today. Most importantly, in our humble opinion, what advice can he give us PR folk?

How did you get into this career, wireless reporter?  What was your career path to your present position?
I took a meandering 'career path' to get here. Studied journalism in college but got sidetracked by a bunch of different things, including a stint doing B2B sales of wireless e-mail services and equipment in the late 90s. I finally got back into journalism as a general assignment reporter for a couple of different pubs, including an independent daily called the Denver Daily News and some freelance stuff for the Denver Post. Eventually, I quit the 70-hour weeks at the Denver Daily News to stay home for a while with my infant daughter. The job was a blast, but I decided I wasn't going to work those hours as a dad. RCR happened to be hiring when I wanted to go back to work. I suppose the combination of wireless and journalism in my background helped me land the job. As for the beat (content and applications), I simply lucked out.

Describe a day in the life of a daily news reporter:
This job is unlike any other reporting job I've ever had - I travel 8 or 10 times a year, but if I'm not on the road I'm in a cube, which is a little more corporate-ish than I'm used to. But my office days are pretty uniform: spend the first couple of hours weeding through emails, scanning press releases and blogs to see what may have happened overnight. Then I choose two or three stories to follow and report on for our daily email alerts and web postings. The rest of the day I spend chasing larger stories for the print weekly - doing background, interviews, etc.

The really fun (and intense) stuff is at the two CTIA shows, where we publish the official show dailies. The daily deadlines are kind of a rush. 

What are the five major trends you see in the mobile industry today?
1 - Mobile. Marketing/ad-supported content - people can't stop talking about it.
2 - Music. Video is sexier, but I think music has much more substantial legs in the short- and mid-term.
3 - Video. Wireless TV has a long, long way to go, but impressive subscription numbers are strong evidence that the demand is there.
4 - LBS. Now that the carriers have made their networks GPS-enabled and mid-range GPS handsets are hitting the market, LBS may finally live up to the hype. Well, some of it, anyway.
5 - Community/user-generated content. There won't be a ton of winners here, at least anytime soon - look how rare the fixed-line success stories like YouTube and MySpace are - but there is definitely demand for mobile services that allow you to share pics, network, etc. The first company (whether established or a startup) that comes up with compelling cross-platform offering will do really well - in terms of traffic, if not revenues. Making a case for the business model(s) is a taller order.

Do you view mobile as a cool innovation of the moment, or as the platform to the future of entertainment?
Wow.... somewhere in between, but a little closer to the latter than the former. I don't ever see the phone as the 'hub' of a home entertainment system, for lots of reasons. Your TV has a better screen, your stereo system sounds much better, and your PC will always be able to handle more data, store more files, etc. But I do see the phone becoming a kind of an extension device - one that's just as important as the others, but allows you to 'mobilize' the others.

Something you recently found intriguing?
It's amazing to me how this industry continues to pick up on one theme and beat the hell out of it. We've been hearing about 'mobile marketing' for a while -- even though the term means 1,000 different things to 1,000 different people -- but ever since CTIA IT in L.A., the buzz is deafening. The network operators (and everyone else, for that matter) are scrambling to boost data services with ad money, but there is a LOT of work left to be done before any substantial revenues will be seen, I think.

What do you think the greatest challenges facing the mobile entertainment sector are currently/will be in the future?
1) User education. This whole thing is going to take a lot longer than people think. Music is probably a natural fit for the mobile phone, but most users my age don't want to watch mobile TV. Other, more complicated apps will take that much longer.
2) DRM. The fact that the wireless industry still has no real standard is absurd. Shortsighted carriers, handset makers and software developers are creating serious fragmentation problems, and it will cost the industry substantially in the long term.

What is your experience working with PR people - what types of PR people do you work with the best?
I like working with PR people who understand what my job is and what I'm trying to do. I like professionals who make sure I have what I need and are accessible and responsive without pestering me. If I can't cover the launch of version 3.0 of your application, I'm sorry, but there were too many other important and/or interesting things. Don't call me and ask if it will run next week; it won't because it will be dated. Understand the industry as a whole, and where the company you're repping for resides in the space. Understand that I get hundreds of emails a day, and please forgive me if I don't respond to yours.

Make your pitches specific, simple, and try to offer some evidence or anything else that will help me believe you're not full of crap. And - this happens more than you might believe - NEVER make a pitch without becoming familiar with what I write. I write a mobile game story every other month, so don't call me to pitch me about how mobile gaming is driving wireless data. I'll be nice to you, but I'll probably dismiss every other pitch you throw my way.

What are the most rewarding aspects of your job?
I'll sometimes write a story that I think might actually help move things forward a little. I try to look at things from a consumer perspective rather than giving an insider or technical view, and I try to keep things simple. I love when I can write about things that consumers might hate, and that might cause problems for the industry - things like interstitial ads or "Bluespamming,' which is the act of sending unsolicited marketing messages via Bluetooth.

And scoops. Nothing compares to being first with a good story.

What is the least rewarding aspect of your job?
When people don't understand that we're real journalists trying to write solid, accurate, well-researched stories. I'm here to report, maybe offer some analysis, but not to be a cheerleader for the industry or any specific company or technology.