“Adult has always been a key driver in any new medium, and wireless will be no different,” posits Marc Jarrett, business development manager for txtNation, Europe’s leading independent carrier-neutral SMS billing provider. “The cell phone tuning industry is already a multimillion dollar industry in its own right.”
In fact, Jarrett says, it was just that optimistic business outlook that was chiefly behind the creation of txtNation and its subsidiary Adult Mobile Solutions, a fully managed mobile billing services system. “TxtNation was launched specifically to launch mobile efforts, and Adult Mobile Solutions was formed to specifically address the needs of the adult webmaster community,” Jarrett says.
TxtNation was formed in 2002, Jarrett says, by Michael Whelan and Jon Roswell, two young entrepreneurs who befriended each other during their studies at Plymouth University in England (Whelan studied computing; Roswell was in business). As Whelan recalls, the decision to start their company came about shortly after graduation.
“We had looked at and both been interested in m-commerce for the large part of college,” he remembers. “We had seen a large gap in the market, and we had thought about and discussed it and future possibilities over a few beers.”
The liquor must have gone to their heads, as a short time later – after successfully offering services such as tones, billing, content, and chat to nonadult webmasters – they found themselves in business together in an industry that they knew virtually nothing about—porn. Surprising considering that, according to Whelan, neither he nor Roswell had any intention of getting involved in the adult industry. “It was more the fact that so many adult webmasters had seen our services in operation in the nonadult domain and had enquired about them,” he says of their introduction to the triple-X industry. It wasn’t until after they extended their services into the adult arena that they realized the business potential that awaited them there. “From the successful launch of a few adult sites, we formed AdultMobileSolutions.com to cater to this large audience,” Whelan explains.
With txtNation, the pair had one vision in mind for their joint venture: “to be the elite mobile solution and service provider in the U.K.” They started the company as a “bedroom business,” though they quickly attracted the attention of some of the U.K.’s largest companies, including DCS Europe, which came on board as a financial supporter (and part owner). After txtNation achieved its goal of taking the U.K. by storm, Jarrett and company focused their efforts on the rest of Europe, which they also quickly conquered.
TxtNation has introduced several services over the years, the first being PEOPLEFIND (today a leading mobile chat and dating application), mPUSH (a content-to-mobile application), mCHAT (an SMS text chatting option) and, most recently, the wildly successful and revolutionary mENABLE (an SMS and mobile phone billing option). These applications have, according to Jarrett, pushed txtNation to the top of the heap when it comes to mobile business. “The aggressive and relentless pursuit of developing and maintaining such leading applications has now found txtNation in the enviable position of being among the most viral names in mobile,” he attests.
Indeed, from its presence in more than 28 countries worldwide to its award-winning services (mPUsh was awarded the coveted Mobile Marketing Association Award for “Best Use of Mobile Technology” in 2003, and mENABLE received the “Best Mobile Billing Solution” awards in 2004), txtNation has become a company virtually synonymous with “viral,” managing more than 3 million messages a month and operating from a sizeable and reputable customer base that includes some of the most respected brands in adult.
Of course, there were some stumbling blocks along the way—mostly the resistance to the mobile movement in the early days and, as Whelan says, “making people aware of the use of mobile and [getting them to look] not so much at the future, but now.” Now that mobile content is gaining a wider audience, one stumbling block is, of course, competition—though Whelan doesn’t seem to be too worried about that. “As of now, we feel we have the services to lead the way,” he boasts. “As always, there are competitors in any space, and mobile is no different.”
The growth rate for the company has been so big, in fact, that the company is now focusing on markets in the United States and Asia, though Jarrett concedes that it may be some time before the U.S. catches up to its cousins overseas. “The U.S. is behind Europe due to the fact that all European cellcos used the GSM standard from the outset,” he explains. “The U.S. will catch up, but we believe it will take another five years for them to overtake Europe in this space.” Of course, that’s not stopping txtNation from trying to turn itself into, as Jarrett trumpets, “the industry standard for all m-commerce requirements.” (The motto for Adult Mobile Solutions is even bolder, proclaiming itself as “the one-stop shop for adult webmasters looking to mobilize.”)
For his part, Whelan believes that txtNation is in a prime spot to help lead the charge for mobile advancement. “We focus on mobile entirely—the solutions themselves, not [the] provisioning of the content or WAP/mobile designs,” he says of what makes the company different from some of its competitors. Whelan adds that now is the perfect time to be riding on the mobile bandwagon. “I firmly believe mobile will be the wave of the future,” he predicts. “Billing solutions and advanced content systems will evolve and services will become better optimized for the handset.” He continues that the mobile adult movement will progress as handset technology advances: “Once the barrier of smaller screens has been overcome, more people will take to mobile for adult services. Usability is a major factor, as at the end of the day, it’s the customers who are always right.”
As Whelan says, txtNation often takes the advice of those customers into consideration, and he and Roswell are very critical of themselves when it’s warranted. “As with any company you can never be satisfied,” he begins. “We are only at the start of what we hope will evolve and be a fantastic relationship within this industry. We have to keep on top of regulations and technology improvements, ensuring our services remain a webmaster’s first choice of call.”
According to Jarrett, one thing the company has learned from its involvement in mobile solutions is “to be patient. Adult webmasters have many issues to deal with at this time, and for many, mobile is not high on their agenda.” That said, he continues, “We see our role as offering both the solutions and ongoing consultancy in a rapidly advancing industry. Mobile is a whole new ball game with a whole new set of standards, terminologies, and billing mechanisms. We aim to educate and advise, so that webmasters can maximize their rate of investment and implement our solutions effectively.”
Future plans, Jarrett says, include simply staying on top of new technological developments and offering new services where they can. “Our plan is to constantly strive to develop new and innovative applications that allow our partners to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the convergence of Web, billing, and mobile technologies,” he promises. And what, pray tell, does he believe the next big thing to be? “Live streaming to mobile is widely expected to be the next killer application, and will take the already successful SMS chat services to the next level—a ‘must-have’ for webcam operators, who will be able to seamlessly integrate mobile into their existing operations, creating an instant brand new market and subsequent revenue stream,” he responds.
But in case you think the folks at txtNation are living in a bubble, consider Whelan’s rather sober advice to other webmasters and entrepreneurs looking to join the latest craze. “Mobile is never going to replace the Web in that it will be used as a medium to stream full movies and access highly interactive sites that are meant for the larger screens,” he says. “This is not our aim anyway. Mobile is, however, going to be the perfect medium for previews and optimized content. In commercial terms, mobile porn will, in the end, be just like today’s Web porn: made by professionals for corporations.”
As far as why these fellas have chosen to benefit from the adult industry, Whelan responds with a playful “Why not? It seems from our involvement that the adult industry is always among the first to introduce new services, new technologies and first to market breakthroughs—ahead of any other Web business. The end users demand so much out of this industry in comparison to mainstream.” Jarrett agrees, adding, “Porn has always been a key driver in any new medium. It is an innovative, energetic, and dynamic industry that is constantly evolving. The people are great and [they] come from a very diverse range of backgrounds, which is why it’s just a great industry to be involved with.”
In other words, it might be safe to say that although they’re focused on the business at hand, these are a few boys who just want to have fun.
