I was fascinated to read a piece by Jerry Kramskoy on the BBC Internet Blog about Femtocells. The BBC Mobile Research team has Femtocells firmly in its sights and in particular the new service opportunities. As the article rightly points out of course, there are several further drivers for Femtocells including improving indoor coverage (I could have used a femtocell for this aspect only two days ago) and channelling data traffic off the core mobile network. This latter aspect is a major one for mobile operators because femtocells can relieve load and lead to postponing investment in increased capacity.
Back to the BBC Internet Blog though.
Perhaps the most telling comment is right in the middle of the article. It says that Femtocells aren’t exactly a household name yet.
I totally agree with this point. Whatever the technical benefits and possibilities that Femtocells offer – and they’re pretty compelling – the industry faces some marketing challenges with Femtocells.
I’d actually go further and say that in some way it would be disappointing if they did become a household name!
Surely there are opportunities for marketing teams in mobile operators the world over to invent catchy brand names that communicate the benefits on offer from Femtocells? This will help mass adoption.
[...] Howard Wilcox pleads for catchier femtocell brand names and points to the marketing challenges. [...]