As we are analysing the market for mobile software we are looking at various angles - students motivations to use the software, parents desire to pay for software and teachers support for ideas and approach. Our research is also looking into competition and pricing for software and this has raised an interesting question - Is the BBC going to help or hinder us?
As UK residents we are all licence fee payers and therefore we fund the BBC, and on questions of the value we get for that licence fee we are happy with the TV and Radio broadcasts and the extensive access that the BBC has given us to news and all it’s other content via the BBC website.
We have also read stories relating to complaints about the BBC and it’s effect on competition and innovation in certain markets - newspapers, television companies and publishers. The general feeling after reading these stories is that the BBC should continue to publish it’s content online and not hold content back. Holding content back would only mean that companies would sell similar content to us, even though we have already paid for it.
Our perspective has changed now we can see that the BBC is commissioning mobile content for education - and the question for us is how much will this impact on Luzia. If the BBC is giving software away for free - can we compete?
Will the BBC, by experiementing in this area, highlight to a wide audience the benefits of using these techniques? Will they take our ideas and their great resources and commission work with us? Will they encourage larger organisaitons into this area?
At the moment we are unable to see the effect the BBC is having, only over the next year will it become apparent, for the moment we welcome the BBCs work and hope it helps create demand for mobile educational tools. We hope this involvement is kept to a minimum and once they have helped promote this area, they make sure that their activities do not create an environment that stiffles innovation.