Get me profit, Pronto!

Wireless solution company i3 Mobile (www.i3mobile.com) in early October will debut a voice-activated wireless content service called Pronto.

For $14.95, users of most any wireless phone service will be able to access content such as stock quotes, weather reports, driving directions and airline schedules. Text-messaging also is included in the service.

I3 Mobile CEO John Lack, a veteran of the cable TV industry, told Wireless Review last week that the service would be marketed first in New Haven and Hartford, CT, following a $4-$5 million advertising campaign including TV, radio, print and outdoor spots.

Following the Connecticut launch, other target markets include Washington/Baltimore and the Philadelphia area.

Lack, who credits himself with having invented MTV (www.mtv.com), said the new content model would appeal to customers currently frustrated with wireless data content services offered by wireless carriers. I3 Mobile will not partner directly with wireless carriers to market the Pronto service. Rather, it will directly control sales, distribution and billing for the service. Using this business model, Lack said Pronto would break even with 1 million subscribers.

“Two million would be great,” he said.

The existing wireless data services offered are not as successful as they could be, according to Lack, who said, “The revenue model’s not the problem... It’s the services that suck.”

Based on extensive market research - including a Nielsen (www.nielsen.com) study and smaller focus groups - i3 Mobile determined that about 75% of those polled would pay the rate of $14.95 per month for a service that could be accessed by voice.

“The reason we will succeed is be customers want what I have to sell,” Lack said. “This product is all about information and services. This is much the same as HBO and other premium cable channels. All of them were consumer brands and they were what consumers told us they wanted.”