That is the key conclusion of a new report, "The Mobile Opportunity," from the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers.

"Mobile has other benefits as well: it provides a new avenue for gathering information to build knowledge of reader needs and interests; it provides a bridge to the next generation of readers; it is interactive; it can add value to services offered to advertisers; and it can reduce administrative and workflow costs," says the report, available exclusively to WAN members and subscribers to the SFN project.

"The Mobile Opportunity" is one of six SFN strategy reports published by WAN in 2004. The others are "New Classified Models", "New Designs, New Formats", "Circulation Winners", "Emerging Markets", and "Media Landscapes." They are available by subscription through the SFN project, which identifies, analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefit newspapers all over the world (www.futureofthenewspaper.com).

In "The Mobile Opportunity," the SFN project examines more than 50 ideas to do business with mobile telephones.

Why mobile?

"Mobile communications have been described as a force for the renaissance of newspapers. This new media revolution heralds an opportunity to develop more secure relationships with readers and advertisers, develop new revenue streams in media consumption and communication, and provide back-of-house operational efficiencies within the newspaper industry," says the report.

Publishers can generate revenue from mobile in a number of distinct ways -- through distribution, service, transactions, spin-off and advertising opportunities. "Anything you do in mobile will be small. Relative to the size of the newspaper operation, mobile revenues will be very low. But do it anyway. They will grow and early entry is essential."

The report provides specific suggestions. Here are a few of them:

  Enable readers to book their classified advertising as a text message. Charge the cost of the advertisement to their mobile account. Encourage them to use the camera in their phone to take photographs of their house, or car, or even themselves, to include in the advertisement.

  Optimise your newspaper distribution by using GPS and mobile technology to monitor van routes and avoid congestion.

  Allow readers to be alerted every time a key word or series of words that are important to them appear in the newspaper. This could be "beckham", "diabetes", "saxophone", "suit sale".

  Help advertisers increase their response by setting up a fast advertisement response system where readers simply dial a short code to receive details of a special offer, or can be sent a mobile coupon that they can use to reclaim a discount or other benefit.

  Re-purpose sports results and match analyses into easily downloadable tables and files that fans can track. Make sport and other newspaper photographs available as downloads.

In addition to strategy reports, the SFN project provides a library of case studies and business ideas, and a wealth of other vital information for all those who need to follow press industry trends. More information is available at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.

WAN conducts the SFN project with support from six international partners -- PubliGroupe, the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group; MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; UPM, one of the world’s leading printing paper producers; Unisys, a leading supplier of mission-critical solutions, services and innovative technology to the publishing industry; Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media group; and Samsung Electronics, a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergence technology.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.