Sol Trujillo recently touted Telstra's 3G services as generating $20 more per user per month than their 2G offering. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23651210-5013040,00.html
Supporting the 'incumbent' is always a fraught exercise however this underpins what I think is the main theme of the mobile industry.
Mobile operators ultimately use the same network technologies, however Telstra has understood in delivering the mobile-world to consumers, you need to give them compelling content and services that are tailored to work on the mobile, not just 'internet access'. Telstra has understood this with Foxtel MobileTV, BigPond music and a plethora of other services and their ARPU shows they are reaping the benefits.
People will consume mobile services, they love them and they're willing to pay, telco's just need to provide them and do it well.
Showing posts with label mobile internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile internet. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Imaginings
The thing I love most about the mobile industry is the fact that it continues to prove people wrong.
There were times (and some still live in those times) where we couldn't fathom all the things that we now do with our mobile phones.
Imagine a world where I can make phone calls from anywhere, with NO wires.
Imagine a world where I can send messages to my friends without having to ring and disturb them.
Imagine checking the weather, movie times and bus timetables when I'm out with friends.
Imagine doing my emails on the train to work without having to unfold my laptop.
Imagine having one device in my pocket that can play my music, take photos, surf the internet, make phone calls and show me on a map where I am and where to go.
Madness I tell you, madness.
What about watching the news or other TV programs, live without having to be in front of my TV
What about messaging my friends in real-time instead of asynchronous messages back and forward
Buying things with my phone instead of carrying a wallet
Checking my bank balance without going to a cash-machine
Projecting a screen and keyboard from my phone instead of carrying a laptop
GSM connections took 12 years to reach 1 billion, a further 2.5 years to reach 2 billion and 22 months to grow to 3 billion. That is the fastest growth of any industry, ever.
Where will we be in 10 years?
There were times (and some still live in those times) where we couldn't fathom all the things that we now do with our mobile phones.
Imagine a world where I can make phone calls from anywhere, with NO wires.
Imagine a world where I can send messages to my friends without having to ring and disturb them.
Imagine checking the weather, movie times and bus timetables when I'm out with friends.
Imagine doing my emails on the train to work without having to unfold my laptop.
Imagine having one device in my pocket that can play my music, take photos, surf the internet, make phone calls and show me on a map where I am and where to go.
Madness I tell you, madness.
What about watching the news or other TV programs, live without having to be in front of my TV
What about messaging my friends in real-time instead of asynchronous messages back and forward
Buying things with my phone instead of carrying a wallet
Checking my bank balance without going to a cash-machine
Projecting a screen and keyboard from my phone instead of carrying a laptop
GSM connections took 12 years to reach 1 billion, a further 2.5 years to reach 2 billion and 22 months to grow to 3 billion. That is the fastest growth of any industry, ever.
Where will we be in 10 years?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Mobile Internet - The Elephant in a Bird Cage
Its here and it feels like mobile internet has come from nowhere in a big hurry. Of course, there will be those that remember the WAP debacle and the various, faltering lurches made by mobile operators around the world in launching mobile data products over the last few-years (a friend recently asked me about the fate of i-mode) and here's an article about why both Telstra and 02 UK ultimately canned it. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/23/imode_fails/
But thats all behind us, its here now and I don't just mean downloading of gimmicky ringtones and content. This is THE hottest topic for mobile operators almost everywhere in the world and for so many reasons, this post talks mainly about usability and how mobile operators are brining you the web to your mobile
The big challenge for Mobile internet (and the genesis of the elephant metaphor) is the fact that websites were not built to run on small screens, they were also designed with a nice big keyboard and mouse in mind and their demand on bandwidth grows faster than even the rapid deployment of fast mobile networks can keep pace with.
Mobile operators in Australia are overwhelmingly taking the portal approach, (Optus MyZoo, Planet3, Vodafone Live & Telstra Bigpond). There's two main reasons for mobile operators adopting the portal approach. Firstly, quality of service can be guaranteed by your operator if they control the portal, this is something that mobile customers are especially senstitive to.
Secondly and possibly more cynicaly, mobile operators by controlling what you access and how you access it can also control the amount you pay, and the amount that advertisers pay to get onto your tiny little mobile screen. Even more simply, mobile operators don't want to go down the path of ISP's where they become dumb-pipes, providing you with some bandwidth and having nothing more to do with your mobile internet experience.
I do acknowledge here the proliferation in Australia of the '5gb for $29.95' mobile broadband plans but these are confined to the use of a USB modem plugged into your laptop (internet via a mobile network rather than truly mobile internet....though even that vague distinction is blurring).
For handset manufacturers, the problem is quite different. Their relationship with you really ends once you've opened the box (although they'd all like to change that). Therefore the manufacturers are putting their efforts into rendering technology, effectively providing a mobile browser that can tailor a website designed for the 'big screen' to work on your mobile. Nokia does this well, unsurprisingly so does Apple and no doubt Google's android will make major advancements in this area.
For the mobile industry as a group, the focus has been on putting together rules for content development that will make websites work better on the mobile handsets and make it easier for developers to know how to create them. http://www.w3.org/Mobile/
Then there's the ever contraversial .mobi, a new top-level domain created specifically to denote websites that will work on mobiles http://www.mtld.mobi/. Critics of the domain say it is polarising the internet and creating a mobile 'ghetto' rather than a single web that is device/access technology agnostic. Supporters say its the best way of offering a reliable way for all website owners to denote a mobile friendly space, rather than the hit and miss that exists now. Whatever your view, check out the investor list....its the most interesting cross-section of companies working together in this space I've ever seen.
Whatever the answer, the news is good for everybody. Accessing data services on mobile devices is THE trend of the next five years for everybody along the value chain and the direction and opportunities that this will take are very much still up for grabs.
But thats all behind us, its here now and I don't just mean downloading of gimmicky ringtones and content. This is THE hottest topic for mobile operators almost everywhere in the world and for so many reasons, this post talks mainly about usability and how mobile operators are brining you the web to your mobile
The big challenge for Mobile internet (and the genesis of the elephant metaphor) is the fact that websites were not built to run on small screens, they were also designed with a nice big keyboard and mouse in mind and their demand on bandwidth grows faster than even the rapid deployment of fast mobile networks can keep pace with.
Mobile operators in Australia are overwhelmingly taking the portal approach, (Optus MyZoo, Planet3, Vodafone Live & Telstra Bigpond). There's two main reasons for mobile operators adopting the portal approach. Firstly, quality of service can be guaranteed by your operator if they control the portal, this is something that mobile customers are especially senstitive to.
Secondly and possibly more cynicaly, mobile operators by controlling what you access and how you access it can also control the amount you pay, and the amount that advertisers pay to get onto your tiny little mobile screen. Even more simply, mobile operators don't want to go down the path of ISP's where they become dumb-pipes, providing you with some bandwidth and having nothing more to do with your mobile internet experience.
I do acknowledge here the proliferation in Australia of the '5gb for $29.95' mobile broadband plans but these are confined to the use of a USB modem plugged into your laptop (internet via a mobile network rather than truly mobile internet....though even that vague distinction is blurring).
For handset manufacturers, the problem is quite different. Their relationship with you really ends once you've opened the box (although they'd all like to change that). Therefore the manufacturers are putting their efforts into rendering technology, effectively providing a mobile browser that can tailor a website designed for the 'big screen' to work on your mobile. Nokia does this well, unsurprisingly so does Apple and no doubt Google's android will make major advancements in this area.
For the mobile industry as a group, the focus has been on putting together rules for content development that will make websites work better on the mobile handsets and make it easier for developers to know how to create them. http://www.w3.org/Mobile/
Then there's the ever contraversial .mobi, a new top-level domain created specifically to denote websites that will work on mobiles http://www.mtld.mobi/. Critics of the domain say it is polarising the internet and creating a mobile 'ghetto' rather than a single web that is device/access technology agnostic. Supporters say its the best way of offering a reliable way for all website owners to denote a mobile friendly space, rather than the hit and miss that exists now. Whatever your view, check out the investor list....its the most interesting cross-section of companies working together in this space I've ever seen.
Whatever the answer, the news is good for everybody. Accessing data services on mobile devices is THE trend of the next five years for everybody along the value chain and the direction and opportunities that this will take are very much still up for grabs.
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