Advanced Business Models for Converged Communications

Emerging Mobile News

Introduction
While service providers have traditionally generated their revenue by extracting value from their networks – a tangible asset that offers connectivity capabilities to enterprises and consumers – key trends in today’s marketplace are changing the rules of the game.

Indeed, today’s business models that extract value from intangible assets – such as user profiles that can be monetized through targeted advertising or mobile and e-commerce initiatives that generate commissions or service fees from transactions – generally outperform models centered exclusively on tangible asset-based connectivity revenues.

As a result, service providers should carefully evaluate their present mode of operation (PMO) and business objectives to examine additional business models that may better suit a future mode of operation (FMO) that supports top-line revenue growth and reduces operational expenses by leveraging a host of intangible assets within their business.

There are global consequences to this transition from PMO to FMO. At Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), we believe that new and emerging industry business models will enable service providers to:

• Continue broadband penetration and deliver successful and innovative services over broadband

• Maintain momentum on mobile subscriber growth and enable broadband to become a true mass-market phenomenon that delivers the benefits of information technologies to all citizens in high-growth markets.

The New Consumers Have Grown Up and So Have Their Service Needs
There is a growing realization of the need for fundamental innovation in the communications industry today. As a result, we are seeing service providers move cautiously to embrace business transformation strategies. But these moves are taking place with some trepidation. There is significant concern that too much rapid change can prematurely disrupt business models that currently represent the lion’s share of revenue streams. After all, it is estimated that, on average, 80% of current revenues in the global telecom sector are generated by voice and data subscription services.

However, this traditional model is showing signs of saturation in developed markets and, more seriously, exposes service provider weakness against non-traditional competition. As a result, we at Alcatel-Lucent believe that the time is right to introduce advanced business models that allow service providers to not only tap into new revenue streams but, most importantly, to differentiate themselves from competitors by augmenting their existing subscription-based businesses.

To evaluate current business models and determine future means of differentiation, service providers need to perform a critical assessment of their existing tangible and intangible assets and ask themselves which ones they can monetize. Once these assets are identified, service providers must evaluate what rights they can sell for each of these assets in order to maximize their return on investment. By looking at the business in this context, it will become clear that existing offers can be differentiated by introducing services based on new business models.2

A recent example of how new disruptive business models can generate new revenues and create differentiation in the marketplace can be found in the digital music player market. This market has been crowded with manufacturers offering a wide variety of products and services for many years. The traditional manufacturer-led market was solely based on selling the music players – a physical asset. But this market was disrupted by Apple (News - Alert) when it introduced iTunes, a new content distribution engine, as a part of its business model for its iPod devices.

Apple differentiated its player by giving people an easy way to load music and video (both intangible assets) to their devices and proceeded to quickly capture 80% of the United States digital music player market. This feat was accomplished despite the fact that it was not the lowest-cost provider of music players. This experience offers an object lesson in why businesses in general – and service providers in particular – should look seriously at differentiating themselves from the competition by introducing new business models that leverage the intangible assets they own, in order to generate revenues in new ways.

Failure to do so can result in negative consequences – in the form of a negative spiral of growing costs and flattening or decreasing revenues and margins.
To move effectively from the PMO to an FMO, service providers must go through a transition phase, during which operational costs may actually increase because they have to maintain legacy systems while deploying new, IP-based systems.

Interestingly, we believe a new business model based on financial assets can be considered to underwrite the transition from legacy to IP platforms. For instance, service providers can use their networks as collateral for bonds issued in the market – offering a relatively simple way to use existing physical assets to fund new business models, without significant impact on the mid-term financial results. In fact, if the transition to new models is handled effectively, not only will service providers have an opportunity to actually reduce their operating costs, but they will also be able to launch new services more quickly. The key question then becomes: What do the FMO models look like?

Real-world Business Models to Maintain Competitiveness
Broadly speaking, there are eight key business models that service providers should consider as they explore new ways to reduce costs and maintain or increase revenues over the long-term.

• Wholesaling: This occurs when a network operator resells an asset – such as excess network capacity – to a retail service provider – such as a Virtual Network Operator (VNO). The VNO then offers services to commercial institutions or consumers. The wholesaler owns and operates the access network and offers connectivity to service providers.

• Outsourcing: This involves transferring the management of resources and day-to-day business functions to an external supplier. These business functions range widely, for example, from billing to data storage all the way to supply chain or human resource management. The primary focus of this business model is two-fold: to reduce the total cost of ownership of an existing operation or to improve time-to-market of new services that would otherwise require longer periods to be implemented internally.

• Asset-sharing: This model is triggered when two or more service providers that individually own and operate networks share overlapping tangible assets. The benefits of this model include the ability for service providers to realize significant cost-efficiencies by eliminating overlapping infrastructure. This allows them to reduce environmental impact and expand their coverage areas by redeploying displaced infrastructure. Service providers under this kind of an agreement can reduce the total cost of ownership of infrastructure and redirect their savings to differentiate their offers with innovative services and applications.

• Content Aggregation and Brokering: This involves the coordination of commercial agreements and technologies that support the availability and legal distribution of user-generated content (UGC) and premium content. Examples of premium content include newspaper articles and multimedia files — such as copyrighted music or video. Revenue is generated as individuals directly purchase content (such as via video-on- demand and pay-per-view models) or sign up for subscriptions to premium content. This model can also be integrated with sponsored activities. A critical aspect of content aggregation and brokering is the ability to manage the distribution while ensuring the integrity of content complying with the copyrights of authors and editors by using digital rights management technology. By brokering content from multiple sources, the service provider can offer unique services and contribute to the top line in a revenue share model with content creators.

• Targeted Advertising: This refers to the ability to interactively connect individuals with the brands and people they are interested in through multiple screens (mobile, computer, TV and so forth). This has emerged as an important revenue stream opportunity for service providers. Converging networks and related services are combining with the management of subscriber profiles to offer insights into geographic, demographic and — most importantly — behavior patterns about the subscriber base. Targeted advertising models should be optimized to provide the right message to the right people at the right place at the right time. Brands and advertisers will pay a premium to service providers that can offer these types of targeted advertising services, making significant contributions to top-line revenue growth.

• UGC and Communities: This model calls for the development and deployment of platforms, tools and applications that allow any user to generate and distribute multimedia content. This content can be developed by individuals or in a collaborative environment by multiple users. After content is initially created, it can be modified, commented on or rated by other users after it is published. Common types of UGC include discussion boards, blogs, social net-working sites, news sites, trip planners, products and services review sites, photo sharing sites, as well as game sites and any other Web site that offers the opportunity for the consumer to share their knowledge and familiarity with a product, topic or experience.

Examples of businesses that are taking advantage of the UGC model include Wikipedia, eBay, Facebook, MySpace, TripAdvisor and YouTube (News - Alert). The broadcast industry has also taken advantage of UGC in a creative way, adding an interesting twist to customer interactivity and stickiness to services. User voting via the Internet or mobile phone has been widely used to influence and decide the outcome of programs and reality shows such as American Idol in the US.

• Fulfillment: This model is triggered when service providers leverage their established billing relationship with the end users to complete transactions and deliver services on behalf of third parties. A music label, for instance, can work with a service provider to allow consumers to download music to a multimedia device and then have the cost of the music appear on the telephone bill.

• E-Commerce and m-Commerce: This model calls for extending service provider network resources to support the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems and mobile networks. For example, consumers can use the wireless network infrastructure to extend the reach of electronic funds transfers, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, inventory management systems and automated data collection systems. M-Commerce creates the ability for consumers to pay for goods and services with their mobile phone — turning their mobile device into a “virtual credit card.” Service providers can leverage financial knowledge of their subscribers/customers to extend — or contract — credit limits while providing the communications infrastructures to complete an increased variety of transactions.

Each of these business models either reduces operational costs or increases the top-line revenue. Either way, they can boost margins. The business models that result in cost savings are outsourcing, wholesaling, asset-sharing and hosted services, while content aggregation and brokering, advertising, user-generated content/communities, fulfillment and m-commerce increase the top-line revenue.

In order to support the new and emerging business models, Alcatel-Lucent believes that service providers and enterprises should start considering non-traditional ways to monetize their intangible assets (Figure 1). Intangible assets – like location, presence, community, billing relationship and so on – can be leveraged to improve customer relationships and trust and control what flows through the network.
Service providers can then add other end-user applications and third-party management to further extend the value of their intangible assets. This will be necessary if service providers are to leverage the high-growth opportunities that still exist in the new communications economy of the 21st century.

Opportunities Still Exist for Traditional Subscriber Growth
For instance, mobile penetration has only recently reached 50% of the world’s population, with three billion mobile subscribers. Yet countries with great growth potential such as India – where 8.05 million new mobile subscribers signed up in October 2007 according to that country’s Telecom Regulatory Authority – still have just 230 million subscribers. This represents a 20% penetration of this immense market.

Broadband penetration is even worse in many other regions. In Southeast Asia for instance, out of a total population of 580 million, only 80 million people use the Internet (less than 14%), and a paltry 5.6 million (less than 1%) are broadband subscribers.

To achieve true mass-market mobile and broadband penetration, monthly costs must drop below $2 USD (€1.3) for mobile access (as it has in countries like India) and $10 USD (€6.5) for broadband access. This poses challenges in how the services are defined and how they are priced and billed across the entire service delivery chain — from infrastructure to point of sale.

In his book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Professor C. K. Prahalad advocates the need for innovation to address the “bottom of the pyramid” market. He contends that two types of innovation must take place to mine this segment of the pyramid:

• Product Innovation: such as making ultra-small units of consumption available for purchase or creating novel purchasing schemes that make products and services more affordable without sacrificing quality; and

• Process Innovation: such as distribution and service delivery mechanisms in which the entire delivery is reexamined to minimize costs and maximize revenues.
In addition to what Prahalad suggests, New Business Model Innovation such as new business models based on leveraging intangible assets should be examined.

Real-World Business Model Innovations
To enter new high-growth markets, mobile and broadband services must become truly affordable to new and existing users. As a result, there is growing pressure to adopt new business models that allow greater penetration.

• Sponsored Communications: A major innovation in this arena revolves around advertising-funded calls. It represents a significant shift away from the subscription model. Users who agree to receive advertising messages pay less for their calls and texts or get additional bonus minutes of air-time. Pioneering this approach is UK-based Blyk (News - Alert), which has launched discounted service offerings to 16- to 24-year-olds if they accept advertising messages. This approach could reduce the consumer access costs by 20 to 50%. Service providers will sell these assets to the advertising industry, highlighting the number of users who can be reached, media impact and cost-savings compared with alternative media.

• M-banking: In many countries, a large percentage of the population does not have access to basic banking services. There are several reasons for this. It can be too costly to manage small accounts and transactions using current banking systems, and many banks do not have enough branches to address the entire population – particularly in rural areas. M-banking uses mobile technology to address these issues.

Mobile pre-paid payment engines have been developed and optimized to manage millions of small transactions in real-time, using Short Message Service as a very cost-effective customer service interface. Globe Telecom (News - Alert), a leading telecommunications service provider in the Philippines, offers its G-CASH service with an electronic valet feature that allows users to send and receive cash and make payments via texting technologies.

Globe had more than 19 million subscribers at the end of September 2007, and close to a half-million active G-CASH users. Al Hammond of the World Resources Institute predicts that mobile banking will bring huge numbers of previously excluded people into the formal economy quickly, simply because the latent demand for such services is so great, especially among the rural poor. Hammond says, “... I’m predicting that mobile-phone banking will add a billion banking customers to the system in five years. That’s how big it is.”

• Broadband Community Centers: Operators can promote and support Internet access through community centers that offer services such as e-government (registration of vehicles, application forms) or e-agriculture (weather forecasts). Many of these centers are based on private and public partnership business models. In Western Australia, many broadband community centers have become government agents or bank branches. In other words, these broadband communities have become a platform on which several industries and organizations have increased their reach to the population, so that they can serve customers and constituents better and in a more cost-effective manner.

• Hosted Platforms: Alcatel-Lucent’s hosted mobile data center in Dakar, Senegal, is a good example of this approach. Service providers in four countries in this part of the world are using the data center to offer General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) applications that can be transmitted over links that run at speeds of up to 115 kb/s. This enables service providers to release services very quickly (less than three months) based on an innovative business model where participating service providers pay only when they use the platform. This is a very efficient way to deliver advanced services in countries that do not have sufficient users to justify investment in stand-alone platforms.

A Consultative Approach to Business Transformation
Alcatel-Lucent can help service providers understand and choose the right strategic direction they should take to innovate for future success. We have developed a structured, consultative framework that identifies the right steps individual customers can take to maximize their potential. The simple process consists of:
Step 1 – Identifying our customer’s PMO. This requires an inventory of the types of assets that are available to the client (physical, intangible, human, financial) and what rights to these assets are currently being sold (right to own, right to use and right to broker).

Step 2 – Understanding the customer’s top priorities and objectives, such as determining if they are to augment revenue, reduce operational costs or both.
Step 3 – Identifying the customer’s intended FMO for these assets and their rights, and then mapping them to one or more business models.
Step 4 – Identifying the appropriate products, services and solutions that provide the platform required to meet the customer’s FMO needs.

Conclusion
As the telecom market evolves away from traditional subscription-based business models, a growing number of customers are starting to explore how best to maximize their existing tangible and intangible assets. Armed with this new understanding, service providers can develop new revenue streams and stimulate latent demand in unexplored market segments and underserved populations. Faced with ever-increasing competition from non-traditional market players, innovation in business modeling is the key to developing future revenue streams that will guarantee commercial success in the future. Wide and deep experience in introducing innovative business models for mature and high-growth markets makes Alcatel-Lucent an ideal partner for growth in tomorrow’s competitive marketplace.



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

The 25 Year Evolution of The Cell Phone

Emerging Mobile News

Happy 25th Birthday To The Mobi Phone

America, is commemorating a major industry and technology milestone this month - the 25th anniversary of the first commercial cellular call in the United States.

Today, there are now more than 262 million wireless subscribers in the United States - 83 percent of the total U.S. population - and 3.3 billion active cell phones worldwide, making it one of the fastest global dispersions of any technology in history.

The first commercial cellular call was placed on October 13, 1983 to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell in Germany from the president of Ameritech Mobile Communications at a ceremony held outside of Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill. This transatlantic conversation launched the nation's first citywide commercial cellular system. Weighing nearly two pounds and 13 inches long, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X used on that historic day had only 30 minutes of talk time, a far cry from the sleek, thin multi-purpose wireless handsets of today.

Ubiquitous throughout the world, the cell phones of 2008 are used for much more than just voice communication, as these versatile and powerful all-purpose mobile computers are invaluable tools used every day in Americans' personal and professional lives. Mobile devices provide access to business and entertainment data, allowing users to email, text message, internet browse, take pictures and video, listen to music, play games, find directions, and much more. Consumers' preference of phone model and design has even become a personal statement about their status and social identity.

“Wireless technology is the printing press of the 21st century,“What started as a simple call has transformed into a cultural phenomena of instant communication and broader and equal access to the world at our fingertips. From the `brick' phone of the 80's, to today's 3G broadband world, wireless has evolved from mere voice communication to a new era of data transmission and democratizing communications that are transforming our commerce and culture along the way.”

Wireless today

Cell phone technology has come a long way in 25 years. By the end of 2007, one in six households (16 percent) was wireless-only. Even with a landline telephone in the home, 13 percent of households received all or almost all calls on their wireless phones last year. Today, cell phone usage continues to skyrocket on multiple fronts.


Plenty of Time to Chat:

In the first six months of 2008 (Jan. 1 - June 30) U.S. consumers talked on average a total of 187 billion minutes each month. That is more than 6 billion minutes each day, and amounts to nearly 13 hours (766 minutes) per customer each month.
Text is the New Talk: More than 384 billion text messages were reported by carriers this year between Jan. 1 - June 30, versus 295 billion voice calls. That is 22 billion more text messages than for all of 2007. Text messaging is doubling every year.

Subscriptions Soaring: The wireless industry saw almost 20 million new subscribers in just the last 12-month period (July 2007 - June 2008). There are 2,869 times more subscribers today than in January 1985.

Monthly Bill Decreasing: Consumers are benefiting from an ultra-competitive market. During the last 21 years, the average wireless subscriber's local monthly bill has decreased by 50 percent, dropping from nearly $100 per month in 1987 to less than $49 in June 2008. Beyond voice communication, consumers' plans today also include text and photo messages, web browsing and access to video games and music for one low monthly rate.
Robust Marketplace: Today, more than 150 wireless companies offer wireless service in the U.S. Wireless service revenues reached $138.9 billion at the end of 2007.

The next 25 years

In the short 25 years since its cellular service was launched in the United States, broadband wireless has become increasingly essential and in many cases, an indispensable communications avenue. It continues to transform lives one community and one customer at a time, much like the first commercial cell phone call placed at Soldier Field 25 years ago. American communities of all sizes, from rural settings such as Wilson County, Texas and its new, high-speed wireless broadband service, to densely populated urban areas, are enjoying the vast benefits provided by wireless communication. In fact, more than 64 million Americans are using devices deploying high speed 3G (Third Generation) technology.

“Wireless technology is providing unparalleled and affordable communication benefits and services for Americans in all walks of life," added Largent. “Consumer demand for innovative and dynamic services continues to grow, and the wireless industry is constantly evolving to satisfy that growing appetite.”

Today's teens - the first generation born into a wireless society - will largely drive the next wave of innovation of the cell phone.

A Generation Unplugged” online survey released in September 2008, teens envision future wireless devices that better fit their lifestyle. Teens also have set high goals for the mobile industry and are looking to mobility to fundamentally reshape the future. Among their preferences, they want phones to guarantee secured data access to the user only (80 percent), provide accessibility to personal health records (66 percent), present opportunities to be educated anywhere in the world (66 percent) and bring users closer to global issues impacting their world (63 percent).

“Mobile devices in the future will be more flexible and have more sophisticated features, the interaction between the device and the user will be even more personal and interactive, and ultra-fast mobile data service will pave the way for even more fantastic and useful applications,” commented Largent. “Without a doubt, we'll have plenty of new achievements to celebrate in 2033 on the 50th anniversary of the first commercial cell phone call



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

Driving Innovation in the Payments Industry

Emerging Mobile News


MasterCard has announced an agreement with Obopay, Inc. to offer a fully-integrated on-demand person-to-person mobile payment service in the United States. The service, offered via MasterCard MoneySend, will give new and existing MasterCard issuing customers the ability to provide an innovative mobile payments service to their MasterCard cardholders on all credit, debit and prepaid MasterCard-branded products.

The announcement of this service comes at a time when consumers are increasingly seeking to use their mobile phones to streamline and simplify their day-to-day activities, including banking and payment transactions. TowerGroup estimates that in the United States, adoption of consumer mobile banking has quintupled in the past 12 months from 1.1 million active users in 2007 to 5.7 million active users today. As mobile consumers become increasingly comfortable with converging technologies on their mobile devices, the opportunity to develop mobile payments systems will continue to grow.

The new Mobile MasterCard MoneySend Person-to-Person service will give participants the freedom and flexibility to directly, easily and securely send and receive funds through any registered cardholder’s mobile phone. The service will make mobile money transfer seamless for millions of consumers. Participants will use mobile numbers to send and receive funds, keeping their payment account numbers private.

“Our strong partnership with Obopay takes the development of the mobile person-to-person payments framework to the next level,” said Art Kranzley, Chief Emerging Technology Officer, MasterCard Worldwide. “The power and breadth of the MasterCard network combined with the account relationships of MasterCard issuers and Obopay’s mobile payment technology enable us to offer valuable new services for consumers throughout the U.S., allowing consumers to easily transfer funds to their friends and families.

We will launch this new service with our financial institution customers and Obopay in the near future.”

Kranzley also noted, “The development of this service underscores our commitment to driving commerce and industry innovation. We will continue to develop solutions that combine payments and communications onto ‘anywhere,’ ‘anytime’ consumer devices that provide a positive business model for all parties in the mobile payments value chain.”

“Obopay is proud to establish this partnership with MasterCard, and we look forward to developing a service that will build on MasterCard’s history of delivering mobile services to their cardholders” said Obopay President, U.S.-based Operations, Gregory Holmes. “With more consumers clamoring for services that fit their mobile lifestyles, we’re confident that MasterCard cardholders will welcome the option of quickly and easily sending money to other cardholders via mobile phone.”

Driving Innovation in the Payments Industry

The U.S. is an important market for MasterCard innovation. The highly developed marketplace and sophisticated consumer preferences demand the most advanced payments solutions. MasterCard’s focus on products and services that are directly related to payments, such as MasterCard® PayPass™ will propel continued innovation for the industry in the mobile space delivering value for all parties in the value chain including financial institutions, operators, merchants and consumers.

With over 28 million MasterCard PayPass cards and devices in use at more than 109,000 merchant locations worldwide, and multiple in-market mobile PayPass trials taking place in the U.S. and globally, MasterCard is committed to delivering fast, convenient and secure transaction experiences for consumers at the point of interaction.

About MasterCard Worldwide

MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 18 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to www.mastercard.com.

About Obopay

Obopay, Inc. (www.obopay.com) is a pioneering service that lets consumers and small businesses purchase, pay, and transfer money through any mobile phone using Obopay’s mobile application, text message, mobile Web, widget, or Obopay.com. As the first U.S. mobile payment service created exclusively for the mobile phone, only Obopay works on any phone and any carrier to empower consumers and businesses with the convenience of mobile payments. Obopay is bringing mobile payments to more consumers through industry-first alliances and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

Most Used Cell Phone Features

Emerging Mobile News







The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

MobileWeb 2.0 And Its State Of Flux

Emerging Mobile News

The number ofsubscribers using mobile Internet services will rise from 577 million currently, to top 1.7bn by 2013, spurred by demand for collaborative applications known collectively as 'web 2.0,' and greater 2.5/3G penetration.

Established mobile players face increasing competition from web-based brands and will have to adapt their commercial strategies to accommodate greater collaboration with other members of the value chain, if future revenue growth in the mobile web 2.0space is to beachieved.

An Open Mobile Internet According to experts, the emergence of applications such as: Social networking; User Generated Content(UGC); Instant Messaging (IM); Location Based Services (LBS); Search calls for delivery of the mobile Internet as it was originally conceived -- i.e. an open environment in which users are able to share, collaborate and exploit content/information without any oneparty controlling the value chain.

This marks a fundamental shift for the industry towards the D2C(direct-to consumer) model and places growing pressure on mobilenetwork operators (MNOs) and handset manufacturers in particular, to relinquish some of their control over the value chain, by opening uptheir networks/devices to third-parties.

New Business Models & Major web players have already crossed the Rubicon and established themselves in the mobile domain, placing the onus on MNOs and other members of the value chain to form innovative relationships and graba share of the new revenue streams being created according to industry experts.

The mobile web 2.0 market is still nascent and business models remain in a state of flux, so there is still time for players to establish fruitful partnerships that build on their strengths and are reciprocally beneficial. The window of opportunity, however, is closing.

Other findings from the report-- The Far East & China region will be the largest market for mobileweb, reaching almost 416 million users by 2013, up from a year-endfigure of 190 million users in 2008.

The greatest untapped potential for mobile web lies in South America, while growth will be more measured in markets such as Eastern and Western Europe, where fixed broadband penetration is relatively high. As with the fixed Internet, many mobile web 2.0 applications willneed to be provided at base cost/flat-data rates (or even free ofcharge), forcing industry players to seek new revenue streams as the current and future status of the MobileWeb 2.0 market based on interviews, case studies and analysis from representatives of some of the organisations leading this growing market.

Mcommerce History

In 2000 and 2001 hundreds of billions of dollars in licensing fees were paid by European telecommunications companies for UMTS and other 3G licenses. The high prices paid were due to the expectation of highly profitable mobile commerce applications. These mobile commerce applications would be delivered through broadband mobile telephony provided by 2.5G and 3G cellphone services.

PDAs and cellular phones have become so popular that many businesses are beginning to use m-commerce as a more efficient method of reaching and communicating with their customers. Although technological trends and advances are concentrated in Asia and in Europe, Canada and the United States are also beginning to experiment with early-stage m-commerce.

The recent alliance between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire for WiMAX network creation will acclerate the (speed/creation?) of the more data-intensive 4G networks. The WiMAX networks are being built for completion by 2008. This will provide a turning point in m-commerce in North America.

Mobile Banking

Banks and other financial institutions are exploring the use of Mobile Commerce to allow their customers to not only access account information, but also make transactions, e.g. purchasing stocks, remitting money, via mobile phones and other mobile equipment. This service is often referred to as Mobile Banking or M-Banking. More negative issues like ID theft, phishing and pharming are lurking when it comes to mobile banking, particularly done on the mobile web.

Net security technology free from redundancy and paradigm shifts away from mobile web-based banking will be an optimal solution to mobile banking in the near future.

Mobile Purchase

Mobile purchase allows customers to shop online at any time in any location. Customers can browse and order products while using a cheap, secure payment method. Instead of using paper catalogues, retailers can send customers a list of products that the customer would be interested in, directly to their mobile device or consumers can visit a mobile version of a retailers ecommerce site. Additionally, retailers will also be able to track customers at all times and notify them of discounts at local stores that the customer would be interested in.

New technology from companies like ShopText allow consumers to purchase products from their cell phones using text messaging and technology from companies like mShopper & mPoria allow retailers to launch their own mobile commerce shopping sites. source


The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

Women With Long Nails Furious About iPhone

Emerging Mobile News
Most people either love or hate the iPhone's touch screen, and based on a report on the LA Times, women with long fingernails are among the haters. Why? Well, since the iPhone's touchscreen only responds to electrical charges emitted by your bare fingertips, women with long nails are left out in the cold.

A woman interviewed for the article went so far as to suggest Apple was being misogynistic because it did not include a stylus for women and didn't consider womens' fingers and nails when designing the phone.

Honestly, though, this same argument has come up against keyboards, touch screen monitors, and anything else that involves the use of your fingers, so should every gadget maker change the design of its products to accommodate users with long nails, or should people with long nails learn to work around this problem like they have in the past? I'd love to hear what Apple has to say about all this, but I doubt they'll ever address this particular design flaw.

Personally, I'd rather have them focus on the real issues of the iPhone, like the lack of a video camera, extra storage, and better camera, but that's just me. Besides, there are styli out there that work with the iPhone just fine and are pretty affordable.

This all reminded me of an iPhone reviewer who had a hard time using the iPhone due to her long nails, and in her frustration she said, "I guess people who use Apple products are too cool for fingernails." But are we? What do you think?
Sources:



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

Google And The Wireless World

Emerging Mobile News

As the top executive of AT&T Inc.'s mobile division talked about new gadgets and strategies at the wireless industry show this week, he slipped in a surprise: The Google Inc.-backed Android mobile software likely has a future on some AT&T phones.

"I was concerned that maybe they were just going to focus on Google applications, but they're going to open it up and allow us to be able to customize" an Android device, said Ralph de la Vega, president of AT&T Mobility. "I am more impressed than ever that I think that's going to be a good option."

Even though Google isn't exactly in the wireless business, that hasn't stopped it from spurring industry-wide change as it seeks to expand its reach to mobile devices.

"We'll continue pushing to help make the wireless world look much more like the open platform of the Internet," Google attorneys Richard Whitt and Joseph Faber said Thursday in a statement about a recent radio spectrum auction.

In that auction, Google put billions of dollars on the line to get the government to impose new wireless open-access rules. More recently, the company has pushed to turn vacant television channels into a new medium for Internet access. It's also reportedly a potential investor in a next-generation wireless network.

"They've had a tremendous impact," said Avi Greengart, mobile device research director for Current Analysis Inc. "They view the wireless industry strategically as a platform that they have to play in. They look at the future of the Internet as moving mobile."

When it comes to advertising, Google's core business, a mobile user is more valuable than a person sitting at a desk because he or she is more likely to immediately need and use information, Greengart said.

"Google's strategy basically is: 'Bet on every horse and add horses to the race as necessary,' " he said.

Google made a bet worth more than $4.6 billion during the auction of radio airwaves that will become available next year as TV stations switch to digital broadcasts.

Although Google didn't win any airwaves, it helped persuade the Federal Communications Commission to require that the winner of a huge part of the airwaves let subscribers use any wireless devices and software.

Verizon Wireless won those and other airwaves with bids worth $9.4 billion. The carrier said Friday it would use the airwaves for a next-generation high-speed data network using Long Term Evolution, a technology that will be ideal for connecting electronics including phones, medical devices and gaming consoles.

"Verizon changed its whole philosophy" about open access in advance of the auction, said Tole Hart, an analyst with the Gartner Inc. research firm. U.S. carriers traditionally have tightly controlled the devices and applications allowed on their networks.

"Partly as a result of our bidding, consumers soon should have new freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones and other wireless devices," Google's attorneys said. Until last week, federal rules prohibited auction participants from talking about it in detail.

The Internet search leader also is pushing the government to open up unused parts of the TV spectrum so they can be used for mobile broadband. Other supporters of the effort include Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc.

The unused spectrum offers "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans," Whitt, Google's telecom and media lawyer, said in a letter to the FCC last month.

TV broadcasters, who are worried about radio interference, have opposed the proposals. Recent news reports also have named Google as a potential investor in a project led by Sprint Nextel Corp. that would deploy a nationwide network using WiMax, a high-speed and long-range wireless technology often called "Wi-Fi on steroids."

"What we've seen in the wireless industry over the last 20 years has been companies that have all followed the same path," said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications analyst. "Everybody has taken the same path except Google. Google comes in with an entirely new way of thinking."



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

Google Learns Mobile The Hard Way

Emerging Mobile News

Google Inc. is learning that changing the cellphone industry isn't easy.

The Internet giant and more than 30 partners announced in November a bold plan for a new breed of handsets based on a suite of mobile software called Android. At the time, Google said it planned to have the new phones on the market by the second half of this year.

Google

A screen image of Google's gWalk application running on the Android cellphone software the company is developing for a new breed of handsets.
Google now says that the handsets won't arrive until the fourth quarter. And some cellular carriers and makers of programs that work with Android are struggling to meet that schedule, people familiar with the situation say.

T-Mobile USA expects to deliver an Android-powered phone in the fourth period. But that launch is taking up so much of Google's attention and resources that Sprint Nextel Corp., which had hoped to launch an Android phone this year, won't be able to, a person familiar with the matter said.

China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in the world with nearly 400 million subscriber accounts, had planned to launch an Android phone in the third quarter but it has run into issues that will likely delay the launch until late this year or early 2009, a person familiar with the matter says.

Meanwhile, the Android software has yet to win broad support from large mobile-software developers. Some say it is difficult to develop programs while Google is making changes as it finishes its own software.

This month Apple Inc. created a stir when it unveiled a cheaper, faster version of the iPhone that supports slick games and entertainment services. While Apple controls most aspects of hardware and software development for the iPhone, Google has to rally many different hardware, service and software providers to support its technology platform.

There is no evidence that Android won't be able to gain momentum over time. But wireless carriers throughout the industry are confronting challenges as they seek to customize the Android software -- which includes an operating system and programs that work with it -- to promote their own Internet services. Some handset makers are taking longer than they thought to integrate Android, test it and build custom user interfaces to meet carrier specifications.

Those challenges are affecting large cellphone makers like Samsung Electronics Co. and smaller ones that are aiming to provide devices that will be branded by carriers, people familiar with the situation say. Samsung didn't respond to requests for comment.

Andy Rubin, director of mobile platforms at Google, says managing the software-development effort while giving its partners the opportunity to lobby for new features takes time. "This is where the pain happens," he says. "We are very, very close."

One hold-up at Sprint is that the carrier would like to develop its own branded services based on Android, rather than just carry a phone with the built-in features Google plans to offer, the person familiar with the situation says. A management shake-up at Sprint, which brought in a new chief executive this year and, more recently, a new executive overseeing product development, may have also contributed to the delay.

Sprint is now considering scrapping plans for an Android phone for its current third-generation broadband network and developing one that will work on the faster "4G" network it is helping to fund along with several partners, including Google, the person adds.

China Mobile and a cellphone maker it is working with have had trouble translating the Android software from Roman characters into Chinese and have had difficulty merging China Mobile's own branded data services into it, the person familiar with the matter says. A spokeswoman for China Mobile declined to comment.

AT&T Inc., the U.S. carrier for the iPhone, is still working with Google to determine if it is feasible to launch an Android phone.

Google's Mr. Rubin declines to discuss specific partners. But he says Google is working hard to help them develop new features and drive down costs, collaborating with chip makers and other technology providers so handset makers and carriers don't have to design Android-based phones from scratch.

Google has provided prototypes for carriers and handset manufacturers, though their final versions are likely to vary greatly. One prototype has a long touch-screen, similar to the Apple iPhone, a swivel-out full keyboard, and a trackball for navigation similar to the kind on some BlackBerrys.

For Google, the struggle likely will be worth it if the company can build a big foothold in the mobile market. The Mountain View, Calif., company dominates search on the personal computer, but it also wants to play a central role as Internet activity and eventually advertising dollars move to cellphones.

Until recently, wireless carriers have often called the shots on what consumers see on cellphones, taking a cut of revenues from providers of add-on services and software. Google is trying to make the process more open and less expensive. It is making Android available to handset makers for free -- hoping the investment will eventually pay off in advertising revenue -- and on an open-source basis that makes it easier to add custom programming.

Meanwhile, rivals have a head start. Apple, for example, expects to sell 10 million of its iPhones this year. Research in Motion Ltd., which has roughly 14 million BlackBerry subscriber accounts, recently announced a new BlackBerry device that makes it easier for consumers to download music, watch videos and browse the Web. Microsoft Corp. also has a sizable position in high-end cellphones.

Google executives say the company eventually hopes to power many cellphones at various price-points. But the company is likely to start by zeroing in on higher-end phones that have hardware features to handle advanced services.

The effort hinges on convincing partners to exploit the operating system, which supports capabilities such as the ability to build applications that know a phone's location. Some software developers already have built flashy demos, ranging from security software that scans a person's iris to an address book integrated with instant-messaging and other tools.

Google says it has received roughly 1,800 submissions to a contest for developing Android-based application programs.

But some developers say it is easier to work with Apple's programming tools than Google's because of the familiarity with the company's Macintosh operating system. As a result, a wide range of software companies have been scrambling to build new iPhone applications.

Apple and RIM "have superseded the excitement and hype" around Android, says Nihal Mehta, co-founder of Buzzd Inc., a location-based city guide and social network. Mr. Mehta says the company prioritized its iPhone application over an Android version because Apple's guidelines are easier to follow and there aren't any Android phones in the market to use in testing software.

Others developers cite hassles of creating programs while Android is still being completed. One is Louis Gump, vice president of mobile for Weather Channel Interactive, which has built an Android-based mobile weather application. Overall, he says, he has been impressed by the Google software, which has enabled his company to build features such as the ability to look up the weather in a particular neighborhood.

But he says Weather Channel has had to "rewrite a few things" so far, and Google's most recent revision of Android "is going to require some significant work," he says.

Others -- such as Greystripe Inc., whose technology inserts ads into mobile games -- are staying away until Google clarifies key points, such as how applications will be distributed and how developers will earn revenue from them.
Source Url



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

Rise Of The Mobile Widgets

Emerging Mobile News

Mobile Widgets are taking over the mobile industry and will soon change the way we use our cell phones and mobile computing devices.

Less than a decade ago our phones changed from portable telephones into mobile computing platforms providing us with a variety of information at our fingertips.

This paradigm shift has changed the industry as it has changed carriers' strategies, attracted software and hardware companies, and even created its own standards for web development. The largest of carriers are changing policy, rate plans, and network access to accommodate the growing market.

Microsoft, Apple, Google,and others have millions of dollars invested in their mobile operating systems. Hardware manufacturers are finding new and innovative ways to make viewing and using our new mobile platforms more intuitive.

Only a short while ago Motorola was the dominant force in the market, now they are selling their handset division. Palm and the Palm OS used to dominate the mobile PDA OS space along with Mobile Widgets, now Palm ships many devices with Windows Mobile. Apple took the industry by storm with their foray into the mobile space with the iPhone, and once again Mobile Widgets changed.

Who will be the big players in the future? What is this year's Killer Application? How will Mobile Widgets change our daily lives? What platforms are strongest for development of Mobile Widgets?

How is developing for mobile platforms different than other application development? Mobile Widgets: Portable Applications on Mobile Platforms will address these questions and provide a foundation for understanding Mobile Widgets and the direction of developing applications on mobile platforms.

Select Report Findings

Mobile Widgets can be based upon hardware, native code, portable code, and web based applications WAP, WML, J2ME remain important but are often replaced with more traditional application development and web applications.

Mobile browsers are evolving to rival their desktop counterparts and increasingly include unique mobile capabilities.

Dynamic web technologies such as AJAX, Flash, and soon Silverlight, are finding their way into mobile platforms.

The ARM processor platform is currently the dominant processor architecture of today's smart phones. Successful Mobile Widgets no longer need to come from handset manufacturers or wireless carriers. The Mobile Widget market's growth rates and recent innovations are predicted to continue to grow. Mobile Widgets will continue to impact how carriers and hardware vendors do business.

Target Audience

Wireless Carriers: Carriers will want to understand the dynamics of mobile application development in order to ensure their networks can deliver what their subscribers need.

Mobile Handset Manufacturers: With innovative applications that leverage new hardware features of handsets, manufacturers will want to include features that leverage Mobile Widgets. Business Application Providers: Many of the highly successful Mobile Widgets target the mobile needs of business users.

Mobile Application Developers: The market is changing and even experienced developers will need to keep up with changes. Network Hardware Vendors: As the needs of mobile applications change, so will their demands on the networks that support them.

Marketing Professionals: The mobile market is a large resource for marketing that has great potential for mobile advertising.

Handset Accessory Manufacturers: Many Mobile Widgets leverage new hardware features of today's modern handsets that accessory manufacturers can extend with respect to device feature sets.

Web Developers: Soon many popular web sites will be accessed by thousands of mobile users. Web developers will need to know what those devices are capable of viewing and engaging content.

Mobility Data, Content, and Advertising Solution Providers: Mobile Widgets will be developed for markets as yet unrealized by the mobile industry.



The Mobi Blog for Emerging Mobile News 2008

New iPhone On The Horizon

Emerging Mobile News

You can pretty much count on a new 3G iPhone come Monday. But redesigned MacBooks? Don't bet on it. Here's my take on what Steve Jobs will announce during his much-anticipated keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

New iPhone
I'm almost certain that we'll feast our eyes on a new iPhone on Monday-one with access to speedy 3G networks along with build-in GPS, both features that are sorely missing in the original iPhone.

Heck, after all the fevered speculation, Jobs could find himself dodging tomatoes if he doesn't unveil a new iPhone.

Beyond that, however, the picture gets fuzzier. Will the new iPhone be thicker than the original, or thinner? Will the brushed-metal backing be replaced with a glossy black (or white) finish? There seems to be consensus on the new, glossy backing (which might scratch more easily than the old brushed-metal finish), but that's about it.

And there's more: rumors that AT&T might subsidize new iPhones to the tune of $200, along with a just-unveiled patent application that reveals plans for video recording and conferencing, instant messaging, and a blogging application. The AT&T subsidy rumor (first reported by Fortune) has been persistent enough to be plausible, while the newly published patent application gives credence to (if not confirmation of) hotly anticipated features like two-way video calling.

Finally: Will we get just one new iPhone, or a series of new models (and not just different memory capacities, mind you)? And when will the new iPhone be available in stores? My feeling is that we'll get just one new model, and that it'll go on sale later this month-but that's just my gut talking.

Odds: 3G iPhone with GPS (bank on it), thinner than original (50-50), glossy backing (almost certain, although I hope not), video conferencing (3-1), AT&T subsidies (50-50), more than one model (7-1), on sale Monday (5-1).

iPhone App store, new iPhone firmware
More of a fact than a rumor-and potentially more exciting that the 3G iPhone itself. Steve Jobs teed up the App store-which will feature dozens, if not hundreds, of native iPhone applications written by third-party developers-back in March, and the possibilities are limitless.

Besides the standard communications (IM, anyone?), productivity (an office suite?), and business applications, we're also talking games-many observers think the iPhone could rival the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP as a mobile gaming device. I can't wait.

Jobs is also expected to unveil new iPhone firmware, which will include such goodies as full-on Microsoft Exchange support, enhanced IT and security features, and more, no doubt.

Odds: Already announced, so let's call this one fact.

Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard"
This one came out of nowhere just a few days ago-that Apple is set to release beta code for its next major OS release, just eight months after OS X "Leopard" hit shelves. Word is that "Snow Leopard" (that's the rumored code name, anyway) will be a "stability and performance" release for Intel-based Macs, and that it's geared toward optimizing mobile devices like the MacBook Air and the iPhone-and maybe even a new, tantalizing mystery device. It might seem a little early for 10.6 (which is supposedly slated to go on sale next January), but multiple blogs are claiming that it's a done deal.

Odds: 50-50 or better.

.Mac reborn as MobileMe
Apple's much-maligned, $99-a-year online service is about to get a makeover-or so says the rumor mill. New features will include over-the-air syncing of Address Book and iCal info between Macs and iPhones, as well as a new and improved Web interface that lets you browse your contacts and events from any Web browser (sounds pretty basic, but it'll be a big step forward for .Mac users, believe me).

Odds: Almost certain.

Redesigned MacBooks and MacBook Pros
Both the consumer and pro-level versions of Apple's iconic laptop lines are due for major design overhauls. Indeed, save a few tweaks here and there, today's MacBooks and MacBook Pros look pretty much like yesterday's iBooks and PowerBooks. But what little chatter there's been about redesigned MacBooks at WWDC has more or less died out in the past several days. I'm not feeling it.

Odds: 10-1

"One more thing ... "
It's the phrase Macheads live for-a final, hold-your-breath moment when Steve Jobs unveils some cool new device no one quite expected. Back in January 2007, "one more thing" turned out to be the original iPhone. Assuming the 3G iPhone isn't the "one more thing," what could it be?

Well, there was talk last month of a potential iPhone-like tablet device powered by Intel's new Atom processor, but Intel quickly downplayed the comments that sparked the rumor.

And another factor to consider: There was no "one more thing" at Macworld back in January, much to the disappointment of the Mac faithful.

Anyway, there's really not much to go on here. Maybe a 3G iPhone announcement is enough for WWDC. Then again, Jobs loves surprises.



TheMobiBlog.com for Emerging Mobile News 2008