http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/technology/04open.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
Laura Holson makes a number of interesting points in this article about the ripple effect of the iPhone on the direction of the mobile ecosystem and the consumer experience that is driving it.
Certain comments are particularly noteworthy:
In the last post (July 29), we summarized the changing dynamics of the mobile ecosystem. To recap, we are witnessing two strong phenomena today. On one hand, we have a combination of explosive data growth and declining data plan rates. On the other hand, we see the mobile ecosystem power structure shifting from network operators to other ecosystem players like device manufacturers (Apple, Nokia, Samsung) and big internet brands (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!).
Operators’ key to maintaining power and relevance in the new mobility world order lies in identifying their key assets and maximizing the monetization potential of these assets.
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With the rise of the iPhone (and its clones) comes an important question: what is the future of content adaptation? The new generation of mobile devices includes powerful browsers and, more importantly, larger screens which offer a user experience much closer to desktop browsing. Why then would network operators deploy content adaptation solutions?
Content adaptation will evolve from its current form to provide more intelligent browsing services and therefore will become increasingly strategic to operators’ businesses. Today, content adaptation’s role is largely limited to reformatting web page content to make the page viewable across devices with different capabilities. As the devices themselves evolve to expand their capabilities, content adaptation can advance to provide other, more intelligent services that improve and personalize the user’s browsing experience. What might these services be?
Instead of simply reformatting content, content adaptation could perform functions such as intelligent bookmarking, wallet services, form completion, etc. In other words, content adaptation’s enabling role would expand from the simple viewing of content to interaction with content. New interactive services would enable operators to add value to the browsing experience while maintaining their branding and presence with the consumer. This would ensure that their networks continue to function as smart pipes, allowing customers to roam the full Internet with PC speed and quality.
Content adaptation would, in effect, serve as a browsing assistant to the user and continue to close the current gap between desktop and mobile web browsing. The possibilities are limitless.
- Girish Wadhwani
Bytemobile’s Web Fidelity™ Service has won the 2008 Mobile Content Award for Enriching Search and Discovery from Visiongain, a leading telecommunications industry market research firm in the U.K. The competition featured awards in eight categories, with Gold, Silver and Bronze rankings in each category. Bytemobile’s Gold award for its category was presented at the Visiongain Mobile Content Awards & Conference 2008 on June 19 in London.
- Adrian Hall
