Heard on the Street
Industry experts hail the challenges and opportunities of the mobile Internet
Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker said today that the tech economy is in a state of recovery, based on the leading indicators that usually signal an end to recession. She was also bullish that a huge shift will come about as the mobile Internet… The shift to the mobile web is no less than a new computing cycle, such as the shift from mainframes to minicomputers, from minicomputers to PCs, from PCs to the web and laptops. Each time one of those shifts happens, the number of users increases tenfold… All of these trends toward mobile Internet expansion will cause huge shifts in wealth creation, Meeker said. In each major computing shift, new winners emerge, and the incumbents fade away.
VentureBeat
October 20, 2009
No doubt about it, a massive data explosion is under way. Data cards, smartphones, application stores, eReaders, netbooks and more — they’re all feeding the frenzy. On the network side, operators are responding with upgrades and migration to next-generation technologies. But all of this emphasis on data and connected devices begs the question: Will operators be ready for the onslaught that is sure to come? Is it possible they will get caught in the crosshairs, similar to what AT&T experienced with bandwidth-hungry iPhone users?
Wireless Week
October 10, 2009
As more people get access to the Internet over mobile phone networks using laptops with 3G cards, or with smartphones like iPhones or BlackBerries, data traffic is doubling every six months globally and growing even more rapidly in some countries… Yet as traffic explodes, revenue from these new services is failing to keep up because of the intense pressure on prices. As a result, investments to improve networks could squeeze profit even further. “Mobile broadband is manna from heaven for consumers, but it is hell for operators,” said John Strand, a consultant to mobile operators… “If they don’t manage this moment carefully, some mobile operators will run into major problems that threaten their very profitability and viability. Some may not survive.”
Reuters/International Herald Tribune
September 30, 2009
Recently, researchers at the Nielsen Norman Group put the mobile web to the test in a usability study that looked at twenty different web sites on six different types of handsets. The results? The mobile web still leaves a lot to be desired. It’s so bad, in fact, that principal researcher Jakob Nielsen, co-author of the study, compared today’s mobile web to the web sites of the early 90’s. But is the mobile web really to blame here for the usability issues? Or is this just a matter of people trying to surf a web that has evolved beyond what traditional cell phones and their awful built-in browsers can handle?
ReadWriteWeb
September 21, 2009
While 60 percent of users surveyed by Yankee Group say they are interested in mobile Internet access, just 3 percent say they are anxiously awaiting 4G and 43 percent say they have heard the term “4G” but don’t understand what it means. That disconnect is just one hurdle service providers must overcome before they can successfully reap the promise of 4G and the mobile Internet. Service providers must overhaul their infrastructure. “In addition to moving to all-IP cores, service providers must adopt holistic strategies to transform their entire network, IT and operational ecosystems,” says Phil Marshall, senior research fellow and author of the report. “Service providers must capitalize on the mobile Internet or perish.”
Yankee Group
September 15, 2009
The current mobile infrastructure as a whole is not well architected for data, the “architecture is wrong.”… In a nutshell, the current solution doesn’t scale well, forcing mobile phone providers to purchase a lot of expensive equipment just to sustain the “tsunami” of data flowing through the core network. Unfortunately, this exponential deluge of data means that it is a losing proposition for mobile providers that typically sell data packages at a flat monthly rate and is a somber reality faced by mobile operators around the world.
Techrepublic.com
September 10, 2009
Two-thirds of Americans now own a video-enabled mobile device, including iPods, cell phones, and laptop computers, up from less than half three years ago… But the new research finds there are very different patterns of video consumption among the devices that more or less seem to follow their screen size. While 42.6% of users of all the devices said they use them to actually watch video, the percentages vary markedly by device: 35.1% of laptop owners say they have used them to view video vs. only 15.3% of video iPod users, and 4.6% of cell phone users.
MediaPost
September 2, 2009
The demand for more bandwidth is coming from the rapid growth of video traffic and the use of the mobile Internet.
eWeek
August 25, 2009
Global revenue for wireless data services (excluding messaging) is projected to grow by 26.2 percent in 2009 to $87.7 billion according to a new forecast issued by research firm iSuppli, which anticipates that figure will grow to $188 billion by 2013. By comparison, iSuppli forecasts total global revenues for all wireless operator services will remain roughly flat at approximately $866 billion in 2009. The report contends that data revenue growth hinges on operators building strategies predicated on four key tentpoles: Monetizing broadband access [hyperlink to Market Analytics page], cooperating with the mobile value chain to develop and offer compelling apps and content, offering revenue-generating services that capitalize on consumer mobility, and leveraging mature billing capabilities and subscriber trust.
FierceMobileContent
August 13, 2009
The model of paying a flat $30-a-month rate for data service on a high usage device like the iPhone is likely going away. Carriers are trying to find ways to introduce more tiers and more premium services.
