By Rhonda Wickham Editor-in-Chief
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Most of the elements for a Mobile Internet are in place.
Now we just need to quickly connect the dots because the digital natives are getting restless.
You’ve got to hand it to the folks who call it like it is. “The mobile Internet experience today sucks,” said Emily Nagle Green, president and CEO of the Yankee Group. Speaking at the research firm’s inaugural Mobile Internet World in Boston, Nagle Green spoke of the evolution of “Anywhere.”
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Rhonda Wickham
Editor-in-Chief |
You get the sense that Anywhere as the Yankee Group puts it is the new and improved version of mobile ubiquity. And that ubiquitous connectivity is a worthwhile goal. After all, the Yankee Group said the untapped market for mobile Internet services conservatively should be worth $66 billion per year, versus its actual of $9.5 billion.
Why are we falling short of the mobile Internet’s potential? Let’s break it down. It’s not really the networks. The networks already deliver via EV-DO and HSPA speeds that rival or surpass DSL speeds. And on the wired side, there isn’t a quantum leap in speeds that requires a competitive response at this time from the wireless carriers.
It’s not the devices. The iPhone may have raised the bar in many ways with the user interface, but all handset makers are now delivering state-of-the-art devices that address the unique needs of its wireless users. The PC market – home for wireless data cards – is looking at flat growth rates when compared to the rapidly expanding market for smartphones, which are projected to represent 25% of the wireless device market by 2012.
The content is there. In fact, there is probably more content than any one person would ever use.
Where the mobile Internet fails today is in delivering soft features like accessibility, ease of use and pricing.
We hear a lot about the value of contextual experiences. Although you may want to find a Chinese restaurant, a certain movie or an ATM, you certainly don’t need the name of a Chinese restaurant in a city 3,000 miles away. Contextually, make it relevant for mobile individuals in their little corner of the universe, not overwhelm them with the size of the information universe. There are lots of approaches to getting the context right; some work well while others still need refinements to reach the optimal touch.
Ease of use is tough to quantify because it is fairly subjective. Suffice it to say, the experience must become more intelligent and intuitive. Let’s say you read USA Today on line. The mobile version of that isn’t as visual with small snippets of stories provided in a heavy text format. Some users will find that acceptable, while others will be frustrated. They will be frustrated because they feel as though they are only getting part of the story or because the encounter isn’t as rewarding as on the desktop. Besides the presentation aspect, but questions still about download speeds, number of clicks and rich media presence.
Of course, pricing is the $64,000 question. If you look at the typical DSL desktop experience, you basically pay a flat rate monthly fee to get as much information as you can bear to consume. In the wireless world, there are individual fees for different mobile data applications – $3.99 a month here and $9.99 a month there.
Even the all-you-can-eat data plans have their limits.
So yes, when you view the mobile Internet from the perspective of all it could and should be, I have to agree with the Yankee Group’s Nagle Green. However, when you view where we are from a wireless industry perspective, strides have been made every day to get us a little closer. Google’s Open Handset Alliance is one such stride. Although it will be years before it can be determined as a success or failure, it follows the Internet model of “Just Go Out There and Make it Happen,” rather than ponder the mysteries of the necessary ecosystems.
But at the end of the day, that isn’t enough for a subscriber base that has wholeheartedly embraced this industry’s once provocative notion of communications anytime and anywhere.
“You can’t put that genie back in the bottle,” said Jack Dziak, senior vice president of corporate strategy for Sprint.
It is more than putting mobility on all things on the Internet. It is also more than a killer app that will change everything. According to Nagle Green, what we have is a “killer opportunity.”
This killer opp will be sets of applications that will create the opportunity to make the mobile Internet reach its $66 billion potential. That opportunity will connect more than just screens. “Why not everything,” she queries. Things like garage door openers, cars and, yes, even umbrellas.