Besides the difference in the ‘situation’ of the user, Alluri points out that the strengths and limitations of the mobile device itself will mould the kind of services that will be successful on it. “It has got a small screen. There is a shorter span of attention and some content that may not be appropriate on one screen may be so on the other and vice versa,” he points out.
As an example, he points to the ‘world in a minute’ video-news capsules that IMImobile sends out in partnership with AP for subscribers in Singapore. “Just like Microsoft Windows is not the main operating system on mobile phones, so too, mobile Internet will see its own set of new players. For example, in Germany, there is a company called Jamba. They are a brand in themselves. Even for payments, one can launch one’s own scratch cards instead of depending on the operator.”
CHALLENGES
As in any new venture, the world of high-speed wireless services in India also faces many hurdles. The biggest one is, of course, that of handset availability. Though, as Mahindroo of ICA says, a 3G phone can be manufactured and sold for as little as Rs 4,500; for taking advantage of the full potential of high-speed data, it would also need to have high-end features such as a big display, camera and perhaps even a touchscreen.
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| Only a small part of our four million users are from India currently. The data connectivity here is very poor. Yusuf Motiwala |
“The Indian consumer wants the maximum benefit at the cheapest price,” says Chaitanya of mGinger. “We love to get things for free. So, it’s not of much use if you offer a lot of services and don’t keep the price factor in mind. Just because something works abroad doesn’t mean it will here. Look at the iPhone, it has only sold a few thousand units in a country of a billion people,” he points out.
However, Roger Dorf, Vice President & General Manager of CISCO’s broadband wireless business unit prompts us to look beyond the mobile phone. Indeed, with Intel scheduled to make WiMax a default feature on its laptop chips later this year, PCs may just shrink well enough to fit in consumers’ pocket. HCL Infosystems, for example, has announced that it is working on bringing out a 5-inch pocket PC over the next few months.
Dorf says as long as the networks are there, the end-devices will not be a problem. “If people see there is a broadband infrastructure that reaches millions and millions of people, then manufacturers will think of how to scale down the products to make them affordable to everyone,” he says, talking about scaled down PCs with built-in WiMax.
“Finally, it doesn’t matter whether you call it a PC, an internet tablet or even if it’s a set-top box that connects to your TV. But once the networks are there, devices will come in all shapes, sizes and prices,” he points out.
The second question mark hanging over mobile Internet is the absence of a clear, operator-independent business model. The PC-Internet saw its own evolution, starting with early attempts to charge users for content and settling with the ad-based model pushed largely by Google. However, the smaller screen size may make the display-based advertising strategy unsuitable for the mobile screen. However, the smaller screen may also be the savior for advertising companies on the mobile.
Alluri says IMImobile already has a few aces up its sleeve. “We are developing a system called Ad-Ring through which we can provide ads on anything—SMS, MMS, video, voice - on the fly,” he says.
Ad-Ring adopts the online concept of behavioral targeting with on-the-fly capability to deal with a variety of consumption models. “For example, if you are someone who provides free phone calls using voice-over-Internet [VoIP], we can deliver a voice ad before the call is patched through. Also, the ads are selected based on the profile of the listener,” he points out.
“Ultimately,” says Chaitanya of mGinger, “VAS providers will have to evolve an ad-supported business model like on the Internet. The services have to be affordable to the masses and that is a challenge.”
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thanks to this article,there is huge big open market waiting to get tapped so why not start right now,before some body eats's our market share.