Stephen Johnston pointed me to this interesting summary of a report we are all now trying to get our hands on.
It starts off with a redefinition of the mobile Internet as the ‘Personal Internet’.
The Mobile Internet is becoming a misnomer — a thing of the past —
according to a new study by The Shosteck Group. The telecom analysts
are predicting the emergence of the Personal Internet, which they say
represents a new paradigm, a new opportunity and a new competitive
playing field. The Personal Internet will require a fundamental shift
in the attitudes of mobile operators and in key technologies.
Do you think ‘Personal Internet’ will stick? I would rather drop ‘Mobile Internet’ and just call it the Internet. Maybe they mean that the Personal Internet is just the Internet in the Web 2.0 (2.x, 5.x, cough) way – available from any device, mobile or fixed.
But there are other gems in the summary:
In this new paradigm, users will have greater control over their
ability to access, store and interact with content, devices and
services. This will be facilitated by the availability of new service
capabilities, including the Personal Service Portal. The Personal
Service Portal will provide a variety of services which have three key
attributes:
- On-demand: combination of storage on local device or the network as well as broadcast capability
- Relevant: right time, right place, right price
- Interactive: a more engaging and immersive experience
Personal Service Portal? Hah! I’ve been jonesing to do stuff around personal mobile portals. The space is pretty much wide open. The only real Personal Portal I like is WINKsite. Google has parts of it, but it’s not integrated. Yahoo has had something along these lines for ever (including Yahoo!Go for Series 60 as sort of Service Portal), so see them as a major leader in this space. Microsoft (tip from Mike) is rapidly doing stuff in this space (it’s one of my blind spots). Others just have one piece or the other of the whole concept.
And I personally think that the barriers to entry in this space are actually small, the problem being just getting to it, since this will be driven from the Web side, not the telco side, and Web-heads have enough on their plate already. The Web heads have the user base and the content.
And here’s a good one:
Shosteck analysts say that operators must accept that the premium for
mobility is significantly lower than they believe it is today even
though few alternatives will compete on a like for like basis with
mobile networks for many years, if at all. The mobility premium is not
yet dead, but it will come under increasingly heavy attack. It will
come under attack in both the voice and data worlds.
And then later:
The Shosteck Group 140-page study, "The Portal Wars: Where Next for the
Mobile Internet? The Emergence of the Personal Internet.", raises and
answers two key overriding questions: In this “War of the Worlds,” will
players outside of the mobile industry offer such fierce competition
that the mobile industry will be reduced to, at best, marginal
profitability? Alternatively, is the market so large that these new
entrants offer opportunities for partnerships and alliances that will
increase profits for all?
Basically, the operators have much to gain here if they would just let go of outmoded 20th century telco thinking and foster growth and competition of services on their networks. The past few years are proof that they can’t do it alone, nor that their model is better than the openness of the Internet. Heck, I want the operators to win and stay healthy. But, it requires new thinking.
Here’s the link to the report review again.
