In the mature markets handset and contract buying decisions are increasingly dependent on access to the services and applications the mobile industry has long been talking about - but until fairly recently has been unable to deliver in any meaningful way; mobile email, web browsing, rich media entertainment and social media and community applications. Apple’s iPhone, HTC handsets and even the business user’s Blackberry are now selling not on cost but on content. Similarly, in the emerging markets the mobile handset is set to become the de facto standard access mechanism for surfing the web.
As a result, we’re seeing an increasing number of services going into the cloud. And handsets are following. If the iPhone app store tells us nothing else, it’s that the consumer has a voracious appetite for personalisation. They want ubiquitous access to any application or service they choose through any connected device – be that a laptop, mobile phone, or increasing web tablet - eliminating once and for all any defining lines between fixed and mobile lifestyles.
And as the service capabilities of handsets grow, the personalisation agenda is attracting both content providers and advertisers.
As Russell Buckley, VP Global Alliances at Admob suggests: "The advertising industry only became interested in the mobile when it showed it could serve up targeted ads in true rich media formats. It had understood the potential of the mobile device for some time but it was not until it was able to deliver sexy, uniquely mobile rich media campaigns that this very visual and creative industry began taking the mobile channel to its heart."
This enthusiasm for the mobile channel has also increased the value of the data held by mobile operators. Being able to more accurately profile (and market to) mobile users means higher hits rates for advertisers, brands and content developers. This is good news for an operator community struggling to avoid ‘dumb pipe’ analogies, and to find new revenue streams.
According to Bob Pike, COO at social networking specialist, SITEFORUM, ad funded models are also creating privacy problems. “There’s tendency for users – particularly in the social media world - to throw very private data into the cloud without any real understanding of the potential pitfalls. Content and service providers running ad funded models are then naturally inclined to sell this data to third parties – and there isn’t a whole lot of control.”
According to Pike, this isn’t a mobile-only phenomenon, but may have a mobile solution.
And that solution brings us back to the common denominator in creation and delivery of new service portfolios and business models – the SIM card.
According to Frédéric Vasnier, Chairman of SIMalliance, the (U)SIM is playing a hugely important role, both in the development of this new open service delivery channel, delivering personalisation and supporting the revenue collection ability that sits at the very heart of the ecosystem.
Mindful of the personalisation/privacy issues that will be points of debate for some years to come; he also believes the SIM card can deliver the compromise between commercial and consumer goals.
“We’ve a SIM in almost every mobile device in the world. As such we’re able to play an increasingly consultative role within the telecoms industry. We’re working with an extended ecosystem of industry bodies, content providers, service providers, mobile operators and the entire value chain to address the issues of concern and help them deliver on their opportunities.”
