Neena Rao has to catch a flight, but she is stuck in the heavy rush hour
traffic. She is about to curse for the nth time when her mobile phone beeps and
a message lights up: ‘Flight AI102 to Chicago delayed 60 minutes. Seat 21B
confirmed. Upgrade to business class available. Confirm yes/no.’ She can now
smile and relax. She will not miss her flight.
Or you are in a heavy-duty meeting with your client, about to clinch a once
in a lifetime deal. He asks for some critical information, and you have the data…but
on your desktop in office. How you wish you could access it right away.
These are just two of the many situations where the mobile Internet could
prove to be your best friend. Not just as a tool for convenience, but at more
critical times as in the latter case it could even mean more business! It may
sound a bit far-fetched today, but the mobile phone industry is gearing to
launch a wide variety of such services. Once these futuristic sounding services
come into being, mobile users will have instant access to all the information
they might need, just at the touch of a button.
Wirelessly yours
In the early 1980s who would have even believed that the PCs
would have such an impact on our lifestyle, the way we communicate and do
business? The potential of Mobile Internet is similar. Still in its early phase
of development, experts are of the opinion that the impact of Mobile Internet
could be even greater than the PC. Says Prithwis Mukerjee, executive director at
PricewaterhouseCoopers: "The mobile Internet could offer many advantages,
which have to be tapped. Once the mobile users catch on to this new phenomenon,
it has the potential to bring about a drastic change in our work culture and
lifestyle."
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For those who need numbers, going by an IDC research, more
than 300 million people around the world carry a mobile phone and their number
is now beginning to challenge the personal computer. In 1998, there were 300
million PC users and 290 million mobile phone users. By 2003 the number of PC
users is expected to grow to 500 million, while the number of mobile phones is
anticipated to reach 1 billion. COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India)
figures indicate that the number of mobile users in India has been growing at an
impressive rate and has already reached 4.5 million.
No fancy wireless |
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Similarly, digital culture is experiencing spectacular
growth. Today, the Internet has 195 million users worldwide. These two
high-growth sectors are converging in the Mobile Internet, which uses wireless
communications technologies to access network-based information and applications
from mobile devices. With the combination of the mobile phone and the Internet,
wireless data becomes key. By 2002, all mobile phones will be Internet-ready and
data communication will account for 20-30% of all GSM traffic (Global System for
Mobile Communications), and by 2005, analysts say there will be more mobile
phones connected to the Internet than PCs. In a random survey conducted by
Dataquest across users of Internet and mobile devices, it was seen that about
40% of them are already planning to subscribe to mobile Internet services.
Waiting for the killer app
Interestingly, when the PC was being targeted at mass
consumption, one of the possible uses suggested was managing recipes. And today,
how many PCs are being used for managing recipes is for everyone to see. The PC
boom in the 1990s was driven not by any home or office management tool, but by
the Internet. People started purchasing the PC to go online. Similarly, like any
new technology in its infancy, the Mobile Internet is also looking for that
compelling application that could drive its consumption. This application may
not be necessary to purchase the platform itself, since most new cell-phone
handsets will come with build-in browsers, but it will certainly be required to
motivate the use of the platform.
Apps to Tap |
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Ranking based on a random survey across users of Internet and mobile services, in the order of their preference, 20 respondents. |
"The industry needs that one killer application that
could drive the use of this technology in a big way. People have already started
using SMS and messaging services, and these could go a long way," Mukerjee.
The most successful applications will have a simple user interface and be task
oriented. They will take advantage of the convenience of the mobile phone, and
support time and location based decision making and purchasing. According to the
DQ survey, messaging and email are today the most preferred applications among
mobile users. Among the other useful applications, access to official database
was at No 2, making on-line payments at No 3, followed by location-based
services and B2B transactions with suppliers and dealers, in that order.
The mobile phone is gradually moving away from solely a
telephony device, and toward a role as a unique ‘Personal Identifier and
Assistant’. It is only a matter of time before everyone and everything becomes
‘connected’. Application or service dimensions such as guaranteed quality of
service, security, personalized content, location sensitivity and consistency of
presentation across a range of access devices will be the new differentiators.
Hip, but not so happening
The possibilities are enormous–bidding in an on-line
auction, stock trading, interactive banking, buying tickets, m-commerce, using a
mobile phone as an electronic wallet, or streaming video to a hand held device
all offer exciting prospects. However, there are still some barriers to overcome
before these applications can become a reality. "These swanky mobile
gadgets look quite exciting, I would want to use some of the functionalities
they offer. But unless the quality of services is good enough, there is no
point," says Rajesh Kaul, a marketing professional. The DQ survey indicated
that even the people who want to switch to the mobile Internet, 54% plan do it
only after 2 years.
Many important technologies needed to make mobile Internet a
reality are still immature.
Wireless Internet coverage in many areas is spotty, and these
networks are much less reliable and slower than their wired counterparts. In the
DQ survey, lack of infrastructure/ immaturity of technology, emerged as the
primary hurdles in adopting this technology. This was followed by price
considerations at No 2 and inadequate services No 3. A main barrier to the
integration of mobile and the Internet is the difference between the
infrastructures of the two environments. The Internet uses IP addresses to
identify the destination of information, GSM networks use ordinary telephone
numbers. The Internet sends lots of packets of data, whose size and volume can
be huge, GSM networks use much lower bandwidths and mobile devices are not
designed for huge data streams.
Users behave differently too. On the Internet, the user is
quite happy to browse until they find what they want, sometimes they are even
happy to browse for no other reason. Behavior of mobile users is more impulsive–they
have no time to browse through pages of content, they are seeking specific
information now and they need it at their fingertips.
Bridging the gap
Broadly, Internet applications have not been developed for
mobile devices. They do not work well on small displays, they are not
personalized or location dependent and they do not offer the ease of use and
technology independence required by mass-market devices.
"You can’t superimpose all business applications very
elegantly on a mobile. It works on a thin capacity network, which can’t take
all the load," explains Mukerjee.
Pankaj Ukey, product manager, Microsoft, says: "The
technology is in a fluid state right now, there are no clear standards.
Companies need to focus on development activities and create value-added
services for the user." The wireless industry is developing standards to
bridge this gap between the Internet and mobile worlds. The Mobile Internet
gateway translates the infrastructure and Internet user interface for use on
mobile networks. It resolves address conflicts, interfaces with different
cellular bearers and restructures information for use with mobile, with lower
bandwidth and different form factor.
As the mobile subscribers increasingly demand Internet access
while on the move, data services are becoming an important part of mobile
network operations. This has driven the need for packet switching capabilities
on 2G networks and driven the development of wireless access technologies such
as WAP, WML etc. Mobile Professional Applications allow professionals to combine
the functionality of their desktop with the advantages of timeliness, location,
flexibility and mobility. 3G will create a new generation of service
professional, unchained from the desktop with LAN like functionality while on
the move.
The business case
In their scramble to gain competitive advantage, many
companies have invested heavily in consumer-oriented wireless projects that have
little hope of creating meaningful near-term value. The technology and
infrastructure required to support many of these consumer applications simply
does not yet meet consumer expectations.
There is no doubt that consumer wireless applications will
eventually become important investment opportunities. But until the technology
is in place to create robust and compelling consumer experiences, these
applications will not create significant value.
M-enabled sites offer greater efficiency in comparison to non-mobile ones. They not only provide more selling options at lower costs, but also improve your relationships with customers and dealers |
Instead of going with the hype, it is important to assess the
benefits Mobile Internet before investing in the technology. Apart from telecom
companies, carriers and service providers, all software and hardware vendors are
also investing in creating m-enabled products. While companies such as Oracle,
have created wireless enterprise applications, Microsoft is betting on its
Mobile Information Server. But none expect immediate returns. "This is a
long term investment, it will take time to get returns. Technology companies
like ours are looking at partnerships with service providers, so that we can
work together to create useful applications and services for the customer,"
says Ukey of Microsoft. "As of now, the vendors should concentrate more on
creating awareness and market building activities. Like any new technology, this
will take time to mature. Once it becomes more cost effective, it will be widely
adopted," says Somesh Bhagat, deputy general manager, Oracle India.
As a first step in developing a business case for Mobile
Internet, mobile operators should define the market they want to be in and which
role they want to play in the Mobile Internet value chain. They can focus on the
mass market or on a niche - offering standardized Mobile Internet and general
content to everyone, or a specialized service to a smaller but highly defined
group. An IDC global survey that compares the advantages of mobile-enabled sites
with others, shows that m-enabled ones offer greater business benefits in terms
of lower operational costs, better relationships with distributors, sales
channel and customer loyalty.
The outlook
For operators, mobile Internet offers an opportunity to
decrease churn, cut costs and increase revenues by improving existing services
and offering exciting new ones. It can offer the mobile operator either an
opportunity to defend his existing subscriber base against competitive networks,
or to prepare them for an on-coming third generation offering. For end users,
the Mobile Internet offers uniform, easy to use and secure access to the
Internet, Intranets and other services through hand held devices. Furthermore,
there is a new market unfolding with enormous potential for content providers,
tool manufacturers and developers.
An early indicator of the potential for mobile data devices
has been seen in Japan, where approximately 30% of the nation’s homes have PCs
connected to the Internet. In contrast, more than 50% of the population has
mobile phones, 46% of which include data communication capabilities. NTT DoCoMo,
which is today Japan’s largest ISP, has earned this position completely due to
its i-Mode service that provides access to a broad set of Internet applications
via a mobile handset,
The convergence of wireless communications and Internet
technologies, coupled with the advent of next generation mobile networks is
rapidly paving the way for the mobile information society. However, experts
insist that even if all goes well, it will take at least another 2-3 years
before we see such a mobile society take shape. It certainly holds promise of
exciting times ahead, but how many of these opportunities can actually be
exploited to translate into real benefits depends on a number of factors,
ranging from infrastructure issues to revenue models and value of services on
offer. Or else, the ‘m’ phenomenon may find it difficult to live up to its
expectations.
Shweta Verma–Dataquest