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The 'M' Mania

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DQI Bureau
New Update

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.

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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

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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."

Are

You Going the M-way?

How

Soon?

Although

many tech savvy working professionals are showing interest in the

mobile Internet system, many are still unsure or not interested.

There is a need to create greater awareness.

In

spite of vendors and service providers betting heavily on wireless

Web, market experts say it will take at least 2-3 before the

technology really takes off in a big way.

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.

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No fancy wireless

gadgets will be of any use without adequate infrastructure and quality

services. And for wider adoption, service providers not only need to

create awareness, but also have to bring down the costs drastically

Based on a random

survey of 20 users of Internet and mobile services

Source: Dataquest

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

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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
  • Messaging and e-mails: shrt & swt, gd 4 u … SMS, the

    new lingo, has already caught on with the hip and young generation.

    Considered the quickest and easiest to communicate, email and

    messaging are undisputedly the most preferred apps
  • Enterprise apps to access data: Applications in this category

    will focus on helping users to keep in touch while travelling and

    providing access to corporate data. For example, products or customer

    information and inventories, which can be especially useful for sales

    and marketing personnel
  • Making on-line payments: If essential services such as

    telephone or electricity billing could be completely automated, wouldn’t

    save so

    much effort and time if you could pay some of your bills while you are

    on the move
  • Location-based services: Mobile devices are optimal for

    promoting certain types of goods and services that are either

    time-specific or location-based. It is ideal for booking and

    purchasing tickets for time-bound events or products such as theatre,

    film, concerts, taxis or flights. It is also ideal for location-based

    marketing, enabling users to locate services like hotels, restaurants

    and ATMs
  • B2B transactions: The interaction with suppliers and dealers

    could be made mobile. This will not only increase the scope and

    productivity of transactions, but would also make the entire supply

    chain management more efficient
  • Advertising/reaching target audience: Based on customer data

    and the kind of product on offer, companies could wirelessly promote

    their products through various promotions or ads targeted at a

    specific audience
  • Gaming and entertainment: These have not picked up so far

    because of infrastructure and bandwidth constraints. But as the

    technology matures, it will enable users to play quizzes and

    interactive games, download music, books and video files to their

    handheld device
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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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