"What makes mobile internet more than simply a portable extension of fixed internet is the ability to provide services, building on combinations of mobility, personalisation, positioning and transactions."
- Ericsson, 2002

The mobile platform is a unique platform for online content providers and needs to be seen as such.

Apart from the obvious reason that the device is very different from a PC, the very fact that the device is mobile, completely changes the content and service needs of the mobile user.

The PC-internet is well suited to a user with time to surf for research, and conduct complex transactions. The mobile internet, in contrast, is best suited to satisfy instant needs.

Mobile content and services are now becoming more widely available in the US with the introduction of 'next generation' mobile networks and the emergence of new mobile devices.

T-Mobile, for example, just released two camera-phones under $100, giving a strong indication that innovative mobile content and services will be affordable for many mobile phone users in the near future. Mobile devices in themselves are strong drivers of mobile data usage, and this is no more evident than in Japan and South Korea.

The interesting development in mobile devices over the last 12 months has been the increasing segmentation of devices along features and services, rather than technologies or manufacturers. We are even beginning to see small mobile devices capable of the 'triple-play' -- voice, data and video.

This device segmentation trend will only continue as new mobile content and services are developed. Why? Because consumers are a funny bunch; they don't like being told what mobile content and services they need and what they don't.

The success of NTT DoCoMo in Japan stemmed from the fact that the operator opened its network up to developers and content providers, allowing mobile phone users to chose from a huge variety of different services and applications. It provided a test-bed where popular mobile services thrived and the less popular fell by the wayside, at little risk to the operator itself.

The search for a 'killer app' on the mobile or broadband PC somehow assumes that everyone has the same idea of what they want and need from an internet service. This is plainly absurd. There will be numerous mobile and broadband applications that many people immediately embrace over the coming years, but consumer segmentation, device segmentation and service segmentation will only increase.

Marketers, content providers, and wireless operators would love nothing better than to have clear-cut categories of different consumer types. This would make their job much easier in allocating resources and introducing news products.

Alas, this will never be the case. The randomness of humans will always mean that introducing new products and services to them will be something of a gamble.

November 2002

As featured on eMarketer.com