I continue to believe that mobile technologies will be the next big thing to hit the U.S. It might not even happen next year, but it will happen. The mobile wars continue in Asia, which is literally light years ahead of where we are in the US of A.
In a recent study the GSM, the global trade association for mobile operators, announced that multi-media messaging (MMS), the older, wiser brother to SMS has already become a popular service overseas and is poised to pop. Mobile email may have even greater potential, according to the poll.
“This comprehensive survey shows that there is considerable appetite for rich messaging services that broaden the range of communications options open to mobile phone users,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA. “After a slow start, MMS has gained a loyal following, while mobile email is clearly emerging as a must-have service for many people.”
Not surprising mobile email was the most popular usage in the U.S. In Europe and Asia, it was text messaging, followed by mobile email and MMS. The preference chart is interesting:
| Service | Ranking |
| Text messaging (SMS) | 1 |
2 | |
| MMS | 3 |
| Alerts via SMS/MMS | 4 |
| Instant messaging | 5 |
| Web browsing and searching | 6 |
| Location-based services | 7 |
| Mobile radio | 8 |
| Financial transactions | 9 |
| Downloading content | 10 |
| Mobile TV | 11 |
| Video calling | 12 |
| Video sharing | 13 |
| Gambling | 14 |
The Year Behind, The Year Ahead
It's getting to be that time of year when the Top 10 lists are compiled. Of course, my top trend of the year was the momentum picked up by multi-platform technology and content, but that comprises a great deal. Read/Write Web has compiled a great list of trends and developments, vintage 2006. Among other highlights, it notes 2006 as the Year of the Social Network. Also, the year that still is was the year that many tech applications were made consumer friendly (e.g. Skype, IM) or at least adopted in larger numbers by consumers. It has also been the year when VC money returned to the fore, though in amounts smaller than the Bubble years. Ironically, there are fewer startups needing, wanting or willing to take large cash infusions. It has also been a hot year for video on the web.
Interesting.... the site also points out that world Internet penetration is 16%, and that 3/4 of web traffic to the larger sites is international.
0 comments:
Post a Comment