All About Wireless Initiatives : Catching the Next Wave

Given the nascent world economy and the pressure on Telecom operators and mobile carriers to boost the flagging ARPU (or Average Revenue Per User) from voice traffic due to steep price competition, new sources of business need to be found. Current thinking is to drive up data traffic as new source of revenue. This opens up a whole new spectrum of business opportunities and with it a whole set of new rules of the game for carriers.

Given the shining example of certain carriers in North Asia (NTT DoCoMo, comes to mind), there seems to be proof that data services, correctly marketed and implemented, can be a driving force to increase revenues, driving new business opportunities above and beyond traditional boundaries of the carriers.

There are 2 concurrent strategies to drive the data business. The first is to look at enhancing the existing success of current data services and the second, to look at the new opportunities provided by Java. We will probably see Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) deployed in short order throughout carriers in this region. This is the successor to Short Message Service (SMS) which we are all familiar with. I recall my first encounter with - I received my first message and next thing I know I am “texting” with the rest. This is the sort of viral potential that drives the success and popularity of SMS. Today, it is a necessary part of my communication with friends, family, and colleagues.

MMS is set to enhance the plain text experience of SMS with freeform text color, graphic, photos, with audio and video capabilities. The carriers have high expectations of MMS as a social and business enabler and have been gearing up to provide for this new service. MMS is “touted as the standard upon which growth in mobile messaging will be maintained and extended in 2.5 G and 3G mobile network.” (Ovum, April 2002)
Java is set to further enhance the user experience on mobile computing, It is the preferred technology platform of handset manufacturers in which games and applications will be deployed to mobile devices. Java (or in this case, Java 2 Micro Edition) forms the basic platform in which all other services can be developed on.

We can expect a whole slew of business opportunities to grow in wireless Java applications. What can we look forward to from our carrier?

FIRST WAVE : FIRST GENERATION OF JAVA SERVICES

The first wave of Java services would be games, infotainment and mobile office automation. We can expert simple single player games, multiplayer games and RPGs on our mobile devices. We can also expect to receive information from licensed providers like CNN, Yahoo, etc. Finance and stock information will also be standard fare.

In mobile offices, mobile groupware with email and file access capabilities on your mobile phone can be expected. This drives the opportunity for developers to provide services in Human Resource, ERP, CRM and other business related applications on mobile devices.

We will also see some integration to existing carrier infrastructure to provide contest information like pseudo location-based services in the early implementations. This will drive business opportunities for developers to integrate these services into their games, infotainment, and office applications. Simple location-based services for merchants (Like Starbucks rolling out their offers based on where you are) to integration to ERP and logistics opportunities can be foreseen.

SECOND WAVE :
CONTEXT RICH, CONTEXTUALISATION INTEGRATION TO SERVICE OFFERINGS.

This second wave of investment will drive more sophistication in services provided by carriers to the merchant and business communities. Using intelligent engines to build user profiles based on spending habits, usage, and loyalties will drive targeted service offerings to end consumers. Service intelligence will drive the Java applications to change as the user usage and preferences change through a passage of time..

Here we will see morphing Java applications, where Java applications will function based on user preferences and usage profiles.
A simple example is a movie preview using video streaming technologies running on a midlet. The user views the movie preview and decides whether he is interested in the movie. If he responds immediately, the Java midlet transforms into a promotion coupon and captures the interest of the user. The midlet can spawn off a booking system for the user to book tickets for the movie and with the promotion coupon the user can redeem against movie premiums of early bird specials.

After a passage of time, the movie’s early promotion has ended, the Java midlet now transforms into a discount coupon for the show and if activated, a restricted booking application can be offered to the user. The user now can select to purchase tickets for the movie in showtimes with low booking.

Given that the user continues to use this application over time and many movies later, a dynamic user profile can be generated as the application has been collecting usage information of the user.

For example, the user can be profiled as a keen sci-fi buff, he always buys the first shows of sci-fi movies, he also has an interest in comedies, but will only purchase discounted tickets-he is a valued customer in this category. Also, the user is more likely to respond to movie promotions after work from 7pm onwards and tends to book at a cinema near his work.

Here, the Java Midlet spawns off a loyalty card in which the user is offered that if he continues to watch movies at the cinema near his work, he will be given a free ticket after 10 bookings. Subsequently, if the user has reached a level of loyalty to the cinema, his loyalty will be changed to a rewards card in which his bookings will be given preference, seating arrangement captured and movie preview invites sent to him.

From the example, it is easy to extrapolate the business opportunities via carriers offering these as service offerings for commercial and government services integration leading to new business. It extends the way businesses get in touch with you.

THIRD WAVE :
LARGE SCALE INTERGRATION TO OTHER SERVICES, INTEGRATION ACROSS CARRIERS.

Real contextualisation happens when you can carry your profiles across geopolitical boundaries and across carriers. Here I see the exponential usefulness of context driven applications in whichever city and country you happen to be. Your needs and likes will be matched against offerings in country and location and pushed to your attention.

A true “STAR Alliance” type sharing of services and privilege can be delivered across the board for a plethora of vertical services. Collaborative commerce type applications can be developed. I can envision a portable “World Citizen” type privilege which can be carried with the consumer wherever he or she is. This dovetails into the needs of a greater portion of the global population traveling more often and more professionals with discretionary money to spend and les time to spend it with.

Further integration of GPS with LBS systems will spawn ever more concise ways of delivering targeted services to the end user. This service integration will promote an outgrowth of sophisticated applications where logistics, ERP and CRM opportunities will flourish.

WHAT ABOUT DEVICES?

For the longest time, wireless developers were looking for suitable devices to deploy their applications on. The dearth of devices led to the “chicken and egg” quandary for wireless developers - I have the applications and services but what will the deployment platform be?

Mobile phone manufacturers have a whole new line up of handsets offering both Java and MMS functionality. Brand names like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Panasonic, etc. will have models commercially available by Q3 this year. They have committed to Java, and in particular J2METM , to be their platform of choice. And given their continued commitment to drive handsets as the de facto personal communications device, what we are seeing is only the tip of what is to come.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THE DEVELOPERS OUT THERE?

The time is right and the time is now to catch the new wave of computing. In short all the planets are aligned. Business drivers like the carriers are hungry, devices are available, the technology is mature, and the developers have the innovation to make things happen.

CAN THIS VISION SPELL A GOLDEN AGE FOR CARRIERS?

I think so. We, as consumers, are conditioned from the beginning to pay for mobile services. Now what we need as consumers is the content.