The battle between the closed MNO-controlled vs. the open PC-like Mobile Economy:
Recently I identified the mobile meta-competition between the 2 major
strategies of making money in our beloved Mobile Economy. It will be
fascinating to see if the closed or open Mobile Economy is going to win.
The mobile meta-competition actually is the battle between the closed
MNO-controlled vs. the open PC-like Mobile Economy.
Vodafone by now globally adopted NTTDoCoMo's strategy of tight MNO-control
by giving 100%-specifications to handset makers regarding device features
and dos and don'ts of content distribution to those devices.
On the other hand, Nokia pushes Symbian and the vision of the open mobile online computer on which
the user can run any application while moving any data to the PC or between
handsets (e.g. Face2Face file sharing over Bluetooth or SD cards).
To remain in control of mobile content and application distribution, NTTDoCoMo has
trimmed some key data exchange functionality of the Symbian OS version on their 2
Fujitsu FOMA handsets. Although Symbian is THE open OS for mobile devices,
NTTDoCoMo does not allow to write protected data to the SD card or read
from it. Of course, this is to prevent alternative distribution channels
and mobile file sharing activities.
So here are some scenarios of the ultimate outcome of the mobile meta-competition
between the open vs. closed Mobile Economy:
Nokia first becomes an MVNO and/or later buys a number of available MNOs.
The MNOs to be bought by Nokia may even be new players that bring Mobile
Broadband to the market, such as German
Airdata
that is based on wireless Mobile Broadband high-tech from
IPWireless.
Microsoft develops and sells (almost open) devices and
becomes an MVNO and/or buys MNOs, too. As pointed out above, the
control over mobile data distribution is the key success
factor and Microsoft has got lots of fixed Internet experience through MSN.
NTTDoCoMo and Vodafone relax their tight control due to market
pressure from Nokia and Microsoft.
The closed MNOs win the battle while Nokia and Microsoft just have to adapt to
such an unfortunate reality. But before they would accept the defeat they will have
spent many billions to change the rules of the game.
I am sure that ultimately the mass market demand represented by
smart users will decide the outcome of this mobile meta-competition of
control vs. openness in the Mobile Economy. People just want to have control
THEMSELVES over their mobile online computing devices, in the same way they enjoy
running any software on their online PCs today. And I believe that
in North America and Europe this open attitude is (still) more widely spread
in consumers' minds than in the Asian region.
Somewhere, Q4 2003
Jan Michael Hess, CEO, Mobile Economy GmbH
Bluetooth-powered mobile social network aka aki records encounters in the real world Since a couple of days I am a user of the Berlin-based Bluetooth-powered mobile social network aka aki. I think aka aki is a very cool and super sticky application with a great future. Thumbs up to the 8 co-founders from the UDK (Berlin University of the Arts) for coming up with a mobile innovation that takes advantage of the unique mobile technology Bluetooth to enable a new form of intelligent encounters and meetings in the real world. read more on mobiliser.org... Reengineering Blyk’s Business Model Many people in our beloved mobile economy are excited about the new startup company called Blyk because it is the first ad-funded MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) in the world. Blyk launched in the UK on 24 September, 2007, and is targeted at 16 to 24 year-old customers only. Co-founder and CEO of Blyk is Pekka Ala-Pietilä, former President of Nokia Corporation (1999-2005) and Nokia Mobile Phones (1992-1998). Pekka’s supposedly strong contacts with the top management of many MNOs (Mobile Network Operator) will help Blyk close more beneficial Host MNO deals in 2008 and 2009 as Blyk plans to go pan-European read more on mobiliser.org...