It’s time to reinvent the industry. The personalization market is dying – the days of big money in ring tones and wallpaper is over. The economic crisis is tough and the regulatory market is not benign. So, why be optimistic?
1. Applications. Apple’s iPhone has changed the customers view of what an application is. The fact that a farting application can make $800,000 sends a certain signal. The question is how does this model change things once it moves beyond the early adopters?
2. Mobile social networking has become the epicenter of innovation. New business models and money making opportunities are being thrown off by this new market.
Operators, especially in places like the US, are trying to control what content shows up on the network. The government regulators and the operators policies are out of control, in fact there are some cases where the industry is suiting on the behalf of the customer. This will cause a downsizing in the US market for the next couple years from the content providers.
Keys to succeeding in the mobile social networking space:
Role of the operator is changing, it specifically has a large impact in billing. They need to take a significant cut in the amount they charge for this service – 50% is just ridiculous, it must change as it’s not sustainable or excusable.
“Apple’s app store is the big shadow hanging over all of us, except of course that they’re never here…”
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