Mobile data

Remember, it was in the beginning of the third millennium, and most (all) mobile operators and market analysts were projecting mobile content revenues to jump to 20%-25% of their total revenues (from 7%-8%) in a 5-year period. We are in 2006, and what happens? Mobile content revenues are still lagging in the 10%-12% share range, and most of the revenues are still coming from SMS services. In the mean time, a lot of analysis have tried to explain why and how mobile data should happen sooner or later. The latest in date is from KPMG. They found that most users are reluctant to pay a premium for wireless content, except if there is a clear value associated with it. It is wise, and my modest conclusion is that we did not find, up to now, mobile content with associated clear value, outside SMS. Up to now, mobile operators were wrong to impose their current business model. They would be well inspired to look at new business models (i.e. those in the internet or media industries), as advanced multimedia mobile services are directly competing with online content services.