Mobile operator 3 Hong Kong will offer its subscribers a WhatsApp Roaming Pass for $8 ($1 USD) a month that gives them unlimited access to WhatsApp services without counting it against their data caps, or a $48 ($6.19 USD) daily pass offering unlimited WhatsApp use and 5MB of service in 78 destinations around the world.
You might wonder why a mobile service provider would promote a service that competes directly with its own messaging service. The answer is that so many people are doing so that 3 might as well try and extract some revenue from the service in an indirect way, namely by allowing usage of WhatsApp without counting the usage against a customer's data cap.
Time Warner Cable, for its part, is currently sending a mailer to internet-only customers, suggesting that they should upgrade their broadband speeds for a better Netflix experience and offering to throw in a whole year of free TV as a bonus.
That's one example of a service provider trying to generate revenue indirectly from an over the top application.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Mobile and Cable Companies Try to Profit from Over the Top Apps
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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