Friday, January 26, 2007

Trouble Ahead for Mobile Data ARPU?

"There are no more killer apps," warns The Yankee Group analyst Charles Moon, of mobile operators in the Asia and Pacific region. Short-messaging service (SMS), ringtones and—to a lesser extent—graphics and gaming have made huge contributions to mobile data revenue, he says.

"Yet since their introduction many years ago, nothing else has made a similar impact, despite ten- to twenty-fold improvements in wireless download speeds," says Moon. "All things being equal, data revenue will fail to offset the decline in voice," says Moon. "Our current forecast, based on present business models and current operator strategies, shows overall mobile data revenue growing at a relatively tepid 7% per year from 2006 to 2010."

Moon says mobile operators must embrace all-IP platforms such as mobile WiMAX. Walled garden strategies should be disgarded in favor of more openness to third party developers. Speed isn't the issue. Variety is, he maintains. And operators need to learn how to segment customers better.

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