Time for New Mobile Messaging Strategy

CHICAGO-The time has come to rethink the assumptions that have shaped the

mobile messaging industry, according to software and services vendors. What's

needed by businesses are services that concentrate on customer needs, rather

than the usual technology offerings by mobile telcos or handset makers.

That was the consensus sounded at the keynote panel of the Mobile Business

Expo here.

"This industry has been very operator-focused, and has historically had

nothing to do with how you run an enterprise," said John Dolan, Oracle

Corp. vice president of product management, wireless and voice division.

"It's time to rethink the mobile strategy. The goal should be to get

data, wirelessly, to a tremendous amount of people in an organization. Not just

five to 10 executives."

As part of this new focus, wireless business applications needed to become as

seamless as using a TV remote control, Dolan said.

"Everything should be integrated-everything should work out of the

box," he said. "Mobility needs to be institutionalized at software

companies. It has to be a part of the thinking of every group."

To foster this focus, Oracle rewrote its software licenses to include

licensing for mobile applications. The company is also rewriting its software to

accommodate wireless applications.

Still, synchronization standards for the industry will be needed to enable a

Palm Inc. Treo or a Pocket PC-based handset to use applications designed

originally for PCs, Dolan said.

Another technology area that needs to be cultivated is network monitoring

tools for wireless networks. These tools should be similar to those used to

monitor networks in Fortune 500 companies all over the world today, he

continued.

"We can't continue to ask clients to go wireless without any control

over their networks," he added. "No company is going to pay to have

their clients go to Starbucks to do their work."

What's more, an integrated system that would like the monthly billing for

wireless devices-PDAs, mobile phones and the like-should emerge too, Dolan

said.

"Mobile network operators have a $5 billion market from ring

tones-they don't have much of a motivation to address this," he added.

"They don't want to deal with the problems of field service reps."

There will be opportunities for companies to address these and other

problems, but not directly in the telcom business today, according to Mark

Lowenstein, managing director of Mobile

Ecosystem, a firm that advises C-level executives on wireless strategy, and

a former analyst with the Yankee Group.

"This is a time of incredible change in the telecom industry," said

Lowenstein, during the keynote session. "There are just three major

carriers Wireless> today, down from six a few years ago. This is also a time of

technological change. Plus there are disruptive factors, like Google, eBay and

Skype."

During the next year, the rollout of third-generation, or 3G, wireless

networks will likely be complete in many cities, Lowenstein said.

Verizon thus far has launched 3G services in about 80 cities, Sprint is in

about 75 cities and airports, and Cingular Wireless should be offering its

next-generation wireless by the end of the year, Lowenstein said.

"Then you will be finally able to think of the cellular network as the

default network for your data," said Lowenstein. "Is it as good as

Ethernet? No. Is it good enough? Yes."

To go along with the new networks, there will be enhanced capabilities on

mobile devices.

Lowenstein said that he predicts that by next year, 60 percent of all mobile

phones will have removable storage capability.

That will have an impact on the way work is done wirelessly.

Today, only 5 percent of wireless network industry revenues come from data

transfer. But with the third-generation networks, that will shift. There are

questions as to how the networks will compete, analysts said.

"How will they differentiate themselves?" Lowenstein asked.

"The carriers are unsure where to make their bets. From a carrier's point

of view, the question is, 'How far do we want to go?' Frankly, the carriers are

looking to the enterprise market to step it up-that would be Oracle, Microsoft

and Siebel," he said.

Lowenstein said that many companies today willingly pay $30 a month for a

mobile salesperson to carry a BlackBerry, but if the fee rises to above $100,

that could create challenges, and change the decision-making.

"This will be an interesting debate," said Lowenstein.

For example, there are only some 3.5 million mobile e-mail subscribers

globally, Lowenstein noted.

Right now, only about 20 percent of wireless data accounts are directly paid

for by enterprises, and the rest are financed by employees themselves, and only

sometimes reimbursed by the employer.

"There are many gray areas of use," said Lowenstein. "This

will have to be cleared up."

Source: eweek.com