Thursday, June 02, 2005

The future is out there, but will users pay for it?

FT-IT review has a report on the latest research from Analysys on a Wireless Services Roadmap.

They look at the fact that ARPU is higher for 3G users than 2G, and thus the networks are looking at how they can increase speed again so that we can adopt 4G technologies such as WiMAX. In giving faster connection we can have DVB-H and improve web browsing, e-mail and video calling. My only observation is just how many people want to watch TV on a tiny device. Also just how can we power such devices as at present my wireless laptop last for three hours without charging?

I think that teh adoption of wireless data services is about blue collar solutions that allow workers to work smarter rather than technology that allows managers to work slowly anywhere. Once the networks get that and start developing technologies that remove latency in the network then we could see mobile take off once again just how the research firms have been predicting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Please don't fall into the trap that DVB-H is simply going to be for delivering mobile TV....

Think about it in these terms, DVB-H is simply high bandwidth, streamed IP that can deliver the same content at the same time to one user or 100 million users. Combine it with something like a secure Multicast service running over IPSec and you can now securely deliver that content to discrete user groups. Add a carosel approach that allows small amounts of (possibly time-shifted) data to be broadcast at regular intervals and you have a very cheap, very powerful data delivery system - Podcasting is just one use amongst many...

Simon Cavill
Simon@mi-pay.com