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“The term of “mobile 2.0″ can best be defined as the next generation of data services to mobile connected devices (…) knitting together Web 2.0 with the mobile platform to create something new: a new class of services that leverage mobility but are as easy to use and ubiquitous as the Web is today. These services point the way forward for the mobile data industry."

Read Dan Appelquist’s blog.

Event highlights:

Last week I attended Mobile Operator Smart Pipes & Applications in London, which I found quite interesting. I would suggest reading Alan Quayle’s notes (see links at the bottom of this post) to get the scoop on this two day conference. So, I will start this post with what many deem as key changes in the mobile broadband industry:

1. leading network operators are exposing network resources and taking down past commercial and technical barriers to enable external developers to launch smarter applications and data centric services in weeks rather than years, O2’s Litmus being an example;
2. infrastructure vendors are delivering next generation mobile broadband networks, smarter pipes which rely on end to end IP and pave the way for service & context aware architectures: see Alcatel-Lucent’s LTE;
3. mobile developers benefit from lightweight development models that broaden the developer ecosystem while tapping into the operator’s marketing, distribution and billing muscles as part of a variety of partnering programs such as Orange’s;
4. mobile browsers and widgets start to leverage web standards and aim to overcome today’s fragmentation in terms of devices, operating systems and networks; click here to read Vodafone’s insights and here to read about Opera’s new browser;
5. device manufacturers are launching user friendly multimedia devices and providing developers with adequate resources, Apple’s iPhone being the reference model;
6. content providers and advertisers are better understanding and meeting the requirements of the mobile user experience; MMA’s Mobile Advertising Guidelines;
7. regulators discuss “innovation friendly” policies, specially when “less turns out to be more” in the end users’ best interest;
8. service providers are working on transparent and straight forward pricing for mobile data and any related services; making relevant new services easily discoverable by means of application stores;
9. end users are adopting new kinds of wirelessly connected devices and applications; note that many of these will not be subsidized and supported by network operators; Amazon’s Kindle was the most talked about reference;
10. venture capital (known as risk capital in Europe) is taking advantage of the nascent mobile 2.0 industry for both consumer and enterprise markets as “wireless” is expected to become the leading means of consuming online services; see Jarvinian’s IT Mobility Initiative.

Critical success factors:

A- There is consensus on the need for making QoE a strategic priority as delivering on the mobile users’ quality of experience has become a source of value and differentiation. As a result, user centered design and human factors engineering are driving innovation as seen by the growing relevance of mobile usability practices and network & application engineering for QoE.

B- A venturesome environment and industry-wide innovativeness are also key. More so when it comes down to enabling mutually beneficial business models. The fact is that mobile broadband involves a complex value chain where no single player excels at delivering each component. So, understanding what’s at stake, industry dependencies, and shared risk taking are critical success factors. Some food for thought:

• Developers talk about the need for mitigating risks by enabling cross-carrier services beyond today’s voice and SMS.
• Moreover, many openly stated that there are alternatives to more than 80% of what operators can deliver by means of network APIs which, in any case, might end up being operator specific to developers’ dismay.
• OneAPI (network) and BONDI (device) aim to tackle the mobile fragmentation problem, saving developers from having to incur the cost of re-writing applications over and over.
• Mobile network operators are concerned about making substantial capital investments and long term commitments to broadband infrastructure if their networks’ destiny is to become dumb pipes.
• Some even claim that it’s hard to figure out how to make money out of these “experiments” while facing the paradox of declining margins in a fast growing market labeled by industry experts as the “next big thing.”
• Network operators are looking at cloud computing paradigms and are, therefore, assessing the merits of virtualized radio access networks. This goes beyond the passive sharing of basic cell sites to share active infrastructure such as BSS, base station subsystem.
• In this context, it is worth noticing that Andrew Bud, Chairman of the Mobile Entertainment Forum, highlighted that delivering the same data over wireless is 1000 times more costly than over fixed networks. Informa reports that laptop and netbook subscribers already account for more than 50% of mobile data usage and that a single laptop can generate the equivalent of traffic involving 15 smart phones.

C- Competing on analytics opens up new opportunities as telcos embrace 2.0 models. There are concerns about what regulators might and might not allow mobile operators to do with the data they collect. Having said that:

• Real time reporting and predictive analytics enable traffic and content delivery efficiencies over wireless networks, which would be hard to achieve otherwise.
• In a 2.0 world, analytics is not just about enabling a more efficient and effective execution, but about achieving a degree of service personalization that delivers value and makes a difference to the end user. If interested in the subject, I would suggest reading an article I published on Alcatel-Lucent’s Enriching Communications last year.

Mobilizing myself:

The above picture shows the OQO I took with me to London, which I used to:

• take notes at the event and check the websites presenters and panelists referred to,
• microblog on the spot via facebook updates,
• keep up with my email and checking voice mail,
• review and edit a couple of presentations,
• write this post that you are now reading…

all done thanks to web apps and a browser (Google’s Chrome) to illustrate the benefits of 2.0 services and cloud computing for people on the go. By the way, that OQO:

• runs Windows XP and can connect to WiFi and 3G networks;
• even though it comes with a sliding keyboard, my preference is to hook it up over Bluetooth to a handier foldable keyboard, which also fits in my pocket;
• once I’m back in my office, I plug a 22 inch flat screen;
• nonetheless, I can access any of the applications I talked about from any other computer if need to.

I like this configuration because it fits in my jacket’s pocket. Others MSP&A participants took netbooks with them instead. Mobile operators are making free netbooks available when enrolling in annual data plans.

The Mobile Enterprise:

Going back to MSP&A, we did not hear much about mobile applications for the enterprise. That prompted me to ask a couple of questions on that subject since:

1. Enterprises are looking into mobilizing the workforce, this means mobile enabling corporate applications.
2. IT managers are taking steps to move to private or public clouds where apps become software as a service.
3. Enterprise services, such as portals, CRM and any business intelligence app for that matter, are becoming multimedia mash-ups.

The above trends are important to enterprises because:

1. Mobilizing a company’s workforce is expected to rise productivity in measurable ways.
2. Moving desktops and apps to data centers has become a cheaper, faster, and some would argue more secure IT strategy than continuing to roll out and maintain thick client software.
3. Mash-ups further improve productivity as related data and media from different domains get rendered and refreshed in a meaningful fashion and at your finger tips.

This is relevant to the mobile industry since:

1. Mobilizing a company’s workforce implies a sizeable customer base for mobile data plans and enterprise class services.
2. When enterprise apps live in the cloud users access them via browsers, which relies on always-on connectivity.
3. Capable browsers and widgets craft mash-ups that not only retrieve rich media but also open up a number of simultaneous connections to multiple servers which requires faster and smarter networks.

While vertical solutions that appeal to a specific industry are key, I do think that horizontal applications that are of value to most enterprises (e.g. CRM, customer relationship management, coupled with CEPB, communications enabled business process) might be the low hanging fruit as far as mobile broadband services is concerned.

Related posts at consultaglobal:

• Cloud Slam 2009 (1); (2); (3) ; (4) ; (5) ; (6) ; (7)
• Emerging Communications 2009 (1); (2); (3)
• twitter’s search for a business case
• 2.0 companies leverage 2.0 technologies
• open cloud manifesto

Other bloggers:

• Alan Quayle and his posts on MSP&A: Day One ; Day Two
• Claude Florin
• C. Enrique Ortiz
• Dan Appelquist
• Matt Millar
• Mike Rowehl
• Rudy de Waele

J. de Francisco blogging from Chicago on May 24

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