What Apple really did with the iPhone

Caveat: A large part of the latter part of this post on monopoly of telecom service providers has been discussed and dissected to death. Am adding it only from a completeness perspective. I am also using Apple as an example of a different business model rather than as the only company that works on this principle

A large part of my work as a consultant in the telecom domain related to VAS or value added services. This included services and products ranging from dialer tones, missed call alerts to multimedia applications like wallpaper downloads, MMS and the like. These really were the dominant applications during the time (I’m assuming it’s still the same). And for each of these services, the vendor system needed to understand and interact with various telecom systems such as the prepaid billing platform, the switches, the mediation or the SGSN. The main reason being that all this telecom elements were essential for one of two aspects: Service / content delivery and billing. So you always needed to understand the format in which data would be accepted by these systems to process billing (usually as a CDR or a call data record), understand in what scenarios could billing or service delivery fail, etc. Basically, you needed to have extensive domain knowledge in telecom as well.

What Apple done with its iPhone and iTunes products is, basically, is reduce the importance of understanding the telecom infrastructure( the service delivery and billing systems) and focusing more on building the product. Not only has Apple built an eco-system that transferred power from the service providers to the handset manufacturers, it has also transferred power from the telecom domain experts to the IT product developers. Basically, it has brought the control back into the vast IT community of developers. This was something I realized when building my prototype for an LBS-based product (let’s say severe re-working is going on right now). Even though, I already knew how geo-positioning is done, how GPS or triangulation works or what accuracy ranges are allowed, it is all immaterial. Why? Because the iPhone has already all this in-built with its GPS and allows you to extract the location coordinates using a simple API. An API that works just like any other product API. Something which is extremely familiar to all programmers. Even if you’re not designing for the iPhone, other third-party vendors have built similar APIs for Blackberry, Nokia and J2ME devices. This severely reduces the dependence on the network operators. Product developers no longer have to worry whether the service is provisioned on an HLR to deliver the service. Or whether an incorrect configuration on the network side is going to wreck havoc on their revenues. One product that already slipped from the grasp of the telecom operators was ring tones whose revenues fell when handsets started working on standardized formats such as MP3 which could be downloaded from any site on the web.

Further, ITunes allows you to use credit cards to purchase the application. Using a payment gateway. The same way all online transactions are processed. Another familiar platform for any one who has built e-commerce sites. No more worrying about whether the subscriber has been disconnected at the billing system and has, hence not been charged, or incorrect configurations at the mediation, or that a service has not been charged because well, the SMS short code and the rate was not configured in the billing system. Basically, no revenue loss because the telecom operator messed up. Remember: All operators have contracts with the VAS vendors saying that the operators will pay an X% of what they bill. Not X% of what is billable but what is actually billed. So if an incorrect configuration in the telecom operator’s system allows the subscriber to use the service free of charge, even the vendor does not get paid for the same.

However, the pain is not only on the side of the telecom operators alone. Till now in this post, I have not distinguished between the VAS content creator (who makes the content/ owns the copyright of the content) and the VAS content aggregator (who licenses the content from the creator and sells the content to the customer through the telecom service provider. But in the new scenario, aggregators are the online app stores. No longer do the aggregators control the service delivery to subscribers of a specific telecom operator. An Airtel subscriber, need not only extract content from aggregators that Airtel has a tie-up with. He can go to any store online and get the content. This allows content creators to sell their wares on numerous online sites. Hence, the content aggregator has also lost his own somewhat-cushy monopoly over the content creators because of his tie-up with the operator. Even stores owned by handset manufacturers such as Nokia Ovi has to compete with all the other app stores that sells Symbian (the operating system for Nokia handsets ) applications and products. Unless you are Apple of course.

One last way Apple is blowing up this eco-system is basically solving one of the most oft-lamented problems faced by VAS vendors in India. That of service providers have this incredible choke-hold on the entire service delivery mechanism that they pretty much dictate the revenue share % and the other terms and conditions. After all, what’s  the point of building an application if you can’t charge the customer or allow him to use it? Some of the apps were available for download on the Internet even before but Apple and iTunes brought it together at such phenomenal scale, that it cut off the legs of the telecom operator monopoly in the USA.

But make no mistake. Service providers do have a few cards up their sleeve as well.

1. There are still some services like Dialer tunes or Missed Call alerts which are still the dominant VAS services.  And these are completely network-dependent. However, other services in the ABC categories (Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket which dominate Value Added Services) such as downloads and periodic updates can soon break out of this monopoly only if there is the requisite proliferation of credit cards and in the future, mobile money products happens.
2. Service providers still control GPRS Mobile browsing – as per InMobi’s KK at the Mobile Monday Mumbai summit the day before, the Mobile Web is still providing it with its largest ad inventory yet. However, even in the mobile browsing business, the service providers are paid only for the volume of the content and not the value of the content. For example, irrespective of whether you are accessing the scores of the hottest cricket match or you’re visiting an old, dilapated blog that no one ever updates (hint: Z, Alpana, Charsi), the service providers get paid the same amount. They don’t get more money for the cricket website. And obviously, services like ZIP Dial are going to take their pound of flesh by destroying their other premium SMS services (KBC anyone? )
3. Further, the telecom service providers also have their own stores for downloading content. But these are no longer exclusive. You can’t lock-in a customer to your store. You have to still be price-competitive against the rest of the stores out there. You are just another store.

This is getting to be incredibly interesting given that one of the ways that telecom service providers were planning to shore up their falling ARPUs was through Value added Services. Wonder how the battle will turn in India given our incredible ability to turn every challenge into an opportunity.

Note1: When I say what Apple did, I mean what Apple started and what the general trend of service delivery is. Obviously, there are hundreds of app stores available today, including the Ovi store (Nokia), the Samsung app store (Samsung), Android Market (for Android phones

Note2: Obviously, given Apple’s limited success in India and India’s relatively lower wireless data usage/ Internet usage, this model will take a bit more time to mature before it spreads to the smaller towns. But I think it’s a matter of time

Note3: I am very interested in the rumors around Apple’s next phones which will have an embedded SIM and allow you to choose the carrier long after you have purchased the handset. What happens is that the operator does not provide the SIM but Apple does. The configuration of the network carrier is done through iTunes and is essentially software !

On IVR menus

We all know what a pain customer service is. Usually, banks and telcos are the usual suspects but it pretty much applies to all B2C companies. Now that smartphones are profligating through both developed and developing countries, it’s time to probably re-think the way one of the key parts of the customer service - the design or more importantly the usability of the IVR.

With all the apps that various companies are already offering, I think another app should be launched by each of these B2C companies (like ICICIBank, Vodafone, etc.) for basically wading through the IVR. This would work as follows (Note: Only for phones with some kind of operating system which is capable of launching third party apps)

1. The entire IVR map should be available on the phone along with a clear label of what service each node in the tree would provide. This is not a confidential design really as any of the competitors can decipher the entire design of the IVR within 30 minutes of logging on to the IVR.
2. In case an authentication is required (such as the account number, pin code or the debit card number), the same should be highlighted at the node on the IVR tree itself
3. Updates in the IVR tree should be checked automatically every time the app is launched.
4. From a usability perspective, it should be in the language chosen by the user.

This automatically helps the user immediately go through the tree and easily get to where he needs.

Advantage for the user:

He spends less time on the IVR and then, after giving up, wasting more time in queque waiting for a customer service executive

Advantages for the company:

Same thing. It results in more effective utilization of the IVR and the customer service centre thus reducing the costs of both customer touch-points.

4. A more advanced version of the software would allow you to directly choose the option you require from the GUI of your phone and basically the app itself would navigate the tree based on the hierarchy to choose the service.

Take the example of the tree below:

So in the example menu hierarchy above, suppose I wanted the option of the call hold facility as highlighted in the diagram above, I could just select it and the phone would simulate the pressing of the keys 4 (For products and services), 2 (For sub-menu DT and VAS) , 5 (For sub-sub-menu Call Mgmt Service) and 4 (Finally for call hold service) in that order
The main challenge is not reversing the path to determine the order of the numbers to be pressed but the simulation of pressing the keys to choose the option. I remember in landlines (tone dialing), each of the 9 digits pressed emitted a tone at a different pitch and frequency based on which the instrument could identify the digit pressed. Not sure how handsets identify dialing numbers in the mobiles. I’m sure an identical principle works here and in touch screen phones, since it’s entirely software controlled, there could be a way to simulate the pressing of the key for each of the choices. In fact if an API can be built into the IVR, it could actually do away with the key simulation since the application can be integrated with the IVR through an API. Some IVR vendor like Cisco should be in a position to actually build both the app (with a template where the IVR hierarchy can be updated) and the API and sell this as a value-add to the service provider. There would also be an issue in terms of authentication when the software needs to prompt the user for a username / password. But that would need to be integrated into the app. I think an API is the way to go.

5. Further, an even more advanced version would also probably inform me of my position in the queque to the call centre (after I move out of the IVR; the option of “Press 9 to speak to a customer service executive” ) so that I could decide whether to stay in the queque or alternately further explore the IVR tree to see if I can find the service I need.

Let’s accept the fact that today’s IVRs are a waste of time. All they do is either encourage the subscriber to disconnect the call in utter frustration leading to customer dissatisfaction or route his call to the customer service representative thus unnecessarily increasing costs. There has to be a better way of designing them without it seeming to the customer that it’s just a roadblock between him and the service he requires from a CSR.

UPDATE: Oh I was thinking about this before I slept and I realized one thing. If I used an API, i would require a data session to navigate through the IVR, but if I needed to go to the call centre, the app would have to initiate a seperate voice session since voice quality on the current data networks is a bitch. I wonder how that would work?

Serge Ferre on Why Nokia Should Focus on Solutions Instead of Apps « Gauravonomics Blog

Interesting link. Serge Ferre, Nokia’s Director of Strategy talks about first building what he calls solutions before starting building applications. Well, honestly, I don’t really get the solutions concept. Is he talking about a platform or a categorization basis? I doubt he is talking in terms of platforms. There seems to be some kind of pyramid of platforms being created. First you just had the handset and the basic functionality, then you added the Symbian OS, now they wanted add a third layer of platform such as Music, Maps, Life Tools, etc. and then deploy applications on top of that.

Doesn’t it make sense just to use tag architecture to tag various objects as Music or Maps rather than create another platform

via Gauravonomics

Cloud vs. Handsets/ Carriers….the debate continues

Cloud Computing. Credit: News and Reviews

While I’ve talked about apps distributed through handset vs. apps through carriers, never really got into cloud vs. proprietary. Basically, it means that should there even be a more distributor channel for apps which means downloading applications only available through one handset provider or only through one carrier. For the uninitiated, simply put, cloud computing is where the handset sits as an input-output/ communication device while the processing parts are managed by a central server. This would be equivalent to saying that you want to add the numbers 2 and 3. You type “2″, then “3″ and then “Add”. If it’s a cloud infrastructure, all these inputs are sent to a central server (Somewhere in what is called the “cloud”. It doesn’t matter where or what type of server it is. What matters is that it can be accessed and it can perform the required function) through a connection established between the handset and the server. The server looks at the “2″, “3″ and the “add” and then performs a summing operation and returns on the same connection a “5″. The handset receives this and displays it to you. If you think, this is riduculous, you’re right. But only for this level of computation. However, if you wanted to perform some statistical analysis on your handset like a mean, or a variance analysis which your handset can’t support, then this architecture comes to your aid. Leave Math. What about hard core gaming which requires an operating system to talk to? This can’t be done on a plain vanilla handset. But if the only function of the handset required was to receive you input to “jump” or “shoot” on the input side and redraw the pixels on the output side, this can lead to a credible albeit slightly shaky experience.

Where I’m coming from is that migrating to a cloud-type of architecture basically allows you to be carrier and handset agnostic. The only thing that matters is the mode of communication between the handset and the cloud. In my opinion, this is the only significant strategy of adoption of services in India. With handsets like the Nokia 1100 as one of the faster selling phones, applications for the rural market cannot depend on any functionality on the phone itself except for voice and SMS.

The Indian market has already given a thumbs-down to the iPhone frankly, the reason being value for money. Even some of the people I thought to be relatively hip have no reason to have one. And those who do have one invariably have a hacked-out one which basically negates the whole exclusivity thing with Voda and Airtel.

Developer’s point of view:

In the urban areas, the handset market is littered with Nokia, Sony, Motorola and HTC as well. And while, Nokia is the dominant market leader, it doesn’t dominate it enough to ignore all the other manufacturers while developing apps.
From the brilliant App is Crap post by Mark Suster:

- Let’s start with Google’s Android. You’ve just hired your iPhone development team for you app. They’re super busy developing a new version of your product because, guess what, Apple changed it’s terms of service to allow in-app purchasing. So you rush to develop a new monetization strategy which means rebuilding your app. It’s taking time to finish the product because you’re super expensive iPhone developers (they’re in high demand) are not as good as you like (they’re super high in demand). Should you now hire Android developers? Can your iPhone developers be good at both? Do you have enough resource to cover both?
- And that Palm Pre. I heard it’s pretty slick and Sprint seems to be pushing it really hard. I heard they have an App Store. Let’s look into it. Maybe we could ship our app and see how it does?
- Oh, wait. There’s that RIM company with the Blackberry. Should we have an app for that? They have a super relevant and high-end installed base including people like Mark Suster who never gave up his Blackberry since Apple only offers itself on a super sucky network for which their is ZERO bars of coverage at his house in Brentwood. But their browser sucks, their app environment sucks, the developer community isn’t strong. But we need device coverage, right?
- Oh, wait. I need some Microsoft OS coverage. I know Windows CE is dead despite having like a 100-year head start on Google. But Windows is now making a push with Windows 7 Mobile. Maybe we could get an application out early for that before everybody else does?
- And how about Symbian? We’re going to want to develop for all those Europeans, right? And Nokia has the Ovi Store thing, right?

And this is only the developer’s headaches. How do you manage a team making the same product? You can’t re-use classes, you can’t re-use objects and hell, you’re rebuilding the same product from ground-up. I used to fantasize about some kind of universal compiler where you right the code once for one platform and then this universal compiler would actually re-compile this code for all other platforms. But wait a minute? Isn’t that exactly what a cloud architecture does? Keeping the processing of the data, the classes, objects, methods, databases and all that jargon away from the handset? Making it a kind of a black box for the handset so that the OS on the handset (Hell, even the absence of an OS) does not affect the functionality of the application)

Customer’s point of view:
Forget compiling code, using a basic SMS delivery platform a basic handset like a Nokia 1100 could access some pretty advanced functionality since the entire the thing would be processed in the “cloud” of powerful servers. It would be in some sense a “black box” for the handset and hence, the application was handset-independent.

Second is the freedom of choice. Jason has put it so succinctly put it in his post The Case Against Apple–in Five Parts:

Apple will face a user revolt in the coming years based upon Microsoft, Google and other yet-to-be-formed companies, undercutting their core markets with cheap, stable and open devices. Apple’s legendary comeback ability will be for naught if they don’t deeply examine their anti-competitive nature.

Making great products does not absolve you from technology’s cardinal rule: Don’t be evil.

It also doesn’t save you from Scarface’s cardinal rule: Never get high on your own supply.

Interesting times. While VAS in India has been dominated by ring-back tones and Missed call alert services, the VAS market has not seen the real relevant services being pushed. The real useful ones haven’t yet reached critical mass partially in terms of usability issues and partly in terms of the revenue model. Now, that voice and SMS are really going the commodity way, and data hasn’t picked up fast enough to replace the voice and SMS revenues, now there should a push towards maturing this service/ business model.

Let’s play !

Is an app store feasible in India?

I have been ranting and raving about how application stores are the next big thing over and over. One thing that I haven’t really talked about (and frankly, not thought of deep enough) is the feasibility of implementing such a application model in India. I mean the handset model that really took off was a Nokia basic model (no Symbian, just a text-based menu) which also had a torch built in. Low-ARPU prepaid consumers constitute 95% of the subscriber base. That’s how it is here. So if you really try to build a model around synching your PC to a phone, it’s a FAIL! If you try building a model where you require a browser to download content, that’s a second FAIL (Again, I’m not talking about the pockets of cities and metros where people still flash their hacked iPhones around – this is about the remaining 98% of the people).
The only thing you could have on the handset is a single text based menu (like how we have for “Contacts”, “Messages”. All you CAN use is SMS like this service. That is pretty much built-in to any service provider’s connection. So with this kind of handicap, what service can you really provide? That is basically where design is going to play its most important role now.

Scenario1: I kinda get some kinda inspiration from the client-server model. I guess, at least in India, there is a market for developing a telecom platform (similar to the iPhone operating system) on the mobile cloud, which accepts text requests from subscribers, performs all the complicated processing, and returns the result in another SMS. Other slightly advanced,handsets which allow display of graphics could deliver slightly more complicated results such as wallpapers. This is the kind of model that is used for CRBT products where there is no configuration in the subscriber’s handset but on the vendor’s database. Hence, the called party can actually hear 16-tone songs even though ths called party just has a Nokia 1100. One advantage of this kind of architecture is it keeps the server independent of the model of handset (which is one chronic problem among open-source operating systems like the Android) wherein the same application developer has to develop different versions of his product for not just different OS but different versions of the same OS). Develop a base application for a handset that only lists services available (all text-based)

Scenario2: The major problem is with authentication since you can’t have SMS without clear text. The only option I see is using a secure IVR (the one that ICICIBank uses for authenticating PIN numbers) either for only authenticating or even choosing and starting the service. No wait! That will increase the costs for a start-up dramatically (but not for a platform service provider). It will also get complicated as more and more applications come on board. The IVR tree would end up acting like a retail store where the higher payers get shelf space at eye level while others get it at floor-level. So yeah, the design of “the store” on a text interface is going to be pretty interesting.

Scenario3: Maybe, the same can be done using the current distribution model of telecom operators where services can be browsed through “brochures” in retail outlets and “activated” through physical vouchers or e-recharged.

Scenario4: Maybe the service delivery platform can capture IMEI numbers. I know telecom service providers use IMEI numbers to identify the type of handsets being used by the subscriber. Now, that the Government has made it mandatory, this maybe a good launch pad.

Scenario5: Even better, if Android does overcome it’s version issues, would the incremental costs for a handset be adequate to substitute low-end phones with a slightly more expensive medium-level smartphone?

Scenario6: From Nikhil Pahwa:

Feature rich, lower priced handsets are key to an evolving telecom consumer base: as the prices go down and features improve, more and more people will buy handsets and discover new features. More cameras mean more content is created, the mobile Internet access allows many the access to new functionality. What we need now, is more India-specific better apps on the handsets, to enable access to more services. The device manufacturers are key for the app economy – lest you forget.

This provides so many opportunities and so many challenges, mostly design related! Man, may the best design win!

PS – I’m still reading up on how Africa has flourished on a mobile economy. That would be an interesting way forward.
PS2- Some interesting stats from Nokia’s Ovi Store. India is one of the top-10 countries for purchasing apps from the Nokia store. And, as expected, the slightly higher-end phones such as the 5800 XpressMusic and the N97 are the handsets leading the game. However, one statistic missed was the percentage of handsets Nokia sold in these countries from which purchases were actually made

The App(le) Economy

Warning: This may be a post that's heard across blogs too many times before but I just feel that it needs to be said again

No matter how many times I think about it and no matter how many times I read about it, the apps economy still blows my mind. The Apple Telecom Group (The iPhone + iTunes + App store) is a gift that just keeps on giving.
The statistics are mind boggling by themselves: 7 million handsets in Q3 of 2009 giving it a 17.1% share of the net adds in the quarter.

More importantly, Apple has used its experience in the personal computer industry + selling songs through the iTunes store in a very unique way:

• First it created an extremely cool product – the iPhone (the equivalent of a Mac). People flocked to it and called it the Jesus Phone.
• Then they used its brilliant user interface, sexy looks and the lure of a REAL operating system to attract developers to build for the iPhone, albeit only after a lot of protests (the equivalent of getting Adobe and Microsoft to develop content for the Mac)
• Set up the iTunes store such that they get a piece of the pie for every app sold (unheard of the PC industry but definitely heard of the in the iPod-iTunes world)
• Let developers spread the word about the applications oh which is available for the iPhone
• And finally, using this very same plethora of apps to attract customers to its iPhone thus completing the vicious (or positive enforcement) cycle

It’s kinda like how Gillette sells the razors relatively cheap in order to sell many units of the more expensive blades. Except that in the Apple world, both are expensive

When you read articles like these on the Web, it gives you an idea of the phenomenal advantage that Apple has juiced out from its App Store. These are the statistics from Brad Kellett for the App store. A 165% growth rate between June 11, 2008 and May 25, 2009. See graph below:

Daily new apps released in 11 months

Break up of downloads for each price point

It’s easy to see why Dwyan Tweney says he’s not shifting to Droid despite all its amazing features. Beyond the hardware keyboard and the weight (really, are they even reasons?), the main reasons is losing out on two apps he usually uses. TWO APPS ! And there are 57,000 apps out there.
Now, Apple has obviously lost out on India and Africa (where the main telecom action lies) with a relatively lukewarm reception in China (highest population). Nokia dominates India. Now is the only time that Nokia has to lick its wounds and really really build up its Ovi store. Too bad they shut down their N-Gage store. They could really exploit its potential with 3G looming in the (distant?) horizon. Now is the time to really build applications that these developing nations can use to their advantage.  And people in these countries don’t want a iFart app. They just want extreme (and man, I mean extreme) value for money. Nokia has already invested $70 million in Obopay. Products and investments like these need to be really pushed to customers.

Secondly, there are some significant dischordant noises made by the developer community about Apple’s seemingly random procedures for approving or rejecting apps. There is only one company that stands to gain from all this. If Google is able to launch its Android OS on a much larger range of handsets (including displacing Nokia’s old and tired Symbian OS) and build a much more developer-friendly store, it can stop Apple dead in its tracks. I still feel, however, that Google ads may not really work in a mobile environment. Will justify this statement in another post. However, it all depends on how Google can migrate the simplicity of its Internet products onto its Android platform and tie-up with Nokia.

Telecom as infrastructure/ real estate

The previous post, I mentioned the customization of service. The impact of this can be explained when you consider telecom as an infrastructural component. Not the one that gives you tax breaks but as real estate.

First a small intro on infrastructure just to set the post in context.

First we had only grassy areas. Parts of the grassy paths were converted to roads and toll was collected to offset the cost. In some cases, the governments invested in it. This business grew and grew until roads spanned the length and breadth of the country. From point A to point B, there were multiple roads to choose from. Hence, from a business point of view, roads were commoditized. The commoditization allowed electric companies to set up poles on these roads and string their own wires over them. Revenue was generated on a per unit on consumption. Using the roads as a commoditized infrastructure, electricity spread across the nation. With the exceptions of countries where generation and distribution utilities, the business attracted several companies and with the absence of a real significant business differentiator, even that got commoditized (I say “business” because there are still monopolies of the SEBs). The price of per unit power came crashing down. This created the second layer of commoditized infrastructure. Cheap (though unfortunately, not always dependable) power catalyzed the spread of PCs, cheap PCs of dial-ups, cheap Internet of broadband. This is where we stand today. Hence, there are three significant aspects to this:

1. All these services had high upfront costs with low operating costs
2. All these services invariable raced to the bottom of the per unit rates on increased competition and non-differentiation
3. All these services acted as a platform for the next layer of services. If the existing layer did not price cheap, the next level would never take off.

Sounds familiar? Except for (3), they can all pretty much describe the telecom sector. So what about (3)? What is the next layer? Frankly, it’s anything you can do with it. Take the analogy of real estate. The current telecom infrastructure is like a flat piece of land in the middle of the city. Except that this flat piece of land lies across the entire country over a infrastructure of commoditized towers and transmission equipment. So what would you prefer to build? An elegant high-class township for 20 people with swimming pools, child care, two car parking, a gym, hell, a convention centre, what have you or a shanty town for 20,000 people with only the basic amenities such as running water, power, etc. The beauty of telecom services is that the cost required for setting up either is the same. You could even set up 10 bungalows over the same land and the costs would hardly differ. Even better, you build one home, the incremental costs of building the same home is near zero. Costs are mapped to a particular type of structure rather than the number of structures of the same type. Same as software. Further, the land available is near infinite. It’s limited only by the man/ brain power of your company. This is the context of new services that can be provided over the telecom network. So when I say personalization, it isn’t based on a particular demographic but a certain psychographic ( or more specifically, a personality-graphic). Personalities are not demographically oriented hence neither are the services. Secondly, two aspects of mobile services that I dont believe has been completely exploited are location and one-person ownership. Hence, the service has to be able to not just copy a service off the Internet but make it more location based and address the fact that only one person (unless it’s a PCO) will be using it. e.g. friends in the near vicinity where you are, entrepreneurs in an area looking for VCs and vice versa are informed of the other’s presence, etc. On a one-person ownership basis, services can be customized to the mobile number instead of insisting for logins for customization (I’m not referring to the security aspect). So you switch on your phone and get the info you need without the hassle of logging in.  Similarly, mapping mobile numbers to specific locations / areas in the country can reap huge dividends. We already talk about localization as becoming the next big thing. Mobiles can combine the location with the personalization aspects to deliver some incredibly relevant stuff without having to query stuff each time. Kinda Google news without having to go to Google news’s site. This always-on, always-connected scenario delivers to us info that is required, needed rather than deletable whether it’s market prices to the farmer or discounts on Levi’s stores to a teen who just happens to be walking on a road about 20 ft from there. The teen isnt going to query google every 10 seconds on whether there is a discount or not in a nearby area. This is kind of service that’s gonna make it big.

Further, services that were previously fixed can now be made mobile. We are already transacting as much as possible on the net. But with mobile penetration taking off much much faster, with a awning gap especially in the rural areas, I can only imagine that services which addresses both social and business needs of 65% of the country’s people can only be a money spinner, both for the content provider and the people at large.

Currently, atleast in India, a significant amount of services are being “firewalled” by the telecom service providers. But with the advent of the Apple Store and Nokia’s Ovi, that hold on the vendors will loosen too. Just makes me wonder of the immense possibilities in terms  of content and content providers who will jump on to the bandwagon now that  the pipe is democratized in this way (where the content is independent of provider). It’s already apparent in the Apple store statistics (85,000 apps, 125, 000 developers). The long tail is longer than ever and it cant but be good. The problem now is that the gatekeepers have just changed from the telecom service providers to the mobile handset manufacturers. But this too shall pass. Or atleast be democratized to the extent that the handset provider cannot be too strict on the type of content sold or the commercial agreements of the sale. I really have my eyes on mobile money. It has to pick up much faster than what people expect it to grow.