June 20, 2000
Wireless Industry Evolving Rapidly Says Report
By Mobile Computing
BOSTON, June 20, 2000, 3:34 PM EDT A report just published says that the wireless industry is moving steadily towards a "wireless content ICE age," where entertainment will become the decisive issue, consigning voice communications to merely commodity status.
The study, entitled "Wireless Content: Winning the Fight for Mindshare," from Strategy Analytics, says that mobile entertainment will become a major force in dictating how wireless services develop, mainly because of the youth market. Cliff Raskind, Strategy Analytics' senior research analyst, said that the report highlights the good news/bad news scenario facing wireless carriers.
"In terms of controlling overall customer awareness and expenditures, media conglomerates will become the dominant power brokers," he said.
"However, operators that gain first mover advantages with location- based services, leverage their existing transaction and customer profile databases, offer national reach and add value through localization and personalization of content, will carve out profitable positions," he said.
Interestingly, the report concludes that there will be six discrete consumption segments against five core personality traits, when it comes to actual users of the next-generation mobile services.
Strategy Analytics says that the needs, wants, and desires of each of these market segments are very different, and not all the content in the wired world will make it through the strict hurdles for wireless content.
Raskind said that an information provider's success in porting content to the wireless world will depend on their effectively meeting the core emotional and psychological needs of users for safety/security, reinforcement of beliefs and values and fun.
David Kerr, the research firm's vice president of wireless services, said that there can be no doubt that the "networked youth" market segment will be the early driver of the entertainment market.
Music, games, puzzles and challenges related to music and pop icons will be the earliest hits, he predicts, adding that, beyond this, there will be likely strong interest in audio and video content related to family health, family communications and family values from the "concerned parent" segment.
Strategy Analytics' Web site is at strategyanalytics.com .
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