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To: Eric L who wrote (12599)	6/14/2001 2:16:46 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: "Buck" Criticizes GSMA Mobile Services Initiative I wasn't sure how "Buck" would line up on this, but here is his opinion: >> M-Services Initiative Fails to Take The Initiative Simon Buckingham Mobile Lifestreams 13 June 2001 The GSM Association, supported by all and sundry in the GSM mobile industry, announced today its Mobile Services Initiative which allows the "operator community to provide clear guidance to handset manufacturers and software developers on the needs of consumers of Mobile Internet services going forward". "The M-Services initiative was undertaken by the GSM Association to enable GPRS users to experience a new level of consistently available services through the Mobile Internet," said GSM Association CEO Rob Conway. "These services could include enhanced graphics, music, video, games, ring tones, screen savers and other compelling services, which will be brought easily to the mobile screens of consumers." Manufacturers such as Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Sagem, Samsung and Siemens have quickly come out in support of the M-Services initiative. Mobile Lifestreams concerns with the M-Services Initiative are multiple but include: 1. Many of these services are already and better offered over SMS bearers rather than WAP/ GPRS, including ringtones, screensavers and the like. 2. The likes of Nokia claim to support the M-Services Initiative yet persist with their proprietary smart messaging solutions. 3. Openwave Systems offered its "intellectual property" to the initiative- hardly surprising since it pulls off a sweet deal to get its untried, unwanted and unnecessary WAP-based ringtones and other services into new prospect networks- the chance to sell yet more one time platforms that customers will never use. 4. Network operators such as Vodafone, BT, ONe2One, TIM, Telefonica and France Telecom stepped up to praise the initiative- many of these operators cannot even microbill let alone share revenues fairly with content creators. 5. The initiative does nothing to improve business models- which is the reason why the mobile Internet is failing. 6. The Japanese mobile players- DoCoMo and the handset vendors are absent- and they are the only people who understand how to make the mobile Internet profitable. 7. The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) already provides all of these applications, and over GPRS. 8. The initiative is top down industry led rather than creating an open model and allowing end users to decide- this is a legacy of the traditional telecoms world. This initiative allows the industry to pat itself on the back once more and say that it is taking measures to try to make the mobile Internet profitable. However, it treats the symptoms and not the cause for the mobile Internet's problems. Unfortunately, this simply takes the industry down the wrongful WAP track. Never has the statement "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" sounded so true. << - Eric -