By Lorane Poersch
There are 1.3 billion cellphone handsets worldwide, a number expected to grow to three billion by 2008. The market for mobile data services, of which entertainment plays a significant part, is expected to grow to more than $100-billion by 2008. It’s more than just talk – a cultural paradigm shift is upon us.
For example, recent studies show that an increasing number of people are relying on their cellphone clock while abandoning their conventional wristwatch. Until recently, there were two items that most individuals would not leave home without: keys and money. The cellphone has entered this elite club and the cultural impact of that is staggering. In time, like the proverbial Pacman, it may even eat the other two up, as cellphones provide ways to pay for goods and control devices over wireless networks.
We are entering the “all mobile” era.
Mobile phones are becoming more and more powerful — and more integrated in the existing, computer-based, multi-media environment in which we all find ourselves. Mobile browsing will explode in 2005. With the continued expansion of 3G networks, real-time browsing or downloading applications from your mobile is about to get even quicker and easier.
The mobile phone is different — mobile users and uses are different. The mobile phone is the most universal medium in the world: it is small, light, intimate and connected. It is personal, portable and pedestrian. It creates new behaviour and new expectations. Never mind all the different technologies. What it comes down to is understanding the user’s real needs and providing the right strategies to satisfy them.
The mass integration of mobile communication is changing the landscape of mobile revenue exponentially. While recreational use goes far beyond the scope of traditional usage, it’s important to note that all kinds of companies are seeing the impact of the mobile phone in one way or another — either in their core business or as an effective new media for increasing brand awareness or improving productivity. Everyone has to have a Web presence. Very soon, every company will need a mobile presence.
Welcome to the next level. Take note – it is nowhere near the last.
Excerpted from an article at globetechnology.com.