Mobile Content Value Chain

Date Published: December 2004, Pages: 287, Tables: 26, Figures: 16

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Summary

Text Box: Sample Pages MOBILE CONTENT VALUE CHAIN The increasing popularity of information services such as content dissemination to mobile users has recently attracted particular attention. Some of the prominent instances of applications that rely on content delivery include weather information, traffic reports, messaging systems for group discussions, systems supporting the collaboration of mobile employees. Location-based content delivery will be a premier feature in these systems. The factors which differentiate such services would be their high degree of personalisation as well as their location-based content delivery capabilities. The Internet revolution has sprouted new competitive forces and a new economic environment wherein users now demand numerous and powerful services and content that are available through other distribution channels. To meet these surging expectations wirelessly, the value chain must evolve to provide new content and services in addition to the traditional offerings. For this, it must now incorporate new players, who have the expertise needed to implement specific wireless services. The mobile value chain has been evolving to address the issues of interoperability across various network technologies, security, reliable content synchronization with user interfaces, adequate geographical coverage while retaining acceptable content transmission rates and suitable form factors of the user interfaces. CONTENT DELIVERY AND CONVERGENCE OF VALUE CHAINS Content delivery involves delivery of information from information sources to the end users across a network. The key factor involved is the timely delivery of information to many subscribers. Content delivery could be push-based or pull-based. Push-based content delivery means that the content is actively pushed to subscribers, whereas the pull-based model is where the user actively subscribes to the content. At the extreme ends of the mobile content value chain, we have two entities: content developers, and at the other end are the subscribers. Publishers create content and send it through data through channels whereas subscribers are content consumers who subscribe to a channel and receive the content. Mobile content services result from the convergence of mobile telephony, data communications, and features of the Internet. When industries converge, the new value chain is in part formed through a merger of the value-adding processes from the original industries. It can be expected that the value chain of the mobile content industry will be partially based on value-adding processes from the mobile voice and Internet industries. Previously, convergence of voice and the Internet often focused on Voice Over IP (VOIP). However, with mobile data convergence takes on a broader meaning that focuses less on the technology and more on the range of services. Thus, constructing a model of the value chain for mobile content requires consideration of the service-oriented component chains.

Text Box: Abstract Currently, the mobile network operators generate a major part of their revenue from voice services and a very small part comes from data services such as SMS. Whereas some data services such as SMS have been growing rapidly, other experiments such as WAP have not found widespread customer acceptance. During the next decade it is anticipated that the gross revenues for voice services will remain stagnant and that the expansion of the mobile industry will be driven by mobile data. It is projected that by the year 2008 the mobile data services will constitute more about 60% of the total revenue of Mobile network operators. For this growth to materialize, the industry needs to build increased network capacity and functionality as well as applications and services. The criticality of mobile content is driven home by the fact that the ARPU (average revenue per user) from voice services is declining, and mobile carriers need to generate alternate sources of revenue. A good example of a mobile operator that has been able to generate substantial revenues from other than is NTT DoCoMo. NTT DoCoMo’s service is named i-Mode. About 39 million i-Mode users spend money on subscription based i-Mode sites. DoCoMo collects these fees as part of the monthly phone bill, takes 9%