Consumers clamour for more choice in mobile services

by Stephen Withers

Thursday, 22 May 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! I know my mobile phone usage is far from typical. If the supermarket is out of our usual brand of butter, I don't ring home and discuss it, I just pick from what's there. But it is reassuring to learn that I am in at least one respect part of the majority according to a new survey. An international survey carried out for IBM found that 80 percent of consumers would prefer a mobile service provider that gives more choice of applications and services on their devices. Absolutely! My choice of search engine, IM service and so on is completely separate from my choice of ISP. Why should opting for a certain mobile carrier make it any harder or easier to use Whereis rather than Google Maps, Live Search rather than Yahoo!, or the Commonwealth Bank rather than Westpac? Or if I want to watch a few minutes of sport while I'm waiting for the train, why should it matter which carrier I'm using? "Clearly the same market forces which empowered consumers to choose personal computers that were open and enabled them to customize their applications are at play in the mobile web marketplace," said Sungyoul Lee, IBM's global consulting leader for the electronics industry. "Our survey found 60 percent of consumers do not have a specific brand preference when using mobile Internet services. With consumers clamoring for choice, the marketplace will need to innovate around open platforms and models to build loyalty." The walled garden didn't work with WAP, so why would it work with the mobile web? CONTINUED << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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