Social Networking on Mobile..and more
Social networking on Mobile has already hit a high. Its interesting to see startups like Dodgeball (now Google's) , Zyb as well as mainstream online networking sites like Facebook, MySpace are making their way to mobiles. Whereas web-apps have taken ad-hoc networking to a next level, it has to be in mobile space where realtime and localised networking can grow. Someone's stuck in the traffic jam of Hosur Road (Bangalore) and loooking for a VoIP chit-chat, or just idling in Zoo Park looking for an enthuastic group to have better time, or probably looking for a friend nearby to have cup of tea by knowing their positions using GPS, all this is quite possible using present technologies. Even Indian Railways can be a good use case in India, as its the largest carrier of passengers in India. People frequently take long trips of over 24hrs, with not much activities to engage themselves. With useful networking opportunities, probably youngsters and amateurs may benefit and utilise the idle time. Long flight travels and waiting hours on airports can also be utilised in similar fashion. Besides, mobiles excel in their realtime networking due to their fakeless presence and unique identity. If I have set of mobile contacts and email contacts, I know mobile ones are more real and more responsive than my email ones. The fact that most mobile service providers have services inside a country makes it more localised and hence more suitable for this.
But that's not the end, mobiles have lot more to offer..
As I said, Mobiles have a lot more to offer against webapps, besides exclusive mobile applications. A simple message based subscription and transaction can be effectively used as alternative to simpler web interactions. Take the case of orkut : responding to friend requests, sending scraps, rating friends, voting in communities etc. is easier done on mobiles than desktops/laptops. However, the applications should refrain from asking customers for large pool of data, like reviews or document building or lengthier reading over mobiles, as it isnt the best (read comfortable) device for that.
On a heavier note, all this new shift looks somewhatfamiliar to me, that is, the nature of applications built and the way they are consumed. Initially internet stole some of distributed but lightweight apps from desktops, like emails. Today, some sites offer even windows like desktop pages on web! Mainstream desktop apps like office is in common use now. On a similar note, mobiles are doing the same but to both internet apps and desktops. As mobiles are easier to carry and simpler to operate, lightweight apps wrt both complexity of application and usage of resources can become popular here. The lightness of web application refers to the nature of services offered and simplicity of interactions, where the attack is on the web platform. The lightness of resources required, like space, computation, database etc attacks on the usage of heavy browser, hence the need of a desktop. Not to wonder, as the wireless data width and mobile computation power rises with time, the replacement can be sizeable in future.
Probably web2.0 apps can gear up to become light enough to push their usage on mobiles. Be it assistive or a fuller application, it can only boast their revenues, given the huge mobile subscription factor in any part of the world.
Comments
While the mobile penetration has indeed been a success story in India, I have always wondered if respectable revenue is generated from such value added services. For instance, one is charged anywhere between Rs.3 - Rs.6 per SMS to vote for the Indian Idol. An internet user like me would, presumably, prefer voting online, given that for the same amount you get half an hour of browsing time. The point I wish to make is, in a market like India, though the penetration is high, the majority usage of mobile phones is only for the basic voice and text messaging services. The success of any mobile app, in my opinion, will depend on its ability to offer services at "addictive" rates akin to plain old text message.
Posted by: Vinod Vijayakumar | March 5, 2008 11:31 AM
True.
Indian market has its own mobile usage patterns, like the concept of missed calls or popularity of SMSes, is unique to indian markets. It's true that other mobile services like video messaging, push-to-talk etc have not taken off much, mainly because the average capability of phones in India are very basic with limited functionalities to offer. However, lately more capable phones with atleast bluetooth, GPRS, Camera, Video/Mp3 playback etc have become popular and has substantial market share by now. Hence, metros and upcoming cities can definitely be targetted in specific, though it will take time for mass market to mature. Some Indian startups are already providing high-end mobile services like GPS, Geography Maps on Mobile, Restaurant booking etc as consumer services. Whereas, enterprise services like mobile advertising, search, email services etc are on rise.
On the whole, I'm sure Bollywood has a lot more role to play in success of mobile services in India. (pun intended)
Posted by: Shaurabh Bharti | March 7, 2008 10:30 AM
It was strange to find that a blog talking about Web2.0 and Social Netwroking on Mobile fails to mention Twitter and Jaiku. Nothing about iPhone has been mentioned either. Twitter is a revolution in itself. My suggestion to the author of the blog is to please check Twitter and you will know what we are talking about.
Posted by: Palak Mathur | March 25, 2008 08:38 AM
Dear palak, I'm sure jaiku n twitter are interesting, but also there are many such look-alikes thriving on web and mobile space. As I search for startups in mobile arena , I feel its much hotter than web2.0 itself, except that perhaps it has yet to find popularity among large consumer base as compared to internet!(if u visit venturewoods.org or pluggd.in or even visited headstart.in, u'd find many interesting ones) Momo sessions are quite popular in bangalore itself. No doubt it would be interesting to watch this space and keep the discussion alive. Do visit our blog as we'd carry more discussions on it :-)
Posted by: Shaurabh Bharti | March 25, 2008 04:18 PM
Being a part of the mobile growth story for the last 7 years following are few trends emerging
- value added services contribution to total revenue has seen a constant upside. Industry getting ready to leverage VAS/non voice revenues since revenue per min for voice have fallen sharply due to competition and by virtue of services being offered to more rural customers
- no one had thought of Hello Tunes and other ring back tones to lure customers in such a big way
- today mobile service providers sell more music than all music companies put together
- movies are being made specially for mobile (yash raj productions is trying to be a pioneer in that)
- with 3 G ready to be launched wireless broadband is the next thing in. The products being discussed shall see huge take off by customers
- internet penetration shall be enhanced through mobile
Shaurabh Bharti has captured the essence of product, technology and convergence quite beautifully.
Posted by: Indresh | April 25, 2008 04:08 PM
Great points Indresh, I also take "Hello Tunes" concept as very innovative, esp in Indian context. Besides, internet through mobile would only increase the distance and decrease the glue between consumers and desktops or even laptops.
Great going, good luck!
Posted by: Shaurabh Bharti | April 28, 2008 10:48 AM
Mobile web apps are indeed interesting and useful. I think mobile applications can be a great help to users with different abilities (da users) to be more independent, especially applications like "mobile banking", “gps navigation assistance”
If such mobile apps and services are provided; DA users would happily pay for it.
The thing which is 100% important for them is “adequate accessibility” of the application.
Posted by: Shrirang | May 6, 2008 10:41 AM
Hello Shrirang,
That's an interesting aspect to look at. In fact, I feel that mobile apps are much easier to handle for DA users wrt internet apps. Reason is probably the complexity part of application, both content and navigation. On an internet app, users have many information to read and options to navigate. This makes application less usable for people with disabilities. On the other hand, due to small screen size and resouces in a mobile phone, few information is easy to grab and options are much less to choose. I'm sure all this makes mobile phones and apps popular among people with disabilities.
I think this is an excellent point to discuss.
Posted by: Shaurabh Bharti | May 6, 2008 07:30 PM