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Top 10 Predictions for the Global Wireless Market
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VeriSign telecommunications experts combine
unique perspectives and global industry awareness to make bold predictions
about the future. Our predictions help clients capitalize on business
and technology opportunities before they become industry trends.
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2007 Top 10 Predictions
Social networking gets mobilized.
Mobility is added to existing Internet business
models, services and behaviors, driving traffic for wireless operators.
Teens and twenties accustomed to constant connectivity and habit-forming
Web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, lead a wave of membership in
mobile social networks.
Mobile TV—now showing for early adopters.
In the short term, wireless users are unlikely
to plunk down US $5.99-9.99 per month for mobile TV service. Instead,
look for per-view or per-minute pricing for “sneaking,” a consumer tendency
to watch key minutes of a sports event or drama while engaged in another
activity.
Multi-function devices become cheaper and more versatile.
Intense competition and margin pressure continue
in the handset market, forcing prices of third-generation (3G) handsets
below US $90 and making them affordable for a wide range of users.
Location-based services: and the winner is. . . GPS!
Yes, GPS is the location technology of choice
for the wireless industry. Handset manufacturers continue to push GPS-enabled
handsets as the technology evolves from popular in-car satellite navigation
systems to an accepted feature in wireless phones.
AOL, Yahoo! and Google multimedia platforms challenge IMS.
As multimedia service platforms emerge, Internet
service providers build their own media architecture. That poses a risk
to telecom operators adopting an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) approach.
However, IMS needs a flagship application.....
China and India tilt the equipment market.
China and India connect more than 10 million
wireless customers per month in 2007, creating a subscriber base larger
than Vodafone’s at 200 million customers. By the end of 2007, China
starts issuing 3G licenses. Wireless technologies are developed and
deployed first in China and India, rather than Europe and North America.
Mobile advertising breaks loose.
Major brands shift from basic SMS marketing
to more sophisticated multimedia advertising. RBC Capital Markets expects
mobile marketing revenues to balloon from $45 million in 2005 to $1.5
billion by 2010.
Wireless providers move into home entertainment.
Mobile makes headway against fixed broadband
operators who have dominated Internet and cheaper voice service provision
in the home. WiFi remains the primary wireless access technology. Low
cost femtocells and combined WiFi/High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) routers
emerge as attractive alternatives to VoIP over WiFi.
Wireless security moves to the forefront.
Put strong security measures in place. This
could be the year that hackers really start paying attention to millions
of wireless devices, growth in mobile data usage, and vulnerable points
between mobile and fixed networks. CIOs consistently cite security as
their number one concern in extending network access to wireless devices.
Enterprise mobility — It’s for real now.
Enterprises can’t resist the convenient, reliable,
attractively priced, bundled mobile solutions entering the market. Corporations
switch from phones to mobile computers for transactions, data collection
and messaging for a wide variety of employees.
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