Research and Markets has issued a report (2006 Global Mobile Data) pointing out that SMS was a huge success despite total apathy from the carriers for much of the 90s, and MMS is exactly the opposite. It also claims that mobile data services haven’t really taken off because “current mobile technologies are not well suited for economically viable business models for mobile data”.
It then goes on to slam the operators business models: “If we measure the market based on the number of mobile content providers, then there certainly is plenty of interest in this market. Unfortunately these providers depend on the mobile operators in order to deliver their products to their customers. The business models that these operators offer are hopelessly inadequate. They are not catering for impulse buy models. With the exception of Japan, Korea and China, very few sustainable models are currently in operation. The rest of the world is waiting on MVNO models that provide content providers with the freedom to distribute their own products and manage their own billing and customer service.”
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