One big plus being touted by iPhoneiacs is the handset’s Safari browser, which lets users browse the Internet like they would on a PC. But today’s WSJ has a good overview of some of the other plays–some out already, some still in development–that are spurring usage away from mobile operator portals.
Lots of attention is given to the Opera Mini–understandably so, as it’s the most ubiquitous software in this area to-date, with some 15 million downloads worldwide and a lucrative deal with T-Mobile, which has it preloaded on 35 handsets in 9 countries in Europe, but not in the U.S. It’s worth pointing out here that even if mobile users can download Opera Mini for free, its developer Opera Software makes its money from licensing to handset makers and carriers like T-Mobile. It also has an ad revenue sharing agreement with Yahoo, which provides a search box on the homepage (the revenue split is not public).
But even with the iPhone publicity and Opera’s success, there seems to be more development in the pipeline than there is in the market. Among these, Microsoft claims its Deep Fish software, which has yet to be released, will provide a PC-like Web experience to mobile users; it will likely be licensed for use in phones other than those running the Windows Mobile system, but details on a release date or pricing have yet to come out. (It’s very possible that the company wants to dovetail it with their next consumer onslaught in the mobile market, discussed at their recent analyst day.)
Plus, there are still carriers out there, like Verizon Wireless, that block subscribers from using services like Opera Mini on their networks. The article also concedes that even if the services that will eventually run on the new 700 MHz spectrum will allow for open applications, those networks are billions of dollars away from being built. Not very surprisingly, Google does not get a mention in the story, presumably because of the the other story dedicated exclusively to its mobile world domination strategy.
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