Appendix II. Evolution of the Mobile Internet


The evolution of the mobile Internet is still in its early stages. The development is centered in Asia and Europe, where mobile telephony is more advanced and PC usage lower than in the USA (Herman, 2000). The Japanese mobile Internet market has been years ahead of Europe (Curtis, 2000), but Europe is catching up (Reinhardt & Kunii, 2003). Still, the leader of mobile services is NTT DoCoMo (Krishnamurthy, 2002), the Japanese mobile operator whose I-Mode with pre-selected services has attracted more than 39 million subscribers in Asia, the biggest target group being young teenagers. I-Modeenabled phones show more text and enable quicker downloads than their European and American counterparts. They also have color displays, which only recently has been introduced in other mobile phones. The introduction of I-Mode in Europe has not been as smooth as in Asia. It has been launched in a number of European countries , but adoption has been slow, partly due to the lack of handset choices, but also because of the competition from newer 2,5G services (Reinhardt & Kunii, 2003). The three generations of mobile phones that are more commonly used for accessing the mobile Internet in Europe are briefly described.

2G - WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)

The first mobile Internet services that were introduced in Europe in 1998 were based on the wireless application protocol (WAP) standard. 2G mobile phones use digital encoding, as compared to the first generation phones that use analogue technology (The Economist, 2001). 2G technology was efficient at coping with the limited bandwidth and the connection-oriented nature of wireless networks during the late 1990's, but it got a lukewarm reception . Early studies showed that consumer attitudes towards WAP services were negative (Curtis, 2000; Edgar, 2001; Schultz, 2001), but it was also paving the way for future services. WAP is the DOS of the wireless world, low functionality and fairly ugly, and to be replaced by faster data-oriented networks. According to WAP Forum, there are more than 5 million WAP services available on the Internet (Pietil inen, 2001).

2.5G - GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)

Enhanced second-generation phones, or GPRS phones, were a major step forward when they were introduced in the fall 2001. They bring many third generation applications within users' reach (Karvinen, 2001). The data capabilities and the theoretical speed of GPRS is three times as fast as the data transmission speeds possible over today's fixed telecommunications networks, and 10 times as fast as current services on GSM networks. Another advantage is instant connection. Information can be sent or received immediately subject to radio coverage (Mobile Lifestreams, 2001). No dial-up modem connection is necessary and GPRS users can therefore be referred to as being 'always connected.' High speed is a great advantage for time critical applications, such as remote credit card authorization, where it is unacceptable that customers pay for the waiting time. GPRS facilitates several new applications that have not been possible over GSM networks, like fully enabled web browsing and chat over the mobile network. Multimedia message sending, such as pictures, is possible. Nonetheless, the bandwidth will deliver far from what people are used to with normal PCs. At first, GPRS relies on extensions of WAP similar to how Windows was first based on DOS (Herman, 2000). Consumers will easily find free news and weather services, for which they pay less than a cent per page to the telephone operator for downloading (Pietil inen, 2001). Many companies also offer fixed monthly fees. The price advantage of GPRS over WAP is substantial. I-Mode services in Europe also run on GPRS networks.

3G (Third Generation)

The real revolution is still believed to come with the 3G networks, although it has been a controversial subject in Europe because of the high costs of licenses and slow buildup of networks. The networks deliver up to 2 Mbps, which is enough for multimedia applications. This is the main advantage compared with 2,5G, though some operators have announced that they will not offer transfer rates that high in the beginning (Allen, 2001; Wearden, 2001). Another advantage of 3G is the availability of advanced entertainment, such as video and 'always-on' data connections. The services are also likely to become cheaper. 3G phones offer advanced services with full Internet access, but as noted by The Economist (2001, p. 264), 'At the same time, expectations have been scaled back. Operators are no longer talking about watching video clips on the train, or videoconferencing in a taxi; instead, they are concentrating on more realistic goals, such as using phones to access e-mail, download news and weather reports , and call up location-specific information.' An estimate presented by Lemon et al. (2002, p. 201) that, 'By 2003, 219 million people in Europe, one-third of the population, will be surfing the Internet from their cell phones and an amazing array of wireless devices,' also appears to be based on the early optimism of 3G developments. Although many estimates of future mobile service consumption have been off the mark, there is no doubt that mobile services will increase in importance and play a major role in the every day life of business and private consumers.




Contemporary Research in E-marketing (Vol. 1)
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP
ISBN: B004V9MS42
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

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