The Mobile Internet Manifesto
This is my mobile internet manifesto:
1. Three successful business models have emerged on the internet: advertising (Yahoo & Google) / subscription (Match.com) / transaction fees (eBay)
2. This was b/c of the payment problem – it was impossible to charge customers small amounts, b/c credit card companies didn’t want the business and internet service providers a. didn’t understand it and b. used variable IP addresses and so lacked a perfectly straightforward manner of determining who had purchased what
3. Meanwhile, WAP emerged – crap technology, bad hardware, slow speeds, etc
4. But, the mobile networks, with their long history of billing for premium rate phone lines, slowly worked out a creaky, painful, but ultimately workable way to bill subscribers for purchases on their phone bills
5. More recently – emergence of WiFi and high-speed mobile data connections, flat rate data contracts
6. Launch of the iPhone and competitive gadgets
7. There will be a huge audience of (affluent) people with: high quality mobile internet devices, fast connections, and the ability to buy goods and services priced at $0.10 / $0.20 / $0.50, etc. – admittedly, the mobile networks still charge far too much for their service but this will change
8. Over the next 2-3 years, new business models will emerge that have the potential to re-shape the way we think about internet businesses
1. Three successful business models have emerged on the internet: advertising (Yahoo & Google) / subscription (Match.com) / transaction fees (eBay)
2. This was b/c of the payment problem – it was impossible to charge customers small amounts, b/c credit card companies didn’t want the business and internet service providers a. didn’t understand it and b. used variable IP addresses and so lacked a perfectly straightforward manner of determining who had purchased what
3. Meanwhile, WAP emerged – crap technology, bad hardware, slow speeds, etc
4. But, the mobile networks, with their long history of billing for premium rate phone lines, slowly worked out a creaky, painful, but ultimately workable way to bill subscribers for purchases on their phone bills
5. More recently – emergence of WiFi and high-speed mobile data connections, flat rate data contracts
6. Launch of the iPhone and competitive gadgets
7. There will be a huge audience of (affluent) people with: high quality mobile internet devices, fast connections, and the ability to buy goods and services priced at $0.10 / $0.20 / $0.50, etc. – admittedly, the mobile networks still charge far too much for their service but this will change
8. Over the next 2-3 years, new business models will emerge that have the potential to re-shape the way we think about internet businesses
posted by Moses Kagan at
7:26 AM
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