Rather than learning from the factors that drove the growth of the Internet, they have instead built competing applications that only work in the walled gardens of their own networks. Some of them seem to think that the peak mobile experience is being able to watch video on a phone, as opposed to being able to access email or browse the web efficiently. Moreover, the phones that are available to the public are tailored to what the carrier wants subscribers to be able to do, rather than what they might want to do.
When the iPhone came out with a decent Web browser and a relatively low-cost data plan, it gave customers more options. Google noted that it was seeing 50 times more searches from iPhones than from any other handset -- a clear indication that other service providers do not understand what people really want to do with their phones. While Apple has often been accused of taking a walled garden approach themselves, they do adhere in most cases to standards, and they do provide an SDK for the iPhone so that third parties can develop their own software, providing even more customer choice.
The pattern is clear. Most service providers have only themselves to blame for keeping the mobile Web from taking off. What will it take for them to understand that knocking down the walls will lead to more satisfied customers and even greater mobile usage?
Related news, commentary, and predictions:
- Prediction: Apple rolls out mobile videoconferencing on iPhone
- Prediction: More than 200 applications available at iPhone App Store launch
- Prediction: The next iPhone - release date not before August 2008
- Prediction: Motorola finds buyer for handset business
- Prediction: FCC greenlights Google white space plan
- Larry Borsato: ISPs, the music industry, and the Web
- Larry Borsato: Communications: Is price all that matters?
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