Mobile Web Enjoys Impressive Growth
Nielsen Mobile reports that the mobile web has reached a critical mass of users, with the US leading the way, with nearly 40 million people (16% of mobile users) using their mobile phones to access the web, growing from 22.6 million in 2006.
Indonesia has the lowest take-up of the 16 nations analysed in the survey, with only 1.1% of mobile users surfing the web from their handsets.
“The adoption and the experience are improving at an impressive rate,” said Nic Covey, Nielsen Mobile’s director of insights.
Interestingly, there are 95 million US mobile phone users who pay for mobile web access in their plans, meaning that roughly 55 million of these people are not accessing the Internet from their handsets. The lack of use from these people was put down to the fact that many plans include web access as part of the plan package and users may not be interested in its use.
Another factor could be the disappointing experience provided by many of the handsets.
The report noted that 82% of iPhone owners access the mobile internet, five times the number of other handset users.
Prior to the the release of the 3G iPhone, the most popular handsets for browsing the web were the Motorola RAZR in the US, the Nokia N95 in Europe. Nokia handsets are the most popular in China, India and Russia.
Most people used the web to check email, visit social networks and conduct online banking.
Difference Between Mobile And Online Browsing
Not surprisingly, mobile and online browsing habits differed, with the average online user visiting more than 100 domains per month, while the average mobile web user visiting only 6.4 domains.
Even with the 3G iPhone, widespread mobile web browsing will probably remain less than that of the online user, however, greater development of applications and services will increase take-up rates and provide more for the average user.
3G iPhone To Advance Mobile Social Networks
Will the 3G iPhone be the device that reshapes the Mobile Web? I think it has more potential then any other device presently on the market. Sure there are some features that can be improved, but it certainly has the potential to be game changing like no other mobile handset.
It offers the most potential to further the advance of mobile social networks. While mobile social networks are nothing new, for various reasons, their take up has not exactly been stellar, but I think over the next two years, this will rapidly change.
Online Social Networks
The obvious question is, why won’t the existing online social networks simply build upon their user base and grab similar market share in the mobile arena.
The answer to that is that they are trying to, but at present all they are offering the user is little more then their existing sites. There isn’t too much game changing there. This isn’t to say that they won’t have users. They will of course, but there is huge potential for mobile social networks to come along and take over.
MySpace and FaceBook at stale, but both have a huge user base. This does not necessarily mean that they will enjoy the same success in the Mobile Web.
There are numerous Web 2.0 social sites and services that those outside the early adopter/tech sector have not presently embraced in a substantial way; you only have to look at the majority of users on Twitter and FriendFeed to see this. Most of my non-tech friends and even a fair proportion of friends in the general tech field have not heard, and/or do not participate in either Twitter or FriendFeed.
Features A Mobile Social Network Needs
The iPhone as a game changing device is not related specifically one feature, but rather the entire implementation and the possibilities it provides for a mobile social networkk to take advantage of.
Below is a list of some of the features that are going to be important for a successful mobile social network. Many of these features already exist in one form or another on present mobile social networks, but not all of them are integrated on the one network.
- Ease of use and simplicity:- This goes without saying, but can often be overlooked.
- Slick interface design:- While Google and many of the online social networks have proven that a slick interface design is not a requirement for success, as this post is dealing specifically with the iPhone, it should be a requirement.
- Geolocation and geotagging:- Any mobile social network that does not include these features will miss the boat.
- Media upload and sharing features:- The ability to instantly record images and video from the phone and upload and share with friends. Both videos and images should be automatically geotagged on upload.
- Locate friends:- Friends should appear on maps, with the ability to select various radius from present location, such as 1Km, 5Km, 10Km, etc.
- Find new friends:- While at a location, set the phone to discoverable and be able to meet other people on the network who have the same setting, with the ability to browse their profile before making contact. If you are interested, a quick message is sent and they in turn have the choice to respond.
- Organise contacts into groups:- Automatically organise phone contacts into groups, such as family, business and friends.
- Privacy features:- Change your privacy settings for the level of visibility and the details you reveal to people.
- Search and recommendations:- While out shopping, it would be great to be able to search on your phone for the nearest store selling the product you searched for and also be able to see user reviews for that store, similar to Whrrl.
- Favorites:- In conjunction with the search functionality above, the inclusion of an opt-in service that would push certain specials based on your location and criteria. As an example, you have chosen to be advised of any specials on Canon cameras, you have gone to another city for a weekend and while out shopping, your phone advises that a shop 5Km from your location has a special on the latest Canon.
- Integration and/or domination:- There are two ways to go here, either clone of integrate. Integration of existing networks would be useful, for example, the inclusion of a user’s twitter stream, however, this type of functionality could also be built into the new service.
Monetization
With In-Stat forecasting global mobile social network users to number 975 million by 2012, there is a captive market, waiting for the right monetization strategy.
Rather then simply building an application and trying to grow a massive user base, with next to no monetization strategy, why not also include contextual and location based advertising from the beginning?
This can be achieved by use of the opt-in push feature, as well as premium ads for businesses listed on the maps. There are obviously other ways to monetize the network, but advertising is far better then premium SMS or other similar services I have seen proposed. With this type of advertising model, there is still value for the user.
If you multiply the number of businesses that could use this type of advertising, you are looking at some serious revenue potential.
I have deliberately left out some other features, as I think they are further down the track and not totally essential at this early stage. Some of the features I have listed above will take considerable resources to implement, as there are still several obstacles to overcome, but if a company can build a mobile social network that provides a lot of this functionality, they will have a model that is both highly attractive to users and one that can also provide huge revenue.
So who will build it?
Wireless Social Networks And Mobile 2.0
Wireless social networks are going to be the next big thing. Nothing too surprising with that claim. What is surprising however, is the amount of revenue it could generate.
iSuppli has forecast that by 2020 wireless social networks will generate $2.5 trillion in combined revenue from products, services, applications, components and advertising.
“Over the next 10 years, as mobile devices like smartphones become the primary channel for viewing content or accessing the Internet, social networking will move largely into the wireless realm, providing the type of ubiquitous connection that consumers are demanding,” Derek Lidow, president and CEO at iSuppli, said in an announcement Wednesday. “This event will accompany the creation of a new generation of applications that will greatly expand the appeal and utility of social networking, and will finally generate profits for the social networking industry.”
“New intuitive applications enabled by innovative technologies introduced in the timeframe from 2009 to 2015 will spur the adoption of social networking and lead to major revenue growth in this area,” he said. iSuppli analyzed social networking and found three levels of interaction for users: immediate family and close friends, extended friends, and shared interest groups. Users interact sporadically — but intensely — with extended friends through games, avatars, and general updates and information. Users with common interests communicate in ways that extend into business. The popularity of social networking in business — for trading, online collaboration, and virtual meetings — is likely to spur advancement of mobile devices equipped for content viewing and sharing, iSuppli said. Wireless devices are likely to become the primary means of communicating, accessing content, and using applications by 2018, and that will change the semiconductor and display industries globally, iSuppli predicts.
I think this is pretty much a given, you only have to look at the iPhone to see the interest and as more applications become built for it, new opportunities will open up and new ways of interacting will become the norm. After all, who wants to lug around a notebook computer, or wait until they get home to connect with their friends, when they can do it in real time on their mobile phone.
Now that the new 3G iPhone has finally been released, there should be even more impetus to develop the next generation mobile apps, which will open up Mobile 2.0.
