February 13, 2004
Give Me Directions, Don't Give Me Video
Rafat Ali for Moco News reports on a Strategy Analytics report saying "that while operators are working on delivering users video clips and worrying about DRM, most users don't care. What they want is turn by turn directions and mobile payment".
According to Senior Analyst Nitesh Patel, "operators continue to miss out on the real revenue potential for location offerings, like step-by-step directions, as they myopically pursue the killer entertainment application."
Another study, this time emanating from Japan, says the complete opposite. Published on Feb 6 by Nepro, asking mobile phone users about services and functions, 40% of the respondents said the most wanted function is a TV, according to Mobile Media Japan via NEAsia.
"In response to a question regarding "functions desirable for future mobile phones" (multiple answers allowed), "TV" (43%), "dictionaries" (35%) and "keys" (29%) were the top three. Functions such as "electronic wallet" (25%) and "TV phone" (24%), which are expected to be integrated in the next-generation mobile phones, did not attract many supporters. In addition, 16% responded "nothing in particular" and did not request any additional functions."
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