3g-g
14th February 2006, 12:21 AM
Reported by earthtimes.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/5348.html
Though TV and video content is the flavor at the annual 3GSM conference in Barcelona beginning Monday, skepticism is visible as sales of third-generation mobile services continue to remain sluggish.
For instance, shareholders of Vodafone Group Plc and T-Mobile International AG strongly believe that investments in television and video services are unlikely to pay off in the near future.
Ralf Oberbannscheidt, a fund manager at Deutsche Bank AG's DWS fund-management unit in Frankfurt: I'm not convinced TV will be a big revenue driver. The problem is that customers are used to cheap phone calls and don't expect prices to go higher.''
Vodafone, despite the hype and hoopla surrounding the 3G phones, had only 8 million customers in this segment in the ending of December 2005.
According to research firm Gartner, around 46 million 3G handsets units were sold world over last year, which is less than 6% of the total of 812 million phones.
According to a study by YouGov, a London-based researcher, most users are finding that mobile services are becoming too complex and hence are avoiding buying 3G handsets and services. The study also revealed that 73 percent of the 3G handset users hardly use its value-added services, such as e-mail, music downloads and TV.
This is endorsed by telecom researcher IDATE of Montpellier, France, which says 3G services are being used only by around 3% of mobile customers.
John Strand, CEO of wireless research firm Strand Consult said: Mobile operators who have a dream of being mobile media companies are not being realistic. He feels that though there is surfeit of content, it will cost much more than mobile firms can really comprehend.
Mark Newman, chief research officer at research firm Informa Telecoms and Media said different mobile TV standards are adding to the complexity. He said. Mobile entertainment in general is proving a tough nut to crack.
John Delaney of Ovum, a technology consultancy, feels that network operators are not feeling the pulse of the mobile users. He adds: Up to now, the operators have been led by technology, in determining what services they could offer. For example, just because 3G networks can do video calling doesn't mean it's actually something people want to do.
Some analysts say that people are happier downloading programs to their PCs and transferring them to handheld sets like iPods.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/5348.html
Though TV and video content is the flavor at the annual 3GSM conference in Barcelona beginning Monday, skepticism is visible as sales of third-generation mobile services continue to remain sluggish.
For instance, shareholders of Vodafone Group Plc and T-Mobile International AG strongly believe that investments in television and video services are unlikely to pay off in the near future.
Ralf Oberbannscheidt, a fund manager at Deutsche Bank AG's DWS fund-management unit in Frankfurt: I'm not convinced TV will be a big revenue driver. The problem is that customers are used to cheap phone calls and don't expect prices to go higher.''
Vodafone, despite the hype and hoopla surrounding the 3G phones, had only 8 million customers in this segment in the ending of December 2005.
According to research firm Gartner, around 46 million 3G handsets units were sold world over last year, which is less than 6% of the total of 812 million phones.
According to a study by YouGov, a London-based researcher, most users are finding that mobile services are becoming too complex and hence are avoiding buying 3G handsets and services. The study also revealed that 73 percent of the 3G handset users hardly use its value-added services, such as e-mail, music downloads and TV.
This is endorsed by telecom researcher IDATE of Montpellier, France, which says 3G services are being used only by around 3% of mobile customers.
John Strand, CEO of wireless research firm Strand Consult said: Mobile operators who have a dream of being mobile media companies are not being realistic. He feels that though there is surfeit of content, it will cost much more than mobile firms can really comprehend.
Mark Newman, chief research officer at research firm Informa Telecoms and Media said different mobile TV standards are adding to the complexity. He said. Mobile entertainment in general is proving a tough nut to crack.
John Delaney of Ovum, a technology consultancy, feels that network operators are not feeling the pulse of the mobile users. He adds: Up to now, the operators have been led by technology, in determining what services they could offer. For example, just because 3G networks can do video calling doesn't mean it's actually something people want to do.
Some analysts say that people are happier downloading programs to their PCs and transferring them to handheld sets like iPods.