Why partnership is key to success<\/p>\n
Indra Gunawan, Telecommunications analyst, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After expanding about 71 percent from 1999 to 2000, the local
\nwireless market experienced a substantial plunge last year, with
\nsales volume down to 385 million handsets from 412 million the
\nprevious year.<\/p>\n
Are 2001's figures a bad sign for the future of both cellular
\nmanufacturers and operators in a market with such huge potential?<\/p>\n
Like it or not, most stocks of IT-related businesses
\nworldwide, including telecommunications firms in Asia, have lost
\npopularity.<\/p>\n
To survive, operators are offering a variety of new services,
\non top of the usual voice and SMS facilities, to subscribers in
\nan effort to raise their Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Many
\nare now working hard to introduce their new products, such as
\nGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Unified Messaging Service
\n(UMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).<\/p>\n
But this technology will do little for the ARPU if not
\nsupported with adequate applications and content. A provisioning
\nservice makes customer more comfortable, as they no longer need
\nto set parameters, like Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), MMS,
\nJava and so on.<\/p>\n
Operator also can create a new brand for their services by
\ncooperating with a strongly branded company to make a Mobile
\nVirtual Network Operator (MVNO). With the new brand, they can
\neasily reach different market segments.<\/p>\n
A new product also can be created through cooperation with a
\nstrong brand service provider. ICQ, a big company and a strong
\nbrand, with 135 million members around the world, is a promising
\ncompany in terms of cooperation. By teaming with ICQ, the brand
\nof an operator would be strengthened.<\/p>\n
If we look at all the products available on the market, we
\nwill see that all mobile device manufacturers are coming up with
\nnice products that are small, handy and stylish. On the other
\nhand, those products that cannot fill these requirements will be
\nabandoned by users.<\/p>\n
Most users in Asia, especially in Indonesia, have a unique
\ncharacteristic. Quite a number prefer the trendiest cellular
\nphones equipped with the latest technology. They feel a kind of
\npride in carrying them around, although most of them never make
\nproper use of the state-of-the-art technology.<\/p>\n
Remember Wireless Application Protocol technology? When it was
\nintroduced everyone wanted to use mobile phones with WAP. Today,
\nit is similar with GPRS -- providing high-speed access to data,
\nthe latest reason for users to replace their handsets.<\/p>\n
But the question is, can technology actually boost sales
\nvolume for mobile phone manufacturers? Data from the marketplace
\nis pretty clear. Technology is no longer the main issue. The
\ntypes of cellular phones that are favored and are currently
\nenjoying high sales are not cluttered with every bit of
\nsophisticated technology. Apart from their trendy designs, they
\nare simply \"conventional\" cellulars with basic features like SMS
\nand some entertaining games. Most importantly, the price should
\nbe in the middle range.<\/p>\n
Technology does not seem to be a strong point if customers do
\nnot understand its real advantages, meaning useful application is
\nmore advantageous than the technology itself. The manufactures,
\nof course, are aware that technology will be useless if it is not
\nused frequently. Therefore they concentrate on providing not a
\nmere communications device, but also completing it with advanced
\nentertainment facilities, such as a radio terminal, color
\ndisplay, polyphonic sound, digital camera, long SMS, Java
\nenabled, etc.<\/p>\n
To satisfy their subscribers' demands, operators also provide
\ninteroperable facilities, so they can communicate with each other
\neven if they use different brands.<\/p>\n
Many users probably get a headache at the mention of \"GPRS\",
\nbut once its various benefits are clearly spelled out, like the
\neasy access to a wide range of information, sending e-mails,
\ndownloading and changing the logo or ringtones, using the
\ncellular phone as a modem to access the Internet via a laptop,
\netc., only then will the message get across.<\/p>\n
One of the keys to success for the i-mode services provided by
\nNTT DoCoMo is application. i-mode would not be enjoying its
\ncurrent 32 million subscribers -- roughly a quarter of Japan's
\npopulation -- if they were just offering limited and boring
\ncontent to subscribers.<\/p>\n
With around 50,000 sites on the Internet it is the market
\nleader in Japan, and now its services have started luring
\ncellular users outside Japan.<\/p>\n
Strategic alliances for i-mode are being formed with an eye on
\nthird-generation mobile phone services. The European version of
\nthe i-mode service was launched in March 2002 in Germany by E-
\nPlus, and in April in the Netherlands by KPN Mobile. The i-mode
\nservice is also planned for Belgium through BASE (formerly KPN
\nOrange) and Taiwan through KGT.<\/p>\n
The availability of applications is another key to success, so
\napplication developers and content providers have to enrich their
\nservices and create more interesting content. With the existing
\namicable relations between cellular operators and content
\nproviders, developers will be interested in making many
\napplications.<\/p>\n
To support a more complex application, Third Generation (3G)
\ncellulars will transfer data at a very high speed, theoretically
\nup to 2 Mbps.<\/p>\n
NTT DoCoMo gives 91 percent of application revenue to content
\nproviders, because as the network provider NTT DoCoMo also gets
\nits income from packet transmission charges.<\/p>\n
The problem in Indonesia is that even though many talented
\ndevelopers exist they are not interested in working as
\ndevelopers, because they are worried about their future. They
\nworry they will not make any money from the applications they
\nmake.<\/p>\n
Today very few providers are able to offer the entire range of
\nservices, which is why partnership is the key to success. It is
\nreally up to the operators to come up with the appropriate
\ncharging system, otherwise all this expensive technology will
\nremain untapped with subscribers getting no advantages from it.<\/p>\n
However, the future is not that bleak.<\/p>\n
Apart from the numerous products enhanced with the most
\nsophisticated features that keep entering the market, other
\nfactors necessary to wake up the dozing market are appropriate
\nrates from operators, an amicable relationship between operators
\nand application developers and, most importantly, \"loudly and
\nclearly\" communicating all these for the benefit of customers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/why-partnership-is-key-to-success-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}