The existing advertising agencies will be with us for a long time to come.

However studies show that the biggest growth for the next ten years will come from the digital media, and this will most certainly involve massive changes for the traditional ad agencies. It will also mean that those who build up a good digital business will profit from the new trend; they will have a chance to dominate this market segment, and they will eventually also dominate the total market, as the traditional business becomes a smaller slice of the pie.
Continue reading “Traditional Advertising Agencies under Threat as Mass Media Takes Over” »

There are some early signs that mobile operators are changing their business models. This would, after ten years of hype, finally produce a breakthrough in the use of mobile services.

Over the last decade the vendors and mobile operators have continually bombarded the market with announcements about their fabulous mobile data products and services. But the reality is that, apart from Japan and Korea, no mass markets have been developed for mobile data, beyond SMS. Only ringtones and wallpaper can claim some victories, with music following at a distance. In the business market we have seen a recent spurt in the uptake of mobile email, and this is set to continue, independently of the mass market business models.

Continue reading “High Speed Packet Access threat to SMS” »

Even in the USA, entertainment country of the world, PVRs (personal video recorder) seem to have a limited appeal – after close to a decade the market is still struggling to reach a 10% market penetration. Of course TiVo is the grandfather of the current wave of developments. Again, the service has appeal, and generates an enormous amount of interest, but in reality the uptake remains far below expectations.

Continue reading “The Personal Video Recorder is it all too little too late?” »

Now that the broadband markets are moving in the right direction focus from access to the actual broadband services and applications is taking place.
It is important for infrastructure and service developments to proceed in tandem. To use the new and exciting services that we are hearing about, we need better broadband access, but if the services aren’t actually available broadband users will question why they need all that capacity – a typical chicken and egg problem.

Continue reading “E-health the dot.com phenomenon in Healthcare” »

Around the world the telecoms industry is reaching new heights, this time it includes the developed markets as well. In these countries the latest boom has just surpassed the one of the late 1990s in both profits and new investments.
This time, of course, the boom is led by the Internet companies, but the telcos (Telephone Companies) who have embraced the structural changes that the telco bust generated are also in the lift again.

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Apple’s iPhone promises to be very spectacular indeed: it can free users from the mobile operators’ heavily guarded walled garden business models. It is a true smart phone, with features such as web browsing, camera, VoIP, music, etc. Add to this the ability for software developers to come up with a range of other applications for the iPhone and it becomes clear that, in theory at least, this disruptive product has great potential.

But to the practicalities …..

Continue reading “Network Limitations and High Prices May Limit The Potential of Apple’s iPhone” »