Chasing the Mobile Mirage
Can a mobile device double
as phone and TV? Yes, if you do something about its screen size,
something about its battery life, something about the shaky networks,
something to keep service prices in control, and everything to improve
the content quality. Is that all? No, wait a sec! Find out what else
Rakesh Raman
of My Techbox Online has to say.
Also, before I forget, you
need to increase the number of hours in a day from the present 24 to
give sufficient opportunity to consumers to spare time from their
routine local train travels, newspaper readings, office rigmaroles,
seaside hangouts, actual TV viewing, and, of course, from online social
networks. Then why not? Mobile can certainly become a TV or any other
gadget that you want it to become.
Believe me; I’m not against
the aspirations of those business honchos who’re hell-bent on converting
the poor little mobile phone to a TV, a camera, a gaming device, or
sometimes a music player. In this entire mad scramble to overload the
device with all types of extracurricular responsibilities, they’ve
virtually forgotten that traditionally the device was designed for voice
calls. That’s why this is called a “phone.” Some mobile makers have even
tried to strip the computer of its functions and have been calling their
phones as multimedia computers.
As mobile companies want to
live in fool’s paradise, they don’t even hesitate to fool themselves
with that unrealistic market research data (I don’t want to repeat the
same data here, as it conceals more than what it reveals) that tells
them the market will be huge after some decades or so. With the same
numbers, they are trying to hoodwink the consumers. But somewhere inside
they know it’s not going to be a walk in the park – almost impossible
unless they successfully address all those issues – from screen size to
consumer behavior.
Mobile players’ frustration,
however, is justified. Voice-only mobile markets have virtually dried
up. Now, they want to use the only weapon they possess – the mobile
device – to infiltrate consumers’ hearts and pockets by offering these
content or data services to see high ARPU (average revenue per user)
levels. But they have been too careless about technology that has been
moving at snail’s pace in the mobile’s case because of small form
factor, tired batteries, lack of suitable applications, and so on. Plus,
they’ve virtually closed their eyes to really understand consumers’
tastes.
Why multimedia-on-mobile or
web-on-mobile demand is not taking off? Let’s take the case of a typical
young consumer on whom most mobile vendors are basically pinning their
hopes. Now majority of these consumers live with those poor man’s
mobiles or feature phones, which are not capable enough to handle the
swanky multimedia content including movie clips, games, or even e-mails.
Worldwide, there are an
estimated 3.5 billion mobiles in use but not more than one-tenth of them
are capable enough to accept modern data services. But for discussion
purposes, let’s assume that most consumers own such a smartphone. Will
they use it? When they’re at home, say, they’ll watch a TV, read a
newspaper, and use their music systems for all their infotainment needs.
If there’s more time with them, they’ll check their mails on a computer
or flirt with friends on social networks.
An average user won’t have
more than 60 minutes a day to do all this after their office work, daily
commuting, social chores, family meetings, and so on. Then when will
they have time to switch on the mobile and watch a movie trailer or play
a mobile game? Plus, continuous mobile use causes headache and
irritation because you have to glue your eyes to its tiny screen, which
is too stressful.
You can’t have fun under
such a stress. Who’d need that kind of mobile entertainment? A mobile
phone can certainly be a need for a consumer but movies on mobile can’t
be a need. Now, which mobile company has the courage to position
multimedia content on mobile as a need? It can’t be. And no consumer is
in such a killing hurry to stop on the road to watch a cricket or a
football match on mobile.
By nature, everyone wants to
enjoy entertainment content from a distance like on a TV when they’re
looking toward the ceiling fan or simultaneously reading a novel or
their son’s report card along with leisurely watching a TV movie. Mobile
device is not fit for that. And the moment you try to increase its
screen size, the entire device will be bigger. Then it’s not a pocket
mobile. Then it’s perhaps a mini TV or something. You need to carry a
bag to carry it along.
It’ll be good for mobile
companies to consider all these aspects before taking a plunge in the
mobile 2.0 era characterized by multimedia content. Alternatively, they're
free to chase the mobile mirage, as they’ve been doing for years.
Rakesh Raman
is the managing
editor of My Techbox Online.
