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Mobility problems Why has the take-up of WAP devices been
so low? Mark Ingvorsen finds out. |
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The last nine months must have been disappointing for mobile device manufacturers - and must be causing some nervous twitches amongst mobile telephone companies. The former have invested in producing novel devices for WAP-based commerce - which they are now more or less giving away; and the latter have just spent vast fortunes on the G3 licences which are supposed to herald a complete revolution in mobile commerce. However, recent research suggests that only 1% of people accessing the internet do so via a WAP device. Worldwide, surveys - including one by ZDNet in Australia - have declared that 'WAP is crap'. So why has the uptake of WAP been so poor? In order to gain an insight into this problem, one needs to step back and look at some of the economics and marketing guidance of the 'old economy'. Products have always been developed according to one of two overarching approaches. One approach is where visionary inventors or managers have a hunch which they single-mindedly pursue to produce something that customers realised they couldn't live without - for example the Sony Walkman. Many hunches don't come off - remember the Sinclair C5. More... |
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International Consultants' Guide November
2000 |
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E-Communications