All in All We’re Not Just Another Brick in the Wall.
by Ewan Spence
I would expect everyone reading this blog to understand the concept of the Walled Garden of Content – in short the idea that a network has a list of ‘approved’ websites and these are the only sites that you can access. A grand idea at the start of the mobile internet revolution, but now customers are looking to browse wherever they want.
Thankfully, we’re seeing more and more providers realizing this and providing users with the open access they want, and in the case of Vodafone today, routing mobile traffic through a proxy to re-render the pages for a small screen. And while this does emphasis the idea of carriers as nothing more than intermediate pipes for the internet (something that they probably want to get away from, it’s also following something that, at first appears counter intuitive.
If you take less revenue from revenue shares (eg through Premium SMS service, ring tones, and downloadable games), then you see an increase in your bottom line. I expect that they’re looking for the same halo effect with the opening up of Vodafone Live.
When you take a step back and look at why this is the case, two ideas spring to mind for me. The first is that it is respecting the end-user. They know the internet exists, and that it can do a lot more than the locked-down portals. They know that the music store isn’t the only way to get music onto their device – especially when they have gigabytes of music on their PC. So why waste time and effort (and goodwill) locking out functions the users want.
The second is that the mobile industry is growing up and becoming more responsible. The operators are not the only players in town, there are third party developers, bloggers and websites that are becoming an intrinsic part of everyday life for many mobile users – the networks do realize that in the new mobile eco-sphere these external influences need to be embraced as equals.
There’s hope for us all yet.
