Barriers To Mass Usage of Mobile Internet Services
However, the mobile phone also has important disadvantages compared to the PC:
- Physical limitations, e.g. small screen, limited keyboard
- The large number of different operating systems as well as different versions of enabling software such as Java.
- Limited memory and bandwidth capabilities which reduces the capacity to run applications in parallel and makes it difficult to switch between different applications.
The business strategies of operators also create important barriers to increased usage. The price of data traffic is one example, even though more and more flat rate offers are introduced. Expensive or complex roaming data pricing is still a major issue for travelers. Aside from pricing constraints, operators often run “walled garden” approaches for value added mobile services, as premium services represent a significant revenue potential for them. This restricts the end user from freely exploring the Mobile Internet. Another barrier has been that phone settings are often not correct, and have not been possible to monitor and manage remotely.
Content providers have mainly been limited to two approaches for mobile distribution due to the content strategies of mobile operators. Firstly, gaining visibility through operator portals at a significant cost for the premium services, or, secondly, running off-portal (off-deck) services where they have to market the services independently. In both cases, the services have to be produced in many versions to fit all phones and operators. In the latter option, the end user usually needs to type in URLs manually and bookmarks are typically lost when the user changes phones. One alternative is to brows ordinary Internet web sites. This typically provides a very poor user experience, and is really just an option for very high-end terminals.
Read more about this topic: Universal Mobile Interface
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