Funk (2007) Solving the startup problem in Western mobile Internet markets
From Inventiopedia
Funk, Jeffrey L. (2007) "Solving the startup problem in Western mobile Internet markets" in Telecommunications Policy 31 (1), p. 14-30.
This is an attempt to analyze the differences between the apparently successful development of the mobile internet in Japan and Korea, versus the initially less successful efforts in Europe and the US. This is analyzed in terms of what the author calls "the start-up problem" (in two stages), and the mental models dominant among service providers.
The author argues convincingly against the view that the success of the mobile internet in Japan is primarily due to cultural factors such as low PC internet usage and commuting by trains. In stead he points to the provision of micro-payment systems, high revenue sharing with content providers (91%), push-based email with simple web access etc.
He also mentions location-based services, as part of the current developments in i-mode:
Firms are also combining these push-based mail services with other phone functions such as Global Positioning System (GPS), and bar-code readers. More than 1000 firms have introduced GPS phones to improve the productivity of more than 100,000 employees (e.g., sales, maintenance, and other workers). Construction and other workers use the camera function to record work progress and plan to use phone-based bar code readers to more effectively record the arrival of raw materials at a construction site (Funk, forthcoming2).
Among barriers to expanded services in the west, Funk mentions the lack of availability of custom-designed phones for service operators.
While it is likely that a dominant design (Anderson & Tushman, 1990) will at some point in time emerge that eliminates the need for custom phones, in the meantime the diffusion of mobile Internet services will depend on how well service providers determine standards and manufacturers provide custom phones.
Seeing how many claim the Iphone is currently changing people's ues of the mobile internet (and how other operators are starting to imitate its UI), one may of course ask whether this dominant design has now already arrived, making the need for custom-designed phones less relevant.
This paper is an interesting supplement to the perspective in Suri and Sawhney (2008) - The internet and its wireless extensions in Japan.
--Anders Sundnes Løvlie 17:05, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
