ANNOUNCEMENT : CellStrat blog has moved

Please note the new residence for CellStrat blog is at :

http://www.cellstrat.com/blog

Please point your CellStrat blog links to this new address. You will not see any further posts on this existing blog (http://cellstrat.wordpress.com). We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

5 LBS Apps on iPhone

Apple’s new iPhone software with the iPhone OS 3.0 update will include Google Maps integration. With this I feel there will be an explosion of location-based apps to start appearing in the App Store. This again will be followed by other app store hope-fulls like RIM, Nokia etc. There are already a few location-based apps available now and here are five that are worth a look.

uSonar (Free)

There are lots of apps available that let you keep up with your social networks while you’re on the go, but what about when you’re bored and want to find someone local to hang with? uSonar lets you know who’s around and what they’re up to, whether they are someone you already know or not. Members post “blips” about their activities and locations, then you can message them directly through your iPhone or iPod touch. Everything about uSonar is opt-in, so you’re in control of who can see where you are, or send you a message or email. You can even post anonymously if you’d like.

Loopt (Free)

If you want people outside your immediate location to be able to find you, try Loopt. This app lets you broadcast your whereabouts or send pictures to everyone in your social networks, like Twitter and Facebook. It works across all major mobile phone carriers and supports over 100 different models of phones so your buddies without iPhones can find you. It’s famous among youth of UK

Hear Planet (Free)

If you like to go sightseeing when you travel, then you’ll love Hear Planet. It uses geolocation to determine where you are, then feeds you tons of information about the area’s landmarks, famous buildings, historical sites, and more via your headphones. More than just an audio tour guide, listen while you drive around running errands and you just might learn something you never knew about your hometown.

Whrrl (Free)

Some folks love micro-blogging so much that they want to document every minute of their day. If that’s your thing, let Whrrl help. Use your iPhone’s camera to snap pictures of your lunch, trip to the market, and visit to the dentist, uploading to Whrrl as you go. You can even add text and messages if you choose. Your location and micro-stories are shown on a map, which is really neat if you happen to be around other Whrrl users doing the same thing as you. Imagine attending the IPL Cricket matches and updating the experience as it happens, while simultaneously watching someone else across the stadium do the same.

Traffic ($1.99)

This app will let you know what the traffic conditions are like in your area and display them in list form or superimposed on a map. Traffic gives you details on how severe the traffic situations are. The app automatically locates where you are, but you can enter the location of your choice so you can get traffic conditions anywhere.

App Store wars, predictions by CellStrat and suggested strategy

There is an excellent article in Business Week (April 6, 2009 print edition) this week on Mobile App Store wars by Reena Jana and Peter Burrows. Below is a summary with some additional comments by us. At the end we make some mobile app market share predictions for 2011 and suggest some strategic ideas :

Business Week article (“An All-Out Online Assault on the iPhone”) :

RIM, Nokia, Microsoft and Palm are planning an assault on the Apple’s Red-hot App Store by launching their own App Stores for mobile phones. Mike Lazardis, co-CEO of RIM is set to launch BlackBerry App World at this week’s CTIA in Vegas. App World will have minimum pricing of $2.99 per app and will provide 80% of the dev revenue to the developer vs Apple’s 70% rev sharing. This is bound to entice more serious App Store developers who like the higher cut in case of BlackBerry. Moreover the latter is more prominent in the corporate circles so is likely to get corporate-minded developers. Mike McGuire of Gartner estimates that there will be significant threat to the Apple App Store with these plethora of App Store offerings. No wonder then that Apple has released an enhance iPhone 3.0 with tons of new functionality for iPhone developers. Rumors abound of a new iPhone device come June – Apple WWDC conf is around that time so a likely point for new hardware announcement.

Apple has created a new business model which these other Apple wannabe mobile firms want to copy now. While the simple mobile phone continues to take a hit from recession, the smartphone market is expected to jump from 139 million last year to 295 million in 2010, per Gartner. This will exceed the 300 million-unit PC market in due course. If not for netbooks, PC market is set to be outpaced by mobile phones in few years.

RIM is not a newbie to mobile app market. It has seen download of its application kit 100,000 times and there are BlackBerry apps for QuickBooks and clinical apps. However BlackBerry does not have a consolidated site strategy where the applications are hosted and distributed leading to Apple being a first in the most intuitive delivery strategy.

Well, Apple is way ahead for now. It remains to be seen if others can catch up in Mobile apps or Mobile Web world. Nokia, RIM and others sell far more phones than Apple but iPhone growth continues to defy gravity giving a shiver to the other entrenched mobile players. Who imagined that a formidable and innovative firm like Nokia would have to worry about a new-to-town cellphone maker ?

Apple App Store has 25,000 apps which span the spectrum of uses. Santoshi Nakajima, president of photo editing startup Big Canvas claims that they don’t even bother with non-iPhone App stores. iPhone is that strong in hearts and minds of developers. Many developers say that Apple’s real edge is in providing the tools to help them build cool, innovative programs. Mark Woolen, an Oracle VP claims that they make apps for both BlackBerry and iPhone but iPhone offers a more elegant approach to app development over mobile phones.

The good thing is that this competition is great. It is bound to fuel innovation among mobile phone developers. Microsoft strategy is to offer Windows mobile phones which work seamlessly with its Windows OS (yawn!@), Nokia Ovi Store, scheduled to open in May, is adopting a creative approach – it will offer content based on user’s tastes, location and friend’s recommendations. Nokia is trying to offer personalization in app search and delivery. Interesting.

It is all good. We look forward to these app store wars. May the best win and may innovation thrive…

Now some predictions from CellStrat for next 1-2 years :

- iPhone will maintain the market leadership in mobile web and mobile app store. Others will struggle to come close to iPhone App Store penetration.

- RIM BlackBerry will provide significant competition in corporate world to iPhone. We feel BlackBerry is behind in consumer segment in spite of being a top smartphone maker. They need to bring out some more compelling consumer devices.

- Nokia and RIM will be the strongest after Apple iPhone and pose the maximum threat to iPhone App store. Nokia may come out a good second ahead of BlackBerry due to its massive global footprint. We believe Nokia will have 10-20% of overall app market and BlackBerry might in the 10% range on strength of its corporate connections.

- Microsoft, Palm and all others will be third in Mobile App Store strategy. We still have to see what effect Palm Pre has on marketplace but its app store may continue to lag regardless of Pre adoption (due to developer apathy). All these other mobile App Stores combined might be limited to less than 20% of overall Mobile App Store market share.

 

Strategy for success for Mobile App Stores :

- Developers, Developers, Developers – Focus on developers and making their lives simple by providing tool systems easy to use and deliver. Develop vibrant developer community around the App Store and its tools.

- Focus on devices – Get in the bed with the best devices – your own or third party.

- Focus on usability – how to make the user experience with the apps simple and intuitive. Hire some usability experts (Sorry, Steve Jobs is not available).

 

We believe with these ideas, non-iPhone App Stores can cause some dent in iPhone App market.

CTIA Wireless start next week in Vegas, Skype on iPhone and more

CTIA Wireless starts next week in Las Vegas and we will be tracking the happenings there. Should be interesting. Also more on Mobile App Store war soon. Plus Skype is releasing a client for iPhone (finally!!) – Skype CEO may announce this at CTIA, we hear. Earlier there were other VOIP clients for iPhone which were providing the Skype interface. Finally Skype decided to go direct on iPhone. We are excited. We intend to check this service out. Tell you more about it later. But we suspect that Skype on iPhone works only on a WiFi network similar to TruPhone. That will be an ongoing problem as cannot use VOIP client while on the go (in TruPhone, one has to incur a domestic calling charge with their AnyWhere service to use TruPhone on a regular wireless network – need to check if Skype on iPhone will offer service over operator wireless network).

BSNL to add one million lines by next year

State-run telecom operator BSNL will add one million lines through advanced generation switches technology by next year and will shortly finalise bids for the purpose.…

TV Episodes on BlackBerry soon

RIM is planning to announce a full-episode television service for BlackBerry users as early as next week at CTIA. The service is part of RIM’s effort to turn itself into an attractive multimedia option. It will be on a monthly subscription based model. Multiple broadcast and cable networks have licensed content for the service. Read More here.

BSNL leasing out it’s Tower Infrastructure in semi-urban areas

State-run telecom operator BSNL has decided to lease out its passive infrastructure, that includes towers mainly, to other telecom companies in semi – urban areas in the country.

A senior official of BSNL said, “since we have more towers in tier-II and -III cities, we have decided to lease out those towers with unutilised capacity to the operators.” Aimed at generating more revenue and fully utilising the huge tower base, BSNL plans to cash in on its pan-India presence. It operates all over India, except Delhi and Mumbai.

(Source: Economic Times)

Startup visibility and old-boy network disruption

I have been thinking how startups can create market disruption and again and again I reach the same conclusion. I feel effective use of internet (blogging, website, mailings, search), social media (build an interest group of some kind, create a forum for people to share thoughts, ideas and info), free content and open source are perhaps some good ways for individuals or small firms to disrupt existing business models and old boys network. That means in today’s times, the old style personal network is not that critical for success for startups and individuals. This is good news. All these enablers are indeed a boon for startups and budding firms. We are happy to count CellStrat in that category. Just some thoughts on startup opportunity.

Could you Charge your Mobile Phone with your shirt???

Perhaps you could, if research being done on “Spray-On Power” at Canada’s University of Toronto (UoT) wields results.

Areas of mobile marketing that need attention in 2009

On a global perspective, top three areas of focus are :

1. More mobile knowledge experts.
2. Greater case study sharing. &
3. Creation of guidelines around mobile measurement.

Mobile knowledge experts

There is a huge need in the global mobile marketing industry to pass our collective mobile expertise off to new entrants to expand the knowledge base of those able to evangelize.

More case study sharing

Already a strong proponent of information sharing, the MMA encourages all marketers to continue to share their successes and failures regardless of size of campaign, target demographic or results.

Measurement

Yes, mobile has been challenged with creating consistent metrics and reporting in order to drive greater spend in the mobile channel – like all media in its early days.

The MMA has launched its Measurement Committee and hopes to release its guidelines forMobile Web Measurement early in the third quarter of 2009.