You're in the pub, and you happen to strike up a conversation with this fantastic woman. You talk for quite some time, and as she prepares to leave, you even manage to get her number. Imagine the horror on her face as you whip out a pen and your phonebook! Now wouldn't that take the colour right off your face?
If we are to believe what recent reports say, the UK has more mobile phones than people! In excess of 63 million, to be precise. Now, with that many phones around, you sure could manage to find one to take that woman's number, wouldn't you? Coming from the time when mobile phones looked and weighed like bricks, the instruments sure have come quite far, now capable of doing remarkable things; playing music, taking print-worthy photos, checking emails and playing games with your mates. Thanks to the incessant work of some pioneers and the largely deregulated environment, the UK's mobile landscape has developed incredibly fast. Just the fact that there are more than 200 independent firms providing innovative products and services is enough to prove that the industry is accelerating at breakneck speeds.
With just 50 top companies accounting for nearly £1bn in revenues, the mobile industry has gone beyond being a poor cousin to mainstream communications. Its not just ring tones and games anymore! Global conglomerates like Disney, Coca-Cola, and Visa are investing vast sums of revenue in developing marketing strategies to reach the flourishing mobile-mad market. Companies such as Ladbrokes, Norwich Union, various airlines, banks and entertainment companies are paying companies such as Volantis to create fully functional mobile versions of their services. As GSM access expands to more than 200 countries, it opens the doors to an emerging export market.
The UK mobile industry is flooded with technology providers like and and also innovations that constantly push the boundaries of what is possible. Managing bank accounts or insurance policies, share trading, PC-to-text services; there is almost nothing that cannot be done with a featured handset.
Mobile Phone Offers and Features
According to latest reports, Vodafone and O2 will soon offer a new handset called the 'VO2 Twin Phone', which comes with a dual keypad and a split screen and will automatically switch to the best plan available from either provider depending on the call made. Each network can embed the device with their own firmware and features, giving customers the best of both worlds. As 3G catches up with users worldwide, the industry is investigating the potential of super-fast 3.5G and 4G. This could mean mobile data rates of 15Mbps and longer TV and video broadcasts to handsets.
Along with innovative ideas, the industry has also seen a lot of mediocre products and services shoved in the market by too many companies. But the economic downturn apparently has brought all that to a stop. The time for the best mobile products and Mobile Phone deals has just begun, and customers will benefit from a market where innovation is the only way to survival. INQ recently launched an inexpensive social networking handset, available on reasonably priced plans with 3. It offers unlimited Internet access, and comes as manna from heaven for the droves of Facebook junkies who don't need all the other geeky stuff that those 'smart' phones offer! Such new and affordable inventions will help the industry move out of the gloom of the credit crunch.
The industry is headed towards a long- predicted shift. With mobile phones having metamorphosed into computers, everything that comes out now will be distinctly layered in technology like networks, operating systems, applications etc. Also, the economics of the industry is undergoing a sea change. Network providers will no longer take the largest piece of the pie, but will have to share it with software and service providers like Google, Apple and Facebook.
All in all, quite a positive development for the bloke in the pub, what say!
|
