LAS VEGAS--Social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com, which will soon go mobile, could become key applications driving data usage on new 3G wireless networks.
"Carriers have invested a lot of money in their networks," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "And at this point it's a lot like throwing spaghetti on the wall to see which applications will stick. I doubt there will be any single killer application, but social networking on mobile phones could certainly be one that generates usage."
Though MySpace may be among the most famous of these sites, it's certainly not the only one on the Net. There are dozens of them, including Facebook.com, which is geared toward college students. There are also photo-sharing sites, such as Flickr, that have created popular online communities.
In the past, people using these services could access them only from their desktops or laptops. But now social networking is going mobile, allowing people to use their cell phones to upload pictures or send updates to blogs.
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In March, MySpace announced a deal with the soon-to-be-launched wireless reseller Helio. And earlier this week, Facebook announced deals with Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless to enable users to post messages to their Facebook profiles via SMS text messaging. Flickr also lets people post photos from their cell phones and view them from handsets as well. Sprint Nextel has created its own photo-sharing site, called PCS Picture mail. It's expected to launch this spring.
There also are new companies in the game, such as San Diego-based Intercasting, which is offering a service called Rabble. Like MySpace and Facebook, Rabble lets users create profiles so they can share photos, videos and blogs with other members of the Rabble group. Cingular and Verizon Wireless have already signed up to offer the service, charging customers $2.99 per month for access to the community.
Ubiquitous and wireless In many ways, cell phones are the ideal tools for social networking and building online communities. Not only are people rarely without their phones, but today's handsets come equipped with sophisticated tools as well, such as cameras and digital music and video players and recorders, that can be used for documenting life. Mobile-handset makers Nokia and Sony Ericsson are even embedding technology into some of their phones that's designed to make it easier for users to upload pictures and text to blogs. These phones are solid tools for people wanting to share photos, video clips or songs with their online communities.
You are spot on. In other parts of the world right now, mobile community applications are driving data usage.
My company's service, myGamma (a mobile community portal. <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://wap.mygamma.com" target="_newWindow">http://wap.mygamma.com</a>), clocks an average of 1.5 million wap pageviews a day. That translates to a massive 4,500 megabytes of data a day. In Asia and Europe currently, mobile data is largely via GPRS, a 2.5G network. But with 3G coming online soon and relatively cheaper costs, we expect data usage to skyrocket in tandem with the introduction of video and audio streaming within our community.
With our service, we have also discovered that we have reached a unique audience - people who otherwise have no access to the internet if not for their mobile phone! So for all the talk about handsets offering a lesser internet experience compared to the PC, this is not a problem at all with this group of users. It's a whole new market out there! At least, this is the experience out in Asia where there are lotsa more people with cellphones than computers.
I can confirm LKLai's comment, I run The Mobile Life http://www.themobilelife.com a provider of mobile internet services such as mobile communities and I just returned after a week in India. Out of 1.3 billion people the mobile penetration is only 20% and most of the Indian users first experiance internet through their mobile device. Regards, Chris
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My company's service, myGamma (a mobile community portal. <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://wap.mygamma.com" target="_newWindow">http://wap.mygamma.com</a>), clocks an average of 1.5 million wap pageviews a day. That translates to a massive 4,500 megabytes of data a day. In Asia and Europe currently, mobile data is largely via GPRS, a 2.5G network. But with 3G coming online soon and relatively cheaper costs, we expect data usage to skyrocket in tandem with the introduction of video and audio streaming within our community.
With our service, we have also discovered that we have reached a unique audience - people who otherwise have no access to the internet if not for their mobile phone! So for all the talk about handsets offering a lesser internet experience compared to the PC, this is not a problem at all with this group of users. It's a whole new market out there! At least, this is the experience out in Asia where there are lotsa more people with cellphones than computers.