As we start our new financial year, like most other businesses we have had to make assumptions based on the changes we expect to see in the mobile market for the coming year.
GP Bullhound the UK technology investment bank has made their Technology Media and Telecoms sector predictions for 2008. They believe that 2008 will be the year when mobile specific Internet applications, such as WAP, disappear. Because handheld devices are provided with the power and display capabilities of laptops (albeit in mini format) this will eradicate the need for differentiated web and mobile applications. This should mean that developers no longer need to duplicate web content into WAP sites.
They also predict that mobile specific applications will also find it increasingly challenging to argue a unique value proposition to consumers. This however will not happen overnight and they recognize that there will be a significant installed base of low-bandwidth / limited form-factor users who continue to demand mobile specific applications for a long time to come.
Alongside this they predict that Ad funded mobile services will become mainstream. Mobile advertising didn’t take off as expected in 2007 with most deployments still in trial and evaluation phases. 2008 developments will see advertisers pay for this service by integrating mobile marketing messages on screen, through pre and post call voice messages, branded icons placed within SMS messages and also by branding on the actual device itself. What this all shouts to me is that if 2008 is the year when the mobile and PC devices become as one then brands and their agencies need to re-evaluate digital offerings and “Think Mobile”. The collaboration of service providers and the full integration of mobile into digital campaigns will become a more compelling proposition than ever before.