Having just completed a comprehensive, 250-page report for Juniper Research on the ‘amorphous’ topic that is Mobile Web 2.0, it would be fitting to claim that this blog was written on my mobile – maybe next time! But as was evident when writing this report, a fundamental shift in Internet usage patterns is shaping Mobile Web development, driving subscriber adoption and forcing structural changes within the industry. That we were able to forecast with some confidence that the global market for Mobile Web 2.0 will be worth $22.4bn in 2013, up from $5.5bn currently, gives some indication of how fast the Internet is evolving. Just how this translates in revenue by type (i.e. service, data and advertising) and by application (i.e. social networking/UGC, search and Instant Messaging), is contained in this multifaceted report on what is seen as the next stage in Mobile Web development. More details of the report are available here.

Given that it is not a standard or technology, there are many different interpretations of what denotes a ‘2.0’ application – both in the fixed and mobile domain. So, as well as providing recommendations for members across the value chain, perhaps the greatest challenge was in addressing the amorphous nature of Mobile Web 2.0. The waters are further muddied by the simple fact that fixed-Internet applications cannot be replicated directly on the mobile phone – and quite possibly, never will be. Certainly, I would argue that this makes the W3C’s ‘one web’ vision pretty ambitious, and what struck me most from my research is the fact that mobile users are purposeful rather than casual surfers.

Not that this should be considered a negative aspect. Since the phone is carried with us most of the time and contains a huge amount of personal data, it is a logical extension for the social network and a host of other collaborative Web 2.0 applications being mobilised – creating new opportunities for players across the board, not just those within the mobile industry.

You’ve [not] been framed

In respect of all the debate surrounding Mobile Web 2.0, I anticipated a little more ‘response’ (certainly from some of my old colleagues on the circuit) concerning my choice of feature sets within the framework, or indeed, the applications I eventually settled on – namely social networking & User Generated Content (UGC), mobile search and mobile IM (Instant Messaging), further enhanced and contextualised via Location Based Services (LBS).

With Mobile Web, it certainly is the links that will dictate the strength of the chain, which is why I have attempted to define the nature of the individual links and the opportunities they provide within a Mobile Web 2.0 framework.

It will be interesting to see how this framework evolves as more focus is given to the changing nature of the Web and user behaviour/communications patterns. At the core of this evolution is the user as a creator and consumer of content (i.e. the prosumer), and the ‘social web’ – which describes a wide variety of social computing tools (such as this blog for example) enabling users to develop detailed Web identities, create online communities and communicate with like-minded individuals…

In the news

Vodafone gets social

Vodafone Announces the Acquisition of ZYB (read full release)

Vodafone has agreed to acquire ZYB, a privately-owned company based in Denmark that operates a social networking and online management tool enabling mobile phone users to back-up and share their handsets’ contact and calendar information online. The acquisition will be made for a cash consideration of €31.5 million.

“Using a web portal as a link between the PC and the mobile device, ZYB provides an interactive way for people to nurture, contact and develop their relationships with their most important friends and colleagues and builds links with those contacts’ wider networks. This is Web 2.0 in action,” said Pieter Knook, Internet Services Director for Vodafone Group.

Flashing lights & the 11^th hour

Flashing lights waste £10m and 50,000 tonnes CO₂ every year (read full release)

IT equipment is wasting UK companies £10m a year and releasing 50,000 tonnes of unnecessary CO2 into the atmosphere, just on flashing lights, according to recent research conducted by infrastructure specialist, LS Simple.  

The company argues that “legion upon legion of IT equipment, such as switches and routers, routinely and pointlessly flash LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) in UK data centres. With 21,000,000 LEDs flashing in data centres alone, cash and energy are being wasted, and additionally, the wasted energy could ultimately pose a threat to continuing data centre operations, and even business survival.” 

Yikes! Paul Eo (regional manager Europe of LS Simple) claims that “this is the very small tip of a fast melting iceberg…” and that with Intelligent Power Management deployed, Data Centre operations can often save 30% of their consumed power. The release acknowledges that there is little evidence available to measure precisely the cost of running LEDs in a data centre, but LS Simple does give details of the basis of its calculations, providing a sobering thought for all those mindful of their carbon footprint. 

Funny, I always thought that LEDs had a purpose – rapid fault detection perhaps, which could cost £millions in downtime, lost info, costly maintenance callouts etc. … how do these factors equate to minimising carbon footprints? True, if you don’t know what the flashing LED is all about, then maybe LS Simple has a point but, just maybe, it means something to someone and the designer didn’t just add a touch of glitter!

Recommended:

Hello can you hear me? Atlantic telescope (or should that be ‘Telectroscope’) pix: silicon.com 

  

Source: silicon.com 

Allo allo allo – social Web? ‘Old dogs and new tricks: why the content industries are the real pirates’: TelecomTV

 

Source: TelecomTV 

AOL online ad Ripp off? ‘AOL execs in the dock for inflating ad numbers’: TelecomTV

On the wire

Probably the best job in the world…

The Structure Group voted second best place to work in the UK (read full release)

Hot on the heels of Indie at the Cannes Film Festival (probably the fourth best Indiana Jones movie ever made…), comes the star-studded ‘Great Places to Work’ annual award ceremony held in xxx [yes, they forgot to say where it was being held, which is why you must have missed it] and the news that “The Structure Group, the leading specialist consultancy operating in the energy, utilities and financial services sectors… is officially both the second best place to work in the UK, beaten to the top only by Google, and the tenth best SME to work for across Europe.”

According to Jim Hayward, Senior Director at The Structure Group with responsibility for people [sic]: “This is a fantastic result for us… To be beaten only by Google is a huge achievement, especially for a consultancy firm like ours.  We have an intangible product, limited brand recognition outside our specialist fields, and we spend a relatively small amount on marketing…”

Plankety plank

First B2B Processes More Than Two Million Complex Transactions Using MySQL Enterprise (read full release)

Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced that First B2B Ltd, a provider of business-to-business electronic trading, is now processing more than 2 million complex transactions a year with Sun’s MySQL database software.

According to the release: “With MySQL as the ‘central plank’ of its business, First B2B is able to support the trading transactions of more than 400 companies throughout the UK…” Hmm. Perhaps any of the following might have been a better [blank] for ‘central plank’: 

• ‘foundation’?
• ‘platform’?
• ‘core driver’?

 Answers on a postcard please [no cheque book and pen for the winner I’m afraid]…

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