In Search of the Killer Wireless App
The good news is that we already have a killer app for wireless networks. The bad news is that it's voice, which is sold in huge bucket plans and is a commodity. Beyond voice analysts see three potential applications that will drive data adoption and revenues, picture messaging, games, and corporate access. The last one is a no brainer, once coverage meets expectations and carriers offer integrated roaming between cellular and WLAN networks, wireless network access will become the norm for business users. Picture messaging and gaming are more cost sensitive given their consumer nature, so carriers could easily blow these opps by over pricing the service and not offering them to prepaid customers. So much of what carriers can offer are dictated by their billing systems and they seem pretty far behind in flexible support for data services.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
