Those of you that have read my previous blog entries know that I have a pragmatic view on network operators. They currently have (too great) an influence on the success of mobile projects and it’s currently best to work with them rather than against them when trying to market mobile applications.

This week I came across yet another example of network operators’ grip on the industry. I read on the Symbian newsgroups that the main reason for the new Symbian 9 platform security is to pacify network operators who have said they will be more interested in having Symbian phones on their networks if 3rd party applications can be made more secure. It remains to be seen if the new measures may have gone too far and developers will be put off by the extra hoops they have to jump through.

Even Microsoft isn’t immune. Network operators asked Microsoft to change the Smartphone key lock to match Nokia devices. Likewise, the application list has to be changed from a list to large icons. Microsoft has also strengthened platform security beyond that which was previously available on Microsoft Smartphone devices.

However, according to Informa, things are about to change. Network operators’ closed and prescriptive approach to working with third parties isn’t working…

"Another sector where mobile operators have experienced mounting frustration during the past year is their inability to derive meaningful revenue streams from mobile content services. Many are now starting to come to the view that off-portal strategies, where revenues are derived principally from traffic and billing services, may be a more lucrative approach. "

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 24th, 2005 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Mobile, Network Operators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.