ABSTRACT
Products are always gonna be obsolete, so you had better enjoy doing the next version.
—Bill Gates
The phone network in the past was described as the world’s largest “machine.” This continues to be true today, albeit for the global mobile network. The mobile phone industry is one of the most dynamic sectors in the domain of technology and is constantly driven by demands that are in stark contrast to one another. On one hand there is a demand for premium features and pricing, while on the other there is a race to provide the most basic functionalities at price levels that can only be called abysmal. Over recent periods the industry has averaged the launch of more than one mobile phone a week, albeit the launches have happened in clusters around important events. This is not surprising because there are too many variants to play with, both external and internal. The increasing availability of multimedia services on the cellular networks has served only to accelerate the trend. The operators
have realized that it is not the voice services alone that are important, but that data and messaging services and innovative uses of multimedia will be the prime sources of higher usage and revenue on the networks. It is no different from the use of SMS and ring tone and game downloads in the past, which have shown surprisingly buoyant revenues, or the introduction of camera phones, leading to manifold rises in multimedia messaging. The operators are also aware that there is no limitation on the types of services that can be delivered, with the availability of powerful software tools such as Flash, Java, and games and animation software, except their own imaginations and the availability of devices through which the services can be used intuitively and with ease. It is no surprise therefore that the operators and the handset manufacturers should venture to bring forth phones with new innovative features that support the use of multimedia services and lead to higher revenues.
