iPhone has shown the way: Yahoo’s Steve Boom
Posted on November 19, 2007
Filed Under Mobile Applications |
Your mobile network offers you internet access, and your handset enables you to connect. Why are you still a reluctant user? Too complex to use and you don’t know how much it will cost?
If these are the reasons, join the over three billion mobile users globally who feel similarly – the ones who don’t have an iPhone on the AT&T network in the USA. These players have shown the way to success in the Mobile 2.0 world feels Steve Boom, Yahoo’s Senior Vice President for broadband and mobile, who I interacted with in Macau at the GSMA’s Mobile Asia Congress.
Steve made some thought provoking remarks on how use of net on mobiles can go up, benefiting operators, application providers like Yahoo and consumers. His take: For the last nine years, he has been feeling the mobile internet boom is always two years away. And the reason for these unkept promises? We have not been able to develop a holistic user model which takes care of the following:
*Ease of use: Accessing the net and mail on mobiles is still too complex in most cases; if 30 percent of iPhone users access mail on their handsets, it is only because of ease of use. This is the mindset with which we developed Yahoo Go (with its carousel design) and Yahoo One Search (which brings the relevant content forward quickly without the need to navigate too many pages) that have got us phenomenal reviews.
*Discoverability: If my wife does not realise you can access our search applications on phones other than the iPhone (yes, this was true until recently), there is a serious problem here. Users have to be able to access what they need in one or two clicks or we will lose them. Softbank Mobile in Japan has a Yahoo button on its handsets giving a single click access contributing in a large part to the high access rates.
*Pricing Transparency: Most operators bill users on amount of data downloaded, putting off consumers who are not sure how much they will get billed. iPhone and AT&T offered a $20 flat package for unlimited download – taking mobile net penetration up by over 50-60%. Interestingly, AT&T has been offering similar packages for non-iPhone models too – but most users have not realised it and thus not signed on.
Steve’s closing words: As the mobile net takes off, revenues for all stakeholders will rise. It is standing in front of us, ready to boom (no pun intended Steve), but no one can do it alone – partnerships will drive it all forward.
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