"More than one third of mobile owners are not using data services due to a combination of product complexity and perceived high cost…The good news is that if these problems are addressed, 70 per cent of users said they would use apps such as news, weather and sports scores at least two-to-five times a week, with subscription the preferred method of payment.”
The survey found that off-portal delivery mechanisms were the most popular (despite carrier assurance the walled gardens are there to ‘protect’ their customers) and that “that 85 per cent of respondents wanted more personalisation from the apps they used and that 76 per cent would tolerate no more than two trips to the network while using an app
If an app is good, no matter whatever the mechanisms, it will spread. Walled gardens generally don't solve any problem.
Problems are two fold:
- GPRS Cost
- Terminology/Problems in getting GPRS enabled.
Network costs on mobile phones are still high for common users. GSM providers in India, charge around Rs 500/month for unlimited GPRS access (Airtel, Idea). The WAP access is much cheaper(Rs 100/month) but at most times its of no use, for instance Airtel WAP access doesn't allow access to any WAP site except their own portal although Hutch and Idea do allow general WAP access. Most network applications on mobile phones require an Internet APN and WAP APN just doesn't work.
Its hard for a normal user to understand the difference between WAP and Internet for mobiles. And add to the woes, the way customer care informs people. And then getting your service GPRS enabled at times can take 4-5 days.
If configuring SMS on mobiles had been that tough, SMS alone wouldn't be a billion dollar industry. Data access has to get cheaper, its the services that will be the revenue earner. Just Wait and Watch!
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