Two slides from Mary Meeker’s presentation at Web 2.0 this week really caught my attention.
Compare the proportions that “users pay” for desktop Internet services vs. mobile Internet services (the area inside the red lines — click on the graphics to see larger versions).
What do these slides tell us?
Users are accustomed to paying for about 30% of desktop Internet services, yet are accustomed to paying for about 75% of mobile Internet services!
To me, this suggests a huge retail market opportunity for eHealth and remote monitoring services delivered through mobile apps!
Hi Vince,
An excellent presentation that confirms that the mobile web has at last arrived in America! Yipee!
Whilst being careful not to underestimate the advantage of the mobile internet having an inbuilt means of payment, I still wouldn’t get too excited by these numbers as an indication of what will happen next.
First of all (and very importantly) there is some debate as to whether it is technically correct to include “SMS” within “Mobile Internet Revenues”. This profitable segment is undergoing rapid change as operators strive to keep customers through inclusive text bundles.
Likewise increased use of the mobile internet (by 3G Smartphones and 3G Laptop Dongles) will have similar effects on profits due to unlimited data plans.
Roaming profits are also included in the slides you have included and these are also set to dramatically drop as operators try harder to attract and keep hold of high value customers.
The turf wars that are being waged between the emerging mobile payment companies (eg Apple Appstore, PayPal, Amazon and Google Checkout) may also give customers cheaper and more convenient alternative means of making a payment.
If you asked me I’d estimate how dramatic these revenue falls will be I’d say they’ll be as rapid as the fall Mary Meeker observed in operator portal share of mobile web during 2007 (slide 46).
David, your pushback and questions are valid. We’ll see.
I think value of Meeker’s info is to illustrate differing CULTURAL expectations about paying for wireless. Degree of opportunity difficult to predict in health care.
Vince