O2 has announced that it will begin offering i-mode services from Saturday
1st October. The service has been branded "the internet at the touch of a
button" and will allow users to access news, sport and magazine content from the
likes of CNN, Sky Sports and Heat; buy flowers from Interflora; book
restaurants, as well as browsing holidays on lastminute.com; playing games and
watching TV clips from GMTV.
O2 has also declared it will only take a 14% profit margin on these services, as
opposed to the current 40-50% rate by other operators. However, if i-mode is to
be the huge success it was in Japan - persuading customers to do more than talk
- operators need to address issues related to delivering content to users. The
danger is that mobile operators will become victims of their own success.
Whether it be pre-pay or post pay, they run the risk of limiting consumer choice
and losing telephony margins to the new services provided through i-mode, such
as mobile TV or online purchases from the likes of Amazon.com.
Clearly, operators must provide a new and alternative payment method that
elimates the ambiguity in payment for these kind of services, which will
encourage more content providers forward. The payment solution needs to provide
greater transparency for the end user and allow them to be charged directly for
content rather than as an addition to the monthly phone bill. In doing so,
operators will be able to make greater use of their existing phone services and
the new services i-mode brings.
