Benjamin Kowarsch wrote:
>Exactly. But AOL is more akin to the telephony portal which hasn't emerged
>yet - the mobile phone companies are predominantly connection providers and
>it is by no means clear that they will be the big players in a portal
>market.
>
>Portals that are independent of the last mile (wired or wireless) have the
>distinct advantage that they can provide the same service to you no matter
>what last mile you use.
Actually, I don't see much of a market for independent portals in the long
run . Reason? They will all fold because they can't make money. Don't get me
wrong, I think it would be great if the more customer focused and Internet
savvy players can challenge the operators, but I just don't see it happen.
The operators billing relationship is just too strong, and let's face it,
without billing relationship, no mirobilling capabilities, no m-commerce or
content revenues. Bye, bye. Same dilemma as i-mode's unofficial content
providers.
Today, the more ambitious portals (say Genie outside UK) rely on some petty
cash their 'partner operators' (mainly 2 tier ones that BT used to own a
stake in) sticks to them when they can show they have had some good hit
rates recently. The operators in these cases will always favour their own
portals.
Independent portals today do not have a sustainable business model, it's
really that simple. And don't bring up advertising revenues here, because
that's just not on.
And now, anyone who disagrees, please raise your hand...
Cheers,
Daniel Helmer
KPMG Consulting
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Received on Wed Aug 15 10:31:14 2001