| Mobile VoIP Services – Consumers Seek Usability and Real Cost Savings |
|
By Luca Filigheddu, CEO at Abbeynet (May 2008)
When people get used to something, it’s very difficult to convince them to change their habits. When something hits the market and makes people change their habits or makes them use something they never used before, we are witnessing major disruptive innovation. Otherwise, we are just in front of something that is a “normal” or “incremental” innovation (as defined in the popular book “Fast Second”).
Mobile communications is surely a disruptive innovation. People started using new devices on the go and accepted below par PSTN quality because of the major benefit they got out of it: mobility. In Europe, they also dealt with more expensive rates than PSTN, but, again, mobility was a great innovation for them, very useful and they quickly became addicted to it. All that being said, it’s very difficult for me to see another major disruption coming in the short term to impact mobile communications. I’m referring to changing the way people use their mobile phone to communicate. In a nutshell, people are used to performing two simple actions: dial a number on their mobile phone’s keypad and click the green button.
Alternatively, they look for a contact in their address book and, again, they press the green button. How can anyone be so brave as to try to convince customers that they have to change their habits and offer them a different way to do this? The promise behind mobile VoIP is surely challenging. There are many innovations and valuable services brought by different players like Rebtel, Truphone, Mobivox or Jajah, just to name a few, but I don’t believe consumers will embrace every new functionality they make available to users.
I tried most mobile VoIP services available in the market and aside from the first configuration phase I found out that I felt more comfortable by using those who brought the same user experience I have with a “normal” call from my mobile device. You would deal with a new user experience only if you could really save much more money. Not 0,002 cents less then your normal rate, but 30-40% less than the price you pay to your phone provider. I say this as an engineer, but what about “normal” people?
Normal people can deal with dialing a number, then choosing a contact in their phone address book, with their SIM card or with another SIM card. Don’t ask them to install a new application, don’t ask them to click more than 2 buttons to make a phone call, don’t ask them to do anything else - it won’t work. Even complex mobile devices like the iPhone or latest Nokia phones try to simplify things by providing a keypad and a green button (even if “virtual” on the iPhone) and it’s not just the case. Even other services provided by mobile operators are close to being a failure because they are too complex for normal users (like MMS).
Let’s face it, launching a disruptive innovation in the mobile market is not that easy and it takes time. Mobile VoIP services such as those which provide you with a service where, in order to be connected, you have to make a call, then hang up and wait for your friend to call you back to the number which appeared in their display when you called them, are going to be a failure. It’s complex and not easy to use even for geeks like us! Another example is Skype: it is a disruptive innovation for many reasons, but the main driver for them has been, is and will be the word FREE. Most Skype users use it because it can be completely free; only a small percentage use it for calling out to regular phones. So, the majority of Skype users are willing to change their habits (and use headphones on a PC) because of the main driver - free calling.
Another important point is the available connectivity for making phone calls from your portable phone. “Normal people” now know that you need to have an appropriate “signal” strength to use a mobile voice service. Most people don’t care what kind of a signal it is. It has to be seamless for them and the mobile VoIP service that people could potentially use has to be network-agnostic, by hiding the complexity associated to concepts like roaming or handover. People now are aware that quality can depend on the signal strength, but don’t try to explain to them concepts like packet loss on a WiFi connection.
The story is pretty clear here. Early adopters are willing to accept major innovations in terms of user experience and services, but not the majority of users. Companies who are going to embrace this challenge and offer a new breed of mobile VoIP services must keep in mind that they need a strong driver to be successful. This will take time, not just two or three years, and a great deal of money. At the end of the day, that’s the reason why many players in this market are offering alternatives, so it’s possible for them to cover as much market as they can, and trying not to leave anyone without the ability to use their service. Players who are offering the very complex user experience such as what I was describing in the previous paragraph (call, hang up and wait for your contact to call you back) have now added new ways to access their services more easily.
Will the just mentioned approach work? Who knows, but it’s clear that the mobile VoIP market is getting crowded and it’s far from being a bad thing for customers. Innovation, competition, wide availability of new services to try out and to get more value for less. This is what mobile customers are looking for today. Are customers willing to leave their mobile operator for a new 2.0 mobile VoIP service? They may, and to prevent that, wise players are offering more usable alternatives such as a new SIM card to save money everywhere and anytime. Will it be the next step for some mobile VoIP players as well? The recent acquisition of Sim4Travel by Truphone certainly makes me think so. Time will tell, and I plan to re-visit this topic when the picture becomes clearer.
|