The prevalence of Google and Yahoo usage by mobile users has cellular operators upset about search engines.
Keeping customers inside the walled garden of mobile networks means more revenue and more opportunities to display ads to users. When those users go the search route first, that lets them bypass all the marketing chances the mobile providers want to present, VNUnet reports from the CTIA Show.
The report includes some choice quotes, which the reader should read while imagining the sound of a complaining baby crying somewhere:
“Carriers hate accurate search,” said J H Kah, global vice president at South Korea Telecom. “Then you just end up at the content.”
…They have been reduced to a provider of network connections. “We are keen to avoid being reduced to a dump pipe,” explained Matt Dacey, head of content for O2.
The reason for such whining comes from the way mobile providers license search for their networks. By going through their preferred search portal, the carrier gets revenue from the sponsor. Results delivered from it give the carrier chances to push premium content offers at users.
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo has functioned for quite some time in a profitable way by essentially being a provider of network connections. Other providers should probably get ready to accept that as their role. Google has already supplanted T-Mobile’s default search in Germany and Austria, the article states.
The future looks even grimmer for traditional cellular providers. VoIP has been growing in acceptance. With a substantial network in place and the right wireless technology, a motivated company could deliver a low-cost voice service along with all the other content available via an Internet connection.
Cellular providers may end up wishing they could be network connection providers if that happens.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
