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Mobile Enterprise VoIP: Has its time finally come? Maybe, maybe not
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Mobile VoIP in Europe just can't get any respect..at least not at the moment. While mobile enterprise is seeing a boom--to the tune of increased spending in the 21 percent range year over year--it hasn't yet filtered down to VoIP, says Forrester Research analyst Phil Sayer. "I don't think enterprise mobile VoIP is going anywhere at the moment."
While VoIP is elbowing its way into enterprise as legacy systems grow old and die, it's struggling, despite being pushed along by start-ups and the odd telcos. At the moment, it's a matter of economics--and a perceived lack of user friendliness. Mobile operators aren't putting packages of VoIP minutes together, Sayer says, "they're positively trying to make it go away. So there is no immediate benefit for the business user or purchasing folks to adopt it." Because VoIP generally needs a smartphone, the market is further restricted.
But mobile enterprise VoIP has potential, lots of it, especially as employees become less tied to their offices. VoIP operator Truphone--which recently hooked up with conference-calling specialist Iotum--says more than half of its subscribers in 149 countries use VoIP for enterprise.
Says Forrester's Sayer about the potential for growth: "Sooner or later the dam will burst."
For more:
- See the complete article in the Financial Times
Related articles:
Vodafone gets behind VoIP Report
T-Mobile CEO says wVoIP won't connect Report
More stories about Reports Legacy T-Mobile Vodafone Mobile Operators VoIP Service Provider Enterprise VoIP wVoIP (wireless VoIP)
Comments
Posted by Jan Christian Berger | March 25, 2008 - 6:53am
Dear Editor,
Is mobile VoIP really spreading slowly?
According to a Financial Times article on March 19th 2008, written by Ingrid Lunden, Mobile VoIP
is spreading slowly when compared to Skype or Blackberry. Skype was launched in 2002 and gained critical mass in 2006. While few can argue that Skype was not a huge success, it did take time.
This will be the year for VoIP.
In Q1 2006, Nokia launched three new phones, E60, E61 and E70. These dual radio phones, that can access Wi-Fi and GSM networks, were the first mainstream phones from any of the top five mobile phone manufacturers to offer a built in VoIP capability. The problem at that time was on each occasion that you entered a new Wi-Fi zone; the account settings for VoIP had to be manually re-entered. Today mobile users have adopted mobile data, as it now comes preinstalled on most devices or is automatically set-up for the users when a SIM card is entered into the phone. MMS was considered a flop until 2007.
WAP failed, MMS took time – VoIP will destroy them.
Mobile operators complicate things. They maintain artificially high prices while trying to make the public believe it is worth the cost! So far this has only worked for voice and SMS. Why? Because it is a "must" have, not a “nice to have”. In comparison, Vodafone Live, a dismal failure in terms of RoI, is not a "must" have.
Blackberry was an extension of Email - it simply combined the ability to make calls from a device and offered the first true pushmail to mobile devices. While it had a very rapid growth in the US, it didn't really explode in Europe before 2003.
With the introduction of Vyke's latest mobile VoIP client, Nokia phones, using mobile VoIP has never been easier. People can now download Vyke directly from Nokia's Download button!
Are mobile operators fast becoming dinosaurs?
The arrival of lower cost phones, easy to use services and price-points mobile operators will never be able to hit – they may slowly become extinct. If using Mobile VoIP now is as easy as making a regular call, but at a fraction of the mobile operators cost, then 2008 and 2009 could be the year in which mobile VoIP takes-off.
Regards,
Jan Christian Berger
CMO
Martin Linges vei 25
N-1367 Snarøya
Norway
www.vykecorporate.com
Tel: +47 67 82 73 60
Tel dir: +47 67 82 73 66
Mob: +47 99 58 54 62
Fax: +47 67 82 73 61
jan.berger@vyke.com
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