SUPPORTING ARTICLES
Wireless Social Networking To Transform Tech, Media, Telecom
Joe Marchese, Online Spin, MediaPost Publications. Tuesday, July 15, 2008
K.C. Jones, Information Week. July 16, 2008.
Researchers say companies must shift strategies to remain relevant as worldwide adoption of mobile Internet devices escalates.
Virtually every advertiser is asking for it. They have all heard about examples of YouTube videos going "viral" and reaching millions of people practically overnight. They have read the stats that say modern consumers' top trusted source for information is "people like them," that they don't trust advertising, and that virtually everyone does research online before making purchases, even if they make the purchase offline. So advertisers have quickly jumped on the bandwagon of "social media marketing." But doing social media marketing usually takes the form of brand pages on MySpace, Facebook fan pages, or YouTube channels of brand videos.
Technology, media, and telecommunications are poised for a significant transformation over the next 10 years because of a wireless social networking revolution, according to iSuppli.
Recent research from iSuppli indicates that companies within those industries must shift their strategies if they want to maintain relevance. Since technology, media, and telecommunications represent 5% of global gross domestic product and drive significant growth, the industries' impact extends well beyond their $3 trillion global value chain, iSuppli said.
Widespread adoption of mobile Internet devices like the iPhone will drive a new generation of wireless social networking businesses and business models beginning in 2009, iSuppli said. By 2020, nearly 7 billion wireless accounts will exist, with many people holding two or more accounts, and wireless devices will facilitate primary communication, service, and content delivery for most users, according to the research paper "Social Networking Wireless Social Networking Revolution Set to Reshape Global Tech Industry."
Basic packages for social networking services, worldwide, will average about $15.30 per month and they will become "must-have" applications. Competition over who controls content and service distribution will create challenges for wireless service providers in about five years.
Derek Lidow, president and CEO of iSuppli, said in an announcement that the changes would affect growth rates and profitability.
"We feel it is critical for our clients to understand these shifts and make immediate adjustments to strategy in order to capture the new value created and to minimize the impact of where value will be destroyed or shifted to other parts of the value chain," he said.
