Viva La Revolution! Time to Embrace the Mobile Application Revolution

We were meeting with an industry analyst recently speaking about off-deck content trends, how content providers can best play in the space, and where Cascada Mobile fits into that equation. During the conversation an interesting side conversation developed on carriers and the evolution (or de-evolution) of their business models to adapt to consumer’s demands for better and more openly available mobile content.

The next few years will be interesting for carriers with the market becoming saturated, consumers expecting more and more from their mobile phones, and the increasing pressure to open up even more (or open up at all). With mobile content increasingly becoming more and more desirable to consumers, the carriers are challenged to stay relevant as mobile content providers.

As is stands now, carriers closely guard their customer’s information with vigor and offer customers “walled garden” environments and closed pipe content. And let’s be honest, some of that content is not-so compelling. Not to mention from the customer perspective, the grass is always greener on the other side of that walled garden. As consumers are drawn to mobile content off their carrier’s deck, many find that they can’t have it due to a closed carrier approach. They may just revolt, and at the very least complain. Regardless of whether they purposely open up now or not, carriers risk the chance of watching from the sidelines as their customers go elsewhere for content, such as applications.

The proverbial dam, so to speak, has been breached. Whether carriers like it or not, users are demanding and downloading applications. Will carriers step up and join in? And will people start switching to carriers that are more open, or has this already started to happen?