A small, radioactive utopia

Mobile subscribers' perception of their mobile operators has shifted: 66 percent view them as data connectivity providers, but 20 percent view them as aggregators and providers of multimedia content and services, according to a 3-ple Media survey, writes MarketingCharts.

Moreover, 14 percent of subscribers consider mobile operators trusted guardians of personal data and information, much like a bank, and suppliers of personalized mobile multimedia services.

The study surveyed some 1,250 subscribers, mobile operators, brands, media companies and advertising agencies and Web 2.0 developers.

Among the findings:

• Most mobile consumers embrace and accept mobile multimedia services: 55 percent look forward to receiving mobile multimedia.
• By 2010, regular multimedia usage among subscribers will be at mass-market penetration levels (31-50 percent+), according to 58 percent of operators surveyed.
• More education is required, as a lack of subscriber multimedia know-how hinders the growth of the addressable market, said 85 percent of operators in the survey. Other hindrances:
  • Subscriber misperceptions of mobile multimedia costs - according to 84 percent of operators.
  • Lack of knowledge of available services, or misperceptions of the prohibitive cost of services - according to 59 percent of subscribers.
  • Estimated infrastructure cost to expand capacity to serve all multimedia subscriber levels - according to 65 percent of operators.
• Eight of ten operators agreed that becoming a mobile data connectivity provider is either quite likely or highly likely. But, overall, respondents noted that it is still unclear whether they will move beyond simple flat-rate data connectivity to become mobile multimedia service companies.

MarketingCharts has some href="http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/consumer-attitudes-toward-mobile-multimedia-shifting-so-too-operator-roles-3833/" target="_blank">more findings about operators' points of view.