Primary Business Areas of the Mobile Landscape

Mobile companies operate in several main business areas. A number of the leading mobile companies (e.g., Nokia) compete in more than one. The areas are:

• Network Infrastructure - companies providing the hardware, fiber networks, wireless communications towers, and satellite networks to enable the convergence of telecommunications and IP networks. The area is focused on replacing hardware-based switching and proprietary service platforms with open network protocols, next-generation mobile switching centers, and high-capacity base stations. The typical business model is based on hardware sales or leasing to telecom companies. Examples include American Tower, Ericsson, Motorola, and Alcatel.
• Access - companies selling dial-up and/or dedicated network connections to provide mobile access to web-based services. The typical business model is based on monthly fees, which are determined by the speed of the connection and/or the volume of data flowing through it. Examples include Palm.Net, GoAmerica, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular.
• Content - companies providing virtually everything you see when you go online. These firms include both "portals and syndicators," which organize, aggregate, and provide access to content created by other companies, and "destinations," which create specialized content - for example, news and sports. The typical content business model is based on advertising and subscription fees. Examples include Yahoo!, Infospace, and i3 Mobile.
• Commerce - companies selling merchandise or information, or facilitating the matching of buyers and sellers. The typical business model resembles that of a retailer or auctioneer, although as the industry develops it will likely begin to encompass advertising as well. Commerce companies operate in three arenas: 1) consumer to consumer (C2C), 2) business to consumer (B2C), and 3) business to business (B2B). Examples include eBay, Amazon.com, and Grainger, respectively.
• Software - companies selling software to facilitate inter- or intra-enterprise communication and commerce. The software area includes operating systems, security, and applications software customized for the wireless world. The typical business model centers on software license fees, software maintenance fees, consulting services, and, increasingly, software hosting and operation services. Examples include Qualcomm, Microsoft, and TIBCO.
• Hardware - companies selling hardware like handheld PCs or networking equipment to facilitate mobile applications. This also includes some complementary markets, namely PCs, servers, semiconductors, and telecommunications service and equipment, which will benefit indirectly a hardware company's success. This business model is based on selling hardware directly to users or network operators. Examples include Handspring, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Sun Microsystems.
• Applications - companies providing a wide variety of services necessary in the online ecosystem, including hosting, application rental, transaction processing, information databases, consulting, design, and implementation. It should be noted that mobile commerce may require significantly different approaches in design, development, and implementation of applications due to the inherent characteristics of wireless networks and mobile devices. The typical business model is based on software license, "per-click" transactions, time and materials, or subscription fees. Examples include Aether, Air2Web, and Mobilocity.

Each of these segments interrelates and contains numerous subsections. For example, software for the mobile Internet can be further broken down into operating system software, security, compression, application software, and network management. Combining elements from each of the areas gives rise to solutions, which is how many companies operating in the mobile landscape define their services or products.

The potential market for mobility solutions is enormous and still growing. While a number of the businesses operating in these areas will be new, others will have their origins in more than a decade of enterprise-level IT expenditures and more recent Internet technology investments.