Imagine, the internet and all the available browsers and devices used to access it were owned or licensed by a few selected carriers, and that the protocol making the communication between devices possible wasn't an open standard like HTTP but a proprietary protocol constrained to a network operator... difficult to imagine, right? Welcome to the here-and-now of traditional telephony! The internet as we know it and as we have come to appreciate it with decentralized access and data that flows freely, would have been impossible... and, oh boy, affiliate marketing?? Entirely unheard of!Yet, to be fair to the network operators, they have spent billions of dollars in building these broadband wireless networks and are naturally trying to recover the costs. Unfortunately, centralized communication prevents access to the kind of user data that the affiliate sales model depends on. Only the networks' cash-rich advertising partners will have access to the end-users.
A reality that is hardly desirable. Still, the consensus among the masses about a more desirable alternative needs to build up momentum before it can overcome the powerful grip of elite stake-holders like the network carriers, the "walled gardens" if you like.
User information in traditional telecommunication is closely guarded and widely unavailable to third parties - for legal reasons, but also because powerful business imperatives prevent the networks from sharing client data.
You may argue that on the internet, too, user data is not legitimately available to marketers (unless a client opts in to share certain data). But the big difference here is that on the internet, usage data IS available, and that by and large involves browser cookies and referrer tracking - the basic metrics of online affiliate marketing.
In traditional telephony, even an unobtrusive and anonymous tracking device (similar, say, to a browser cookie) is not an option.
Luckily, technologies and consumer trends are starting to emerge that may change all of this!
Networks run by selected carriers will eventually give way to distributed ad-hoc networks where computers and mobile devices can operate independently from the traditional carriers, using freely available softwares.
New VoIP technologies and business models are gaining ground. Mobile VoIP will become an important service as manufacturers begin to integrate more powerful processors and memory in their devices.
During last year's O'Reilly conference on Emerging Telephony an interesting discussion took place about the prospects of open standards for mobile communication. Mike Liebhold, a senior researcher from The Institute for the Future talked about the "Myths and Promises of an Open Mobile Web" - where a mesh of decentralized ad-hoc networks would finally bypass the traditional network operators.
Several business models for decentralized telephony networks have emerged in the past years; and although initial plans by Google and EarthLink to offer free Wi-Fi's access for entire cities like San Francisco have failed Mike Liebhold re-affirmed that the future of decentralized telephony looks bright. Eventually, we will be glad that billions were spent on the existing networks, and carriers will eventually be forced to open up the market as decentralized communication capabilities gain ground.
Mobile devices will soon feature software that isn't constrained by a networks' radio protocol. This involves switching capabilities to talk across multiple networks, as demonstrated by WiChorus' recent WiMAX release, which is based on open standards.
Another very important trend is the convergence of computers and mobile phones. Already, in developing countries like India, the adoption of mobile phones is growing at six times the rate of laptop computers. This disproportionate trend is rapidly moving towards the mobile phone becoming a universal device.
There are several factors that will speed up the opening of the market in our parts of the world. One factor is the necessity by the operators to offer clients "enhanced services". In order to recoup the costs of building the networks and to retain their customer base, they need to cater for popular demand. Currently, most of the development of those services is done internally, and the operators are limited by the creativity and capabilities of their own people.
Phone companies are not known to be the most creative bunch. Coming up with new and innovative services to go along with their expensive networks has proven to be difficult for them. To even remotely engage users, businesses and developers to the extend they participate in the internet will require the opening up of the market. It will become an inevitable issue for network operators as soon as the consumers expect to have access to individualized mobile services comparable to the internet's YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia.
It goes without saying, this development will unleash a wave of new business opportunities for entrepreneurs eager to offer online commerce, using any marketing opportunity they can access.
Photo above: The Verizon Building in NYC, as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge. Source
