SpectatorBytes

The Mobile Web has arrived and will become a platform as powerful as the PC Web. Recently, I asked a friend what he thought about the iPhone relative to a traditional Blackberry. His response put it sucintly “the iPhone is a Mac, the Blackberry  is a phone.” Peter Burrows from Business Week described it as: “The company [Apple] has grabbed an early lead in turning the mobile phone into a high-powered computing device capable of running all kinds of applications.”

The iPhone/iTouch (and other similar devices like the BBerry Storm) provide a new computer experience which offers a new framework for consuming content and being entertained. This device has the capability to compete with TV, radio, PC and gaming consoles for consumer’s time.

We are in the early stages of this new disruptive force. According to ABI Research, Apple has reached only 1.1% of the global mobile market in 2008. This is an impressive feat given that the product was launch in the US in June 2007. This is over 10 million units. In addition, Apple shipped 22.7 million iPod units in the quarter, a 3% growth year-over-year. Most analyst believe that most of those sales came from the iPod Touch. Other hardware manufacturers such as Palm and Blackberry are quickly following Apple’s lead. In the North America, Smartphones are expected to accountfor 42% of the market by 2011.

Innovative Web players recognized the trend and have quickly moved to take advantage of this new platform like Facebook, Pandora, Truveo, Google, YouTube, etc. In addition, independent developers have developed 10,000 applications.

In light of this, media players may want to start building the capabilities needed to quickly take advantage of this new platform. They should not let (once again) other players create the majority of the value in this new platform. It is surprising not to be able to find video experiences by the major media players. They can easily provide a robust and “branded” video experience that streams the same content as they have available on the Web. People are likely to donwnload applications from their favorite TV networks. Since they may have to work out some rights issues, I would start with programming which does not have such issues.

Similarly, the radio groups can work to develop experiences that showcase their content. CBS has taken the lead via their relationship with AOL. Other radio networks would benefit from following suit. Magazine publishers can also easily work to develop multimedia experiences that engage their audiences on a daily basis.

Due to the application framework, the mobile internet is likely to become a much more personalized experience than the computer. Applications enable developers to create time-efficient experiences and allow users to select specific forms of content and entertainment. The Weather Channel application is a good example of what the application framework can do for media brands. It would be great to have similar applications from my favorite TV networks and magazine publications.

While the numbers suggest we are in the early days of a new era, the future offers significant potential, and media players would benefit from taking the lead rather than be followers.

Like in the Web, capturing scale will be challenging as competition will be intense.

Has your experience with the new smartphones been as game-changing?