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Internet firm upbeat on mobile Internet, but analysts note there will always be a need for fixed broadband; mobile advertising potential tied to take-up.

In the next decade more people will log on to the Internet using a mobile device than on their computers, Yahoo predicted on Thursday.

Within 10 years more people will be accessing the Internet from their mobile, than in the home from a PC,” said Geraldine Wilson, vice president of connected life at Yahoo Europe.

“In emerging markets most people’s first contact with the Internet will be with a mobile phone,” she added.

Speaking at a presentation in London Thursday, Wilson conceded that the cost of using mobile data services needs to come down, that handsets need better interfaces, and network speeds need to improve to really drive uptake, but insisted that these three key issues are already being addressed.

“We have to be careful because there have been many false dawns of Internet on the mobile, but I think we will look back at 2007 as when things started to happen,” she said.

Still, Wilson’s comments should not be taken to mean that the mobile Internet will substitute fixed-line access.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if in future more people access the Internet from a mobile device, but it won’t lessen the need for fixed-line broadband,” said Jonathan Coham, an analyst at industry consultancy Ovum.

He said the choice of mobile broadband over fixed depends on the kind of Internet applications that consumers are using.

“Some applications will be more suited to the mobile, such as email, or unlimited music downloads,” said Coham.

“Bandwidth is the main benefit of fixed-line access, and there will always be services like IPTV that require high bandwidth, consistently,” he commented.

Yahoo’s Wilson also spoke of the obstacles facing Yahoo in the mobile advertising space that need to be overcome in 2008.

“It’s a huge education job to get advertisers on board, and to make them comfortable enough that they want to spend money,” she said.

Companies like Yahoo also need to keep building up more partnership agreements with operators and handset makers in order to generate the kind of scale, and as a result, reach the number of consumers that advertisers look for, she added.

Most recently, in mid-November Yahoo inked a number of deals to provide operators in Latin America and Asia with the mobile version of its search engine, oneSearch.

“Again, it depends on the mobile Internet becoming mass market,” said John Delaney, principal analyst at Ovum.

“At the moment more people are using the Internet on their PC, and for longer… which is more attractive to advertisers,” he said. But as mobile Internet uptake increases so will its value to advertisers.

Furthermore, Delaney pointed out that fixed broadband is delivered on a per-household basis, whereas mobile broadband potentially provides a direct link between the consumer and the advertiser, enabling the latter to target consumers more effectively.

Wilson said that in 2008 Yahoo is looking to further personalise users’ mobile Internet experience.

“We want to add in more local content in our mobile search listings,” she said.

Source: http://www.totaltele.com/View.aspx?ID=96801&t=2

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