Convergence of devices is not at all what the movie industry may have led you to believe; major opportunities will present themselves to the banking and financial services industries, and access costs to users will go down. This is the view of a panel of mobile technology specialists discussing the way forward at the Johannesburg chapter of First Tuesday.
Held last night, the First Tuesday panel played host to Michael Renzon, executive director of Intelleca Holdings and MD of Intelleca Vocalis; Craig Saks, head of product development at Fundamo; and Justin Colyn, sales director at UUNet SA.
Renzon believes that the much-publicised Hollywood view of the ultimate convergence device- a uniform, universal device featuring every bell and whistle known to mankind - will in all likelihood not emerge.
Cellphones are hot
Saks believes cellphones have a great deal of potential for both the formal banking sector as well as the populous unbanked sector in SA, as each handset is in fact a secure personal device. Each has a unique SIM card, which in fact is a smart card, and a unique user identity associated with it.
Despite the opportunity for product innovation and market growth, Saks believes the mobile space is a confused one, with companies not certain of where they want to be most involved. His view of convergence is not so much device-based as it is industry-based. There will be a definite role to play for all involved - from mobile network operators, to banks, to commerce service providers and more.
According to Colyn, UUNet provides carrier services to mobile applications, and intends to take them into Africa in the near future.
When the lines between GSM and IP began blurring, UUNet took a stake in Smartcom, a member of the Smartcall group, which is the largest independent Vodacom exclusive service provider in SA. Thus began its first steps into using convergence, which according to Colyn, allows it to work towards the ultimate goal of providing access at the least possible cost.
Though he said GSM operators are still working on developing data tariffs and variable use billing solutions in anticipation of GPRS, their decisions should have the effect on driving down costs to the end-user.
Mobility business
There are four attitudes governing business` approach to the mobile space, said Saks.
There is that of the warrior mentality from businesses which see the opportunity to conquer, and the "let`s all be friends" attitude adopted by those who see the value in partnering. The latter can be risky, though, because this may lead to increased costs to the consumer.
There is the introverted, "stick to our knitting" approach, and lastly, and to his mind the most frustrating, the defensive attitude which would sooner preserve the status quo than innovate. All this is slowly changing, though, said Saks, as businesses` attitude to convergence shifts from a knee-jerk emotional reaction to decisions based on analytical evaluation of the potential value that lies in the space.
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