The mobile industry is the most prominent revolution since the PC and the global industry is expected to quadruple by 2012.
This is according to Jason Lobel, director of media accounts at Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, who delivered a keynote address at the ITWeb Digital Life Expo, in Sandton, this morning.
"One in every two people across the world has a mobile phone and in SA the penetration is way over 80%."
He said the battle for mobile real estate is becoming more prominent than ever before. Players, like the large mobile operators, are now competing with new entrants to the mobile market like Google and other smaller content providers.
"This revolution is moving into the mobile space with automated connectivity and an always-on attitude; consumers are now dictating to vendors what they want."
SA's broadband growth is expected to show more returns than fixed Internet connectivity, predicted Lobel. "By 2012, there are expected to be over a billion mobile Internet subscribers globally. This is definitely going to drive the growth of the mobile.
"The biggest part of the revolution is not the provider though, it has become the consumer."
The majority of all the content on the Internet is now user-generated and content providers have to take a back seat.
Lobel said the average consumer, by the age of 21, has already sent 250 000 e-mails and SMSes and spent roughly 10 000 hours on a mobile phone. "With consumers demanding to do what they want, when they want, with whatever device they choose, the industry is moving in the direction of convergence."
He noted that South African consumers are sophisticated in terms of the mobile industry. Facebook is the fifth most visited WAP (mobile connected) site in SA. "The mobile industry globally is taking up the challenge. Twitter is a site that is almost completely updated via mobile and SMS."
The mobile model also represents a good advertising opportunity. "Ericsson is working on its IPTV platform for mobile using IMS which will allow users to share video content across mobile networks."
The company's IPTV offering is taking off well in the US, with companies like Coca-Cola and CNN, and TV shows like Big Brother using some of the innovative ideas, he added.
"The digital life is happening and many of the things we thought were science fiction are now possible."
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