From Down Under: mobile phones becoming indispensable

Just as I get depressed about the seeming lack of stellar exits in the mobile space, I run into this survey, for some temporary cheers:

-More than 90 per cent say their lives could not "proceed as normal" if they were suddenly without one.

-The typical mobile phone user makes calls "relatively infrequently", and 28 per cent make less than one call per day.

-Workers with mobile phones say the device increases their workload and also boosts their productivity.

-Among 14-17 year-olds, only 12 per cent do not regularly use a mobile phone while of those aged 18-39, 94 per cent are regular users.

-Most calls are made between partners, with women also more likely to call their children, parents and extended family. Men are more likely to make work-related calls.

-Ten per cent of mobile phone users said they don't switch off in cinemas, and half don't in restaurants.

Yep, the social impact is huge. But does that translate to profits?

How much longer are we going to sing the same old story:

• Huge opportunity as we connect the next billion (Ex: Handset penetration rate in India - about 15%). Anyone know how forthcoming the next billion are to pay for mobile applications/services? ;-)
  
• Voice revenues are going down. Data revenues are going up. 3G deployments and usage is on the uptake. But... what's the killer app that will fill the pipe?
  
• Users are getting younger, which means its time to beat the social networking/user generated content drum... what invariably follows this line of thinking is the fact there are many social networks and hence the proverbial long tail.
  

Its a fragmented world indeed - carriers, consumer types and preferences, handset types (screen sizes, input methods, software platforms) etc. The big players with deep pockets and scale economies are critical to this space, although the walled garden approach they have adopted thus far stifles innovation and hurts the end-consumer.

Frontline Wireless and some celebrated VCs are trying the revolutionary approach - building out an open network. (A recent Red Herring article on that topic.)

In the meantime it remains to be seen how mobile applications can be used to monetize the billions who are addicted to the lifestyle impact of the mobile device.