Mobile Content: An International Comparison of Multimedia Features and Innovation Trends

Revision with unchanged content. The acceleration of technological developments in wireless networks up to 3G and beyond, as well as in the production of multi-purpose handsets has given rise to a large variety of content offerings. As a consequence, content pro­viders deployed continuous efforts to enhance their services by multi-media fea­tures, m-Commerce and wireless Web related applications. In order to con­solidate indications resulting from theoretical research, a survey has been con­ducted in view of assessing future development prospects in the area of con­tent services. The relevant impact on content providers has been defined in terms of competition, challenges, threats and opportunities. Under this latter aspect, it seems to be established that the ¿digital divide¿ is shrinking, at least in the field of mobile communications. In an outlook, patent-based in­novation trends in tele-communications are outlined, as well as tech­no­lo­gical developments expected in mobile network configurations and handset spe­cifications as related to specific forms of content. The economic prospects for the mobile ¿players¿, namely content providers, seem to be more in­te­resting in certain areas than in others, the consumer demand being largely driven by ¿technology readiness¿ which could lead to impressive shifts within the global market.