With CTIA Wireless 2008 offering a predominantly consumer slant, one analyst will approach the show with a handful of issues in mind and filter accordingly.
Euro-competition for American enterprise customers, open access, an enterprise pitch for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, fixed-mobile convergence and the recent carrier flocking to $99 service plans all continue to beg for further information and analysis – an analyst’s raison d’etre.
For instance, European-based global carriers are beginning to court U.S.-based multinational enterprises for the latter’s global mobile business, according to Kitty Weldon, analyst at Current Analysis. BT Global Services, an arm of BT Americas, and Orange Business Services, the offspring of France Telecom, both have offices in the United States.
“They’ve decided that the U.S. is ripe for enterprise offerings,” Weldon said. “Any company with a global presence is fair game for a global carrier.”
Meanwhile, U.S. carriers are stepping up their game in enterprise offerings to largely domestic businesses here.
“AT&T, for instance, is getting its wireline/wireless act together and their message is that enterprise mobility is a growth market,” said Weldon. “Its Business Markets Group has roots in the former Cingular Wireless’ B-to-B group. AT&T is pursuing large enterprise accounts and offering wireline/wireless bundles. Basically, it’s now treating wireless as a peer technology to wireline.”
At CTIA, AT&T Mobility will be discussing the BYOD – bring your own devices – option for businesses as well as consumers. Ultimately, though the open-access issue requires clarity; open networks may enable new devices and applications to emerge, attracting customers from vertical business niches and enabling new form factors such as UMPCs, Weldon said. But service plans and pricing in this new paradigm have yet to emerge, she said.
Open-access concerns
Sprint Nextel Corp. executives undoubtedly will be talking about its Xohm-branded WiMAX network and Verizon Wireless is expected to talk more about its open- access plans after a recent analyst day on the subject.
The promise of technology advancements or paradigm shifts such as open access in the U.S., when still vaguely defined, can be troubling, the analyst said.
“It worries me,” Weldon said. “It’s hard enough to do device management with the current plethora of devices. A greater choice could plague I.T. managers tasked with management and security, though it could be a boon to device management companies. But outsourced device management could raise the total cost of ownership.”
“Because the open-access concept has been explored primarily from the consumer side, it remains unclear how it will affect mobile adoption by businesses,” she said.
Unlimited options
The recent shift by many carriers to a $99 unlimited voice/data plans could make a difference in the SMB space, whereas enterprises usually “pool” minutes for common use.
“To make wireless a peer technology for all business, a data price break was due,” Weldon said. “For a variety of reasons, pricing for data is coming down and that’s important for further adoption.”
In the fixed-mobile convergence space, which is in a “land grab” phase, Weldon said she perceived tension between carriers and FMC platform vendors as they sort out their own – and each other’s – place in the market.
“I can’t figure out if they’re ‘turfing’ each other out, or whether they can work together,” the analyst said. “It’s an interesting space because everyday there’s a new company entering. My problem with FMC is that I still don’t know what the short-term opportunity is – it used to be cost savings.”
The wildcard
Finally, the iPhone for enterprise remains a blank canvas. Apple hasn’t been clear enough on how far its enterprise offering will go, according to the analyst. And how long will it take for enterprise-grade business applications to appear after the release of the SDK earlier this month?
“The iPhone is not a ‘BlackBerry killer,'” Weldon said, restraining a chuckle over the new phrase-du-jour. “And what Apple has offered so far to make the device useful to enterprise ain’t no BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server).”
