ICE 08 - Canadian carriers, The limiting factor
After attending ICE08 (Interactive Content Exchange) conference in Toronto, it has become clear that the majority of people in the New Media industry feel that Canada seriously lags behind the rest of the commercialised world. It ultimately comes down to the fact that the Canadian carriers are not “open” to the idea of innovation. We have seen this before in the UK and the USA. Carriers are hanging on to their their classical revenue streams for as long as they can. If they are generating revenue, why quit? In my opinion, carriers (especially Canadian carriers) need to re-evaluate their business models, and accept the fact that consumers are opening their eyes to what “could” be possible on their mobiles, but are too scared to experiment.
Listening to some of the speakers and the panel sessions, some of the questions that were answered didn’t seem to make sense in terms of the conferences objectives. One of the questions posed to the panel of “Moving Experience: Innovation in Wireless” was asking if the carriers are to blame for the stifled innovation that Canada is seeing in the wireless sector. The panel responded with the fact that Canadian content businesses should not let the limiting factors by the carrier effect their business, and to take the business overseas. In my opinion, where does this leave the consumers, they want to be able to access the innovative products that “should” be available to them. This also is taking away the potential custom inside the country that the conference was attempting to promote.
To pinpoint the exact issue that wireless developers face, was also a matter of opinion from the panelists and delegates. But the majority came down the fact that data rates are either extortionately priced or have anti competitive and anti innovational terms associated with them.
One point to note,we (in Canada) have not yet seen transcoding solutions in place at carrier level. I am hoping that they will hold off until a solution has been developed that handles the mobile industry fully.
More to come on ICE08
Leave a Reply