Media: NMA argues for Users Earlier and Better

Josh Dhaliwal is executive partner at Wireless World Forum. His piece "Pulling users further up the value chain" comes from ther perspective of user take-up of mobile services such as MMS, mobile Java and the next generation of mobile internet.

'Being referred to as the end user or the end consumer implies that these users have no place in the development process except at the very end when the product is presented to them. The consumer is represented at the pinnacle of the pyramid as being the sole responsibility of the party taking the finished product to market. In mobile services this role is often identified as the operator's because they own the billing relationship with the consumer. Unfortunately, this means that the penultimate element is often left with a product unrepresentative of consumer needs,' he says. Hallelujah...

He advocates redefining the model as the value network, requiring greater emphasis on the ongoing needs of the consumer and how mobile technology can be used to satisfy them.

Associated Link: NMA: Pulling users further up the value chain

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