Mobile content markets in Europe and North America will grow from e1.8 billion in 2003 to a potential value of e4.3 billion in 2006.

The largest growth will occur in the mobile games and downloadable music markets which collectively could see growth from e510 million in 2003 to over e1.9 billion in 2006.

The content market in Europe and North America is cranking the handle on production and development but there is no effective method to getting these products to market utilising content providers current strategies said Graham Brown author of the report Winning and Losing in Mobile Content.

The industry has yet to collectively develop a winning strategy he added saying: We identified a number of industry weaknesses that surprised us when conducting the research. The most obvious of these was investing resources in mythical killer applications and rich content without an effective distribution channel to get products to market.

Unfortunately we appear to be collectively disposed to pursue industry solutions to industry problems.

W2Forum studied companies both inside and outside the industry and concluded that the vast majority were employing ineffective distribution strategies for marketing delivery and the collection of payment for their products.

The few that employed winning distribution models were rapidly increasing their market share.

The report compares these markets with the developed markets of Asia Pacific where mobile content is already worth up to e2.65 billion and could be worth as much as e5.7 billion in 2006.

Most content providers believe they can become a small part of an increasing pie added Brown and thats their weakness.

Instead he predicted that non-mobile players and the few mobile companies that have focused intensely on core competencies distribution and operational effectiveness will dominate this market.

Nokia says consumers expect mobile internet services to be as easy to access as the internet itself and that its new WAP technology takes all of the configuration headaches and sucks them into the infrastructure away from the user.

With the new method a mobile user browses the internet on a PC and finds an e-commerce site that is mobile enabled. The user simply clicks on a designated icon on the web page and inputs their mobile phone number. Settings are automatically programmed over-the-air to their WAP-enabled phone.

This programming is expected to speed the way the subscriber can directly access this e-commerce site wirelessly without any additional input or programming to the phone.

Ease-of-use is one of the key advantages mobile phones have over PCs today particularly for buying things over the Web said Mark Bregman general manager IBMs Pervasive Computing Division.

Hewlett Packard IBM and Nocom will work to bring the new over-the-air WAP solution to market during the first half of the year.

Called talktalk the service is the result of CPWs purchase of fixed operator Opal Telecom last year. It became available throughout CPW stores from last Monday.

The service is available to users of BT residential lines. As well as saving 30 per cent on the price of calling fixed lines customers are promised up to 25 per cent off the cost of calling mobiles.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone said:

For all the talk about competition BT has around 80 per cent of all residential landline customers and a 73 per cent share of the residential voice market.

Many customers receive no discounts and those that do end up paying higher line rentals for the privilege. We think people are paying too much for telephone calls and thats why were launching talktalk.

Siemens made the same claim for its new WAP phone earlier this month (Mobile News February 7).

It uses WAP 1.1 and a microbrowser from Phone.com and comes in a range of five colours with high-gloss finish. Measuring 122 x 48 x 25mm and weighing 150g with the standard Nickel Metal Hydride battery the One Touch View db will provide up to 123 hours of standby. The super power Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) 580-mAh battery offers up to 110 hours standby.

Alcatel is working with five operators in Europe to provide terminal packages and bundles to suit the national marketplace. These bespoke packages and bundles will be commercially available during the second quarter this year.

In the last two years more cellular phones were sold than personal computers and automobiles combined. By 2003 there will be more than a billion mobile users in the world and virtually anyone will be text message enabled through SMS said Christophe Dolique executive vice president of MobileWay.

Until now it has not been easy to access this large mobile customer base for business and technical reasons.

MobileWay is partnering with wireless operators and content providers for the development of wireless services particularly tailored to the mobile subscribers day-to-day needs.

Subscribers will not receive unwanted or unwarranted data as they only sign up to the specific message service they require.

Subscribers will be able to get the services and information specifically related to their day-to-day life he said.

The survey was carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres between 26 and 30 November from a sample size of 1011 adults.

The challenge facing the mobile phone industry is to help educate all consumers that these services will become possible. Whether it is via the internet or other means consumers are sending a clear message that they are interested in new features and benefits not in the technology or medium which delivers them. And with mobile phone purchasing on the up and 15 per cent of people using their mobiles more than their home phones this is a challenge that needs to be met now says Philips.

Philips asked customers across all regions of the UK their opinions on current issues and developments for mobile phones and what their expectations and needs are for future.The survey covered everything from serious to anecdotal issues from why people buy a mobile phone to the most embarrassing place they have used it. The results have been analysed independently both demographically and geographically.

The most important qualities in a phone remain quality of reception and price. These were vital to nearly 40 per cent of the people surveyed. Almost half of all phones (44 per cent) are purchased for safety or use in an emergency situation like breaking down.

Females are not surprisingly. more likely to buy for security (61 per cent). Parents are also buying phones for their children for security reasons. Over 3000 phones are being purchased for the younger age group each week.

Use of the mobile phone is split two thirds social one third business. Six out of ten people spend less than one hour per week on their phone.

This figure rises to over eight out of 10 in Britains Central region. The survey showed 68 per cent of people surveyed are not embarrassed to use a mobile phone in public. But over six out of 10 people are in favour of mobile free zones in places like cinemas churches and public transport.

And the health issue may all be a bit of media hype with 54 per cent of the population not concerned about the supposed health risk of mobile phones. This figure rises to 71 per cent in Wales.

Most of the British population believes that it is getting good value from the mobile phone manufacturers. Apart from in the Central region where 68 per cent consider it to be too expensive.

While 60 per cent of those surveyed are not interested in connecting to the internet via their phone they are interested in receiving other services like e-mail messages and ticket booking facilities which are only available via the internet

Much of the 20 million has been earmarked for expansion including branding customer acquisition and mobility product development with the aim of establishing breathe as the leading independent mobile internet provider across Europe.

Martin Dawes CEO of breathe said:

We are delighted that Chase Capital Partners Flatiron Partners and 3i have decided to invest in breathe. The mobile internet marketplace is expanding every day and will be a huge growth market over the next couple of years. This investment puts us in a position to exploit the coming opportunities and to consolidate our early mover position in this burgeoning arena.

In November breathe announced its intention to develop and expand the mobility services category ahead of mainstream rivals ranging from network operators to content providers. Since then it has launching its unified messaging web based calendaring chat and instant messaging services on its UK portal.

Over the coming few weeks web based SMS and other additional services will be introduced. Breathe has already launched early stage services in both Holland and Germany as a first step in its strategy to be the leading independent mobile internet provider across Europe.

Jonathan Meggs of Chase Capital Partners said:

Over the last six months we have been looking carefully at opportunities in the emerging European mobile internet market as the obvious extension of our interests in mobile telecoms and the internet.

Breathe represents the perfect first investment for CCP in a market which we expect to grow phenomenally over the next three to five years.

The purchase will give Racal access to flat-panel antenna technology used in modern mobile comms networks.

The new service is called Virgin Extras and relies on Geoworks Corporations Premion+ Server technology.

The The Virgin Mobile service is being branded Diary Buddy. It loads Geoworks server technology into Virgins systems.

Virgin Mobile also plans to offer its subscribers other services through their mobile phones such as the ability to book Virgin holidays buy Virgin music and receive traffic updates flashed to their mobiles.

Geoworks has set a stellar example in the United States with its Mobile Attitude service and we are delighted to be using their experience and ingenuity to help us lead the way in Europe said Virgin Mobiles managing director Tom Alexander.

The GPRS phone used for the demonstrations was a fully working prototype.

Its exterior design is based on the Ericsson R320 GSM WAP-phone. Inside there is breakthrough technology which handles both GPRS and GSM.

Ericsson will launch pre-commercial GPRS phones toward the end of this year and expects commercial volumes during first quarter 2001.

Commercial products will not look like the prototype and will incorporate a range of sophisticated technologies.

Ericsson was demonstrating WAP over GPRS using its MC218 WAP-compatible terminal connected to the GPRS prototype phone.