3G will succeed – get the picture

I agreed strongly with Robert Dwek’s opinion (MW August 28), that 3G will eventually reach the “trendy” tipping point. Texting reached a critical mass almost out of the blue; no analyst could ever have predicted how popular such a simple application would be.

The next mobile technology to reach the tipping point will be multimedia, or picture messaging, and penetration of picture phones is rising fast. This is precisely where marketers should sit up and take notice.

The functionality of 3G is already here on 2.5G phones – pictures, animations, sound and video. It will improve over the next 12 months, and consumers are already keen to know more about picture messaging, video clips and Java games. The key is to ensure your marketing department or agency has the knowledge to deliver new mobile services as part of its campaigns in order to avoid playing catch-up with what consumers want.

To be able to do this, mobile marketing companies must explain picture messaging, video and gaming opportunities in marketing terms. Once this happens, the tipping point will be reached very quickly, so don’t get left behind.

Katie Hollier

Head of product strategy

Wireless Information Network

High Wycombe