Just another WordPress weblog

In my time blogging about cell phones, I’ve grown rather fond of Russell Shaw. Yeah, he’s a bit set in his ways, but he really understands mobile devices and the direction they’re headed. So when he posts a list of predictions for 2008, I’m all ears. Today, he looks at the next year in mobile messaging. You can hit up his original post for some elaboration. I’ll go over the finer points here.

- Texting will more frequently be built into plans. This makes intuitive sense. Just like they bank on you either getting a calling plan where you don’t use all the minutes, or you go over and pay exorbitant overages rates, the same will soon go for text messaging. If they can charge you an extra $10 for 500 messages (like Verizon does), they come out ahead if you don’t use them all, and if you go over and pay their 20 cents per message rate — or possibly even more.

- The iPhone will defect form AT&T. Yes, they have a five-year exclusivity agreement, but Shaw speculates that Apple will buy AT&T out of that. I’m not so on board with this one. It means creating two new iPhones — a 3G one for GSM, and a CDMA one. Is Apple up to it?

- Cricket will align with a VoIP company to create a triple play. If only. The rumors are always that Cricket will merge with MetroPCS, since they provide the exact same service and have few overlapping markets. However, I like this idea if it helps Cricket expand. For those of you unfamiliar, Cricket offers unlimited calling and unlimited texting starting at about $45 per month. The catch is that you can’t leave your home calling area. So perhaps a merger with Metro is in the cards, so they have a more solid network. And then they can combine with a VoIP — Shaw suggests Vonage — to create a more comprehensive service package.

- More touchscreen phones. So it’s not just a novelty.

- Mobile payments will grow. In fact, Obopay just announced a mobile payment system for BlackBerry. So we’re already seeing the wheels in motion.

- Mobile search will still suck. Not going to hear any dissent from this end.

Once again, check out Russell’s post for more of his predictions and rationales.

Share on Facebook | Add to De.licio.us | Digg This! | Technorati