Vodafone CEO warns of Apple, Google threat

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin has warned the industry to get creative about mobile services or risk becoming marginalised by the arrival of new kids on the block such as Apple and Google.

In his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona today, Sarin said: "We must as an industry learn to both partner and compete with these new players because our customers want to experience entertainment such as music downloads, mobile TV, user generated content such as YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. We have to welcome these new ideas and yet make sure we are relevant for our customers."

Sarin also called for an end to the competition between WiMax and LTE (long term evolution), saying WiMax could be happily accommodated under the LTE umbrella, rather than having "duelling standards".

Wireless from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more…

A is for Antivirus
B is for Bluetooth
C is for The Cloud
D is for dotMobi
E is for Email
F is for FMC
G is for GPS
H is for HSDPA
I is for i-mode
J is for Japan Air
K is for Korea
L is for LBS
M is for M2M
N is for NFC
O is for Operating systems
P is for Pubs
Q is for QoS
R is for Roaming
S is for Satellite
T is for TV
U is for UMTS
V is for Virgin
W is for WiMax
X is for XDA
Y is for Yucca
Z is for Zigbee

Sarin said: "In the end… technology is not what matters, it is services, it's applications, it's experiences."

Because mobile customers now want to communicate via a variety of methods - be it SMS, email or social networking websites - Sarin said the industry must step up to the challenge and "be in all these places".

"We must not allow ourselves to become bitpipes and let somebody else do the services work," he warned.

Sarin also admitted Apple's iPhone has "raised the bar", showing how important user interfaces are in the quest to drive data usage.

He said: "The easier the interface, the more you use it and the easier it is to get onto the internet."

Sarin also talked up the potential of mobile advertising - returning to a topic he broached at last year's Congress - saying Vodafone is experimenting with nine different mobile advertising business models. He said mobile internet has an edge over the fixed internet as it can offer far more information on its users - which translates into better ad targeting.

Sarin said: "I think as an industry this can become a very important source of revenues without giving up the privacy bond that we have with our customers."

Fewer mobile operating systems is another item on the Vodafone chief's wish-list. Sarin called for a narrowing of the playing field, saying three to five OSes would make life much easier for service developers than the 30 or 40 currently in play.

"Now I didn't say one," he added. "We've seen that movie before and we don't [want to] go there but equally we don't want 30."

Looking ahead, Sarin said HSDPA will be "insufficient" three years from now: "I firmly believe that customers will demand faster networks... So we have to continue to innovate and make sure that technologies like LTE come to life in a reasonable time period."