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Poll: And the next killer app for mobiles is...
Email? Internet? Social networking? You decide...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Tuesday 04 March 2008

"What is the new new thing in the mobile industry? The new new thing in our industry is internet on the mobile…" So said Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, addressing delegates at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona last month.

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The Vodafone chief said despite years of talking about surfing the web on mobiles, networks, handsets and services have only now come together to put a rocket under the mobile internet experience, adding: "Just imagine how great the experience of a YouTube or Facebook is on the go, on a mobile as opposed to your personal computer."

And silicon.com readers agree with Sarin. Asked what the next killer use for mobile phones will be after voice calls and text messaging, the biggest proportion (29 per cent) of votes went to internet on a mobile.

The other options listed in the poll were: video/TV, music, games, email, access to corporate IT apps and social networking.

Mobile operators' growing investment in high speed 3.5G networks has laid the foundation for internet on the go - meaning that increasingly, what could be a frustratingly slow business, can now be fast enough to be useful. HSDPA offers speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 7.2Mbps.

Another big theme at MWC was mobile social networking, as operators talked up the benefits of Facebook access on the go.

And silicon.com readers again share their world view, with almost a fifth (19 per cent) identifying social networking as the next mobile killer app - the second most popular option after the mobile internet.

Third place in the reader poll vote was tied between email and video/TV, which had 16 per cent apiece. This sounds like good news for the nascent mobile TV industry which has struggled to get off the ground in Europe, with all manner of factors blamed, from consumer apathy to standards fragmentation, to lack of available spectrum. If the demand is there, however, operators are sure to find a way.

Surprisingly the poll stuck a pin in the bubble that has been swelling around mobile music. Just seven per cent of respondents believe it is the next killer app for phones.

Corporate IT apps are also not going to be flogging handsets on their own, according to readers - just 11 per cent said access to such apps will be the next killer use for phones.

The increasing popularity of mobile internet and social networking on handsets is evident elsewhere. Operator Orange has just updated its tariffs to include internet and social networking "as an inclusive benefit" - and to make access to the web and its services easier - in order to reflect "the changing ways that people are using their mobile phones".