warning: explicit links below click at your own risk, not necessarily office friendly
an unnamed colleague pointed me at this site, and whether you like or dislike the content, it's about the best example you are going to find in the public domain of a "Vertical Moblog" - totally dedicated toward one purpose, and able to charge premiums to users for premium services.
i only bring this up, because porn and gambling are leading indicators for business models of a technology at large. if your business model works there, it will work other places. AOL won't tell you this, but AOL makes a ton of money off people who have an account for no other reason than their illicit chat room. Operators won't tell you this, but a "really healthy percentage" of traffic going over their gateways is illicit content (i've seen it)
so although you see things like Vodafone blocks access to porn i know for a fact that other operators won't be so quick to move unless they get threatened with lawsuits. in fact, voda is really figuring out how to allow this content in a way it can make more money off it legally. they aren't ignoring the illicit markets.
that's all an aside...the good news is that a good vertical moblog can find a business model.
Posted by Steve at August 4, 2004 11:48 AM | TrackBack