For the company Frank Benabè has arrived directly: a lot in those days was already in the USA for road the show of presentation of its 'nuovà Telecom Italia. 31 March was to New York, quickly after is flown towards the West Coast. Official destination, Los Angeles with fastest passage to Cupertino, quartier general of Apple. On the other hand on this Steve Jobs it has been compulsory: the agreements siglano in center and to the maximum levels. But it has been a fast thing, because all already ready era to suggellare the agreement that will carry the iPhone in Italy between some week. An agreement fruit of the job carried ahead from months from Luca Luciani, the number one of Tim: that also it will be inciampato in the 'goose of Waterloo, but can however fregiarsi of the merit of successful being to convince Steve Jobs to change strategy.
The agreement is revolutionary because it marks carried out as well as important a how much unexpected one in the strategies of the group of the Apple. And own for this is remained up to now place setting, to the point that still now is indiscretions and voices those which trapelano. Revolutionary because own with Telecom Italia, and in order to enter in the Italian market, Jobs would abandon the formula on which has up to now constructed the happened one of its super-telephones: the agreements in exclusive right, with a single operator in every market, and the mechanism of “revenue sharing”, based on which Jobs embeds a percentage, and also the much salata one, since it is 30%, on the traffic generated from every customers iPhone.
To great lines the agreement is hinged in the following points.
1) Sul Italian market will not directly arrive old iPhone 2G but the new ones, of third generation: of iPhone the Umts that will at best take advantage of the strong development of the nets you furnish Italians to wide band.
2) the agreement with Telecom Italia will not be based on “revenue sharing”: nothing more percentages on the traffic but a higher selling price. And not little.
3) At last, not an agreement of exclusive right with Telecom Italia, but an advantage of some months come to an agreement to the group of Bernabè Franc. An advantage that is already in the facts: the Telecom system is already in short ready to receive in its net, technological and of sale, the iPhone. According to operator, leaving now, once made official that the iPhone Italian they will not be exclusive of Tim, it has however need of time, Going outside from the generic one: Vodafone or H3g, probably the first operating ones to benefit of the exclusive right lack, will have to run if they will want to make in time to carry their eventual ones iPhone on the market for the campaign of the next Born them. For summer 2008 there will be however single Tim.
On first it seems a strange agreement. Telecom Italia earns us much: door to house the iPhone in order before and paying itself much less of the others before she. But because Jobs would have accepted all this?
The ability to iPhone making market is undeniable. Impressive numbers circulate. As an example, from the USA, the first market in which Jobs its cellular one has launch approximately a year makes, turns out that At&t has sold 3milioni already of finishes them, a million which only in the last trimester. But still more impressive is the data second which little less of the half than these 3 million iPhone At&t in circulation have been activated from new customers, customers who have left theirs operating precedence in order to pass to At&t own for having a iPhone.
Which reasons have then pushed Jobs to abandon the old strategy of “revenue sharing”?
The explanation is in the fact that this formula cannot resist still over a long time span.
The market is changing. World-wide the mobile telephony is muovendo quickly towards Internet. It wants to say that the rich part of the business of the mobile phones will not be more the voice, that it will have more and more low costs, but the traffic given. And also here, not as well as a product 'basicò like the simple flow of bit, but services advances to payment. The system of the revenues of the mobile telephony within the next few years will be divided in three parts. From a part of the fixed costs salaries for voice and simple logon. They are money that goes directly to the operating ones for the single fact to give approached own net to a customer, and is a quota that stretches to come down ulteriorly. Then there are the money that the customers will pay for having services premium. Typical example: music. Musical rows to payment will be unloaded. But they will be bought also news, new video, services like all the possible types of controls at a distance cellular way and thus via. And this slice of revenues will go to the owners of the services.
At last there will be a third part tied to the search engines, to the social networking, the maps and the information type yellow pages. And these will be free for the customers but they will produce revenues from advertising insertions.
And on this last tipologia of services that is competition opened between the telecom, the suppliers of the services and who will be in a position to organizing and managing all this traffic, that is subject like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Nokia and Ericsson as holders of net intelligences.
In extreme synthesis: the business generated from the mobile telephony he will grow, but it will be less and less a business to invoice in bill, that is where Jobs now goes to reach revenues through “revenue sharing”.
Jobs therefore has begun to understand that the parabola of the iPhone is reached its apex, as produced. Also because the assured competitive advantage from the technology “touch screen”, from the fact to have a efficient part “computer” deriving from the kwow how historical of Apple is in order to be caught up from the contenders. Samsung and Htc have already launch the first smartphone gestibili ones without keyboard and touching the screen directly. And if also the first models are not completely to the height of Apple, there is from betting that within or two versions they will have overwhelmed the gap. And perhaps also they will have gone beyond. And however the next autumn comes down in field the Nokia battleship that will launch its first one “touch screen” in time for the campaign of Born them 2008.
Therefore, Steve Jobs has between the hands a beautiful succeeding product of. But like avoiding to make the end of Motorola, than he has not succeeded to come unhooked itself for time from the planetary happened one of its Razr, still the single model of mobile phone more sold the world, and that for this it is last in twelve months from stars to the failure or nearly? It must change. But like?
The iPhone it is not a mobile phone to wide band. He goes still well for markets in which the mobile wide band it is not still a lot developed. Like the United States. And, in Europe, practically all except Italy. The quota Umts customers on the total of the greater operator in every European market is clear: they are 20% in France, 18% in Great Britain, solo 15% in Spain. But 44% in Italy: nearly on two.
In markets still little developed from this point of view the iPhone it has above all carried in dowry to operating a strong increase of navigation. More remarkable what as well as in markets still many legacies to the traffic voice, like those USA. Its facility of use, or in order to be annoying, or in order to acquire produced valuable like music and video thanks to the synergy with iTunes, of it has made a splendid instrument in order to begin the customers to the mobile Internet. But with the passage to the world 3G the things are complicated. And the competition increases.
Jobs has been found to dealing with Telecom Italia and for the first time it has not been able to make to be worth this asset, the given ability to the iPhone to generate valuable traffic: Tim, without the iPhone, has already recorded an increase of navigation on the cellular ones of 90%. Insomma, the competitive advantage of the Italian market on the mobile world still works.
In Jobs compensation a up to now underrated instrument is found again between the hands: a browser. The heart of the iPhone is the software that ago to be annoying in Internet and calls Safari. From the USA an umpteenth astonishing number arrives: 70% of the accesses to the net through the nets furnitures happen from smartphone with browser the Safari (this know it to the serveur to recognize), that is from the iPhone.
And the browser they are the true new frontier of this market. To case it is not here that the same Google is working, with Android. For Jobs without warning the new objective has been made clearly that primary to which heading it is not to sell little iPhone to the greater price possible (between sale and percentages on the traffic) but to diffuse the most possible its Safari. Incidently selling also much more it finishes them, thanks to the renunciation to the exclusive rights,
And Telecom Italia has been found to the just place in the better moment.
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