Outline of Face value(Vittorio Colao, Vodafone)
iPhone is popular in Japan as well as Americas and Europe. But here is no Nokia, Android(not yet), and other major mobile companies. This article is about that Vodafone will make the new big platform for mobile-data services. I wonder how it affect to Japanese mobile industry. In Japan, we already have plenty of applications at i-mode, though it's not an ideal platform for software developers and content providers. You can made and sell apps freely, but cannot promote and charge for your apps officially unless you're admitted by the mobile companies.
Par. 1. Introduction. Vittorio Colao, the current boss of Vodafone, left the company to run an Italian media congromerate RCS Media Group in 2004. After two years later, he came back to Vodafone and stop the idea that the company should become a content provider. Par. 2. The project Vodafone publicized this month. With some of the industry's biggest operators, it's trying to build a joing global plartform where software companies and content providers sell things to their to mobile subscribers. Par. 3. Brief history of Vodafone and career of Mr. Colao. He worked at McKinsey while he was a reserved officer in the Italian Carabinieri, graduated Harvard Business School and set up Omnitel Pronto, an Italian mobile operator which became part of Vodafone later. Par. 4. The problem to be solved by Mr. Colao. Today's mobile-phone industry needs new frontiers. One is mobile-data services, a market that is finally emerging after years of hype. Par. 5. Breakthrough of iPhone. Telecom operators have offered only "walled gardens" services with pre-approved content that the operators could take a cut. Apple's iPhone and "App Store" gives users easy access to plenty of applications, and lets software developers charge for themselves. It inspires other technology giants to build simikar app-store platforms. Par. 6. Vodafone will serve similar open platform as iPhone. This circumstances will allow Vodafone to build their own platforms. Although Vodafone is so huge, Mr. Colao plan to serve one "Vodafone Services". Par. 7. A gap between ideal and reality. "The idea of enabling a single piece of software to run on lots of devices has been tried before, but has never really succeeded." Par. 8. Advantage of Vodafone is its size. If all Vodafone and its partners including China Mobile, Softbank, and America's Verizon Wireless realise their plans to open their own app stores with the new platform, the potential market will be over 1 billion subscribers through out the entire globe. Par. 9. Tomorrow: One platform to rule them all?
Words and Idioms
- knock sth on the head
- （人）の頭をコツンとたたく、（人）の頭を殴って気絶させる
- ～をたたきつぶす
- 〔病気を〕治す
- 〔迷信などを〕打ち破る
- 〔計画を〕やめにする、中止させる、ぶち壊す
- too ... for its own good:～過ぎて自分のためにならない
- dumb pipes: 土管、ただの情報を通す管のことを指す。新しいビジネス用語。cf: http://www.jtpa.org/event/seminor/000404.html
GoogleやAmazonのようなネットサービス事業者の成功により、通信キャリアは「土管」(dumb pipe) の地位に追いやられてしまうのではないかという懸念がある。
