FIXZR

A ‘Directory of Always on Digital Identities’, and the ability to follow their behaviour, is the holy grail of the internet. Facebook, Google, Skype, eBay, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple are all in one way or another seeking to create this asset. It has massive power, as it lies at the heart of advertising and (ultimately) payments (the lesser of the two prizes).

It should not go unnoticed that mobile telcos already have a directory of always on identities, which they are able to observe the behaviour of (they’re your ISP when you’re not on WiFi). They have not however managed to leverage this great asset from the world of voice and SMS into the internet value chain. There have been passed attempts, most notably Phorm, which failed to respect consumers and the existing internet ecosystem players. More recent forays in the space seem to lack ambition, whilst the OTT players are gaining in speed and scope (see X.Commerce (https://www.x.com/) from eBay and Facebook Credits rolling out across 3rd party sites).

If Telcos do not act, by necessity over the top players will be forced to re-create or work-around their assets - at the requests of both merchants and consumers. Complicating things further for Telcos, device association to network connectivity (for data) is now as low as 20-30%, forcing telcos to innovate their own Over-The-Top solution to let them span these ‘off-net’ experiences. All this can be done, the question is to they have the ambition to do it? Signs are we may see a resurgence of ‘operator portals’ (dressed up as App Stores or Deal Sites) but little engagement with the wider world. This would be a tragedy for the industry, as we all watch more and more of the ecosystem drift State-side.