An information infrastructure for Mobile Content Services

1
An information infrastructure for Mobile Content
Services
A case study of CPA

• INF5210 Nov-05
• Petter Nielsen (pnielsen_at_ifi.uio.no)

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Outline

• The Content Provider Access (CPA) a case study
• CPA as an information infrastructure an
  analysis
• Heterogeneous
• Out of control
• Standardised
• Evolving

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Examples of CPA services
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What is CPA?

• Platform, standard, business model
• Enables premium charged SMS services
• Open garden

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The historical context of CPA

• Teletorg
• The idea of information based value adding
  services (VAS)
• Sorting out the issues
• New formal institutions
• MobilInfo, SMSInfo
• The idea
• The walled garden approach retention
• The experiences Challenges, opportunities and
  failure

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The brief history of CPA

• An extension (and devolution) of previous
  approaches
• Learning from previous platforms
• New strategy or lack of strategy
• Small-scale, bottom-up, flexible, external inputs
• New actors, roles and responsibilities

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CPA Roles and value network
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Heterogeneity

• Socio-technical and diversity
• Perspective and pluralism
• Symmetrical focus explaining change as
  influenced by technology and human actors
• Strategies to curb, to include and promote
  diversity

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Out of Control

• Criticism of control oriented approaches
• No central point of control or network hub
• Control is multi-faceted
• What is out-of-control?
• Why is it out-of-control?
• Really out-of-control, or perceived as
  out-of-control?

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Standardised

• GSM/GPRS/WAP/UMTS/SMS/MMS
• CPA standards
• Common business model
• Coordinated distribution of short codes and
  definition of rating classes
• Common guidelines for consumer protection
• Standardised service level
• Not primarily a technical standard
• More like a flexible package

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Evolving

• Linked to history
• Teletorg, MobilInfo/SMSInfo
• Linked to context
• Relationship between network operators
• Mobile phone penetration, size of market
• The exchange of personnel and enthusiastic
  employees
• Dot.com era
• Linked to technology
• Existing platforms

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Some reflections

• The relationship with the context
• Internationalisation
• The paradoxes of CPA
• Lack-of-control as control
• Lack-of-strategy as strategy
• Lack-of-resources as a resource
• Intelligence (or stupidity but at least
  innovation) in the fringes
• Change and radical innovation?
• The economy of standards and networks