Mobile Ecosystem: Themes and Predictions for 2006

Mark Lowenstein at Mobile Ecosystem provides his themes and predictions for 2006. Regarding themes, he is dubbing 2006 the year of the experiment where carriers will launch and test "a wave of multimedia and new entertainment-centric applications as 3G networks become more broadly available." The article is a good read but pretty lengthy, so I'll just cover the bullets and you can go to Mobile Ecosystems to get all the details:

Some other broad themes for 2006:

• Marketing Takes Center Stage
• Search and Discovery
• User Interface Development.
• Battle for the Home
• Backhaul

Here are Loewenstein's bullet-point predictions for 2006, in no particular order:

1. 2007 is the year for major disruption, not 2006
2. Not All MVNOs will Be Successful
3. The municipal WiFi hype will experience a pause
4. OS Shakeup on the Phone
5. Action Out of T-Mobile
6. Carriers Will Partner With Major Online Music Properties
7. There Will be a Slew of Major Media/Content Partnerships
8. IMS Dose of Reality
9. We Will See the Beginnings of a Viable Mobile Advertising Market
10. Enterprise Predictions

• Mobile Email Wars Will Produce Casualties
• Focus on Additional Packaged Applications
• More Managed Services
• Lots of Activity in the Public Sector