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O2 Germany Joins the Data Convergence Dots, with O2 Communication Center| August 11, 2006 | Enterprise Mobility - Europe
| Competitive Intelligence Report | Analysts: Emma Mohr-McClune
On August 8th O3SIS unveiled its partnership with O2 Germany for the O2 Communication Center. The O2 Communication Center allows users to manage and maintain their e-mails and calendar online, schedule appointments, anniversaries and other important data, which is automatically pushed to the desktop and mobile phone as required. The solution also utilizes the user’s existing PIM such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Lotus Notes to sync data between the handset, Web and PC. O2 Communication Center also allows for Web-to-SMS and MMS messaging, as well as a data back-up and restore feature for lost or stolen handsets. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Positive on O2 Germany’s new Communication Center, as this will allow the operator to start provisioning a new suite of business-centric value-added services across the PC, Web and mobile phone, featuring centralized personal data management, backup and restore and super-low priced mobile e-mail to ‘virtually any’ device. Getting business customers to aggregate and store their PIM, calendar and contact data on a O2 Germany portal is an important step in O2 Germany’s convergence’ strategy, which now encompasses DSL, fixed telephony, mobile and hosted e-mail services. • Vendor Importance: High to O2 Germany, as this service will help underline the operator’s evolving differentiation as an ‘integrated’ mobile operator, following Telefonica Deutschland’s recent transition of its business customer base to O2 Germany. The deployment of O3SIS’ platform will allow the operator to push this ‘integrated’ advantage further in a service context, as opposed to merely just a sales and support context, for a more compelling cross-sell opportunity with its broadband and hosted e-mail products. • Market Impact: Moderate on the Germany business market, as most operators are evolving similar data management services in the consumer space, and extending these benefits to the small business market is a no-brainer. Although E-Plus and Vodafone Germany also deploy O3SIS’ platform (for the services ‘E-mail Mobil’ and ‘MeinAddressbuch’ respectively), neither can offer this level of integration between the mobile phone, the PC and Web. Recommended Competitor Actions • Open standards mobile e-mail platforms, such as the O3SIS platform at the core of O2 Communication Center, are set to revolutionize the market for mobile e-mail, and all competitors should anticipate fiercely contested price competition at around the EUR 2.50-4 per month mark. RIM, Visto and others in the server-based middleware market should start compiling sales points in favour of their proprietary systems, outlining the advantages of ‘quality’ middleware versus SyncML versions. • Vodafone Germany should now consider enhancing its MeinAddressbuch service beyond contact data management, and think about positioning its ‘data wipe and restore’ functionality as a form of ‘device management.’ • Vodafone Germany should consider integrating MeinAddressbuch with a full SyncML push e-mail service. Vodafone Germany should aim to be the first operator in Germany to offer this highly disruptive service to small businesses. • E-Plus should step up the marketing on its E-Mail Mobil service for prosumers and small businesses, as the mobile mail options of O2 Communicator come dangerously close to its own low-priced mobile-mail-on-any-device concept. • T-Mobile Germany must now market T-Mail more pro-actively for prosumer and small business customers, and look to enhance it with desktop integration. Furthermore, T-Mobile Germany must learn to work closer with T-Online, and it is certainly worth remembering that T-Online has been marketing a service very similar to O2 Communication Center for over a year, with plenty of experience to share. • All mobile operators now have to do a better job of market segmentation for mobile e-mail. As the options proliferate, mobile operators will be challenged to spell out the advantages and disadvantages of the various solutions on offer. Recommended End User / Customer Actions •O2 Germany’s business customers should start questioning their provider about the timeline on a business-targeted version of O2 Communication Center. End users should be assured that in terms of device management, the O3SIS platform driving the O2 Communication Center is capable of answering most key device management requirements. • End users should be aware that O3SIS is the platform behind device management services from ‘specialists’ such as mFormation, InnoPath and Hewlett Packard. End users should base their purchasing decisions in terms of quality of ongoing support, training and assistance in set-up. Enterprise Mobility - Europe
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