The Over The Top Messaging Landscape

Issue 1.0

July 2012

www.alanquayle.com/blog

© 2012 Alan Quayle Business and Service Development

Outline

• Why didn’t the first phase of free OTT Messaging (Instant

Messaging) in the nineties and naughties kill SMS?

• Reviewing the OTT messaging landscape:

o Apple iMessage, Skype, Whatsapp, Viber, Tango, Voxer, Facebook,

PingMe, Vonage, Tu Me (or is it Me Tu?)….

o In fact messaging is embedded in many applications, web sites and

services, e.g. Words with Friends, Draw Something, xbox live, PS

network, Comcast.com, etc.

• Understanding the business model for the current hyped up OTT

apps beyond “Facebook will buy us for One Billion dollars!”

INSTANT MESSAGING

HISTORY

Silos!!!!!!!!!

XMPP did find a role in the enterprise: Business Model is Enterprise Pays

Don’t Forget A Key Event in SMS History

• The first text message (or 'telenote' as it was originally called) was sent on 3rd

December 1992 by Neil Papworth to colleagues at Vodafone and said 'Merry

Christmas'.

• The commercial launch of SMS took place in 1995

• 1998 - Interconnect between UK Operators O2, Orange,

Vodafone and T-Mobile

• The first recorded monthly text message total was 5.4 million in April 1998

• August 2001 was the first month in which over one billion messages were sent in the

UK

• December 2002 - 1 billion SMS per day were exchanged globally

In 1998 operators did what the free IM services could not, and it just worked!

OTT Business Models

Hope for Advertising

Revenue

Analytics / Advertising

(Groupme, Voxer, Viber)

Hope customer pays something

Cute messages / effects (Tango)

Annual Fee (Whatsapp)

Calls to / from the PSTN (Skype)

Value for the community

Xbox live

Partner with Telcos

Skype, Whatsapp

Key Points

• National cross-platform interoperability is essential for customers

o No configuration, no funky pricing, no content adaptation problems, it just works

o Can not afford the messy start of MMS

• Transparent interoperability is the most important thing an operator can do for

their customers to remain relevant

• OTT’s love their silos

o Skype is unlikely to allow interop with Viber and Whatsapp, so they can grab their users;

though many of their users also use Viber and Whatsapp.

o OTT’s will continue to focus on giving delightful experiences within their silos

• Messaging is just a feature, we have conversations and relationships

o That’s why Apple and Google (Android) remain the real long term threats

• An operator’s only weapon is cross-carrier interoperability, without it they’re

dead