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a tale of too many standards

July 21, 2008 at 2:03 pm Leave a comment

The world might be becoming smaller and more integrated but the mobile world definitely isn’t – Windows Mobile vs Symbian vs Linux vs Android vs iPhone. GSM vs CDMA. DVB-H vs MediaFlo vs S-DMB vs STIMI vs ISDB-T vs T-DMB vs DAB-IP (that’s right, there are at least 7 Mobile TV formats) – be it operating systems, network technologies, mobile browsers or mobile TV formats, there are multiple mobile standards (and acronyms) in play across the globe.

Competition to establish standards is vital in any market but if allowed to drag too long without any clear winners, arrests innovation and development. Focused on self promotion and protecting turfs, players lose focus and severely restrict application development and adoption to niches – leading to a proliferation of small, regional players but hardly any mass players.

We could take a leaf out of the recently concluded DVD standard wars between Blu-ray and HD DVD – with the vote going in favor of Blu-ray, consumer electronics firms and content providers can focus on core strengths, instead of waiting by the sidelines to see which format will come out on top or trying to develop players and content for both the formats.

To an extent, it does not really matter which standard is adopted – each standard comes with its own set of advantages and issues. The industry or key players (and if necessary, governments) need to come together and throw its weight behind adoption of single or at best dual standards.

Once frozen, a standard can be the base for all efforts to evolve a core ecosystem – establish concrete business models, institute payment protocols and speed up application development, leading to mass adoption – which in turn will push down price points and further drive innovation en masse.

A monopoly in standards would not be all that bad, especially if it’s controlled by a consortium of players from across the mobile world representing all key interests. The ideas are out there but they can evolve and scale only if standards are in place. It’s inevitable standards will emerge, with or without the support of the industry - the only question that remains is, will the boost come from within or outside the industry, and when.

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