The long tail...

As its fashionable to mention it, I thought I should talk about the Long Tail. Essentially, this observation is telling us is that some businesses can cater for lots of tiny market segments (even as small as one customer) and still make money. In fact, they make their money precisely by having so many segments.

The question presents itself - is this meaningful in the mobile services industry? In other words, can a mobile industry thrive by offering myriad services to masses of niche segments? For example, can we offer sports coaches a sports training service, and many other such niche applications to niche users, or do we have to stick to mass-market ringtones, music videos and wallpapers?

My belief is that mobile operators can build Long Tail businesses with judicious and innovative use of software architectures, tools and a creative rethink of their core business assets. I hope to post more on this in the future...

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