As 2013 dawns with the world still spinning and the U.S. not falling off a cliff, this is an opportune time to take a fresh look at the future of personal clouds :) A few trends have emerged recently that are setting the stage for carrier cloud adoption in 2013.
Types of Carriers Offering Personal Clouds
A leading mobile analyst recently predicted that many operators in 2013 must choose between being a 'digital lifestyle' or a low cost provider. In many markets, carriers are bifurcating into full-service high cost / high value-added providers or no-frills low-cost bit-pipes. The analyst said that operators in the middle would be in a no-man's land of being squeezed from above and below and that this would force them to choose one or another of these positions in 2013.
A digital lifestyle provider is an attractive strategic vision for many carriers. The impact for personal clouds is that if an operator offers digital lifestyle services, they require a complementary branded personal cloud service. As more carriers become digital lifestyle providers, more are likely to offer their own personal cloud service.
Amount of Storage Offered
A major European mobile operator went live with their personal cloud service in December with 50G of free storage, to ensure a good user experience. This bold move portends an important trend of increasingly providing large amounts of free storage to get people to use your cloud versus another.
Regions of the World Served
Late last year, I met multiple mobile operators in Southeast Asia to discuss their personal cloud plans. Southeast Asia has 600M people i.e. 1/12th of the world population. The countries I visited had smartphone penetrations ranging from >75% to <10%. I learned in this region that the ability to store media in the cloud was just as compelling if not more so than in the western world. In many cases, people do not own PCs, so the ability to secure keepsake content in a personal cloud for backup and wifi access is appealing. Mobile broadband is a premium which means streaming is out of the question for most people. The ability to sync content is the ultimate way to avoid streaming and its cost.
In richer countries, the percentage of people with multiple mobile devices and PCs is higher than in the west. Therefore, the need to easily access content across devices is even more important. Many people in this region are reluctant to store content and data with an unfamiliar entity, which makes their carrier cloud more attractive. This lets users bridge multiple brands of devices and get local service and help.
These trends lead me to believe that the market for personal clouds is really just starting, and that the opportunity for carrier clouds in major regions worldwide is large and vibrant. Do you believe that these trends will continue in 2013? Are there others that will be significant?
