U.S. Enterprise Market Ahead of Asia But Not Wireless/Mobile

Implications: 1. Businesses in the U.S. have an opportunity to save costs and help enhance employee productivity regarding mobile usage.
2. Wireless/mobile usage is integral, not a luxury, to employees' communications.
3. The U.S. enterprise market is still the largest by far in revenue compared to Asia Pacific and Europe.  But the mobile market category still lacks behind much of the world -- an opportunity.

Analysis: This news represents opportunities for both businesses and mobile operators to work more closely together, benefiting both constituents and the mobile employees.

Let me illustrate.  As a CEO, I globetrot, splitting time in China/Asia, Silicon Valley/U.S. and other parts of the world. 

In the U.S. I pay about $85/month for mobile -- about $40 for voice and $40 for all-you-can-eat mobile Internet/data access, plus taxes, from Cingular.  In China/Asia, I use prepaid cards, and observe that ARPU is much lower, and consumers there are far more advanced in whats and hows when it comes to mobile than the average U.S. mobile consumer.

If I were an employee/executive in a business, I would definitely try to expense report it monthly.  I had done that habitually running international or Asia Pacific sales/marketing in past lives.  Mobile voice and Internet/data communications are essential, in addition to email, telephone, SMS, IM, occasionally web conferencing.

In the world theater, American enterprises are advanced in business strategy, processes and mentality, but not yet in the mobile/wireless area.  They should work deals with mobile operators to absorb the mobile expenses of relevant employees like sales guys, customer service reps, executives, and other mobile souls, rather than spend extra money, time, and energy having employees and accountants process expense reports.  They should also sharpen understanding and leverage (and maybe get volume discounts) on key apps that matter, adding incrementally to the bottomlines to their own businesses.

Cheers,
Jason Ma