A stage view model of mobile data service platforms: Implications from mobile community and service platform evolution in Japan

The ratio of 3G users among wireless subscribers reached 95 %, and the ratio of fiat-rate users reached approximately 50 % in Japan, in 2009. This creates an ideal mobile broadband environment for rich media services. Constraints and diversity as well as the speed of changes, represent the challenges in the development of mobile services. There are several different stage views of the mobile service development in Japan such as constraint management and community management. The author highlights the evolution of mobile services from the viewpoint of community evolution and platform evolution. The community-based evolutionary view provides a framework for understanding that bridges the major chasms found in service development. The author also discusses the importance of stage-awareness in the development of mobile services.