Competitive Strategy for Media Companies in the Mobile Internet

The provision of mass media content over next-generation 3G mobile networks is envisioned as an exciting new application of new media. This paper focuses on the mobile Internet as strategic challenge for media and entertainment companies. It provides an overview of distinctive features of the mobile Internet related to personalization, time and location sensitivity, uncertainties between technology push and market pull, and motivations for engagement in mobile interactivity. The analysis of competitive strategy in the mobile Internet suggests that the changing market structures in the converging media and entertainment and mobile wireless telecommunications industries lead to shifts of bargaining power. The emerging co-opetition challenges media and entertainment companies to re-evaluate their activities in the mobile value chain that provide potential for the creation of sustainable competitive advantage in the mobile Internet. These changes are reflected in the emerging business models for media and entertainment companies in the mobile Internet. The paper presents three strategic options for media companies: a syndication strategy, a portal strategy, and a mobile virtual network operator strategy