Exploring Consumer Demand for Networked Services: The Importance of Content, Connectivity, and Killer Apps in the Diffusion of Broadband and Mobile Services

What drives consumers to adopt new networked services and technologies? This paper illustrates the differences between content is king and person-to-person communication is the killer app perspectives on what will drive the adoption of mobile technologies. Through an exploration of user and provider understandings of content and interactivity, it is demonstrated that demand for broadcast-type content (e.g., video on demand) is different than demand for connectivity services (e.g., messaging, e-mail). It is noted that content providers are reliant upon finding a content-based killer application to sustain their revenue streams (and thus endorse the content is king perspective), whereas network providers can thrive whether they focus on meeting consumer demand for content or demand for connectivity (or both). Consumer experience with earlier communication networks (e.g., telephone, Internet) demonstrates a strong demand for services that facilitate person-to-person communication.