A quick glance as to what is happening in the USA market : mobile operators pre-empted the threat of smart phone messaging apps like whatsapp, and starting bundling unlimited texting into their plans as a mitigation strategy. It worked. Whatsapp is bleh in the US market because who wants to use a 3rd party app when the native text app is free. They then got wind via apps like viber and Skype what was going to happen to voice, and, copy and paste, voice become unlimited on most plans. Why would anyone use whatsapp for voice when the native circuit switched voice is "free"? The US operators got it : the future is all about data and that's the market to protect. Give voice and text away and concentrate on building value with your data customers. It is no co-incidence that data is so expensive in the USA... The South African mobile operators need to catch a wake up. They are trying to rape us while they can (by charging exorbitant fees for voice), when in reality, they should be protecting the voice distribution channel by giving it a way for free and applying margins on something whatsapp cant replicate yet : data provisioning and the data channel. All 4 of them are too focused on short term profits instead of long term longevity - a trend that is unfortunately way to common in South Africa. There is no big match mentality with corporates. MTN is a prime example, as is Multichoice, the airlines (SAA and Comair) and some of the banks. Bully and protect current market position at the expense of innovation. When a disrupting technology comes along, they all scramble....
