Islands of end user services

In the last couple of months, I've been asked several times by operators on their launch strategy for IP Communications services. The main question is whether they launch services in "silos" or "islands of technology" (ie Video Sharing only or IM only) or whether they should launch integrated services (so an all-in-one client for all sorts of communication).

My personal opinion is that the user should have access to an integrated client. From one of our user experience studies it is clearly shown that one of the key dissatisfaction points of mobile messaging is that SMS and MMS and Email are all handled using different applications on a mobile device. Add to this the different call, video call and other applications, and a user needs to navigate through different applications on the device. As a PC user I have the same frustration that even prevents me sometimes from checking my emails, as I do not want to open different applications to check my email (browser, MSN, Email client).

As an end user I want to have an integrated end user experience, and not by opening different applications on a PC or Mobile. I understand the issues an operator could have by providing all the backend functionality, but think about how powerful it would be to have Voice, Video, and messaging all from one client.

Back to my all-time favorite: the easier it is for an end user, the more he will use it!