New mobile devices based on a version of the Symbian OS are a serious threat to mobile operator revenue streams, according to consultancy Mako Analysis. Savvy users can use devices running on Symbian’s Series 60 operating system (OS) to completely bypass a range of services that are normally charged for by their mobile operator, the UK-based consultancy warned on Monday. While the threat is currently minimal, the loophole has the potential to cause major headaches for operators.

‘The increasing sophistication of high-end mobile devices opens up a range of additional problems and will continue to undermine the data revenue streams of mobile operators at a time when they desperately need them to be increasing,’ a Mako spokesperson said.

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The more wireless I become, the more time I spend online. Last week, I upgraded to the world’s smartest phone (the Treo 600) after a friend said, ‘It’s like having a laptop everywhere you go.’ I asked the provider if I could have the Web stuff without the voice stuff (‘No’).

Focus Group of One is fun, but editorially irresponsible. So I dug into the research to see if the telephone is really losing ground to text-based digital communications. Or, as Alex Soojung-Kim Pang more bluntly blogged, ‘Note to telcos: prepare exit strategy from landline business.’

Web-based communications do seem to be eroding voice telephone usage in interesting ways. Take note: this is about consumer control, and it will influence marketing. Expect to wait for pull — and don’t even think about push.

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