Bursting with optimism: O2 has already had a few different guises in its life as a mobile operator. But with a firm grounding and generous parent, it looks ready for success. (Strategic Play)

New Media Age, May, 2003 by Andrew Darling

Remember 'Surf the Net, the BT Cellnet', the ill-fated early marketing sound bite that introduced an unsuspecting public to the wonders of WAP on their mobiles?

Unfortunately, that memory still looms in the minds of many a budding mobile Internet user. They remember the bitterly disappointing user experience of accessing mobile content through expensive, clunky and unattractive phones and that sentiment has been partly responsible for the slow take-up of mobile data services.

02's core business may be mobile telephony--wireless voice still accounts for a lion's share of all traffic and revenue--but usage of mobile data services is growing quickly. While the company claims to have been the first company to launch a commercial GPRS service in the UK (in June...