End of 2010. Is mobile internet hot in Belgium?

End of 2010. Is mobile internet hot in Belgium? Kind of. Hot, but only just preparing for takeoff.

Last week I interviewed a student about her mobile phone usage. She didn't use internet on her phone and neither did her friends. Yes, iPhones are sexy, but relatively few young people are buying them.

On the other hand, popular media and television shows are picking up on mobile internet and are helping to evangelize people on what mobile internet is good for. In the last episode of the popular sitcom "FC De Kampioenen" one of the younger characters (Ronald) pulls out an iPhone and demonstrates how he can see a TV show with it via Youtube and Facebook. An older character (Xavier) is amazed and yet another older guy (Fernand) also wants to get mobile internet because of what he sees. Watch the scene from 8:20 to 8:48. (hat tip @elidesc)

This is an excellent illustration of how WoM (Word of Mouth) works for products and propositions that are difficult to explain, but easy to graps once you see them in action. Now that people are seeing mobile internet in action, they will quickly adopt mobile internet on the fancy smartphone they found under the Christmas tree.