I find it hard to imagine that social networking and IM services will provide mobile operators with new revenue sources. Sure, there will be more data traffic over their networks, but I wonder if that's going to make them happy given their flat-rate offerings. Anyway, Vodafone clearly thinks differently.
“Sarin says social networking, mobile advertising, mobile video, and other advanced applications are on the rise. “We expect these services to generate 10% of our revenue within three or four years,” he says. Vodafone generated $29.4 billion in revenue and $6.6 billion in profit during the first half of the year, beating analyst forecasts.”