The Feature has an article about carriers trying to make money off moblogging. I think the point about complex cost structures and interoperability being a major barrier is excellent. I agree that there’s a lot that carriers should be doing to ease the technical hurdles for their users. I liked this line from right at the start of the article:

Moblogs weren’t likely on the radar when manufacturers and carriers introduced cameraphones, but they’ve become one of, if not the most, popular use of the devices.

I think that’s an important aspect for the carries to bear in mind. The most major driver of the use of this technology is an application that grew up from the bottom organically. There was no mass push by a consumer organization or a hardware manufacturer to get the infrastructure of moblogging setup. It was innovative individuals who decided to turn this new technology to scratch a personal itch. So what’s the best way to make sure that the medium keeps growing and that carriers get the money back on their investment? It’s not by trying to push out new applications grown internally, or by trying to push the existing services to new levels. The best thing to do is to grease the gears a bit, make it easier for users to do what they’re doing and attempt to make it easier for them to play with new uses. Maybe setup mechanisms to try to catch what users are saying about their desired usages and attempt to respond (although this can admittedly be tricky). But most importantly, lower the barriers and just stay the hell out of the way!!!