Mobile Technology – Where To?
Introduction
In 1931 a young cartoonist, Chester Gould, created a comic strip detective named
Dick Tracy, and in 1946 gave him a two-way wrist radio.
1946 was a great year for inventions before their time, with the BBC foreshadowing
the wrist news reader, in text, with Daddy the first user.
Not bad for 1946, but what about 2046? Where is mobile technology taking us?
Currently there are about two billion mobile phones in use throughout the world,
representing by far the greatest penetration by any electronic device ever. Over
a quarter of all Internet access is already from mobile phones. Well informed predictions
foresee a mobile phone for every second person by 2012, i.e., 50% of the world's
population. This device, currently changing inter-personal communications in a major
way, is on the threshold of transforming society itself.
Developments
The developments in mobile technology are innumerable. There are at least hundreds
of small advances across the full range of possibilities. Here are some standout
examples of forward motion, in no particular order.
The Smartphone. The term smartphone means different things to different people,
but essentially any mobile phone that does many things well has earned the title.
Already leading smartphones offer touch screen navigation with a QWERTY keyboard,
GPS, email and texting, camera, video, full PC capabilities, complete personal organiser,
control of game play by tilting the phone, and data and large file transmission.
Use of Artificial Intelligence may allow mobile phones to be the ultimate in personal
secretaries, receiving emails and paging messages, understanding what they are about,
and changing the individual's personal schedule according to the message. This can
then be checked by the individual to plan his/her day (readwriteweb.com).
Coming developments are likely to include short cut keys that are easy to identify
and press without looking, speed dialing capability, voice dialing capability, and
voice memo features.
Smartpox.com. Although a proprietary line, this device is revolutionary,
and will add quanta of experience to the phone user. In a nutshell, Smartpox enables
people to create encoded messages of online content, waiting to be discovered in
the offline world. A rock group puts a concert flyer onto the Web, and adds a smartpox
code – rather like a two dimensional barcode – pointing to a new song. The user,
with a smartpox-ready phone, holds the phone towards the code, instantly downloading
the song and listening to it at leisure. Smartpoxes can be added to anything, software,
catalogues, people, anything. The phone instantly transfers online content into
the offline world.
A related development is the QR code, which you might see attached to an advertisement
in a magazine. Pass your suitably equipped mobile phone over the code and be taken
instantly to the company's URL.
Mobile Navigation. The GPS device is becoming integral to mobile applications.
By developing and maintaining databases of points-of-interest, developers can provide
a comprehensive multi-lingual mobile guide that provides citywide information based
on where the user is at the moment he or she accesses the relevant site. Using a
highly accessible mobile and web interface, users can find which shops are just
around the corner, what restaurants they are missing one street over, what event
is about to happen at the bar just up ahead, traffic information and even information
about the number of available parking spaces at a given car park.
Intra-Body Communication. Japanese company KDDI has used a human body to
transmit high volume data, implying possibilities such as being able to download
a video simply by touching a movie poster while holding your phone, or giving someone
your business card via a digital handshake.
VoIP. Skype, JaJah and Rebtel all have their admirers and users, but no-one
has yet cracked the problem of making VoIP super simple to use for both landlines
and mobiles. The first to do so will, among other things, kill landlines.
Ticketing. YourRail, in the UK, is accessed on the Internet by the
traveller, with the ticket being automatically downloaded to the mobile phone. You
then wave your phone over the reading eye at the station and on you go.
Wearable solar cells. A new solar cell is flexible and capable of being attached
to any garment, or accessory, powering up iPods, Cell phones, Headsets, GPS, Digital
Cameras, etc. Easy replacement of adaptors and accumulators allows users to recharge
their gadgets while mobile. The product measures a mere 50mm x 200mm x 3mm, adding
to its versatility, and can be attached easily to any textile, be it an anorak or
a baseball cap, a backpack or even a bathing suit. Or a soldier's battle gear.
Literature creation. The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on
novels, written by girls and young women in Japan, which have become a successful
publication phenomenon, selling between 100,000 and over 1 million copies each for
the most successful. The novels start their life as texted teenage preoccupations,
written in SMS-speak, and uploaded by mobile phone to a MySpace-type website from
where they are read, serially, by tens of thousands. A publisher then whips the
stories into hardback for big sales. The interesting IT aspect of this development
is that the technology itself has generated the creative output, and goodness knows
where that could lead.
Sociological changes
Thoughtful recorders of the passing parade have sounded some warnings, particularly
about the current and growing mobilisation of the workforce.
On or off duty? There will be a need for employer and employee to settle
on and off times for the employee, analogous to being in or having left the workplace
for the day. This should stop work leaking into home and social life, and will require
focused management by the employee. Koroshi, or death by overwork, is a phenomenon
attracting close attention in Japan.
Lonely workers. 'Workplace' will soon become a thing of the past. This has
obvious pluses for individuals in organising their lives, but reduces group morale
and collegiality, togetherness. Contact by SMS and email is just not enough to encourage
group feeling.
Digital underclass. Compounding the digital divide between the well off and
the poor, those who leave education too early will be less technologically savvy,
and will therefore miss out on opportunities for flexibility of employment and mobility.
Mobile Web. Possibly the biggest story from here on will be based on, not
only easy access to the Web from the mobile phone, but the changes in the way we
live that arise from that. Web expert Rudy de Waele lists ten trends, including
much lower flat fees for use of mobile devices, more user-generated content via
the phone, the big youth networks (MySpace etc) will go mobile, and the big developers
will race into mobile-facilitated search.
Each of these developments has a positive side. And yet it is difficult not to be
concerned that technology may go too far, causing detriment to society. By nature
we are social animals, which means, people together. We are inviting trouble if
we convince ourselves that contact at one (electronic) remove will satisfy this
innate requirement.
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