The Rise and Rise of Mobile Phone Connectivity
Posted: Friday, November 02, 2007
by Anja Merret
Anja Merret
According to Jan Chipchase, principle researcher for Nokia, there will be 3 billion people connected on mobile phones by the end of 2007. That is a fair chunk out of the approximately 6.3 billion people inhabiting earth. He also anticipates that within another two years, a further billion people will have connected.
Wow. That puts a new spin on the number of Facebook members, said to have been 42 million in October 2007, and relegates them to total insignificance. Yet the fight between the big boys such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft for a stake in social networking communities such as Facebook is vicious and large amounts of money are on the table. Microsoft paid $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook, just to remind oneself of the insane numbers being thrown around.
I have been disappointed at the slow rate of development of the mobile phone, both what the gadget can do and what marketers are doing with it. By now I had anticipated marketers talking to the audiences using full on Flash animations, interactive viral campaigns or video ads instead of the odd text message.
Companies would have designed products exclusively for mobile phones. As an example, phones have both a speaker and a microphone. Where are the mobile language courses for quick on the hoof lessons - without the need for internet access. For the health conscious, or those with illnesses that need monitoring, what about a diagnostic monitoring facility that automatically dials to emergency services if there is a problem?
Sure some great software features are available. One can play animated games, watch good quality video, take photographs and upload automatically to Flickr for instance. One can use pre-paid air time as a gift, or even as a form of legal tender. Some phones use the internet for free phone calls.
What about the handset itself? I would love a phone the size of a button that could be pinned onto a lapel and because it comes with a solar powered battery, I don’t ever need to worry about running out of juice. No space for a keypad then? Where is the long awaited and hyped voice activation software? And of course it plugs into a small monitor when I want to watch movies.
When I walk out of my house I carry keys, wallet and phone at least. And according to Jan Chipchase, this is what most people do. One less item to carry in my hand or bag, would be great. So the phone could replace the keys in that doors and phones would run on bar code systems with the use of bluetooth. And possibly the phone could replace the credit card? Pay via the phone by dialing up automatically to your bank.
Of course there is definitely innovation. And there are probably many features and products available that I just don’t know about. It just seems that the technology is moving at a slower pace than I anticipated ten years ago when I thought that mobile telecommunication would be the next huge thing.
And of course it is the next huge thing in terms of users. Who would have thought ten years ago that the uptake would be so quick, and quicker in the developing world where state owned fixed line operators are not delivering a connecting tool to communication starved people.
Whatever the rate of progress, great and exciting things will surely be happening in the mobile phone landscape. It’s just a matter of time. Do watch this short video of a TED talk by Jan Chipchase on mobile phones, what the people are doing with them and where they could be headed for. Makes for interesting watching.
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