Posted: 03/18/08 by Jonathan Spalter
I became interested in what was going on in the world of Mobile social networking after following Victora Shannon's article last week in the
New York Times Victoria Shannon, by the way, is a terrific Paris-based tech reporter who does lots of coverage for the Times' International Herald Tribune. Recent usage statistics are phenomenal. According to the Times, industry sources say some 50 million people are using cell phones for social networking of some sort - be it chat services or media sharing. In five years time, that number will increase about 5 times. The concept of mobilized networking leverages much of the best about wireless technology, adapted for the purposes of growing connected communities of friends, colleagues, and family. The sky is the limit in terms of services and content potentialities.
From "presence" data showing where friends are at any moment to avatar-based chat communities based on texting, to rich media sharing, the mobile platform is adapting itself as a powerful catalyst for technological communitarians. And the global nature of audience development is equally exciting. Some of the early leaders are based in Asia, where Singapore-based BuzzCity's mygamma can be found. Taking the idea of social networking to new, nuptial levels, users of the mygamma service can opt to get "married", and have messages from friends aggregated for the happy new couples in their mobile "living room", or communicate privately through messages sent within the couple's "bedroom." There even is a "divorce" option if one's mobile relationship turns sour.
The applications and services that are being deployed across these mobile social networks are just beginning to take-off, and it will be very interesting to see which will stick. I am watching in particular how Amsterdam's GyPsii service, which just signed a deal with China Unicom to service the Beijing Summer Olympics will be used. But one thing is certain with an estimated 5X growth rate over 5 years, we can bet that whatever is produced either by or for mobile social networkers, they will be highly innovative.
Posted: 03/11/08 by Teri Rucker
To continue to feed my cookbook-buying habit without too much guilt, I always wait to go to the book store until Borders has e-mailed its weekly coupon. Martha Stewart has a new cookie cookbook and how could I have missed owning Chez Panisse Desserts?
Today, as I was printing out the coupon, I noticed that I could get them delivered to my cell phone. That's brilliant! I'm always forgetting to print the coupon or I've left it in the pocket of my other coat or I somehow don't have it when I get to the book store. Now that I'm all signed up to get the coupons delivered to my cell phone, I won't have to decide whether to come back to the store with my coupon in hand or just pay full price. I'll have the discounts in my phone for use at any time.
Another thing I'm really excited about is my favorite cooking web site, www.101cookbooks.com, has enabled the site so recipes can be easily viewed with a wireless device. That is so handy. Now when I am at the grocery store and can't remember what I need to whip up the rustic cabbage soup that site founder Heidi Swanson has dreamed up, I can just pull out my phone and check the ingredients list. I can't tell you how many repeat trips to the grocery store this is going to save me.
I know there are many, many technologies out there that do far fancier things than look up recipes on the fly and I plan on experimenting with those services as time goes on. But the great thing about wireless is it improves life for everyone no matter their skill level or what their passions.
Posted: 03/07/08 by Diane Smith
In six short years, Americans have gone from loving their landline telephone service the most to more than half saying that they simply couldn't live without their wireless phone, according to a report by Pew Internet and the American Life Project. In this survey, only 40 percent said landlines were indispensable and 43 percent couldn't live without TV compared with 63 percent who couldn't live without a land line in 2002.
What's not to love about the wireless world? The freedom to go anywhere and still stay in touch is priceless. That freedom allows me to go skiing in the mornings while staying on top of business. Who wouldn't love to pop into the ski lodge after a few runs down the slope, knock out a conference call with a cup of tea in hand, write some e-mails and then ski some more?
But I digress. The Pew study found that 51 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn't want to give up their wireless phone - more than the 45 percent of folks who couldn't part with Internet service. That makes sense, because you can actually use your wireless device to connect to the internet. Maybe the next time Pew does the study the lines between "the internet" and cell phone will be so blurred that they won't be able to separate the categories. Some day - and I predict that day will be sooner rather than later - we will have at our disposal at least one device that lets us communicate through phone calls, use it like a word processor and surf the web. Every innovation in wireless brings me more opportunities to work hard, even while I ski, hike, and spend time with my family - how great is that!
Check out the report to learn more about how wireless is indispensable to people.
Posted: 02/27/08 by Jonathan Spalter
met·a·mor·pho·sis
1. A transformation, as by magic or sorcery.
Havana has given us much more than cigars. It was there, in 1848, that Antonio Meucci filed and was awarded patent (caveat #3335) for his invention of the telephone. Meucci never commercialized his vision. He lost his patent because he was not able to pay renewal fees. Though Meucci died in poverty, his vision, some 160 years, has so transformed how human beings work, play, learn, and earn, that it truly must be described as a metamorphosis.
How else but by some magic or sorcery could the original idea of point to point wired voice communications have evolved to our current world of wireless, ubiquitous, and mobile connectivity? Today, there are several nations which have more cell phones than citizens. Some two billion people today have subscriptions for mobile services. These devices, and the applications, services, content, and community they embody, are themselves platforms for the idea of convergence in all its forms – technological, commercial, cultural, and educational.
Their potential for human advancement and engagement are only just being conceived. Most obviously, our mobile devices have become more than mere telephones, they are also game consoles, computers, cameras. But the limits of their uses are only just being explored. Imaginative communities, entrepreneurs, and individuals have put mobile and wireless technologies to use as vital agents of public health, as tools for encouraging civic engagement, as hubs for social and cultural connectivity and networking, as critical infrastructure of emergency planning and preparedness, as broadcasting devices, as catalysts of commerce and banking, as educational and instructional aids, and even as fashion accessories.
Their implications for the global economy can not yet be fully imagined. Beyond the core industries, engineers, product developers and scientists who have been designing the algorithms, software, hardware and infrastructure for mobile telephony, there are now also countless individuals, communities, and companies collaborating, innovating, and instigating new applications, services, and content.
Like so much else in the increasingly networked learning and innovation environments we now inhabit, the mobile phone has become a platform for enormously imaginative collaboration by citizens at their laptops in their living rooms, as well as by coders in their labs.
We at the newly formed Mobile Future Coalition are excited by these developments, and inspired by the implications of mobile technology for our nation, our communities, and our families. We believe that innovation in mobile and wireless technology will only accelerate, and in so doing serve the greater good. We believe that we are still in the very early days of our era of mobile technology. And to ensure its continued evolution and innovation as a force for economic, cultural, scientific and community advancement, all stakeholders who care about mobile technologies – industry, communities, governments, the academy, the media, and individual innovators – will benefit by learning from each other, by listening to each other, and by collaborating with each other.
That is what Mobile Future is about. Our aim is to be an open, accessible and value-added educational platform for bringing all those who care about the mobile technologies together in common cause to discuss and learn about key issues that will impact the continued metamorphosis of the mobile and wireless technologies as a key engine for economic and social growth and innovation in the United States and around the world. We especially hope to serve as a useful and sturdy bridge between those who innovate and those who regulate to ensure the greatest possible transparency, openness and mutual education.
Join us. Collaborate with us. Though we are 160 years on from Antonio Meucci’s remarkable innovation, in the grander scheme of things, we have only just begun. Let us know what you are thinking.
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