Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications

Social-Mobile Convergence

Posted: 05/16/08 by Chris Parandian

Facebook Nation

Posted: 04/21/08 by Chris Parandian

It is highly likely if you are reading this post that you are already on Facebook. Even in Washington, a town that is slow to embrace change, there is a great deal of "vampire biting" and "sheep throwing" happening in the District.

It is also highly likely that you are wondering what this post or Facebook has to do with our Mobile Future. I believe a great deal...

As you may recall at CTIA's Fall IT show last year, Dustin Moskowitz announced that Facebook was going mobile. Folks now have the opportunity to download the Facebook application on their Blackberries. At this year's show, a representative at RIM told me that 1 million downloads of the application had occurred. This is a very impressive development and likely to accelerate as Blackberry devices move into the hands of the millenials. A demographic that will out number the boomers in 2010.

However, it is not necessarily the mobile social networking potential that is interesting but all the different groups in Facebook focused on the wireless industry. On that note, one group that I would like to highlight is the Social Mobile Group.

The Social Mobile Group consists of people who are interested in how wireless can be a positive factor in developing countries across the world. It is an active community that highlights articles and the works of others who believe that wireless can be a factor in changing lives. Ken Banks (a member of Stanford's faculty) founded the group and I'm honored to be a part of this community.

Please consider joining the group and getting involved!

Jott is “bringing simple back”

Posted: 04/16/08 by Chris Parandian

As I mentioned in a previous post, social technologies and wireless are a pair of aces. Everyday I'm finding new ways to participate in this digital revolution. In fact, it is hard to keep up with all of the new technologies and I hope you'll tip us to some stuff we haven't seen.

In any case, I recently started utilizing Jott. I heard about Jott from Jonny Goldstein who has taught me a great deal about videoblogging and is a local leader in social media.

Jott has facilitated life for me in a few ways. First, it allows me to organize my thoughts and it centralizes them for me online. Gone are the days when I would leave myself voice-mails. With Jott, I can dictate a message using my blackberry and I can recall it online later. Jott transcribes the message for you.

On a related note, they have recently added additional functionality for the blackberry. You can download it here. Basically, if I get an email from you, I can hit "reply with Jott" and respond to your email via voice. Once again, Jott will transcribe the message and you will receive a reply email from me. A bonus feature by Jott is a "cc" to you on the email so that you can see if the message was transcribed accurately.

The next time you are out and about and you want to give the qwerty keyboard a break - give Jott a try. Jott is definitely "bringing simple back."

Social Networking Goes Mobile

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.

Metamorphosis

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.