Much has changed

Mobile evolves from 'Whatever' to Wherever in half a decade

Over 6 years ago I was dubious about mobile phones. There was too much gadgetry-for-its-own-sake, not enough new real added utility. Just wasn't going anywhere interesting.

Well things have changed since then. Dramatically.

Mobile phones have morphed into mobile personal information sharing appliances, with voice calls now only a minor ingredient. Its no longer about mobile telephony. Its about having a mobile lifestyle.

Its all about immediate access to everything wherever you happen to be, whether at work or at play. Email, that report, stock prices, shopping, movies, games, friends, family, information on any topic, and more.

If you have a business, don't expect many customers to see your ad in the newspaper and drop in to your local shop. They are more likely to hear about your product via their social network, visit an online store they (and others in their network) trust, purchase it and get it delivered to wherever they will be in 3 days.

Mobile phones are no longer mobile phones. 

Data traffic on mobile networks far exceeds voice traffic. Mobile phones have become information sources and sinks, the way to find information, the way to share information. Occasionally, using a mobile phone to talk to someone is useful too.

More has changed than just the mobile personal device. Much more.

Individuals and businesses are choosing mobile connectivity over fixed, connected everywhere not just the home or office

• Physically wired connections to homes are decreasing rapidly, with people choosing wireless-only options.
• The usage of existing wired connections are slowing or decreasing while mobile usage booms, for both telephony and data.
• The workplace is replacing wired connections to end-users with wireless. Mobility is king - instead of a desk, a desk phone and a PC employees are expected to use a mobile and a wireless laptop and the only desk they might sit at regularly is at a long-term client's premises.
• Businesses used to issue a mobile phone and laptop to employees, now the new era is beginning where you bring your own (personal) devices (BYOD) and use it for work purposes as well as personal.

The expectation of immediate communications is universal

• The time lag between thinking of something you want/need to do and starting to action it is drastically reduced. Your trusty mobile appliance is right there in your pocket, at your immediate service.
• The time lag between someone (or something) wanting to communicate with you and your receipt of the communicae is drastically reduced. Its just about immediate.

Personal life and business life are merging ... and sporting/hobby/family/education/entertainment lives etc.

• Personal life is merging with work life and vice versa, driven by the rise of  always-connected social/communities based information sharing applications and utilities
• Hit with a sudden client problem and cruched for time? Reach out through your network for the quickest smartest solution that will still impress your client
• Need to tell your sports team captain/coach you available (or not) for the big game next weekend - its done, easily, and notifications sent to initiate selection of a replacement are automatic

Wireless technology is evolving rapidly to meet the needs and overcome obstacles

• 4G is rolling out, 5G is in development
• Many of the wireless technologies are evolving rapidly to solve localised wireless network challenges
• Costs of fixed-network-to-the-premises build and maintenance (TCO) is exorbitant compared to mobile network rollout

What does it mean ? ... MOBILITY IS THE NEW NORMAL

Everyone assumes everyone is well connected, wherever they are. People won't respond when they get the message - they always get it immediately. They'll respond based on priority - though generally quicker than ever before.

Think about that next time someone takes a while to respond, or doesn't respond to your request. Think about what others might think about you taking a while to respond to them..

How does this affect the way a business operates, and how a business engages all its stakeholders, employees, customers, partners, suppliers, shareholders, competitors and so on.

Can a large populace learn to live harmoniously, or are we doomed to repeat history?

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. 

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

― Alexander Fraser Tytler

It begins...

Greetings bloglings,

The time has come to begin a blog, so here it is. First up, I'll be a bit radical and controversial.

Most blogs are about technology - new, old, future, latest developments, research. But how do we decide what technology to develop? Is it really working for us, to its potential? In some ways, its great eg. blogs. In other ways its underwhelming eg. there seems to be an endless production line of gadgets with accompanying marketing extolling the life changing effect it will have if you go buy it.

I find myself a little dissatisfied. After buying my first mobile phone back in 1993 I have never needed been convinced to upgrade to a phone with fancier features. Simple voice, SMS, and an address book are really all I use. Some 5 or 6 upgrades later and I still see nothing compelling to convince me to buy a fully featured latest model phone. Phone companies want me to spend more per month. In the end, I'm just not seeing enough value in their services to go beyond a certain level of $/month.

It seems to me the discussion of the benefits technology can bring needs to be taken to a higher level. If the effort put into developing gadgets of dubious value was instead concentrated on solving the really annoying/irritating/frustrating problems of the world, we may just succeed in making our lives better.

Are there people out there actively trying to solve the things that annoy us the most, fixing them once-and-for-all? I'd be grateful if research funding went into some of these problems:

• Stopping people from shooting and blowing each other up
• Proving or disproving the feasibility of politicians promises
  
• Stopping the proliferation of graffiti onto all the flat surfaces of the world
  
• Clean water for all
• Clean energy for all
• Get the trains running on time
• Preventing traffic jams
  

Wouldn't that be better than a mobile phone with a 20 pixel wider screen?

BTW - I'm not suggesting this type of research isn't happening, I'm just wondering if the same amount of creative energy and research $$ is being directed to these types of problem areas.

Perhaps compromises can be found - maybe we need a wearable gadget that records individual's movements, then uploads them to a supercomputer, so an analysis can be performed to find patterns that would be used as input into better transport network design. This type of rigour is theoretically possible with the latest technology, but is it actually being used?

We seem to have a wealth of talent in the world for crafting technological solutions to problems. What would it take to divert their energies from the largely trivial to the truly useful?