STARTED ANALOG, WENT DIGITAL, GOING INTERNET

"The rapidly evolving world of mobile technology that arguably started with the operator assisted Mobile Telephone System (MTS) in North America in 1946 has now blossomed in to the multi-billion dollar industry which according to the ITU had by the end of 2009 an estimated 4.6 billion mobile cellular subscriptions, corresponding to 67 per 100 inhabitants globally. With the imminent arrival of the next generation of this technology known as 4G which uses the same principles as the internet these numbers are set to increase. This is the first in a series of blogs where I take a critical look at it this aspect of our Information Technology world"TD, July 2010

The Mobile Services Proposition => Messaging, Networking, Gaming & Marketing,

In our increasingly time-pressured world, the ability to work selectively has become critical for productivity and work-life balance. As work itself migrates from somewhere to go to something to do wherever you are, mobile technology is taking center stage across the world with devices that offer users a lot more than making and receiving calls. With a new breed of smartphones now starting to make waves as they jockey for market share, the technology is revolutionizing business activities in advertising, marketing, sales and even government services in its wake.

Blackberry

The arrival of mobile tools such as the Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android phones and the like, entertainment and business activities on the go is fast becoming the norm. Chatting with friends, listening to music, taking photographs, booking tickets, placing orders, making payments and even watching movies now happens wherever you can get a signal. Mobile and other digital technologies and contextually relevant content are increasingly being integrated into personalized services that create unique and compelling user experiences. For exampleparents can now keep track of their children using solutions such as Zentracker andGoogle Latitude which lets you see where your friends are right now on your phone, computer, or both. With Zentracker, a parent only needs to send an SMS to their child’s phone to be told exactly where the child is.

Adding fuel to this raging fire of mobile smartphones use is the uptake of social networking tools such as Facebook,YouTube and Twitter that are now in the process of introducing location based services (LBS) which will bring the real world to the mobile Internet by making it possible for users (even when not in motion) to see people and services around them and connect to them instantly. So for example with Ovi by Nokia in partnership with Facebook, instant ‘lifecasting’ of content from phones is now possible allowing people to publish their location, status updates etc. directly to Facebook from their handset wherever they are.

iPhone

In developing countries such as my home country of Nigeria, use of mobile phone text messaging, cameras and email in government and other institutional activities is beginning to play an important role in helping eradicate corruption by improving transparency of politicians and public officials. This is because mobile technology has created personalized journalism where individuals actively collect, report, analyze and publish news. All that's needed is a nearby network tower; a GPRS enabled phone and some airtime credit.

Marketers’ worldwide are increasingly coming to the realization that they can enhance consumer brand equity via the targeted precision and customized experience that mobile as a platform affords over other media. 2009 figures for global mobile marketing and advertising revenues range from $1.4 to $7.5 billion with all analysts expecting the numbers to double within the next five years.

Smartphone

Add to all of this the fact that according to people like David Dalka, increasingpenetration of mobile technology has been found to significantly contribute to economic growth especially in developing countries and you begin to understand the optimism that is underpinning its use.