What's had the most impact on your network?
As I was putting my six year old daughter to bed the other evening, she handed me my iPad (low on battery because she had been watching cartoons) and asked me to read her a book.
As I opened the app, I had one of those “how did I get here?” moments.
Fifteen years ago, I would have thought that my living room was a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Who would have thought that we could use tablets to view video, read books and communicate with others anywhere—without cords, tapes/cds or remote controls?
A lot of you may argue that you saw this coming (especially if you’re Stanley Kubrick). But did you anticipate the impact this change has had on networks around the world?
This thought still weighed on my mind the next day, and I began to discuss the most impactful industry developments over the last ten years with my colleagues, for example:
- Merging mobile phones with PDAs created email on the go, and mobilized workforces
- Mobile web browsing opened up the world wide web anywhere
- Integrating cameras and video into devices enabled mobile users to share multimedia, live and on the move
- The convergence of social media and mobile technology brought truly ubiquitous and real-time interaction
- The rise of the app store created an entirely new economy and ecosystem of users, developers, content owners and device manufacturers
Change is constant, impact is unpredictable
Nothing there probably surprises you either—but maybe the extent of their impact has. We all knew that including cameras on phones would prove popular—but did we understand the impact?
Now instead of taking notes, people can just take photos of diagrams drawn on conference room white boards. You can catch the guy who hit your car and took off by snapping a quick picture of his license plate. All this adds up to more and more data for networks to handle...and this is only one new source of data. We haven’t even talked about mobile video yet.
It’s impossible to think about where we are today without considering where we’ve been. So, what do you think? What mobile Internet development has had the most impact on the network?
What are the events, big or small, that had a major impact on your customers, your business, your network or even your personal life? Did you see them coming? Did you face some (not always pleasant) surprises?
Share your story as a comment below, and feel free to chat about others’ examples too.
I've written a longer post about it here: http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2011/08/whats-...
I have also written a longer post including yours and Ewan's comments: http://www.trishburgess.com/2/post/2011/08/tellabs...
However a cause for much personal frustration is that while mobile email is valued by the consumer also (not just the enterprise user), and while 99% of modern devices include native email client it's still a surprisingly complex task for many consumers. OK, if you have a Gmail, Hotmail et al account you're probably set and can take advantage of the pre-installed configuration wizards. But what about the email longtail -the Email accounts from the thousands of other providers out there? As a consumer (without an IT dept. behind you), have you ever tried to retrieve the incoming / outgoing server address, security type etc and manually configure an account for a 'non-standard' email account? It's beyond most people and your operator (mostly) won't be able to help. There are a few brands that are getting it right and understand the importance of auto-populating settings (beyond your username / password) - for the email long tail. it's actually something Microsoft does very well with its Windows Phone platform.
It's something I wrote about a couple of years ago http://blog.wds.co/wdscompany/?p=236. things have improved but not massively given Google / Android's desire to wrap as many people in the Gmail ecosystem as possible.
Here's a video we produced demonstrating some of the pain of configuring 'non-standard' email accounts on Android. http://www.youtube.com/wdscompany#p/u/3/daOsPO7CDt...
But...in summary - my vote is with email (and good old SMS).
More broadly, however, I want to take a step back. The biggest impact has to be the availability of inexpensive, powerful mobile devices. Mobile e-mail is great - it's extended my workday temporally as well as spatially. Multimedia capabilities save me the trouble of carrying multiple devices. Without the app store, where would Angry Birds be? None of this would really matter, however, if smartphone usage was limited to a handful of users who could afford them.
The US is often slammed for its distribution models which rely heavily on subsidies, but that's grown the potential access to smartphones. Access, in turn, has stressed networks in well-documented ways and forced new thinking around business models, billing, etc.
Compact size means the devices go everywhere with me, so little time is wasted "waiting" ... instead I can always be doing something. I never turn off the device unless forced to, on an airplane or in a concert hall.
I didn't foresee the complete ubiquity and the always-on nature of mobile Internet ... and the requirements this would create for networks.
Launched in early 2007 before the first iPhone, it suddenly enabled operators to offer mobile broadband at consumer-grade prices, compared to the much more expensive (and clunkier) PCMCIA cards which were aimed almost exclusively at business users.
Various other vendors then swiftly followed the USB modem path - ZTE and traditional PCMCI vendors like Sierra Wireless and Novatel.
This drove the huge growth in data traffic we've seen in recent years, before smartphones caught up - and fundamentally shifted the economics of 3G/4G netwiorks. In many places, USB dongles still generate far more traffic than phones.
I'd also say that together with the BlackBerry & later the iPhone, laptop USB modems suddenly meant that operators embraced the concept of full Internet connectivity (aka Pipes), ditching various pointless early walled-garden services, something I wrote about 3 years ago: http://disruptivewireless.blogspot.com/2008/05/vod...
Now as it happens, the USB modems also led the operators to sow seeds of their own destruction, through underpricing of some of the data plans. But that's another story.
Dean Bubley
Disruptive Analysis
Inspired by Ewan's post, I pulled together my own arguments all around the impact of the all you can eat data plan.
Take a look :)
http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2011/08/whats-...
And on the topic of that started this conversation which includes changing & converging, I encourage you to read our take on Generation C. http://rise.mahindra.com/are-we-ready-for-gen-c/
Apple also did a lot to make the mobile experience enjoyable by creating the app store and maintaining close control over the quality of the apps. As a result Apple magnified their devices functionality through 3rd party developers. Everyone has tried to follow this same model.
Thank you Apple.
Within the business world, probably email. You no longer have to be chained to a desk / cable to be contactable, to read and respond to emails. You are available no matter where you are, office, customer site, car, train, airport...
Of course, you can argue is that really a good thing as suddenly you are answering emails, reading reports, etc... at 11pm on a saturday night when you should be recharging the batteries and spending time with family and friends.
Within the home world, The app! There really is an app for everything these days. You can check flight status when traveling, tourist guides, spell check, world clock, nearby restaurants, mileage, translation, calculator, newspapers, books, music, radio, video, kids can be kept amused for hours with Angry birds or Talking Tomcat... not to mention the whole aspect of the social networks that are now "App'd" onto your mobile device... Twitter, myspace, facebook... It's endless.
This new type of usage has taken out mobile networks, who 10 years ago did voice to new heights. Now traffic is data and large quantities of it.
In the past, people would have screamed if their mobile call dropped, or they couldn't make a call.
Now, its if their status update didn't go through, or they can't IM a friend...
People are changing the way they communicate and the networks are having to play catch up.
Personally, I still like BT's motto... Its good to talk... No mobile device can replace hearing a loved ones voice!