BI: You wrote: “Mobile devices aren’t consumption devices, they’re prosthetic brains.” The Common thought is that they are consumption devices, so, what do you mean by that?
Alistair Croll: If you need to check your phone to find out about a meeting, you’ve failed. If your phone understands that you need to know about a meeting, and tells you about it, then you’ve won. In the former case, the burden was on you (to check) and the phone was simply a reference.
I think they’re both.
And perhaps it’s just a matter of time before open source takes center stage in mobile. Today mobile developers are just trying to get work done in a highly fragmented market. As the industry settles on norms for the kinds of services and infrastructure one needs to build successful mobile experiences, I suspect we’ll see open source stake its claim to the market, similar to what happened in the server market 20 years ago.
No more unlocking
In 2006 and 2010, the Librarian of Congress had permitted users to unlock their phones to take them to a new carrier. Now that’s coming to an end. While the new rules do contain a provision allowing phone unlocking, it comes with a crippling caveat: the phone must have been “originally acquired from the operator of a wireless telecommunications network or retailer no later than ninety days after the effective date of this exemption.”
In other words, phones you already have, as well as those purchased between now and next January, can be unlocked. But phones purchased after January 2013 can only be unlocked with the carrier’s permission.
The reasons for the distinction include that none can be made about what is a tablet.
We get closer to the heart of the matter when we look at a common thought pattern, an age-old and dangerously misleading algorithm:
The [new thing] is like the [old thing] only [smaller | bigger]
We’ve seen this formula, and its abuse, before. Decades ago, incumbents had to finally admit that minicomputers weren’t simply small mainframes. Manufacturers, vendors, software makers had to adapt to the constraints and benefits of a new, different environment. A semi-generation later, we saw it again: Microcomputers weren’t diminutive minicomputers but truly personal machines that consumers could lift with their arms, minds, and credit cards.
And nothing is more personal than the handset. We might have, in an era when “receive only” was the available option, accepted commercials on transistor radios, but we never did with the Walkman.
There is a continuum from cinema to the handset, along a number of dimensions, that suggests the conclusion of this article is correct.
The phone that acts as an eftpos card has been predicted for years. Just recently, Paymark CEO Simon Tong has been discussing how New Zealand???s mobile phone companies and Paymark are working together to speed up the introduction of the ???mobile wallet???.
That future is now one step closer, with the launch of the LG Optimus Net, New Zealand???s very first secure payment Smartphone using the latest technology NFC (near-field communication technology).
This game-changing mobile phone can be used to pay for everyday essentials such as bus fares, train tickets, taxi rides and coffees.
It???s fully Snapper-compatible, although unlike the traditional Snapper card you can view your itemised balance, top it up anytime and pay all via your mobile phone.
The LG Optimus Net is also secure. If lost, the service can be immediately disabled with one phone call to Snapper. Once found it will be up and running again in minutes.
???LG is building a name for itself at the forefront of technological developments, from OLED TVs to truly innovative mobile phones,??? says LG Marketing Manager Richard Bryant. ???As New Zealand???s first NFC phone, the LG Optimus Net will help revolutionise the way people use both their phone and their money.???
The LG Optimus Net is sharply priced at $299 and is available from May exclusively through 2 Degrees stores.
Awesome, never sadder to miss an event. TNC should be abuzz.
Samsung is now the world???s biggest vendor of mobile phones ending Nokia???s 14-year run as the global leader, according to an industry study by Strategy Analytics and IHS iSuppli.
They come, they go.
Consider some of the pessimistic predictions that preceded Apple???s entry into the smartphone business:
- In December 2006, Palm CEO Ed Colligan summarily dismissed the idea that a traditional personal computing company could compete in the smartphone business. ???We???ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,??? he said. ???PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They???re not going to just walk in.???
- In January 2007, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer laughed off the prospect of an expensive smartphone without a keyboard having a chance in the marketplace as follows: ???Five hundred dollars? Fully subsidized? With a plan? I said that???s the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn???t appeal to business customers because it doesn???t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good e-mail machine.???
- In March 2007, computing industry pundit John C. Dvorak argued that ???Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone??? since ???There is no likelihood that Apple can be successful in a business this competitive.??? Dvorak believed the mobile handset business was already locked up by the era???s major players. ???This is not an emerging business. In fact it???s gone so far that it???s in the process of consolidation with probably two players dominating everything, Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc.???
This serves as a classic example of those with a static snapshot mentality disregarding the potential for new entry and technological disruption.
Hindsight perhaps, but there was huge suppressed customer satisfaction demand, functionality of networks and handsets was exploding (still is), replacement cycles were short, subsidy was available, proprietary systems were past their use by, open source credibility was high. Excellent entr??es for Apple customer marketing and Android open model with Google behind it.
Thom Holwerda is thus largely correct in asserting that “the iPhone’s impact on the world is negligible”, whatever its impact on markets for the rich. This isn’t to disparage what Apple has done, but to put it in context, and to serve as a reminder of just how revolutionary Android promises to be for the world.
Hamish MacEwan 