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Ensuring what tomorrow brings
Rajnesh D. Singh
Innovation is not limited by the applications and services which can be accessed by the mobile phone. There is innovation at the device level itself with today’s highly converged smart devices which are more a multi-functional computer than anything else
The evolution of the mobile phone over the last several years from a device for making wireless voice calls to today’s multi-functional and “smart” phones has been truly amazing. Equally amazing has been the various applications which have been developed to exploit the mobile phone as a tool in diverse sectors such as healthcare, agriculture and banking amongst many others.
The rapid uptake of mobile phones has been one reason that is has become a popular and somewhat ubiquitous platform to deliver various non-voice related services, apart from voice calls itself. Mobile penetration rates have increased rapidly globally, and particularly in the developing world. In India, we crossed 600 million mobile subscribers recently, and the impressive growth continues not only in India, but the rest of South Asia and beyond.
Much of this growth is due to the fact that the cost to own, obtain a service plan, and use a mobile phone is far cheaper, faster and easier than it has traditionally been to obtain a fixed line phone. Prepaid service plans have done away with the need for deposits and credit checks – allowing people from all levels of society the opportunity to connect and to communicate. It no longer takes weeks and months to obtain a telephone line, but literally a matter of minutes. Added to all this is the fact that the learning cycle required to use a mobile phone is very short, and most phones are quite intuitive to use – by all sectors of society.
Across Asia in particular, one of the most used functions in a phone is SMS – a relatively cheap way to communicate. SMS is used for everything from personal messages to news and weather updates to banking. And in India we make great use of the “Missed Call Feature”. Depending on the context, one missed call may mean “I will be home soon” or “I have reached my destination”, two missed calls may mean “I will be late” or “Dad is home”, and so on. The caller and called party seem to have a nearly telepathic connection on the message portrayed by the missed call feature. This is “user innovation”, its “free”, and it works!
Innovation itself on the mobile platform has been highly dynamic, to say the least. Innovation is not limited by the applications and services which can be accessed by the mobile phone. There is innovation at the device level itself with today’s highly converged smart devices which are more a multi-functional computer than anything else. Manufacturers have also innovated to meet market needs – from including a flashlight in a mobile phone to embedding a FM radio receiver or GPS receiver. And then of course, there are the innovative business models that service providers have come up with to sustain and grow business.
The mobile platform has come a long way since the early “brick-like” devices. Much of this progress has been market driven, and let us work to keep it that way. Let us encourage innovation and evolution and let us recognise those that have helped create the mobile phenomenon. But most of all, let us ensure that we have an environment in place, both at the policy and technical level, that will allow innovators to keep innovating, and for us to experience applications and services we cannot even think of today. Let us open the doors out wide so that we can experience what tomorrow brings.
Rajnesh D. Singh is Regional Bureau Manager for Asia, The Internet Society (ISOC). He can be reached at singh@isoc.com
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