The future: pocket-sized web devices
14 October 2009
The world's biggest technology companies are getting very excited about the future of mobile internet technology, especially the way they will enable smaller companies to do things differently.
The number of mobile phones in the world is rapidly approaching the number of people, while in Australia, there are 105 mobile phones in use for every 100 people, according to the latest figures from the Australian Media and Communications Authority.
The world's largest microchip maker Intel believes these devices represent the future of the web, according to Pankaj Kedia, director of ecosystems for Intel's Ultra-mobility Group. When you take into account internet-capable mobile phones and portable computers such as netbooks, "Intel's vision is that there will be a billion personal mobile computers in the world over the next few years," says Kedia.
"The bottom line is that the old paradigm of ... the text internet, the slow internet and the subset of internet that I can hardly see on the small screen is a thing of the past," says Kedia. "The PC internet, the real internet, is coming to all these devices."
Cisco, another giant in the technology world, is trying to shrug off its reputation as ‘plumber of the internet' and is focusing on technologies that are more meaningful to the consumer and small business markets.
At the Cisco Networkers 2009 event in Brisbane, the company's vice president and chief technology officer within its emerging technologies group said smart phones and online video are huge drivers of bandwidth consumption.
Jouret claimed the percentage of video traffic across the global network would increase five-fold by 2013. He claimed this would dramatically impact small business, allowing for a more experiential business environment and providing a new paradigm in business-customer interaction.
Jouret explained that for many small businesses, the customer experience is becoming the last competitive differentiator. Their products, and even services, have become commoditised and cost cutting has not been an effective way to profitably gain and retain customers.
At the same time, people are accessing the internet through an increasing number of devices, making it harder to deliver the right kind of high-quality experiences to all customers all the time.
Capabilities such as video and telepresence will become increasingly important in delivering positive customer experiences. Video, for example, will be able to create live links between a customer and the business, allowing the business to provide the information and advice that a customer needs at a time and in a place that is convenient for that customer.
"Ultimately, it's all about collaboration communication, the network becomes the platform, increasingly becoming the driver of the ‘quad play' - data, video, voice and mobility everywhere.," says Jouret. "When the network becomes the platform, it means that you can deliver things faster than before. It gives growth opportunities and moves IT from managing costs to driving growth."
My conclusion: in the past, we associated a given device with a given type of content. However, now multiple devices and multiple screens are sharing the same experience and that should lead to a large productivity increase, especially for small business.
Peter Blasina attended Cisco Networkers 2009 Conference as a guest of Cisco.
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‘Gadget Guy’ Peter Blasina is a small business owner and technology reporter on Seven’s Sunrise
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