I believe that mobile is one of the most revolutionary thing happened in our lifetime. It would become the key enabler in the process of human development (socially/economically). The reason, for this, is the following services which would be available on a mobile sooner or later if unavailable now.
Note : All the following services would never be available on a single mobile phone. Any subset of these services would be sold in the market. So it means, one will keep multiple mobile devices.
- Voice/Video Calls (local/national/international)
- Documentation/Video Recording/Audio Recording – Blogging, Remotely updating office work, Softwares- Word/Excel/Powerpoint/etc, Creative Designs such as drawing,
- Messaging/Chat/File Transfer – one to one, group messaging, group discussions, automatic notification, RSS feeds,
- Music – Tune/songs identification through audio recording in order to download on iTunes kind of a platform,
- E-Commerce – ordering groceries, Insurance policy, Photo-prints,
- Ticketing or Booking – Air/ Train/ Bus/ Car/ Movie/ Hotel/ Events/ Any professionals’ appointments/ etc
- Video/Audio on Demand – Movies, Story telling for children, Live video/audio streams
- Access to content on web – Videos/ Images/ News Papers/ Magazines/Horoscope etc
- Friendship/Dating networks
- Matrimonial services
- Search for person/object/location details – where, who, what, how, when-, object identification through photos,
- TV – With time shift facility
- Stocks/Investment
- Navigation systems – Maps, Diksuchi, Driving directions
- Banking
- Location based payments (similar to credit/smart card) for uses such as parking lot fee, AVM, Pay any merchant such as autowala
- E-Books
- Teaching/Training – E-Pen, Live streaming lectures, Materials such as Lecture notes, Presentations, Audio/Video Lectures,
- Interactive Gaming
- Diagnosis – Temperature, BP, Pulse reading through Stylus
- Scanning – paper/photo,
- OCR –
- Barcode Reader
- Object Location Identification – RFID
- Dictionary/Encyclopedia
- Translation (Text/Voice)
- Voting
- Survey/Quiz/Feedback/Complaints/examination systems
- Application filing – Jobs, loans, admission, other government services,
- Remote access – Computers, Mobiles, TV, Fridge, Micro oven, Electric switches,
- Identification – Software Key, Digital signature, Finger print scan, password,
- Alarm/Watch/Timer –
- Mirror –
- Radio –
- Mouse –
However, there are certain limitations to mobile which are the reasons for having limitations on the number of services. These are:
- Display size – May have TV/Monitor output.
- Memory – Remote storage may be used
- Processor performance – May use the resource of another remote high performance computer
- Battery power
- Keypad – A foldable printed paper type wireless keypad may be used
- Interoperability
- Signal reach – signal boosters may be used
- Environment
- Water/Heat/Cold/Fire/chemicals issues
- Standing – Physical stand may be used with flexibility in height and width
I am documenting complete details on each of the above services. If anyone wishes to collaborate with me, please write to my gmail id, malapati. Thanks.
- Mobile as media for rural India - September 2, 2008
- Bringing constructive changes in education (or the way of learning!) - August 26, 2008
- Opportunities for service providers in education - August 24, 2008
Well there is no doubt these facility will make mobile a versatile device, but considering the current data speed in mobile networks in India, it will be very tough to incorporate these services especially streaming videos, etc. We have to wait till 3G enters the market.
This is a great list of things which the mobile enables. In several of these things it will enable an actual ecosystem.
1. For instance the location / presence, will enable a completely new set of applications and services.
2. The processing power on the mobile is already greater than the earlier computer – so it can already be a great word processor, email agent, web browser. With bluetooth, infra Red and other wireless technologies, time is not far when you can carry the mobile and have it displayed wirelessly on your monitor at home and connect to the keyboard and mouse in a similar way. So while using mobile as a basic CPU, you would have access to larger screen, keyboard, mouse etc.
3. GPS, GIS, accurate location and remote control, could also open up new areas of remote guiding, routing or controlling vehicles on a controlled hiway.
Most of the applications of the mobile today are in infancy and being looked at in silos — once you start looking at combined benefits of some of these, you are creating a new system altogether.
Ankur
I agree with Brain … ultimately one device will serve all purpose. Some will be client side and some server side solutions 🙂 Anyway, i would be interested in the collaborative thingie you are talking about
HI,
I was looking for a specific feature. I use to think, If we can incorporate a projector in a mobile, then It will be new phase of this on going revolution.
🙂
I couldn’t agree with you more! The mobile device will have all the functionalities that you described & more. As for consumers carrying multiple mobile devices for different services I disagree. It’s evident that consumers want a single device for every function. Maybe initially consumers will have to have plug-in hardware for some very tricky applications/services, however, ultimately a single mobile device will service all of a consumer’s needs.