This week, through our glasses we will look at a controversial topic...
5 billion users of mobile phones in 2010
A world without mobile phones : a future that is difficult to imagine ! No more only use to call, this little device has assaulted our lives and enabled us to send messages, listen to radio or music and
revolutionary have access to internet.
This week, the Mobile World Congress was held in Barcelona (Spain). Thousands of telecom companies, internet providers and media representatives took part at this annual event. They stated and predicted 5 billion users of mobile phones in 2010.
Formidable tool or object of differentiation, the Mobile truly symbolizes social status. A British study has demonstrated that the mobile replaced cigarettes as a symbol of passage to adulthood. And this is just the beginning !
Mobile phones and more particularly smartphones and wireless phones, are obviously the future of internet and communication.
The whole web is carried in a small pocket ! As indicated by another study published by the institute of studies GfK, in 2009, the sales of regular phones suffered and dropped by 4%. However, the second part of the year was better, in particular thanks to the democratization of smartphones, which contributed to an increase of the sales and the market is going to rapidly grow in 2010. This will allow mobile phones to continue with the trend of the past five years, when sales climbed up to 48%.
GOOGLE focuses on new-generation phones
With major focus on internet and software, the “Nexus One” was launched last month by Google, the web search engine. It is the very first phone produced and sold under the company’s own brand, showing a new interest in materials and a focusing on mobile market.
3G has become rather out of date ; however, with the future 4G, mobile phone will be a n equal competitor to standard desktop computer. In addition, Google claims to plan building an internet network of very high speed – up to 100 times faster than the current one. "Android is a huge rock hurtling straight on the mobile market" said Lindholm Fjord, predicting an invasion of the mobile platform from Google (Le Point.fr, 2010). Mobile has an undeniable benefit now of avoiding lengthy connection and feeling free to move.
Mobile phones have a bright future competing directly to regular computers as even the “almighty” Google has entered this promising market.
Did you say « Privacy » ?
In addition to all the advantages and applications available, mobile phones can offer location-based services. SatNav features allow consumers to find local information instantly which is most useful in an emergency situation such as where is the nearest hotel / train station ? E-coupon’s are another feature which enables shoppers’ instant discounts.
One of the biggest fears among consumers is the threat of being tracked or traced. This can be in the case of identity theft, or even potential employers checking what their staff are up to, which may be the case on some social networking sites.Using of mobiles as daily hand-held computers, more needs to be done to protect against privacy to protect confidentiality. As the mobile becomes essential with its personalized applications, it can be considered more important than your wallet ; hence the risk of losing your mobile would be so tragic.
New generation mobile and wireless have unquestionably many advantages : flexibility, speed connection and services, but we don’t believe it is the end of regular computers yet, maybe the notebook instead. So, mobiles and computers will live together in harmony for a while longer.
And you, do you think that mobile phones will replace regular computers in the future ? Do you feel observed, tracked because of your cell phone ?
E-talks-2U looked at :
Le Point (2010) Ouverture du Mobile World Congress, sous le signe d'Apple et de Google [online] available from http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-technologie-internet/2010-02-15/ouverture-du-mobile-world-congress-sous-le-signe-d-apple-et-de/1387/0/424208 [15 february 2010]
ITU (2010) ITU sees 5 billion mobile subscriptions globally in 2010 [online] available from http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2010/06.html [15 february 2010]
Eurotechnology Japan (2010) Location Based Services [online] available from http://www.eurotechnology.com/market_reports/LBS/ [15 february 2010]
Your Privacy (2010) Your Privacy on your mobile phone [online] available from http://www.yourprivacy.co.uk/PrivacyMobilePhone.html [15 february 2010]
Hi,
Can you pleas explain "One of the biggest fears among consumers is the threat of being tracked or traced. This can be in the case of identity theft, or even potential employers checking what their staff are up to, which may be the case on some social networking sites"
Husni
With the fast developing technology, no doubt people's locations could soon possibly be followed by all sorts of devices including mobile phones. This might be rather intimidating and may also evoke fear.
Nowadays, with mobile phones with internet access theft,personal information not protected by passwords included in emails, facebook etc., where people usually keep logged in constantly, can easily be misused.
I think the only advantage of being tracked with your cellphone is the safety because nowadays if you have an accident or something else, thanks to your cellphone, you can be localised and people can help you.
We really live in the Big Brother society because we are observed everywhere and now even with our mobiles.
Where is the next stage?
Congrats for your blog!
Which technology do you think will last? The article highlighted many uses of the mobile phone, and mentioned that the 4G service will make them more competitive with computer. Do you believe that currently computers are more superior to the mobile phones? The article painted a platform of all things mobile and how wonderful mobile phones are, with limited information on computers.
This article revealed a lot about advances in mobile technology. Good job.
To answer your question, we can say that, currently, it is interesting to note that mobile phones have achieved the same performance as computers, as it is now possible to surf on the Internet, send emails, get information and doing this very rapidly from mobile phones today. However, the computer retains many advantages, such as screen size which is bigger than cell phones or even using the keyboard is much easier to manipulate than on mobile phones. Reading and watching movies are more suitable in a computer than in a cell phone too. The main advantage of mobile phones compared to computers is probably the mobility, the flexibility, it is true that it is much more convenient to travel by taking the phone with you.
In conclusion, we can see that mobile phones have evolved a lot during the past few years and can compete with computers in terms of applications available now (both can do the same things) but PC are still superior to cell phones in terms of performance.