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The Future of the Mobile Internet: How do we tap into its fullest benefits?

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Technology The Future of the Mobile Internet: How do we tap into its fullest benefits?
APR 11, 2008 LISTEN

In recent times of Information Age (the Digital and Wireless Age), an era which alludes to the global economy's shift in focus away from the production of physical goods toward the manipulation of information, one would not hesitate to affirm “Yes” when confronted with “a Yes or No question as to whether Mobile Internet has a future”.

This has been as a result of the fact that Technological advances in this field have changed lifestyles around the world and spawned new industries around the personal computer and the internet. The Internet was originally conceived as a distributed, fail-proof network that could connect computers together and be resistant to any point of failure. It was created mainly by DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military); its initial software applications were email and computer file transfer.
It was with the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989 that the Internet really took off as a global network. Today, the Internet has become the ultimate place to accelerate the flow of relevant information and the fastest growing form of media.
Mobile Internet
Mobile Internet is access to the Internet using a mobile wireless modem(GPRS device), either integrated into a mobile phone or in an independent device (USB modem, PCMCIA card).
For the sake of limited space available for Columnists in the articles' section of this Web, I will limit myself to just Mobile phones.
In recent times, mobile phone manufacturers and GSM Network Service Providers, have come of age too and seen the need to match up with today's technological advancements and therefore have carefully tailored their products and services with the up-to-the minute IT solutions to meet the mobile needs of their end users.
No wonder Mobile phone giants (Handset & Service Providers) like Nokia, Samsung, T-mobile, MTN etc. are working around the clock to take advantage of the emerging markets for WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)-enabled Phones.

Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple computers, manufacturers of Blackberry smart phones and Iphone respectively have managed to come up with innovative wireless solutions which have changed the face of mobile phone communications.

Looking at Blackberry and I-Mode(NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a wireless Internet service popular in Japan and is increasing in popularity in other parts of the world, such as Israel) , it is tempting to draw some early conclusions about the ways in which the mobile internet is most likely to take hold in the future.
What is interesting about both devices is that they have been developed by
companies with a clear notion of who their end users are, and of which have designed their products and services around these users. In the case of the Blackberry, both the device itself as well as its services have been targeted at business users, and at making the sending and receiving of email as easy as possible for business people.

Today the most frequently used I-Mode services are those that are either entertaining, are
social, or are both. Alongside its primary use for communication (via voice, email and voicemail), popular applications
include on-line dating services, interactive games, and the ability to download ring tones, cartoons and images.

What Activities are Appropriate on Mobile Devices?
For one to get internet access on one's WAP enabled phone, one needs to get it activated by the GSM Network Provider and once it's done, one can get started. Mobile phone internet access is really appealing, but the small screen and phone keypad input means that the capabilities of a “normal” Web browser are severely compromised. Many of the features we rely on for browsing are not there, displayed information is primarily text -based, and techniques for doing things like bookmarking are very different from what we might do on our non-mobile PCs. Combined with often shaky wireless network capabilities and limited WAP-enabled sites, we are presented with some of the features of Web browsing, but not all of them; with the ability to do some of the Web-based tasks we usually do, but not all of them. The result can be frustrating, especially in the light of many of the claims that mobile operators made for the freedom that these new wireless internet services would provide us through the mobile phone.

Not withstanding that, there are a number of WAP service application websites that make mobile internet surfing alot easier and www.getjar.com, www.clickapps.com among others are the leading WAP applications providers. These webs have several applications which are downloadable ranging from Browsers, Email clients, Messengers, Education, Security/Password to Games.

These applications are downloaded from the Net to the WAP-enabled phone and then installed. One can also get it on a PC then have it transferred to the phone through its USB cable or even by the use of Bluetooth (Bluetooth technology allows electronic devices to communicate remotely).

In the developed economies of the world like the US and the UK, a large proportion of people who buy a new mobile phone will buy a WAP-enabled phone. It seems that they do this not only because they want the most up-to-date phone, but also because the idea of internet access is appealing. After all, if surfing the Web through your desktop PC is useful, why would it not also be valuable on the move?
Below are a number of activities most WAP-enabled phone users undertake on their phones;

Finding: Using the Web to find something specific. Searching is goal-oriented and very well defined: E.g., Finding a fact such as a phone number, spelling or product name; a set of facts such as a list of ingredients for a recipe, or list of train times; or a virtual product or products such as a document, software, map, or image.

• Information Gathering: Less specific than “Finding”, but using the Web to purposefully research a specific topic for various reasons. E.g., Gathering information in order to compare, choose or decide about something (such as buying products or looking for jobs); in order to supplement a future task (such as collecting background information to write a document, or to prepare for a meeting); or in order to be inspired or get ideas.

• Browsing: Going to sites out of personal or work-related interest with no specific goal in mind but rather to be informed, stay up to date or be entertained. E.g., Browsing through a newspaper or magazine, following an interesting link, or checking to see what's new on a hobby-related site.

• Transacting: Using the Web to execute a transaction securing future products or services: E.g., Making a bank transfer,
paying a bill, ordering a physical product, or filling out questionnaires.
• Communicating: Using the Web in order to participate in chat rooms or discussion groups.

These advancements in technology have made life outside the Classrooms, Offices among others a lot easier and the future with them is very bright.

It is in the light of these that, I will urge the youth of our dear motherland, Ghana, to be abreast of information communication technology ( ICT) to improve their lives for the betterment of our dear country.

By Laybel NiiBi Sowah, a freelance ICT columnist and Manager, FastTrack Cafe, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Email:[email protected]

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