Mobile Age – Take it or leave it.

Mobile Age – Take it or leave it.

One of the things I have noticed recently is how everything is shifting to mobile. The younger generations don’t even know how to use any other device to communicate outside their cell phone or other hand held devices. Base on a post by Stephen Pierzchala on January 15, 2013, titled Mobile Commerce Has Come of Age. Are You Ready? It is obvious that there is a paradigm shift to mobile devices for personal use and commerce. Which made me think if there will be more mobile projects targeting mobile users of all ages. The mobile apps in the US have doubled in the past years. Stephen Pierzhala noted that “Mobile is the fastest-growing segment of the online commerce world”.

 

mobile                              gsma1

Figure 1.                                                                                                            Figure 2

This fact is backed up the Global Association of Mobiles companies (GMSA). See the figure below. Universities lecture are available online. Many students are used to listening to class lectures on their mobile device. There are several factors leading to this growth. There are so many apps for mobile devices. Almost all major banks, insurance companies and supermarkets have a mobile app to buy products and/or services online.

The cultural shift to mobile life style is global in nature but not at the same rate globally. The US is leading the paradigm shift followed by Europe. In the 2013 report by GSMA (link 2 below) shows that mobile wireless data use per connection in the U.S. is significantly higher than in the EU. In 2013, Cisco projects U.S. customers will use nearly twice as much data per connection as customers in the EU. Figure 3 in this blog show how much data US mobile consumers are using compare to European mobile consumer.

gsma2

The mobile space will continue to grow there are endless providers of mobile devices and services. One of the major problems is the quality of service. The mobile space quality of service varies from one provider to another, even within the US which has the highest rating globally. Mobile users in the US still complain about poor quality of service depending on where you are located. While the mobile industry has grown significantly especially with products such as I-Phone, I-pad, etc, there are still room for a lot of improvement. With respect to project management it is interesting to know which of the project management principles or philosophy will not work very well when developing mobile products, applications (apps), or services. I have seen many DePaul students especially the undergrad playing video games on their mobile devices. Which make me to also wonder the type of problems these mobile devices introduces to our society and what educational project will be needed to build awareness against the dangers it poses. I believe don’t text while driving is clearly established as an example. ATT has developed an app to solve this problem see reference 4.

 

Reference

  1. http://www.dmnews.com/mobile-commerce-has-come-of-age-are-you-ready/article/276182/#
  2. http://www.gsmamobilewirelessperformance.com/GSMA_Mobile_Wireless_Performance_May2013.pdf
  3. http://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phones/
  4. http://developer.att.com/developer/forward.jsp?passedItemId=12500023&_requestid=39763&gclid=CNjAvZ2Q1rcCFbFAMgodi2oAGQ

11 thoughts on “Mobile Age – Take it or leave it.

  1. I agree that mobil devices pose a problem to companies and organizations because people are easily distracted by their phones. This could lead to less work being done and production slowing. There should be an app that prevents people from gaming at work too.

  2. I am not sure how much video games on your phone is a problem. Video games are part of our day and age now, the more apparent issue is with children and actual game consoles. However, I do agree that texting and driving is a big issue with cell phone use. In a growing market there is much to be had with the cell phone industry

  3. What I find potentially more concerning is how much things are being “dummed down” to fit into mobile apps and on smaller devices. Essential to be able to access “on the go”, but I wonder at what point using applications like Excel or Access become obsolete for the majority of users. That to me, is the scariest part.

  4. I agree that everything is going mobile, as the demand for convenience rises, companies are turning to mobile devices for ways to take their work with them. Originally employees used to only have desktop machines, now-a-days every employee has a laptop, and in the future those laptops will be replaced by tablets. It’s cool to the that the demand for mobile devices is rising because that opens up a whole new industry to application developers. As the creator of an iPhone app, it is good to know that we are on the right track. Also, productivity apps such as Excel or Access will be ported to mobile devices within the near future. There are also many applications that replace Excel and even Access that mobile users can use now, but in the future they will be ported across.

  5. I like the fact that technology is on the rise. The fact that everything is going mobile puts no fear in my heart what so ever. What scares me is the people who use said products. Is the problem really how “dummed down” everything has gotten? Or is the problem inherent in people themselves? Texting while driving is an awesome example. I was in an accident where the other driver was using his phone. Let me tell you, it wasn’t the phone’s fault. Lets stop trying to find things to place the blame on, and look within

  6. I agree. We are absolutely living in a technology world and everything is shifting to mobile. Mobile phones are everywhere and used for various purposes. Some people even have more than one mobile phone (one for business use and one for personal use). This is quite interesting, but I do understand the need of people wanting to keep business and personal use separate. Specifically, with the current capabilities of mobile phones, it has become very hard to live without one. Everything is now in our mobile phones, i.e. contact information, schedules, appointments, the internet, etc. Simple enough, information is at our fingertips with the new mobile technology.

  7. I see that you are talking about how mobile phones are evolving, which can be both a good and bad thing. The industry is growing so quickly that it seems as if some of the carriers are lacking to solve issues such as spotty service in some areas and are more focused on the amount of customers that they can sell their service to. Another good point that you bring up is that of what mobile phones are actually doing, whether helping or hurting us. It would be great if mobile phones could be at least a little more directed towards educational purposes instead of ways to burn time (gaming) and putting lives at risk (texting and driving)

  8. We can either love technology or hate it, but I can agree with your post it seems like everything nowadays is mobile. It’s crazy to think how fast this industry is growing. Your post had me thinking what’s going to be the next best thing; we went from desktop computer, to laptop, to tablet, it makes you wonder what can surpass the tablet. Technology is on a rise, maybe we are living in the future.

  9. I agree with the fact that the world is going mobile. I think the fact that data usage in the US has risen to about double the usage of the EU, really says something about the lifestyles we lead here in the US. Although you seem to emphasize that data usage is predominantly used for entertainment purposes, I believe a lot of that usage has to be business/work related. We live in a world where information is at reach of our fingertips in our phones, with new devices being enhanced, more functions being created on mobile phones, the easy access is pulling us away from browsing the web on typical desktop or laptop and simply accessing that information from our smartphones. Wireless TV and apps like Netflix and Hulu, could very much be responsible for the high usage, which proves the shifting to mobile.

  10. The rise in technology should not be an issue but applaud because it has changed the lifestyle of many consumers to be more productive, effective, and efficient. Mobile devices gives consumers options and convenience which they greatly desire; having such access to the things they needs in a few clicks is a temptation that’s very hard to resist. In this matter, the usage of these mobile devices can either generate pros and cons to one’s lifestyle but it’s how you optimize this opportunity and change. There are numerous apps that many users use that’s related to one’s work or education and having it on the go just makes it so much easier.

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