If you think that social networking is just for computers, you are wrong. It seems that internet on the mobile phone is getting to a stage where the pc would be forgotten, from PDAs to blackberry’s and even new designs of phone made especially for frequent internet use by companies such as Nokia, Apple, Samsung or Sony Ericsson. It has got to a point where people can use their phones to check and receive their e-mails, check their account balances, transfer funds and know where the person next to him is working without even being introduced. For instance, Aka-aki, a German company developed an Internet application for the mobile phone suitable for social networking.
Moreover, I have the feeling that the time when I don’t have to worry anymore if I arranged or not the books on the shelf in the ascendant order of the publishing date or the shirts in the alphabetical order according to the name on the label is very close. The apps that are currently available and that can be used on an iPhone are here to soothe my worries. So I just discovered that if I need to impress my friends with my knowledge about birds there is iBird or if I don’t know what to say next I can always use the jokes from the late-night talk shows through iPhunny. Despite benefits such as no fixed location, privacy, security and personalization for the time being there are certain setbacks related to costs and the implementation of Internet technology on a mobile phone. A survey conducted by the Nielsen Company in five Western European markets and the United States showed that 71 percent of consumers expect to use data services like mobile internet during the next two years, though they remain concerned about the cost, speed and quality of service in terms of display. By 2012, “people will be browsing the Web more on their phones than on PCs or laptops,” said Greg Osberg, Buzzwire’s chief executive . Even if the number of people who surf the Internet on phones has doubled since 2006, according to Nielsen Mobile, to 40 million only 16% of people with cellphones use them to go online, and those that do visit an average of six sites a month, versus 100 on their computers . The trend of PC Internet usage is replicated also as John Barton, UK sales and marketing director at LG Mobile observes: ’One of the major areas of growth besides e-mail is the use of social networking sites. More and more consumers want to stay in touch with their online communities while on the move’. Despite the favorable odds for the Internet on mobile phones this does not mean that someone will use a one and only device to access it to the prejudice of another. The best example comes from the mass-media world. After the emergence of TV people still listen to the radio or buy newspapers. All those information channels still exist with a different level of use but in a complementary relation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Lol...but are we actually trying to determine? Whether or not mobile phones will 'replace' computers in case od many people? If that would be the question, then certainly not. There are just too many different situations in which a computer is indispensible, and where people will simply never give up a computer in favour of a phone...
ReplyDeleteBut then again, the question formed that way might not be sensible, because where exactly is the boundary between a phone and a computer? Where does a 'pocket pc' fall in? I think that this differentiation will be more and more difficult to make with each year.
As to the big popularity of mobile phones and rapid expansion of the scope that they may be used for, that is certainly right. It is something that, in my opinion, will continue in the future and mobile phone manufacturers are making a lot of effort to make the phone something even more halpful for a human being than it is at the moment. I guess it might even be difficult to predict all that can be invented during the next decade. I guess we'll have to live to see...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you, mobile phones are used by more and more people, gaining more power in front of PCs or laptops, but to say that the latter will be forgotten in the years that come is too much.
ReplyDeleteI believe that in the future people will use both of them, depending on the different situations one needs them for: phones or blackberries are handy, and PCs or laptops are for high-performance.
Moreover, the means of communication are usually divergent, and not convergent meaning that in the future we'll have even more specialized devices for each action.
Maybe mobile phones will somehow reduce the usage of PCs or laptops, but in any case we'll not be able to let aside our PCs.
how far Akaaki application can be successful? and practical, maybe these ideas are good only on paper.
ReplyDeleteVery good question. At least the video from their site gives you enough reasons to use it on your mobile phone (it works on almost any) http://www.aka-aki.com/. It is free, too. Till present, figures show that they are on a positive trend. aka-aki is the number 1 most popular social network in the AppStore, number 4 of all free apps as it is said on their blog.aka-aki evolved from a diploma project at the University of the Arts Berlin and evolved into a real company which launched its mobile social networking service on the 3rd of April 2008 with the aim of helping the users to keep in touch with friends or getting to know other members nearby, in the same area or the same city. There is a saying: it is enough space for everyone under the sun. Personally, I find it appealing.
ReplyDelete