In 2008 the world went mobile. The minute Nokia stopped trying, it finally happened. Where billions of investment in WAP, GPRS, the N and Communicator series failed, it took just a marketing campaign by Apple to bring about the most-anticipated technologycal breakthrough in the history of the world. And after years of hype, when it happened it still took most of the world by surprise.
The mobile Internet that erupted in 2008 is not the parallel universe favoured by phone manufacturers and networks. It is the same internet we’re all used to from our PCs, packed into a convenient device and always aware of its owner’s name and location. iPhone and netbooks like the eee PC on flat-rate access plans rather than metered mobile phones are the devices of choice.
Interestingly, the companies that brought it about have no roots on traditional Mobile markets. Apple -a company that understands innovation is all about what users experience- and Asus -brilliant at packing a 7-inch digital frame, a cheap laptop chip and linux into a revolutionary new PC format, the netbook.
Just the other day, as we waited at Gatwick for an easyJet flight to start boarding, I bought another ticket on Clickair’s main website using just my iPhone. After that, I had a look at the latest iPlayer content and called my mates for free to confirm landing time using my Skype unlimited subscription via Fringe. Try and do that on a Nokia with no Javascript and paying per each Megabyte…
