by Paul Ruppert
March 8, 2008 at 7:38 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Mobile isn't Mobile
Zen means waking up to the present moment. That is, perceiving a mobile moment exactly as it is, rather than through the filter of our ideas and opinions and being free from our fixed past. When you’re talking, just talk; when you’re texting just text, when you’re mobile searching, just find; and so on.
What then is Mobile Zen? 
Mobile Zen is the instantaneous experience of catching a radio link, untethered. Since the experience of mobile communication is one of being free from physical links, our bonds and exchanges of communicating are constantly in flux, with what we really are is only defined by the experience of the moment, the act of coupling. Ask the big question “What is (or is not) mobile?” then one must answer sincerely and honestly “Don’t know” since the experience is constantly changing.
Mobile Zen is something that is only happening spontaneously while you are doing it. All of life within the mobile context then is constantly in a state of change. Every airborne bit or byte in the universe is somewhere different every millionth of a second.
In fact, anything that we can explain within Mobile Zen must be past-tense. What was then is past, what is now is present, and different. Even if its about communicating our most immediate feelings, thoughts or photos, it is not the same experience the second after it passes through our minds, across our lips or through our finger tips.
Mobile Zen is Constantly Changing
Think of your view of “what is mobile?” Is it what it was a second ago, or a year ago, or what it is now? And what will it be tomorrow? Different than now, very different than yesterday. In fact the moment we say the word “mobile” and “view”, the view has already changed into something new. Human neural structure enables over 12,000 impressions per second spread across our physical senses and coordinated by abstract intellect. So, what is the ‘Mobile Reality’ then?
Isn’t it always a very limited view of being connected only through some, any–all, mobile communications which frames our experience at any given moment? And that which we are aware of, becomes our own narrow impression of the world itself. As we have defined mobile in the past will it necessarily change in the future? After all, ultimate untethered mobile may be found in the future through “inside out” networks. Networks where the node may be connected to a fiber network, but the architecture sits in your home, not within a geographic cell of a “macro-network” of base stations and towers. Such will be the way of femto cells. Are any of our views of ‘mobile’ then actually true in the absolute sense of the word, or are they all just our subjective impressions, based on an individual experience of what we are perceiving in an untethered moment?
Obviously, with this in mind, there are a wide array of free from physical links possible at each moment, through a broadening number of nodes; therefore there is no limitation on the number of mobile “existences”, and in any absolute sense, existence itself is defined only as being untethered, unlinked, free from concrete connections, yet still coupled in the intercourse of communication.
Discard Past Orthodoxies
How then can we experience the mobile existence? The mobile experience simply IS. The problem is that we are usually trying to create our own model of the world based on where we sit. Consider the descriptor of being “unconnected.” In the US, the word is “cellular” focusing on the technical infrastructure of being without a physical link. In Europe, the term is “mobile” conveying being out and about, untethered and unfettered in how you communicate (my preference). In Japan, the term is “Keitai” literally meaning ’snug’ converying intimate fit and communications portability.
Then as a student of Mobile Zen, the epiphany is acceptance that when it comes to mobile, “All is one, and one is allâ€. And simply, mobile is mobile when it isn’t tethered-any node sitting in your hand from phone to palm-top. The Mobile Zen is simplicity that draws our attention to that which is essential, stripping away the extra. All things connected are not mobile. You have now reached the experience of Mobile Enlightenment and Mobile Nirvana.
Yet, lest not forget the teachings of Lao Tzu, “they who tell do not know; they who know do not tell.”
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by Ewan Spence
March 3, 2008 at 3:01 am · Filed under Wifi, Mobile isn't Mobile
Wi-fi.
Simple as that. The inclusion of Wi-Fi connectivity into the modern smartphone has opened the eyes of people to the capabilities of these small devices. Rather than relying on the data plan supplied by a network, at the price determined by the network (and a price designed to extract as much revenue as possible), regular users can now access all the data services, applications and tools of their mobile computers, without having to hand over 30 pieces of silver.
For a long time, carriers have been afraid of one thing – becoming little more than data pipes, a commodity delivery service to be exchanged and bartered so users hand over as little revenue as possible. The clamor of Wi-fi has grown so much that you no longer see ‘crippled’ versions of smartphones in the US market (Nokia’s E62 enterprise device was identical to the E61, except with no Wi-fi you had to rely on the network’s data connection and billing). But I think by freeing up the devices so they are not always ‘mobile’ but sometimes ‘wi-fi-ing from home,’ the networks will increase both the value of the handset to the customer, and therefore the value of the customer to them.
There will always be a place for the mobile data connection, but with a direct comparison to the speeds available on Wi-Fi, people are going to be looking for 3g connectivity, for fast data plans, all for an easily understandable cost – that means flat rate data connectivity n advanced networks. Because the users will know what their phone can do with a connection, they’ll be more likely to want to do this while mobile; the initial problem of acceptance has been overcome. Flat rate data simply means they are not going to get a shock when they open their bill, just because they’ve been surfing, buying music, or sending twitter messages through the website. Wi-fi will drive the uptake of mobile data, and strangely will see people rely more and more on the connectivity to the point that being in a Wi-fi hot spot may soon be something of no consequence.
I’d also expect handsets to transfer between the different types of connections automatically in the future – working on behalf of the users to always stay on the cheapest option available is important now, but should decrease as time goes by as connections become more ubiquitous and a de facto requirement for any mobile.
by Debi Jones
February 25, 2008 at 9:03 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Mobile isn't Mobile
Leading the mobile industry are the mobile operators. They build the networks, purchase access to airwaves and populate directories of applications and services. Over time they have donned a few different identities while rejecting their true and inescapable role as access provider. Mobile operators have thought themselves handset companies, application companies, aggregators, media companies and lately - advertising agencies. This multiple personality disorder is a reaction to ensuring they capture a lion’s share of any revenue possibility. Each attempt to alter their nature and morph into a business out of their comfort zone has created opportunities for competing network access technologies and alternative solutions which ultimately leave the operator out of the revenue pie completely.
We can go back to a time when mobile applications were new, and operators launched in-house development teams to build these applications. But - a more striking example is the how operators refuse to recognize the economics presented by Apple’s iTunes and the impact it would have on their own offerings. Mobile operators who referred to themselves as being in the content business created an opening for a product that would allow people to take their music mobile without the need to access a mobile network or purchase a high end phone. Price pressure from the operators on the mobile music value chain was no small factor in the success of Apple’s iPod and iTunes service. Had the service from mobile networks been at a reasonable cost to subscribers, no entry point would have existed for Apple.
In addition to the iTunes/iPod solution, handset makers like Nokia had made slide loading of music possible through ensuring the device could connect to PCs. And even with all the evidence demonstrating market rejection of costly operator music services, they continued to insist upon a rev share driving their music tracks to a 2 or 3x price point above other services. Add this to the network access charges to enable downloading and they priced themselves out of the early market.
So mobile music looks like this:
+ 
OR this
More recently many operators have positioned themselves as media companies. The problem? The cost to access their networks for video up or down remains prohibitive. Handset makers are adding Wi-Fi capability to many handsets which greatly improves the economics of up or down media. Consider media producers like Robert Scoble. Robert uses Wi-Fi to stream live video which would be impossible were he paying the costs to move this data across the mobile network. There are also implications on mobile TV which many people have already begun to consume on their phones from companies like Sling Media or iTunes, and again, over Wi-Fi.
These solutions allow the consumption or production of media when mobile, but don’t require a mobile operator’s network. We have landed in a place where price pressure has caused solutions, mobile solutions, to be developed without the mobile network, but not necessarily without a wireless component. So sometimes, mobile isn’t mobile. At least it isn’t mobile if that activity is defined by access to the mobile network.
For the next two weeks, MM2 will consider the topic of “When mobile isn’t mobile.” Given the variety of perspectives at MM2, I’m interested in learning where we end up with this subject. And you the reader are invited to join us. Your point of view is essential to building a lively and robust discussion.
