The dream of the mobile personal computer | SMLXL - Business and Communication Innovation from Alan Moore

The dream of the personal computer

July 29th, 2006

From the Economist July 29th.
On the PC’s 25th birthday, The Economist leader article says. The IBM PC helped to democratise computing. Now to finish the job.

Merchants in Zambia use mobile phones for banking; farmers in Senegal use them to monitor prices; health workers in South Africa use them to update records while visiting patients. All kinds of firms, from giants such as google to start-ups such as CellBazaar, are working to bring the full benefits of the web to mobile phones. There is no question that the PC has democratised computing and unleashed innovation ut its the mobile phone that now seems likely to carry the dream of the “personal computer” to its conclusion

Opening statement
Sometimes it takes an outsider tp speak the unpalatable truth that everyone knows but is unwilling to acknowledge outright. That task fell this week to Ray Ozzie the man who last month took on Bill Gate’s mantle as leading visionary at the world’s most powerful technology company. Microsofts great rise is now historical as a new battle, a new journey beckons down the yellow brick road.

Ozzie said
In a previous era – the PC era – Microsoft would naturally begin with a PC mindset. We’re in a new era, an era in which the internet is at the centre.

Right Ozzie – but wrong. The next era will be the mobile internet. The FT claimed that the PC’s centrality to the tech world is passing. IT will be mobile phones, games consoles, digital media players and TV set top boxes shaping the future.

But – the word is mobile.
As a post note to this blog. Interestingly the big operators in the US and Europe are missing out on an opportunity – locking in, locking down, believing they “OWN” customers shows their short sightedness. Rather than working hard to build for the future they seem stuck in a world that is more about steam trains rather than the wonders and possibilities of mobile digital platforms. And its not just a new technology model as we argue in our book – its a new business model – its a new marketing model.

Forget what you knew and jump into the world of the mobile internet

Bookmarks: