...more recent posts
Here's a thought experiment. Imagine there was a mobile computing device that was so popular, and used so much by the many people that owned one, that all network operators really needed those users as customers (networks don't make money laying idle.) Then imagine that this device contained multiple radios so that it could communicate over every common channel. And lastly, imagine the maker of this device created an online marketplace for the buying and selling of data transit on all the various networks in real time.
The user opens the device which quickly scans the local area, consults with the transit marketplace for current rates, and then offers a menu of current connection options along with their prices. Or, with a default selection, the device always chooses the lowest cost connection. Or, with more advanced preferences, always chooses the lowest cost connection that isn't AT&T (or whatever network you hate.) Or, always chooses network X when in physical location Y (home, office, etc...) and only offers a choice when in a new location.
The customer only deals financially with the device maker (and marketplace operator) who has a track record of making financial transactions simple and painless. Network operators, almost universally despised by consumers, disappear into the background as mere utility providers. But after initially being upset at the new order of things the operators soon realize that network usage is up so much, and network utilization is so high, that even though they make less per bit in most circumstances, they are making much more money in total.
Win win win.
Bruce Sterling gave a talk at the launch party for Layar's Reality Browser which is one of the big players in the Augmented Reality scene. I've written excitedly about Augmented Reality recently, and Sterling is drinking a similar Kool-aid, calling it a "techno visionary dream come true" among other superlatives. The basic idea is just to lay data over the top of a live video feed, turning our handheld video cameras (a.k.a., our phones) into third eyes with access to the vast knowledge stored on the internet. In other words, not "virtual reality" where the user is immersed in an entirely artificial computer generated world, but "augmented reality" where computer generated graphics are overlayed on top of a real time view of the world. Something like a Terminator's view of the world. In any case, to me this is a pretty weak talk by Sterling (although the bar is about as high as it can go regarding his talks,) so maybe not worth watching. But it is interesting that this is what he's excited about at the moment.
Blackberry maker RIM just bought Torch Mobile, developers of the WebKit-based Iris Browser. WebKit is the open source heart of Apple's Safari browser that is quickly becoming the defacto browser (or rendering engine at least) in the mobile world. Google's Android OS uses it, obviously the iPhone uses it, the Palm Pre uses it, Nokia S60 uses it, and now it looks like the Blackberry will be using it too. Not a happy time to be backing Windows Mobile browsing! And more than just another (huge) win for WebKit, this will be huge for the Blackberry as it's lackluster browsing experience is it's current weak spot.
If I was Adobe I'd have a hit team focused exclusively on WebKit. There is a tiny historical moment upon us right now where Flash could be killed as we move into the mobile space. Apple looks like they want to do it, and just about every major mobile player is on board.