Mobile communications continue to evolve. We started in the 1990’s by wanting to talk on a phone wherever we happened to be – voice communications. Over the past 20 years, we’ve worked on shrinking cell phone sizes and increasing talk time/standby time to make the voice-centric devices more user friendly.
In the 2000’s we finally saw Smart Phones take off – it was no longer good enough to talk on the phone – we wanted mobile access to data whether this was email, web access, SMS or social media. As smart phones progressed with higher data rates/bandwidth and better multimedia capability, we started demanding streaming audio and video to our mobile devices.
The 2010’s have begun with the advent of the Tablet Computer. Certainly there have been prior attempts at tablets in the past, but none successful until Apple launched their iPad. Now through tablets, computers are becoming more portable and intuitive with rich multimedia experience.
So what is next? What will continue to drive connected technological growth?
If you have not heard, the new mantra is “The Internet of Things”. The Internet of Things essentially allows for the connection of everything to the internet. Not only will our mobile devices be connected, but our lights, our HVAC systems, our consumer electronics, our cars, our product inventories. Essentially, this means M2M (Machine to Machine) interface. And the communications media will involve a variety of wireless connectivity interfaces which could include WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, RFID, GPS, etc.
We have already seen a few examples of this, with TV’s and Blu-Ray players that are connected to the internet. It is now possible to stream video from your DVR recordings or live satellite TV to your mobile phone or tablet. This is only the beginning.
Imagine:
* Being able to control your lights, heater or appliances from your mobile phone.
* Energy could be used much more efficiently as buildings connect to the internet and can self regulate things like temperature and lighting based on external factors.
* Companies can reduce or eliminate the chance of running out of stock as their inventory can all communicate to the internet for inventory tracking.
* Health care will improve by sensors that monitor bodily functions and communicate the information to central health records and can alert doctors if there are any abnormalities. Pill bottles can tell us when it’s time to take our medication.
This is the vision of the future of mobile/internet technology – everything connected to the internet. Of course there are many issues to overcome including cost effectiveness, power consumption, not to mention non-technical issues such as privacy concerns. But many believe that this is our future.
At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs stated that by 2014, 70% of all consumer electronics devices will be connected to the internet. This will help fuel growth in infrastructure, semiconductors, and software.
These are indeed exciting times – we have only begun to scratch the surface of wireless connectivity.
Feel free to post your comments or thoughts.
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