McGuire’s Law

Standard disclaimer: don’t take from my selections, ordering, headlines, etc. any indications of the interests or plans of my employer (if you do, you’ll undoubtedly be disappointed when they don’t play out.)

• Why Google Is Killing Gears & Pushing HTML5
• Will next-gen wireless networks lead to smarter applications?
• Mobile is New Media, Lets Discuss Its Business and Media Formats (Part 1)
• State of the (Mobile) Broadband Nation – A Benchmarking Study
• 8th unique mobile ability discovered - only media able to do Augmented Reality
• Why Mobile? Why This Election? Why SMS? The political primer to mobile in US midterm elections: time to smell the cellphone
• The App Store is not the Only Solution in Mobile
• Ten Findings out of Morgan Stanley’s massive Mobile Internet Report
• If LTE Disappoints, What About WiMAX?
• Wi-Fi Hotspot Usage is Shifting Away From Laptops Toward Mobile Phones
• Mobile devices, connectivity to get main focus at CES

Rudy De Waele invited me to participate in a broad view of the coming decade. An impressive set of visionaries from across the mobile ecosystem provided their perspectives on the next 10 years. Set aside some time to be able to absorb the presentation below (you’ll want to view it in full screen).

Here are the 5 trends I contributed:

1. Just as microprocessors have been built into virtually every product that has a power source, over the next ten years, it will become expected that wireless connectivity will be built into virtually every product that has a microprocessor.
2. Businesses will redefine virtually every internal process and virtually every service they offer customers to leverage wireless access to information and contextual data to create new value for customers, to grow their addressable markets, and to reduce their operating costs.
3. Fixed line broadband will overshoot the performance needs of the market, resulting in increasing data cord cutting as individuals, families, and businesses appreciate the value of mobility more than the value of excess bandwidth.
4. By the end of the decade, mobile devices will be thought of first for the applications they run rather than for their ability to make voice calls.
5. In the U.S., the Obama administration will stimulate significant expansion of the mobile market through regulatory policies (e.g. reduced backhaul costs) and direct and indirect stimulus investments (e.g. wireless broadband, smart grid).

Over at Seamless Enterprise, I’ve just posted a set of ten predictions for businesses and telecom/mobility for the new year. In that post, I provide some commentary about each of the predictions, so head over there to read it, but here’s the list to give you an idea of what you’ll find:

1. Businesses accelerate arming the mobile workforce
2. Businesses invest in productivity gains
3. 4G fixed line replacement
4. Irrelevance of 3G single mode
5. Businesses broaden their internal M2M deployments
6. Wireless connectivity becomes increasingly popular in consumer electronics
7. Applications for businesses
8. Smartphone adoption
9. Mobility built into processes
10. Mobility built into services

Research is good. Free highlights from expensive research reports are great. Here are some recent headlines:

• Nearly Two Billion Bluetooth Chipsets to Ship in 2014 (ABI)
• Almost Two Million Mobile WiMAX Subscribers Expected by End of 2009 (ABI)
• Mobile Coupon usage to triple exceeding 300 million people globally by 2014 (Juniper Research)
• Nearly Half of Mobile Phone Users Willing to Pay for Mobile Apps (Samsung)
• Mobile Internet Devices Expected to Surpass One Billion by 2013 (IDC)
• Operators to spend $800 million on subscriber data management by 2013 (Infonetics)
• Global Navigation System Shipments to Exceed 500 Million in 2010 (ABI Research)
• The Next Internet Boom: Connected Cars (iSuppli)
• Mobile Device Shipments to Nearly Double Before 2015
• Contactless Smart Card Shipments to Break the One Billion Barrier 2014
• Global WiMAX Deployments Hit 500 in 2009

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• AT&T’s Bait And Switch On iPhone Unlimited Service: We Screwed Up, So Now You Have To Pay More
• Australian Operator Optus Deliberately Blocking Android Paid Apps
• White spaces could be the broadcasters best hope
• SF mayor backs radiation labels for cell phones
• Why Telco’s Continue to Loose Customers’ Hearts
• As AT&T Complains, People Notice That It Has Decreased Infrastructure Investments, But Wireless Revenue Is Way Up
• Maine Wants Mobile Phones To Carry A Cancer Warning… Despite Lack Of Evidence; [Updated: SF Too]
• CenturyLink Won’t Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
• Nokia Launches Another Patent Attack On Apple, Uses ITC Loophole To Get Second Shot At Hurting Apple

Bonus: “The Rise of the Machines: M2M Accounts for 1.4% of mobile network connections”

Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!

• Electric meters
• British electric meters
• Newspapers and magazines
• Magazines
• Video kiosks
• Cars
• Fitness gear
• Kids’ watches