The driving demand for these products has absolutely exploded over the past 3-5 years. In my role as a mobile data specialist I have seen the launch (and demise of some) mobile data platforms hoping to bring these products to the masses.

Until the iPhone, undoubtedly the greatest implementation of this has been in the form of Mobile Broadband USB modems, bringing the concept of WiFi to absolutely anywhere.

Any laptops I see on the train invariably have a dongle, key or stick poking out delivering 3G data to it. People are almost unwilling to use their laptop unless its connected.

The demand for it is also driven by the continued expansion of cloud-based computing and online interactions. Where somebody might have previously been happy to work in isolation, the growth in collaborative communications means that connectivity is a must.

That tackles the business side, and undoubtedly the expansion of Apps on mobile platforms will continue to bring this revolution to consumers. The idea of ubiquitous connectivity and paging via my iPhone has skyrocketed my personal productivity. To quote a presenter at the recent Digital Life expo in Melbourne, “for me, it isn’t a ‘digital life’, its just ‘life’”.

1) Overall the global portability of data and phone services is still not trustworthy or easy. I just returned from 3 weeks travel in US/Canada. I travelled light with just my Blackberry.

I had planned to use my Australian (My3) phone & data service plan, was told this would work, but when I arrived I could not get any phone connectivity/service. I thus resorted to free wifi as the only option (without having to purchase a local sim card with a data plan). Thus, I used no phone services the entire 3 weeks, I only used data to make all travel and other plans and bookings, all using free public wifi or friend’s services. Service was good in some places, not in others, and annoying that even major US hotel chains, such as Marriott, were still trying to charging for very poor limited wifi ($10 hr!)

However, at home my BB is always in my hand, on the tram, walking down the street, in the elevator, at my desk, and I am constantly messaging, emailing etc, sending photos etc, and only rarely do I now use voice, because BB makes it easier to hook up in person.

Jono – nice post. The growth stats seem astronomical but on reflection no one i know uses their mobile just to talk!

I often wonder how people organised themselves pre mobile phones, I’d imagine most people would feel a mobile is an absolute necessity. Before long if not already, will be a generation that feel the same way about mobility devices and the ability to access data.

Jono,

You make an excellent point. I wonder though if the Next generation smart phones such as Apple’s iPhone are a key part of feeding this hunger, then why dopes Telstra downplay iPhone and instead choose not to “get in bed with Apple” in terms of tethering and promote what consumers want.

Jono,

Interesting reading indeed and good points raised. The experience that users have whilst accessing the internet via your mobile certainly is dependent on handset manufacturer and the carrier’s network. Whilst the carrier I use is excellent, the handset I currently use has many limitations when accessing the internet, especially when comparing to use via a PC or laptop (of course, we expect that). But in saying that, I recently borrowed an iPhone for a few weeks, and I found accessing data and using the internet both easy to use and professional. If manufacturers can raise the bar, as Apple and RIM have done regarding data access and internet usage, mobile data usage will continue to grow exponentially.

Jono – you seem to be a man in the know. Do you think VoIP via iPhone will take off?