The growth of the mobile technology space both in product innovation and subscriber base has been tremendous over the past decade. It has been a perfect storm of customer demand, products and infrastructure.
Many of the posts I have written talk directly to the use of mobile technology to break down the wall of simple communication, overcoming disabilities and augmenting reality with valuable contextual data. And with every wall that comes down, the communites of people across the world benefit with more enriched lifestyles, feeding a deeper need to connect with one another and to be fed information.
The growth of the mobile space could not have been possible without the infrastructure to deliver mobile services, SMS, e-mail, mobile gaming and Web browsing. With 3G growing as a common connection speed throughout the world, the bandwidth and speed of application delivery has enable video streaming, video sharing and an even stronger platform for mobile gaming.
From “Smartphones: the Silver Lining of the Declining Handset Market”
“During 2008, in a first for the mobile industry, consumer demand for third-party applications started driving both handset sales and revenues for developers and OEMs. Apple’s success with the App Store has prompted other players to focus on devices that can enable third-party developers to easily bring applications and services to mobile phones.”
It is clear that products and infrastructure are up to the task of meeting the demand, but how long will that demand last? Will people just move over to the next hottest technology and mobile phones get left on the wayside like the hula hoop and SUVs? Or is the need to connect utilizing mobile technology a deep rooted need of the consumer?
Tying Generational Theory to Mobile Adoption
One aspect I haven’t touched on is the generational adoption of mobile technolgy. Yesterday morning I came across a link in a Twitter stream to “Twitter: It’s a GenX Thing” by @JessieX. The post and subsequent comments are a very interesting look at communications methods adopted by different generations. Here is one portion that I thought very helpful when looking at what drives technology adoption by generation.
“There’s a trick for reaching each gen, and it’s understanding their orientation to information. Silent Gen = newspaper and credentialed souces. Boomer = TV and radio and big messages. Gen X = internet and fragmented, personable connections. Millennial/Gen Y = handheld/mobile devices; always connected to each other.”
In light of the above statement, it is interesting to theorize how fast facebook, myspace and twitter would have grown without the introduction of mobile phones? What mobile has added for social networks and microblogging is a sense of “real” and community within the context of the status.
For example, by following a day of status updates for a friend, I can see how they were feeling, what they planned and what they actually did. Of course you can also get this in a blog post by that same individual. The blog post would be written at the end of the day after having completed all of these experiences. In fact, a blog post adds the element of revisioning which is not available in status updates. What you don’t get with blog posts are a sense of ‘real-time’ experiences and community.
Status in Context of Time
With mobile, you get information as the person publishes their updates and goes through these experiences. The updates are within the context of that person’s experience at a point in time, without the possiblity of revision. Time is a missing component of blog posts that mobile technology has unleashed. It’s instant photosharing revelations about great tasting food, texting the cool new song you just heard in the club or meeting up for impromptu flash mobs. On top of that, friends or followers can provide ‘real-time’ comments on status updates, again not needing to wait until getting home to the computer.
The growth of mobile devices is not an accident. It is feeding a need within a new generation of customers. Extending community through mobile technology gives a stronger sense of connectedness between individuals, playing into the characteristics of the Millennial generation.
Images: futureatlas.com and Edward Barnieh Photography
Tags: facebook, flashmob, generational theory, millennial, myspace, twitter
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