PCs to Mobiles

Access Devices: PCs to Mobiles
Consider this amazing fact: last year, mobile phones drew nearly a million new users – every day. 2005 will see the global mobile user base cross two billion. In comparison, the installed base of computers is about 700 million. The contrast is even more stark in the emerging markets. By 2005-end, India will have about 16 million computers, and over 60 million mobiles. China has 40 million computers and 350 million mobiles. Any way one slices it, for an increasing majority, the mobile phone will be their first – and only – computing device.

What is interesting is that the mobile is always-on, always-available and a personal device. Never before in our lives have more than two of these conditions been met – and now suddenly, all three are met – simultaneously. This makes possible all kinds of new applications. Consider this view [as mentioned in Business Week] from Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs about features of the cell phone of the future: smart wireless TV broadcasts, built-in glucometers that help diabetics track blood-sugar levels, restaurant reviews that zap onto the screen as you walk past a joint. "The phone will be your personal alter ego in cyberspace," Paul says. "Whether it's finances, or my music, or my blog, all those kinds of things will happen through my phone."