I started working on mobile back in 1998 and it is great to finally see *the vision* being realized, in large part thanks to Apple and Google who helped shift control and focus into the ecosystem, open systems, the developers and applications. The result has been a tremendous amount of innovation in a relatively short amount of time.

There are a couple of concepts or areas that have been driving and continues to drive my vision and passion for mobility…

(Most parts originally written in 2007)

1. The future of personal communications and computing is the mobile handset. Part of this future is the integration with local handset capabilities and sensors and the services on the web (the cloud). Part of this future is about leveraging the hidden information found in our actions and interactions, in our surroundings, in our mobile context. In this vision, mobile handsets will play a key role in the interactions with the physical world around us, facilitating information discovery and communication with others.

2. “The mobile handset is, by its own nature, a social artifact; an object made and used by people to connect with people. This is the reason why the next big development in mobility and related services involves social software in some form or fashion, to enable better ways to find, communicate and share with friends and family, to learn about our surroundings, and to consume information. And the mobile handset is at the center of this.” I call this People-centric mobile computing.

People-centric mobile computing is a user-centric approach to mobile software design but with emphasis on communication (people), the user’s context (such as places and time), and the interactions with “things” around us.

It is about the Internet of People, Things and Places… of everything everywhere and the information within.

The Mobile Context

The Mobile Context
(For more related information, see The Mobile Context)

What we have been seeing is the convergence of the three key areas of mobile; converging over the last decade: 1) the mobile lifestyle where the mobile handset is such an important/personal (social) gadget, part of our daily lives, 2) the advanced smartphones that provide applications both web and native as never before and 3) the advanced, faster, more reliable and accessible networks that allows for always-on connectivity — all converging closer with business models at the center that promotes a healthy ecosystem.

In this ecosystem we have consumers and we have businesses, some that focused on creating handsets, others on networks, while others focused on software services (platforms) and applications. All benefiting — from the consumers via improved experiences and services, to businesses via the ecosystem business models. It is this convergence that have enabled the momentum and ecosystem that we are currently experiencing.