How the mobile phone is shaping our future reality

The world is going mobile, no doubt about that, but what is shaping our mobility? The smartphones and tablets, with location-based services and augmented reality are defining mobile lifestyle and how we understand the reality around us.

i-Tech spoke to Ric Ferraro, an expert on location-based services and sought-after speaker on mobile-related startups, mobile apps, social media and other mobile technology-based products and services. He is the author of the new book Building Location-Aware Applications, which aims to provide a comprehensive background on location-aware applications and services that exploit the location of a user to provide the user with services related to that particular location.

There is a lot of choice out there. Android is the most popular mobile OS. Apple iOS is what it is. RIM is strong with its Blackberry. Microsoft has just launched Windows Phone 7. Is this too much for the mobile market or it’s a case of “the more the better” for consumers?

“I think Golden Gekko, the company I work for, sums this issue up very well. When it comes to mobile, fragmentation is forever,” according to Mr Ferraro. “You just have to deal with it. Consumers want choice and a single mobile device is capable of doing a limited set of things extremely well. Those who need a mobile device for e-mailing will tend to prefer Blackberry RIM. Those who like to surf the web lean towards iPhone or Android. So, I think choice can be good for consumers.

“Android holds the greatest promise, with Google being a very powerful innovator and driving force behind Android. The promise will only be fulfilled though, if Android makes it as easy, pleasurable and profitable for developers to develop on its own platform compared to the iPhone platform.”

To make matters better, or worse, 2010 witnessed the start of the hot tablet trends, ignited by Apple’s iPad. The top computer and phone manufacturers in the world have already announced plans to launch their “anti-iPad”.

“The iPad has kicked off a revolution in tablet computing. This is not simply because it is an Apple product but specifically because it creates a totally new way of reading newspapers and magazines,” explained Mr Ferraro. “The iPad provides a great reading experience by automatically tilting to a landscape view and through great graphics and is the start of a revolution for printed media. Apple will be able to use its first mover advantage for a few years still to lead the market.”

Services like Foursquare and Gowalla let users “check-in” and reveal their location to friends, with appreciable positive consequences. Facebook has its own “Places” facility. Several apps for the smartphones have in-built location services. So what’s exciting about location-based services?

“The world is mobile. In many European countries, there are already more people accessing popular websites like Facebook via their mobile device than from a standard PC. There is great benefit in having information of what is around you available ‘on-the-go’. Restaurant-finder services make more sense on mobile than on PC and are very practical. More and more Yellow Page companies focus on the mobile channel these days, as this represents where the majority of the growth in local search of all types of services is coming from.”

The mobile app and services expert mentioned Layar as one of the more cutting edge applications that use location in a totally new way. So-called “augmented reality” apps like Layar allow users to view the world through a digital lens and super-impose useful information on top of their existing view. “Articulated naturality” apps plan to take this idea further in the future by adding richer information to that currently available. The idea of somehow combining a more intelligent web search or semantic search, with a digital view obtained from a mobile device may seem very futuristic but could happen in less than five years from now.

Despite all the benefits of revealing your location, there are some privacy concerns. We have already heard stories of people being burgled at home in foreign countries because they make it obvious they are not at home through these location-based services, especially on social networks.

“Privacy is something location-based services developers should consider at all times,” insists Mr Ferraro. “Device manufacturers and mobile operators have to comply with legislation that provides a lot of protection to the users of these services, so I feel that many concerns around privacy are somewhat blown out of proportion.

“‘Geo-fencing’ is a new way that allows users to ‘black-out’ private geographical areas (like the home, for example) and offer added protection. I dedicate a whole chapter to privacy in my book Building Location Aware Applications, published by Manning Publications (US), and this is a sign of how important privacy is today. The key is more to manage the perception of how private data is used rather than deal with specific privacy risks. The new ‘digital native’ generation is already less concerned with privacy than previous generations.”

Mr Ferraro recently addressed an event in Malta where he explained the merits of location-based services. Asked about the Malta market in Malta, he thinks size is not an issue but the mental approach is.

“I recently spoke at the Mobile Monday meeting in Malta and was asked about entrepreneurship opportunities in Malta, given the small size of the market. My answer is that the barrier to Maltese entrepreneurship is not the size of the country but more a psychological one. We live in a global village. A country like Malta has a great strategic location and the English language as fabulous assets to create startups that can be successful well beyond its physical boundaries.

“The mobile market in Malta is small in terms of size but could grow to become significant in terms of value if affordable flat rate data tariffs were introduced. Globally, mobile devices such as smartphones are increasingly substituting traditional PCs as the primary way of accessing the web. I believe this will also be the case in Malta,” concluded Mr Ferraro.