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10 Seven Waves OF Mobile Computing
Business Research Methods (DMS 502)
University of Nairobi
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SEVEN WAVES OF MOBILE COMPUTING
The history of mobile computing can be divided into a number of eras, or waves, each characterized by a particular technological focus, interaction design trends, and by leading to fundamental changes in the design and use of mobile devices. In my view, the history of mobile computing has, so far, entailed seven particularly important waves. Although not strictly sequential, they provide a good overview of the legacy on which current mobile computing research and design is built.
- Portability
- Miniaturization
- Connectivity
- Convergence
- Divergence
- Apps
- Digital ecosystems
Portability The era of focus on Portability was about reducing the size of hardware to enable the creation of computers that could be physically moved around relatively easily.
Miniaturization Miniaturization was about creating new and significantly smaller mobile form factors that allowed the use of personal mobile devices while on the move.
By the early 1990s, the size of computer hardware had reached a point that allowed radically new and smaller form factors of mobile computers to evolve and emerge on the market. These predominantly handheld devices were labelled palmtop computers, digital organizers, or “Personal Digital Assistants” (PDAs). PDAs differed from laptop PCs by being truly mobile and something that the users could operate while actually moving around physically. They were not thought of as alternatives to desktop or laptop computers, but rather as small and lightweight supplemental devices for busy businessmen spending some of their time away from their PC. Whereas the focus of laptop computing was predominantly on portability and mobile access to
documents and applications available on desktop computers, palmtop computing introduced an additional focus on applications and interaction styles designed specifically for mobile devices and mobile users.
Connectivity Connectivity was about developing devices and applications that allowed users to be online and communicate via wireless data networks while on the move.
With the introduction of the digital Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mobile phone system in 1991, which also included the Short Message Service (SMS) communication component, the complexity and functionality of handsets began evolving rapidly. So did the uptake of mobile phone technology by the broad population worldwide. This meant that mobile phone developers were suddenly faced with a huge challenge of interaction design not only for making phone calls, but also for handling contacts, calendars, text-based messages, and browsing the Internet.
Convergence Convergence was about integrating emerging types of digital mobile devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, music players, cameras, games, etc., into hybrid devices. One of the most interesting eras of mobile computing began when different types of specialized mobile devices began converging into new types of hybrid devices with fundamentally different form factors and interaction designs. The first phase of this was the emergence of “smart phones”, which combined the functionality of a PDA with that of a mobile phone. The development of smart phones involved exploration of a wide range of form factors and interaction designs and led to a series of innovative solutions. Many of these involved designs where the physical shape of the device could be changed depending on what the user wanted to use it for. Other designs, like the Blackberry, introduced a “wide-body mobile phone” form factor with a PDA size display and a miniature QWERTY keyboard in place of the traditional 12- key numeric keypad.
large and deep hierarchies of menus, the user experience was much more fluid and aesthetic, and the phone was both extremely easy and pleasurable to use. The iPhone also featured a number of embedded context sensors, which changed the orientation mode of the display depending on how it was held and it thereby changed the mode of the phone application when held close to the face during a call. The later inclusion of GPS and a digital compass extended this “context- awareness” capability to also
Digital ecosystems Finally, the emerging wave of digital ecosystems is about the larger wholes of pervasive and interrelated technologies that interactive mobile systems are increasingly becoming a part of.
As we move into the second decade of the new millennium, the challenges facing mobile computing and interaction design continue to evolve. The technical capabilities of our mobile devices have improved significantly to the point where factors such as screen, input capabilities, processing power, network speed, and battery lifetime are much less of an issue than only half a decade ago. At the same time, we have also become sufficiently skilled at designing for relatively small screens and for the different input capabilities of mobile devices so that millions of ordinary people are actually able to download and use the applications being developed, and are even willing to pay for some of them. To a large extent, therefore, we have now successfully solved the majority of problems facing mobile interaction researchers and designers in the past. However, as the history of all areas of computing have shown us, it is highly unlikely that we have reached an end point. As in the past, the technology and interaction design we are witnessing today is just the starting point for the continuing evolution of the technology and interaction design of tomorrow. But what are then the challenges and opportunities for the design of mobile interactions to come? What will the next wave of mobile computing be about?
Looking on the current trends, it appears that the next wave of mobile computing and interaction design is going to be about the creation of digital ecosystems in which mobile computing plays a central role in concert with other ubiquitous computing resources. This challenges us to move beyond considering interactive mobile devices, systems, and services as entities that can meaningfully be designed and studied in isolation from the larger use context or artefact ecologies that they are a part of.
Example: Smartphone
Portability: carry it anywhere you want
Miniaturization: make it possible to build device to fit in your pocket
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, LTE/4G, cellular, Bluetooth
Convergence: phone, camera, gaming device, movie streaming, music player, ...
Divergence:
Applications: “Rise of the Apps”
Digital Ecosystem: social networks, distributed gaming, video streaming, work apps, ...
10 Seven Waves OF Mobile Computing
Course: Business Research Methods (DMS 502)
University: University of Nairobi
