The speed of change

I’ve been in this mobile world now for 13 years almost and I’ve seen many changes in the industry. Everyone talks about how fast it’s moving, how everything changes so quickly and the technology moves on apace. Others complain that they simply can’t keep up. Others simply don’t want to keep up – this new stuff is just too much for them and they’re hanging on to the old ways of doing things.

I do get asked pretty frequently what changes I’ve noticed over the years and I’m not sure that the changes are as profound as sometimes we think they are. I’m still having the same conversations with potential clients about the power of mobile marketing that I had 10 years ago with very similar objections that I encountered when I first started working on ZagMe back in 2000.

I’ve also just spent the last few weeks in my hometown of Worcester (that’s the one in England for my US readers). My neighbour’s wi-fi aside keeping me sane, this appears to be the land that the internet forgot. Everything pretty much happens the same way that it happened when I was living here 25 years ago. I don’t see people glued to their mobile screens in the same way I do in London. Wi-fi is available, but not readily. Although lots of businesses promote themselves on Facebook, it’s done half-heartedly and they don’t have many followers – but when you walk past the businesses, they’re busy. Local restaurant websites don’t have their opening hours listed, have menus on their sites from three years ago and don’t seem to see the need or benefit from keeping this stuff updated.

People also still read newspapers here – the printed kind. Ones that you might pay for as well as the freebies (which just seem to be property listings). And there appears to be a thriving market for glossy, local magazines too which I was surprised to see. I’ve picked up at least three in the last week in local cafes and another one arrived through the door this morning.

There is also barely any networking here. Well, not what I would recognise as networking at least. I think it’s related to the local populace being connected in real life rather than virtual life perhaps and it’s probably also linked to the fact that mobile signal is absolutely appalling in the city (no really, my signal routinely drops out here *for hours* at a time.) The networking you’ll see here are the generalist networking breakfasts and meet-ups that are organised by the likes of the local Chamber of Commerce but not a lot else. I could be wrong here and all this stuff is organised outside of Google’s ability to index it in a way I can find it and connect with it to meet new people and interact with the local community, since I will be spending more time in Worcester in the coming months.

So it got me thinking about the speed of change, and the difference between what was then and what is now and the differences between locations in, even a small country, like the UK? The future most definitely is not evenly distributed.

Whilst I was pondering this, I discovered that Cybersalon has been resurrected. This was one of the very early meet-ups looking at our digital world. They’ve been on hiatus for some years now, but they’re back with a series of really interesting events. The web world has been pretty notorious for not embracing mobile early and rubbishing the idea that the web viewed on mobile will be bigger than the web viewed on desktop or laptops. But that has indeed happened. So I was curious to find that Cybersalon had published a Mobile Manifesto back in 2000. It makes for a very interesting read. And going back to my first point about what has changed, it appears to me that what they were talking about 13 years ago is still very relevant to our mobile world today. Have a read and let me know what you think.

Exclusive fringe benefits for Mobile Heroes

Some of you may know I’m working on this little thing called the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival which is happening at the end of this month. We have a load of events already listed from an energising yoga session to mobile marketing to innovation and the infamous Swedish Beers party and we are not done yet. There are many more to come so do keep an eye on the site and sign up to receive the newsletter too. Oh and you can check us out on Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud (for our podcast series) and, since just yesterday, LinkedIn.

As part of the fringe festival, I’ve managed to negotiate some exclusive fringe benefits. One of them is your chance to win a ticket to the sold-out and hugely popular MEF Connects MWC13 Party (free to enter here) and the other is the fan-dabi-dozi business card offer detailed below from the marvellous MOO.com and our new pals at MOB Barcelona. So if you’re heading to Barcelona, or even if you’re not, why not order a batch of cards? You just pay small handling fee and Bob’s your uncle.

I’m very happy to announce a new Heroes of Mobile partnership with our friends at MOO.com. If you’ve met me before, then you’ve probably had one of my business cards and I always use MOO and use my own photos for them. I love the card quality and the fact that you can have a different design for each card. It always makes for an interesting conversation point at a networking event.

So what’s the deal here then?

Well, you can order a pack of 50 standard size business cards or 100 mini size business cards FREE*. How about that? You can even pick up your cards in Barcelona, if you’d like to, at Makers of Barcelona (MOB) on Sunday 24th February or Monday 25th February 2013.

You’ll notice there’s a teeny Mobile Hero logo on the card so the person you give the card too will remember that you met at Heroes of the Mobile Fringe in Barcelona. And hey, you are a mobile hero, right? That’s why you’re involved in the festival. Neat, huh?

You need to hurry though! If you order by 11.59pm (GMT) on Sunday 17 February (20 February if you pay a rush fee), you’ll be in time for the pick up in Barcelona. That doesn’t give you very long, so you’d better get on to it!

Click here to order a pack of 50 full-size Heroes of Mobile business cards.

Click here to order a pack of 100 Heroes of Mobile MiniCards.

You’re probably wondering what the mobile angle is here and why MOO.com is involved with us. Well, it’s all linked with their upcoming NFC card launch. These are business cards that link to your digital world that gives you the full capability to rewrite the information stored on the chip any time you like. That’s an exciting use of NFC and we’re keen to see how these work when we see some in the flesh. And it's especially appealing to mobilists. More info here and don’t forget to sign up to keep updated so you can be one of the first to try them.

*Only one pack of business cards (either size) per person. Excludes Euro 3 processing fee.

Getting a poor signal on your phone?

I just had an email newsletter pop into my inbox from John Strand. If you don’t know him already, he's a long-serving mobilist with many years experience of consulting for various organisations on the subject of mobile telecoms.

I’ve often wondered myself why my phone varies in performance. I get that different networks will have an impact, but I hadn’t really thought what the other issues might be. John explains it in his recent newsletter which I’ve copied below for you (with permission). I’m interested to know what you think. How much do these factors affect performance and are there other things that can affect it? I welcome your thoughts and comments.

“Various reports from around the world over the last three years note that have consumers increasingly experience poor coverage with their smartphones. The challenge for mobile operators is that the perceived coverage rarely reflects the quality of the network that the operators build and run, but rather the quality of the smartphones that people use. As a new ground-breaking study shows, the quality of the smartphone combined with how it is used and configured is more to blame that the mobile network.

Here are the 10 main reasons why you get a bad signal on you phone:

1. The wrong phone. There is a big difference in the quality of antennas in phones. As for the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3, the previous versions of these phones performed better in a major study of phone quality performed by Professor Gert Froelund Pedersen from Aalborg University, one of the world’s leading institutes for the study on antennas in phones.
2. Too many apps. The more apps you install, the less coverage you may experience. Apps create unwanted signal noise.
3. Free apps. Free games such as Angry Birds don’t not cost a penny, but they are filled with advertisements that eat your bandwidth and can contribute to poor coverage on your phone.
4. Open apps. It is a good idea to close them when not in use. Even if you are not using an app, it will still send and receive signals to the network.
5. Too many friends on Facebook or a few really active friends. If you have a lot of friends who ping and update you all the time from Facebook, this can also affect your experience negatively.
6. Your operating system. Even if you make sure you version is up to date, you run the risk that the new version is actually worse than the old. Plus you have to be sure to install all the proper updates. Android is also available in a multitude of versions, but each phone manufacturers adapts them differently.
7. A Samsung Galaxy S3 is not a Samsung Galaxy S3. Mobile phones are produced in a vast global manufacturing network and supply chain. The same phone may be made with different components from alternate suppliers. The model can vary both by country and within country.  There are at least 10 variants of the same Samsung Galaxy S3.  Your variant may not be optimal with your network.
8. Rush hour. During times of peak traffic, the same mobile mast must serve more users, so the quality per user may degrade. It's like getting into a packed train during rush hour.
9. Train travel. The metal tubing around windows in trains and related materials can be killers of mobile signals. When the train moves quickly, it can be difficult for your phone to switch connection between masts.
10. Telecom service provider. There is no such thing as the best network. The network that is best for you depends on which has coverage where you are when you use your phone.
The next time you experience poor coverage, take a look at your phone. Remember there are many things that can impact your experience beyond the network itself.

In the report “How to reduce the cost of mobile masts and improve regulation”, Strand Consult describes the challenges that operators face as they build and run mobile networks. In addition to Strand Consult reports, a number of institutions have recognized the role that smartphones play in the quality of coverage. If you want to know more about the report or about Strand Consult's experience in this field, click here..

Thought for the day

I was having a sort out of a box of cards the other day and I found this one that a friend had sent me. It’s such a beautiful photo and a pertinent quote that I thought it worth sharing.

If you’re reading this on a device that doesn’t show pictures or you’re unable to see very well and are using a screen reader, it’s an image of an alley way, or ginnel (as you’d say up North), lit at ground level by many very bright lamps which illuminate the whole path.

The quote on the card is from Ben Sweetland, an American author, and says: ‘We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own’.

Have a happy weekend.

Key trends for 2013

Service design consultancy, Fjord, has presented its annual trends prediction. It’s in a lovely slideshare format (see below) with some thoughts on the rationale, impact and what you can do about each trend. Some of the trends resonate more with me than others. And for those who are reading this on a mobile device and, perhaps, cannot access the slideshare content, here are the key trends.

1. People are ruining everything… for traditional business. This is a big one! The technology users are doing it for themselves when it comes to crowdfunding, content creation and more. And it has never been easier. There’s no point fighting this one either. Embrace or die.

2. I belong to me. The personal data battlefield. Ah yes, the ‘Big Data’ chestnut coupled with users growing understanding of what it means to them personally, and how some of them raging against the big data machine and are demanding control of their own information.

3. Dawn of the personal ecosystem. Connected objects start to take their place right by your side. The internet of things becomes a reality. Access to data means we can make decisions about our house, our shopping, our health and more from the comfort of the palm of our hands. This creates what Fjord calls the ‘personal ecosystem’. No question, items like fitbit and Nike’s fuelband have been a runaway success and we’ll see many more of these kinds of gizmos being used in day to day life. We’ll definitely see more of these in the coming months and years.

4. Keep it simple stupid. Good old-fashioned KISS principles make a comeback. I’m wondering if this is just wishful thinking on Fjord’s part or not? I agree, they’re great principles to stand by and I wish more businesses and developers would use them but I fear humans are not always that smart! We’ll see.

5. Revolution in Retail. The online/offline distinction disappears. We are right in the heart of the retail revolution right now. If retail doesn’t change, our High Street will continue to die. Traditional retailers have been far too slow to adapt and understand the changing customer needs. Pop-up stores, virtual stores, payments on the move – they’re all here.( At the same time, I don’t want to see the High Street die and for retail to become solely a warehouse distribution business. I hope that we see some innovation this year to make the hybrid sustainable and to find new ways of invigorating the High Street. Says the former shop assistant, so I may have some personal bias here!)

6. Access is the new ownership. What does it mean to own something in the digital age? This is a really interesting area. We’ve seen the rise of rentals and subscriptions from cars to holiday homes to music to books and more. How many subscriptions can one person manage? And what happens if you have no money and lose access to everything? Where are the swapping platforms, the digital versions of our libraries? And what else will we see going to this model? I still haven’t manage to get rid of my books, CDs, vinyl, videos or DVDs. And I could certainly use the space, but the online services aren’t quite there yet that meet my personal needs in those departments. It’s only a matter of time though.

7. Learning gets personal. How being online is transforming the way people learn. This is very exciting. And game changing. What will the future of learning look like? What will a text book become? Will we need to remember things in the same way? Does this change our attention spans for the better or worse? What about accessibility for those with visual, hearing or other impairments? We’ll be looking at this in one of the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe sessions next month.

8. You talking to me? Exploring new challenges in human-machine communication. Ah, yes. Voice. What do we do with that? How many times have I found myself typing furiously on Skype or email or Facebook to an individual when it would have been a whole lot quicker and easier to talk? I’ve just gotten out of the habit and am now forcing myself back into it because, it’s, you know, productive! I still can’t see myself talking to my phone or laptop, but hey, I never thought I’d be working in the mobile industry so anything can happen. I’m interested to see what innovations happen in this area and what it takes to succeed.

9. The mobile gap. Business plays catch-up with adoption. Fjord says it so much better than I can. ‘The speed of movement to mobile has amazed everyone. But it has not been matched by the speed with which most organisations are able to monetize it.’ There’s nothing I can really add to that although Fjord does have some good tips of starting points and things to think about in the slideshare below.

10. Think like a start-up… and act like one too. Wow. That demands massive change for most big companies. One that they’re probably able to embrace in concept only rather than actual delivery. We’re talking culture change here and that’s hard to do. It’s worth thinking about though and anything that brings down barriers in companies and aids collaboration, serendipity and innovation, I’m all for and I would definitely encourage. Not everyone is ready to be in a start-up though so you may lose people along the way…

Thanks for the food for thought, Fjord. What do you think?

Fjord trends 2013 from Fjord

None of us are getting any younger

Which means that us younger ones have a duty to create the digital future we want for ourselves. As we get older, our faculties inevitably decline. I have already noticed my hearing and my eyesight isn’t as good as it was and I still consider myself young. It’s just a fact of life. No-one else is going to create this future for us, or if they do, we may not like it, so we have to get on with it ourselves. And there hasn’t been a better time to do this. The barriers to entry haven’t been lower, access to technology is easier, we all have smartphones or tablets or both and they’re getting cheaper, and now, organisations like IC Tomorrow is helping fund the prototyping of some new ideas too.

They recently held a call for entries for their Digital Inclusion Innovation Contest in three specific areas – Sensory Assistance, inclusive media and accessible internet of things. The finalists have been chosen and they’ll be presenting at the final to be held on Thursday 7th February in London. Tickets are free and can be booked here. The contest is in collaboration with the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) and the National Licensing Agency (NLA), University of York and Scope

The following companies will be presenting at the event:

Sensory Assistance – using smart phones to assist older people and people with sensory disabilities. Partner: University of York

· Georgie Last 10 Yards by Screenreader.net CIC

· Mobile-phone assisted navigation for visually impaired people by Spiral Scratch

· Tribble Doorbell Alerts by Novoda (video entry below)

Inclusive Media – creating a new digital reader and search tool for newspapers and magazines. Partners: RNIB & NLA

· Matopy, the app that makes newspapers and magazines truly interactive by Matopy

· Georgie Bookreader by Screenreader.net CIC

· NewsReader by Assistive Solutions

Accessible Internet of Things – enhancing physical home functions for disabled people. Partner: Scope

· The Smart Hub by Therapy Box

· StarInterface by National Star Foundation and College

· Assisted Independent Daily Able Platform (AIDAapps) by BioDigital Health

In addition to the £48,000 of funding the winner in each category receives, each successful participant will also retain their intellectual property and receive:

· Further exposure to a range of leading sector partners

· The opportunity to test their proposed application with leading sector partners

· The opportunity to promote their prototype solution via the IC tomorrow programme

I know I’m a bit biased here as I know some of the companies presenting. I do have my fingers crossed for Georgie and Tribble.

I’m planning to go to the event. It’s free to attend but there will be limited places so if you want to come, you’d better get your ticket booked.

Oh, and if you can find the video entries from any of the companies listed above, please add it in the comments. Thanks!