IBM and Microsoft were in that position in the two prior Computing Ages, but now Google owns the Internet. David Beisel is not convinced and feels a Fourth Age of Computing is on the way where Google will need to get involved in a new ball game. That new ball game is the Mobile Web.

The Mobile Web has even greater economic potential than the traditional Web as visited by desktop PCs. .. and despite the best efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) with its Mobile Web Initiative, it may not end up as they would wish as One Web. There is a fundamental disconnect between agreeing Standards and competing in a fast moving technology where there are mega-bucks at stake. If in addition, the Standards are tough to apply in order to achieve that One Web, then in practice it may not work out even if many would wish to apply the Standards.

The other factor is that many involved have lived through the Internet tidal wave and may see all this from their Desktop PC perspective. That One Web should just spread out so that it becomes the Ubiquitous Web. Doesn’t that seem a natural evolution to follow? Well natural evolution is fine provided we don’t run into a disruptive technology that changes all the ground rules. It may even be so cataclysmic that it deserves the title, transformational technology. Some observers would apply that description to the whole Mobile world.

That is at the heart of Mobile Persuasion @ Stanford University with its tagline, “Changing people’s beliefs & behaviors with mobile technology”. Cameron Moll summarizes another very important article by Tomi T Ahonen entitled, “Putting 2.7 billion in context: Mobile phone users“. That would certainly confirm that Mobile Phones represent a transformational technology. Ahonen’s final paragraph points out the urgency in all this.

Whatever your business or interest, going mobile now will give you a competitive advantage. But going mobile next year will be a desperation move to stay in the game. Don’t miss out on this. Mobile is the biggest opportunity going. Where is your business? Where is your mobile strategy?

The fact that Google may have been the winner in the Third Age of Computing is no guarantee of success in a completely changed world. There are already some powerful entities in the Mobile world. Google may already be Celling Out (free subscription required), but that doesn’t yet seem to be showing results. Even a Google-positive article, Hooked on Google (free subscription required) showing Google is leaving Microsoft in the dust, had a sting in the tail.

In brand new areas, like mobile devices that connect to the Internet, Microsoft is holding its own against Google. According to Telephia, a research firm, 3.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers are visiting Microsoft’s mobile Web sites, compared to 3.5 percent for Google.

But even in this area, Microsoft is still No. 2. Kanishka Agarwal, vice president of mobile content for Telephia, said Yahoo is No. 1 with 5.9 percent of subscribers due to the popularity of Yahoo mail.

It will be interesting to see what develops during 2007 in this fast-changing Mobile world.

Comments

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Barry Welford, President of SMM Strategic Marketing Montreal works with business owners and senior management on Internet Marketing strategy and action plans to grow their companies. He is a moderator at the Cre8asite Forums and writes on current issues on the Internet and on the Mobile Web in three blogs, BPWrap, StayGoLinks and The Other Bloke’s Blog.

PDA’s hit the mobile business world and exploded into an overnight sensation. Laptops use to be a rare purchase, but are becoming almost as common as a regular desktop now. Tablet PC’s haven’t taken off like everyone had hoped, but they do have some great uses. PDA phones and other internet ready phones are almost a necessity, not only delivering email and internet, but now video and other mobile entertainment. What could possibly be next? How do you get better than what we have now?

Introducing the Ultra Mobile PC generation. What is an Ultra Mobile PC? It’s similar to a tablet pc, but much smaller, and with a much more specific purpose.. to deliver information and entertainment “on the go”, in a small form factor mobile pc. It would essentially be a cross between an internet ready pda, and a tablet. It will be larger than any pda on the market, but still small enough to carry around easily, without all of the bulk you get from a laptop.

So how is this thing going to be so small, yet powerful enough to do anything?

Well, quite honestly, it’s actually pretty simple to make such a thing so small and still powerful. Without a full sized keyboard, with a touch screen replacing any mouse or touch pad, and with usb and memory stick slots replacing floppy and cd drives, you’ve reduced the necessary size tremendously. So you essentially end up with something nearly as powerful as a laptop, yet less than half the size, and so much easier to carry around.

While most of the specs from the different brands will be slightly different, here are some features that you can come to expect among most Ultra Mobile PC’s.

- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

- 7″ diagonal display (or smaller)

- 800 x 480 wide screen resolution

- Integrated touch screen

- Integrated wireless and or bluetooth

- USB/Firewire

- Various memory stick slots

- Much longer battery life than a laptop

- Flip out, slide out, or simple on screen keyboard

It won’t be a replacement for a pda, and it won’t necessarily be a replacement for your laptop either, I see it being more of a companion to all of the above. You probably won’t want to type up an essay on it without a full sized keyboard, and you most likely won’t want to carry it around with you all day just to view your calendar like you would with your pda.

So what would you use an ultra mobile pc for then?

Well that’s simple really.. everything else. Mobile internet, music, movies, games, research, news, and about everything else you would have to lug out your laptop for or go sit at your computer for.

How great would it be to be able to do most of the things you would normally do on a computer or laptop, easily on a portable device? Not only at home, but on the go?

- Looking for recipes while you cook

- Comparing online prices and other store prices while you’re out shopping

- Checking the news while you’re waiting at the doctors office

- Getting directions while you’re trying to remember how to get to your aunts house

- Easily chat with your friends while you watch tv

- Download your favorite movies, shows, or music, anywhere, anytime.

The possibilities are endless, and I could go on forever talking about the things you could do with an ultra mobile pc. The point is that when these things hit the mainstream, they’re going to change the mobile world as we know it. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.

Add to | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web

Technorati:

This article taken from Computer Discounts Guide – Ultra Mobile PC’s. View the website for more helpful guides.

Donny Duncan, the author of Computer Discounts Guide has been in the computer field for over thirteen years.

A new title I just picked up on looks rather interesting – Phone+ Magazine. The Magazine serves channels for communications, content, computing and CPE. These include carriers, resellers and solutions providers — feature content planned for the near future will touch on VoIP, Broadband wireless, Wi-Fi, MNVOs, Interoperability and more. The magazine is now available (free) to our US-based readers.PHONE+ includes feature articles covering topics of interest to service providers and solutions providers of all types and across all market segments. The publisher also releases several special interest pubs each year as well including an industry directory… More info and a form for a free subscription is available at http://symbiandevzone.tradepub.com/free/pho/ (Sorry but US-based recipients only)

Add to | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web

Technorati:

Anything Geospatial: Tracking developments affecting GIS, geospatial technologies, location-based services, mapping, google earth and google maps. Published by the creator and editor of GISuser.com & LBSzone.com

My Palm is loaded with database information, documents in progress, bank account balances, usernames, passwords and pin numbers, web sites that I use for order processing, email, news, agenda and contact information. In short – my life is in this thing.

My Palm and OmniSky modem are my constant companions, and they are even more important when I’m on the road. This trip was no different than any others in the beginning. I took inventory of my Palm and made sure I had everything I needed, I packed both the car chargers and wall chargers for the hotel room – I was good to go.

Now I have occasionally considered putting Velcro on the back of my modem so that I could mount it on the dash of my truck, however I haven’t been able to bring myself to do this because Velcro seemed very inappropriate for such a sleek and expensive piece of equipment. So instead I’ve gotten in the habit of putting the combination in the passenger seat, or on the carpeted hump between the two front seats.

On this trip, I had the unit between the seats as I stopped to get gas. Being a huge coffee lover I of course got a great big cup of coffee as well. I sat the coffee in between the seats and walked away for a minute. When I came back I was horrified to find a full 20 ounces of coffee pouring all over my Palm and OmniSky!

The units were literally soaked. The OmniSky modem actually had coffee running out of the electrical outlet hole *and* the serial port connecter. The Palm seemed to be much better sealed, however the coffee left it very sticky and it was as dead as my OmniSky. I did my best to quickly drain and towel off both of them, then I laid them on the dash amidst paper towels in the hopes that they would “air out”.

Several hours later I had both units dried out and charging, apparently successfully, so I decided to test for damages. I found the Palm had completely reset itself and all of my data was lost – thus it was next to useless. The modem was very confused as it displayed all lights at once, and they weren’t even the correct indicator light colors. Things were not looking good.

The trip was very disconcerting without full use of my Palm. I hadn’t realized just how much I depend on it to keep track of everything and even when I didn’t need it, I still felt naked without it. Once I returned home I was able to restore all of my databases and information, and so far the Palm seems to be doing well. The buttons are a bit sticky and non responsive at times, but it appears to be working properly. The OmniSky wasn’t so lucky unfortunately. The lights work somewhat properly, but it cannot connect to the network and access anything. It will have to be replaced.

This experience has taught me a few things and readers here might benefit from them as well:

1. Don’t sit coffee or any other liquid next to your Palm. (Yes I hear many of you yelling “no kidding!” For further precaution, consider using a watertight carrying case.

2. Create or buy some sort of holster, or mount, for keeping your Palm up out of the way in a vehicle. There are commercial products that can be bought for mounting your Palm, however even a cheap slipper case would work. Putting Velcro on the back of a cheap slipper case (or the free case sent with the OmniSky modem) is much more acceptable in my mind than putting it on the Palm or modem themselves, and doing so will allow you to “mount” the slipper case then slide the Palm and/or Modem combination into it while driving.

3. If possible, carry a backup wireline or wireless modem. Keep it tucked away in a safe place *just in case*.

4. If possible, carry a backup Palm unit loaded with your most important data. The backup unit does not have to be the exact model of your main Palm – A used or lower end unit will work just fine. The purpose of this is to have access to your most important materials if something should happen to your main unit, so this should also be tucked away in a safe place. Before leaving on a trip be sure to sync *both* units to ensure you’re carrying current material on both of them.

5. If you carry a laptop in addition to your Palm, be sure you carry installation files or CDs with it for your primary Palm software. This option could be more viable than the fourth option above if you tend to carry a laptop with you most of the time anyway.

In general, carrying a Palm while traveling gives me access to everything I’ll need, so a laptop is not necessary. When I combine my Palm with the OmniSky wireless modem I feel completely untethered and I enjoy trips immensely. For everyone that feels the same way about their Palm, or uses it for access while traveling, taking just a few precautions will save you a lot of headaches and stress (Not to mention money) in the long run.

Ready for the rest? Get the full booklet — Don’t Put Into Email Today What You Do Not Want to See on Headline News Tomorrow — right now for just $6.95! Visit Kathy’s website and get it now! http://electronicperceptions.com/ebooks/effective_email.shtml