Molecularist

Oliver brought up an interesting report from Jupiter. I have two things to add to this thread:

1) Nokia has a program for analyzing how people use Series 60 phones. Much as with the HipTop, Series 60 users have always been bigger users of advanced data services and more frequent users of even SMS.

As Oliver says, it’s a mixture of self-selection – power-users want more capable phones – but I also agree that it’s part due to the greater sophistication of the phone and easier access to greater features.

Nothing new there, but just saying that this trend is likely to be universal for all higher-end devices (that are well designed).

Also, as a side note, I’ve been trying to see how that S60 data can be made ‘free’. Some real good nuggets of info.*

2) Here in Finland, operators started subsidizing 3G phones (only). At first blush, this goes against what so many of us hold dear. But, I gotta say, it’s a great thing. I have see a ton more 3G phones in regular folks’ hands in the past three months than in the past few years. In short, selective subsidies can accelerate the adoption of a new category of device and maybe change people’s mobile behaviours.

And that means that more people will be exposed to these more sophisticated phones, more likely to use the advanced services, and more likely to drive the creation of advanced services. I see a win-win-win for users, manufacturers, and operators. Agreed?

Link: MobileCrunch � Danger Sidekick Users Blow Away SMS and Web-Viewing Averages on Mobile Devices.

Danger Sidekick user consume mobile data in amounts that make average use pale by comparison.

*And has anyone read the recent Strategy Analytics report that folks only use a few features on their phones?

Some interesting stats collected and brought into one place by Anders. He’s looking at the different mobile platforms.

I am impressed that there are 700M Java phones, though he doesn’t split them between MIDP 1 or 2 (and of course, this must included smartphones and such). How long will it take, though for Symbian, soon to pass the 100M mark to overtake this value and be the dominant platform? Or will Linux win that race?

Either way, that leaves about 1.3B phones that do not have Java, which suggests to me basic SMS and voice phones. That number is growing, too. And, to me, that’s a platform.

Hmm, just realized one ‘platform’ I’d like to see as part of this list is XHTML, since that’s a platform that can be built upon for services and such. How many such devices out there?

Link: the mobile experience – Blog Archive – Mobile platform statistics.

I’ve done some searching for statistics on different types mobile platforms and their current global uptake. Here is a what I’ve found.

Stephanie has this great article looking into the impact of mobile phones in emerging markets. Emerging markets are a large part of the book I’m working on, since the numbers of folks who will take the next billion phones* who are from India, China, or Afica should make us wake up to the impending (already happening?) global and local social and economic impact.

Link: Keitai / Alex, Pig, GSM and the Digital Divide.

One of the topics I find the most fascinating in mobile was again in the news yesterday with the imminent arrival of the 2 billion-th GSM subscriber—mostly due to astronomically high subscriber numbers in emerging markets.

*Stephanie, I think we are past 2B already, and 4B is already expected by 2010

Even though I live with gadgets and tech, I am not really a gadget person. I think in terms of ‘doing’ things not ‘enablers’ and such.

Chris Heathcote, who might come across as a techie, but isn’t really (he’s ‘just’ a really interested, as in ‘interested in everything’, person). He voices his realization   that he is a ‘neophile’ and that ‘doing’ is what he does.

Here he mentions the most recent things he’s done. I think this ties in well with some of the things he says he heard Ben Hammersley talk about (link below) and with some things Ulla-Maaria, of Crafting fame, keeps talking about – despite our digitalization of everything, we still need tanglible things – sweaters, books, albums, bicycles (that’s my weakness), glass, shirts (that’s Chris’ weakness), and so on.

When I think of the narrative the underlies all that we create, electronic or otherwise, I always like to ask myself how that fits into our Lifestyle. Too often I see colleagues enamoured with the latest trend, a trend that just doesn’t make sense or is unsustainable since it really doesn’t fit how we love, live, fight, screw, build, touch, taste, and feel.

It’s about making meaning, about being relevant, about slipping in to the way I experience and share my world.

Link: Reboot.

I’m speaking, on Thursday night, at Reboot 8. It’s a wonderful conference – despite having had me back to speak three times now – and always a joy. For a tech conference, it’s remarkably untechy: I’m talking on “How to be a Renaissance Man,” but as I’ve been given the keynote slot of fun/doom – 8pm between the beers and the DJ – expect lots of knob gags and references to the more profane influences on the life of Raphael.  Looking at the programme the striking thing is the amount of old tech people running as fast as they can from the digital to the tangible, and from the solo to the social. I know many people in the online world who yearn to make things with their fingers, to be cooks or gardeners or painters or carpenters, and who are rejecting the web2.0 rehash of 1999 as ultimately tiresome and meaningless. Maybe I’m old and jaded, but there’s got to something more beautiful than yet another blog or social network. Time to find it.

Chris, I’ll take your lead (again) and strive to say ‘Yes’ more often. Looking forward to more adventures you will have by just saying ‘yes’. 🙂