Detailed view about MOBILITY

1. Mobility
Submitted by:
Nikhil Kansari
PGP2, BIM TRICHY

2. Introduction
As I pen my thoughts towards the ubiquitous phenomenon of Mobility, I recollect an incident
which struck a chord with me and brought onto me a realization that how Mobility has become
an inseparable component in today’s life. About a year ago, I missed my bus from Bangalore.
With all my belongings to take care of and being new in the city, I was completely in a state of
panic about what would happen next. Holding my composure, I fettered around to gather some
information about timings for the next bus, though, nothing came out of it. It struck me then to
go online on my phone and visit an online bus booking site. On it, I could access list of entire bus
routes, timings, stoppage locations and what not, even the phone number of the driver of the bus
was available on the site. Now, wasn’t that a sigh of relief for me? After this incident I began to
appreciate the presence of technology which though is prevalent as well as powerful but is still
taken sometimes for granted and hence its impact in our day to day life goes unnoticed. Today,
the definition of Mobility has gone complete transformation and is not confined to a technology
which assists people in communication or sending simple text messages. Today, it is a
revolution; an era where it simply has become one of the necessities of life rather than a mere
assistance. As a student, I cannot imagine my life without my smart device. In one click, I have
access to all the information which helps me perform better in my studies, I share precious
moments of my life with the world with one single click on my smart device and most
importantly I stay connected with my near and dear ones. Tablet PCs have heralded a new phase
of innovation in field of Mobility and has been an icing over the cake for the techmaniacs.
In a nutshell, Mobility has transitioned into the convergence of computers and communication
making our lives better and convenient. Many devices would find their place under the auspices
of mobile computing viz. PDA’s (Personal Digital Assistant), Smart Phones and Tablet PC’s.
Today, people can afford their wallets to be misplaced but not their smart devices.
Metamorphosis
With time the awareness about technology and its spread have also changed. A child today is
probably more comfortable with technology than an adult is. What once used to be a privilege of
the few has become the lifeline of many. Once what was referred to as mobile/cell phone or mere
devices for communication are now referred to as smart phone. The devices are so smart that
they are fit enough to be your companion with capacity to fulfill one’s significant needs. Two of
the major breakthroughs in communication industry were the phones and internet, and now a
new phase of innovation is shaping up in the form of Mobility.
Like Moore’s law which projected the rise in computing powers and Metcalfe’s law which
propagated the connectivity to be dependent on the users it could connect, the law of Mobility
points towards a shift from communications constrained by place and time to communications
that are aligned with context and capability.

3. The law of Mobility observes that the value of any product or service increases with its tendency
of being mobile. This is made evident from the following characteristics. First is through
increased availability. A product that is always with you and always fully functional (relying on
wireless connection) will be available for your use and would translate into value much more
often than a product that is usually left home or at office. For example, a mobile camera is
available to capture moments that otherwise would have been lost. Second is through increased
contextual relevance. Mobility is the first class of technology that by definition regularly changes
the operating conditions in which it is put to use.
From Consumers to Prosumers
The influence of Mobility can be sensed through various facets of our life in which it has
permeated and impacted our behavior and mannerisms. To bring in a better perspective, we can
juxtapose two shopping experiences, one which we used to have about a decade ago and one
which a consumer experiences as of today. Earlier, with limited information at hand, consumers
had to jump around from one shop to another just to have a look at the products, understand the
features and know about various prices available in the market. Now, at the click of a button they
have all the information they need to make their shopping decisions; be it comparing prices,
checking availability of products or just to look at the virtual demo of the product they wish to
purchase. Consumers shopping via mobile devices have new expectations for pricing
standardization across channels, require a steady stream of promotions to remain engaged, and
want to capitalize on powerful tools that enable them to get independent recommendations
anytime, anywhere.
Welcome to the world of prosumers. A prosumer is someone who blurs the distinction between a
“consumer” and a “producer.” The prosumer engages in activities belonging to either sphere,
regardless of time or location. Because of their complex lifestyle, which combines a demanding
workload and an active family life, prosumers are early adopters of Web 2.0 products and
services-a convergence of process innovation, global marketplaces, and advanced technologies
that fundamentally changes the way consumers buy, retailers sell, and products are brought to
market. Today corporates have to utilize the power of prosumers and the knowledge flow.
Although prosumers are heavy technology users, they want solutions to be simple. In particular,
application user interfaces must be easily accessible for both work and their personal life, raising
some issues relating to overlap between the two. For example, loading Connected Life
applications onto company-owned phones is a concern to employers because of security and
liability, and to employees because of privacy and ethical concerns. When work and personal
lives overlap and blend so seamlessly, billing for things like mobile phones and application
software also becomes blurred.

4. Relevance of Mobility for business
A compelling report by Gartner highlights that by 2013, in the net traffic for mobile usage, 80%
traffic would comprise of data and 20% will be of voice. Organizations are gearing up and taking
notice of how optimal usage of Mobility would effectively cut down costs for them thereby not
only making them more profitable but also more efficient. These changes are so dramatic that
they have the capacity to fundamentally change the nature of the business, the nature of the
product, and the reasons why customers buy the product, and when it happen, rules of the
competition change.
With the importance of Mobility being clearly understood, it would be naïve of any business to
keep itself aloof from it. Internet provided connections that crossed organizational boundaries
enabling swifter information flow which subsequently enabled computer based transactions
between companies and their customers (both business and consumer). The value offered by
internet can be best described by three Cs: Content, Commerce, and Community and when we
look this from the perspective of Mobility, two additional Cs come into play in creation of value,
i.e., Context and Convergence.
The explosive expansion in the field of Mobility warrants significant attention and is one of the
prime reasons that the businesses all around the globe are trying to incorporate in their activities
wherever they can find an opportunity to do so. Mobile analytics is an emerging field which is
trying to make sense of the information overflow happening on the smart devices. All these are
steps towards making organizations smarter, efficient and effective. The organizations have
reconstructed their strategies to adapt to this changing environment. With most of the traffic
projected to be data centric in the coming decade, it would be essential for the organization to
build up their services to cater to such requests so that they can catch up on the pulse of the
consumers and their demands, else, risk losing out of business.
The era of Mobility represents an opportunity for large and small businesses to capture its power
and be more competitive. The organizations should venture in this uncharted territory and make
their presence felt in every sphere of their business activity be it for customer satisfaction,
improving their operational efficiency or just simply keeping up-to-date with the latest trends.
Mobility has brought about a sense of convenience for the consumers by various avenues which
it provides for to explore the world virtually and at the same time keeping them more informed.
Strategists should think about the Pricing Model and Technology Acceptance Model and
consider how Mobility will act as an agent of change in the perceived usefulness of the smart
devices. Marketers should be able to segment and differentiate between consumers and
prosumers. Firms should focus on the prosumers as they are the Experts of Mobility. In
developing nations, most of the consumers are late adopters or laggards. They want to utilize the
smart device but they consider its perceived ease of use.

5. Changes brought about by Mobility
a. Mobile Wallets:
One of the major applications of Mobility is mobile wallets. It is a technology which holds an
edge over traditional methods of payment. Some of the prominent variations of this technology
are as mentioned.
1. Near-field communications (NFC): It lets a shopper tap a phone with an NFC chip in it
against a receiver, to instantly beam the payment information.
2. QR Code: It is a form of distinctive, square barcode-like symbol wherein shoppers can
pay by having the code flash up on their phone's screen, where a camera attached to the
payment system can read it.
3. Pay by Name: It is a system in the store that detects when a known mobile phone is in
range, identifies the buyer, and displays his face on a screen, so that the person behind the
register can simply tap the picture to complete the transaction.
Though the benefits provided by Mobility are evident and visible but its acceptance amongst the
common man is one of the major challenges which its promoters are facing. While in developed
economies, the phenomenon has been embraced more openly; in the developing world people are
still skeptical accepting the same with their concern over security and data theft issues.
b. Education
With an increase in use of Mobility in the educational sphere, it was but evident that the students
who form the core of this system would become its major consumers. With the increasing
presence of WiFi campuses, use of video conferencing for delivering lectures and usage of
electronic form of communication between faculties and students make students consume and
embrace technology more than ever. In this scenario too, technology has become an essential
part of the system rather than something which assists in its proper functioning. The Mobility
dimension changes the relevance of the educational materials' various parts; students' attention
span; the focus of their education effort; and their attitudinal balance toward reading,
experimenting, interacting, and communicating. Also, mobile tools' immediacy offers new
communication opportunities that students- especially the youngest ones- have already adopted.
Overall, there is a growing recognition that the weakest spot in the computer-based learning
remains the communication and community dimension which will definitely find potential
answers in wireless and mobile learning.
c. Health Care
Mobility will be used and would become an important component in saving people’s lives. With
increasing population and limited space to construct hospitals, it would be imperative for
governments to provide fillip to mobile healthcare centers. We will see more physicians using

6. various medical Apps to monitor health. Remote patient care will become a reality and
increasing number of people will have access to quality health care.
d. Publishing Industry
With smart devices being the norm today and paperless world being the mantra, it is of no
surprise that the publishing industry has charted on a new course. Today most of the avid readers
prefer reading on their handheld smart devices rather than flipping through the pages of the
physical book in hand. It is projected that in the next decade there would be an advent of
electronic paper which would be working in tandem with the mobile technology. These
developments are pushing the publishing industry to rethink on their business model and adapt
towards the changing business scenario.
Technology Innovators
The transformation brought about by Mobility has created a window of opportunities for the
organizations. CISCO, one of the pioneers in this field, mentions that with the various avenues
thrown open by Mobility, it remains only to be seen how we can monetize the internet content
and demand for internet services by making the services more intelligence over the network.
Coverage, reliability and performance are the three major attributes which any company would
be required to provide as they try to capitalize on Mobility which includes optimizing the flow of
traffic so as to deliver reliable and error-free performance. A report from Gartner states that by
2013, one third of the Business Intelligence will be done through mobile devices and about 35%
of firms will get adapted to cloud to extract information.
Another innovator SAP has developed an enterprise Mobility solution which deals with Bring
your own device (BYOD) concept. They have produced a Sybase unwired platform connected
with Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) which pulls data from any data resource
located anywhere. Today, HTML5 technologies are in huge demand because one doesn’t need
native application to run on mobile devices rather it is a native coding method for customer
friendly mobile applications. This basically connects the application to the internet every time
you run it and are known as Web Apps.
There has been a surge in applications catering to various industries, viz., marketing, sales,
education, finance and many more which highlights the penetration of Mobility as a concept in
each of these industries. All these developments are assisting the workforce in the respective
industry to manage and understand their clients helping them to provide a better service and
sustain profits for the organizations.

7. Though our discussion has been predominantly focused on mobile phones and smart handheld
devices, there is another device which in itself is a form of innovation and merits attention and
certainly it comes under the auspices of Mobility. It’s the Tablet PC, which is convergent of all
the devices. It combines the feature of a laptop and a mobile. Though not very bulky in nature it
is built with all the capabilities necessary to provide a strong computing environment and
simultaneously act as a communication device. Collaborations in the field of making more
affordable and multipurpose tablets would be the next big thing in the field of Mobility. Another
important factor which corporations need to watch out for is that through constant innovations
they must try to bridge the digital divide existing in the world.
The downside of Mobility
As the saying goes, there are two sides to any coin. The same applies to Mobility also. The
inherent nature of technology is that it never remains constant, what is new today becomes
obsolete tomorrow. This creates a ripple effect on the production of devices also which too
survive a short life cycle leading to their quicker dumping. This culminates into the grave pile up
of devices being discarded by the consumers on the pretext of them being obsolete, leading to
what is termed as E-Waste. This waste is widely different from our traditional understanding of
waste. E- Waste is non-biodegradable, toxic and malignant. Due to this many organizations are
going green which helps them project as a responsible organization. Marketers should see this as
an opportunity and build on Green Computing solutions which can contribute to organization’s
bottom lines. For instance, NOKIA has started an initiative of eco-friendly Go green campaign
wherein they request people to drop their old phones at Nokia Priority dealers promising to
recycle it.
Another harmful effect from usage of mobile devices is that of electromagnetic radiations.
Mobile phones and towers emit electromagnetic radiations hazardous to health. Broadly these are
classified as thermal and non-thermal. Thermal effects refer to heating effect which occurs when
you hold the phone for long near your ear. Non-thermal effects on the cells, genes and the DNA
and are more harmful than thermal effects. Excessive use of mobiles can lead to headache, sleep
disturbance, lack of concentration, memory loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and increased risk
of brain cancer. Over 90% of nations have adopted radiation norms specified by ICNIRP
(International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection).

8. Conclusion
If one were to state in marketing jargon, today Mobility has emerged as a Megatrend. Globally,
with about 33% using smart devices while watching television and around 22% while reading
newspapers, it can be said without an iota of doubt that the phenomenon has become
indispensable. Mobility connects our physical and digital world. While we enjoy its
omnipresence as a consumer what still remains a challenge for the organizations is how they plan
to continuously evolve the technology so as to not only satisfy the consumer expectations but
also build it as a sustainable and responsible technology. Entrepreneurs should realize the power
of Mobility and step into new ventures which can transform Mobility to a next step. Mobile
analytics & Big Data would help develop greater intelligence making companies smarter in their
choices, smarter in building brands and smarter enough to cater new industries. Having enjoyed
the data speeds of 2G & 3G, next focus needs to be on 4G technology. It is said that in this age of
information, ignorance is a choice. Let’s be an informed consumer, professional and organization
and work towards making this technology a powerful tool towards educating and assisting
people in realizing their ambitions but at the same time let’s not be ignorant of the vices it
possess to render all the efforts done in good spirit to make it a waste.

9. Reference
1. http://www.rapidvaluesolutions.com/blog/mobile-trends-2012/
2. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/10/are-mobile-wallets-a-major-
innovation-or-a-major-bore/263154/
3. http://blogs.naukri.com/?p=492
4. Power of Mobility by Russell McGuire
5. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERB0622.pdf
6. http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/wp/Prosumer_VS2_POV_0404_FINAL.pdf
7. http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QF
jAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.microsoft.com%2Fdocuments%2Faustralia%2Fhe
alth%2FUCC%2FMobility_SolutionsforHealthcare_Providers.pdf&ei=IuyPUIy_GsrhrAe
S94CgDA&usg=AFQjCNF4b7qGcobTllgxWBTJ_qkP6GCngA&cad=rja
8. http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/10/18/mobile-wallets-not-everywhere-
theyd-like-to-be/
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DXB475spgc
10. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2048617
11. http://www.sap.com/solutions/technology/enterprise-mobility/resources/mobile-gartner-
report.epx
12. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2131115
13. http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/news/1515263/Running-mobile-ERP-on-
smartphones
14. http://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2011/07/5-benefits-to-mobile-erp/
15. http://www.lek.com/sites/default/files/L.E.K._Marketplace_of_the_Mobile_Consumer.pd
f
16. http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/257108-byod-is-here-to-stay-but-organization-
must-adapt
17. http://www.ericom.com
18. http://www.sybase.in/products/mobileenterprise/afaria?htab=DISCOVER&vtab=Case+St
udies&hid=81511&vid=80009
19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aUQLIPdtg8
20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl7ccx8oBfw