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Is there a "SMS" for 3G? Tomi thinks it is MoSoSo...

Submitted by Richard Smith on October 28, 2006 - 2:04pm.
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Anyone linked to the mobile industry probably has dreams of discovering "the next SMS." Like the holy grail, the person who can cash in on the next big thing will not only bring wealth to themselves but to the whole industry.

For a while now, high speed data services (e.g., 3G) on mobile have been a solution looking for a problem. TV on your mobile phone? I don't think so, at least not as a data service. Videoconferencing? What makes you think it will work better in the hand than it did on the desk? 

So why pay big bucks for a data service in your palm? Web browsing? That's ok, but people expect to get the web for free... they aren't going to pay by the page for it. And thus 3G stumbles along, picking up applications here and there but not racing. But Tomi, over at the "Communities Dominate..." blog, thinks he has found the answer: mobile social software. Here's a quote from his recent (long) posting:

Mobile Community Services will be the killer app for 3G. Call it Mobile Social Networks (some like our friend Steven Jones who lectures with me at Oxford's 3G business/services courses abbreviate that as MoSoSo). Call it Digital Communities on 3G. Call it mobile blogging, moblogging. Call it user generated content on mobile. But trust me, Communities Dominate. We now have found our first true killer application for the 3G space. And it is the digital community services.

More N80 Musings

Submitted by Richard Smith on October 25, 2006 - 12:43pm.
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A few months ago I got my first rich media mobile phone, the Nokia N80, and I have been using it ever since. The phone is remarkable - although I suspect that very soon these features will be considered standard on a phone - for a variety of reasons. It is clearly a version of what we'll see in mobile multimedia in the coming years.

Marek Pawlowski, who writes in the MEX blog, has an interesting blog post on the N80. The main point he makes, and I think it is a serious one, is that this phone has added considerable value to him and at every stage in that value chain he was able to bypass his network operator and use third party networks  and applications. In fact, a lot of the value proposition came *because* of the ability to bypass his network operator.


David Vogt interviewed by SFU's "The Digest"

Submitted by Richard Smith on October 24, 2006 - 10:29pm.
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Not quite as influential as the CBC Evening News, or Front Page Challenge, The Digest nonetheless manages to keep on the cutting edge of new media and society. They are so advanced, in fact, that they managed to grab time with our own David Vogt, and interview him for the latest issue of their esteemed publication.


Also in this issue, an article by Darryl Cressman (where have I heard that name before?) and an interview with Mark Poster.

Mobiles and gifts - a theory perspective

Submitted by Richard Smith on October 19, 2006 - 9:53pm.
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I am fortunate enough to work with many talented PhD students, some of whom are able to look at the world of mobile with fresh eyes. In this case, Darryl Cressman is an oddity in this day and age: a student without a mobile phone. Perhaps that is why he is able to see things differently. Just returned from a conference in Europe, and impressed with some of the new mobile research he saw there, he prepared this short essay on the connection between mobile phones and the "gift" culture. Living, as we do, in a region with a long potlach tradition, perhaps this will sound familiar to some of you. Regardless, I hope you find it interesting.



Theorizing Cellular Use


Call for papers: DIGRA 2007, Tokyo

Submitted by Florence Chee on October 18, 2006 - 9:35am.
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Context: the previous DiGRA was held in Vancouver in 2005, and is a meeting of individuals from academia and industry game developers--including those with an interest in mobility/mobile games, learning, etc.  

The next one, in 2007 is slated to take place in Tokyo--one of the main hubs of mobile gaming.  They should have lots of exhibits, events, and discussion (and plain just being there in the middle of it all should be inspiring on the things that can happen with mobility).  Are you interested in research on mobile games or related issues on play?  Take a look at this Call for Papers, and submit a proposal to present.  Better yet, organize a panel of people and have a dialogue.   


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