Technology soothsayers have for years been predicting the explosive growth and far-reaching pervasiveness of mobile devices. I`m not entirely sure who first theorised on the use of a wireless communications device as an augmentation to daily life; what I do know is that since the idea was first posited, it caught on like wildfire.
From the tricorders and communicators used by the Star Fleet crews of various generations, to the mobile payment solution that allowed a young Marty McFly to "thumb a credit" in Back To The Future II, mobile technology has promised all this functionality and more. It`s a concept that sends thrills and chills of excitement rippling through the bones of anyone with imagination enough to realise the possibilities for the future.
With this realisation comes feverish planning, negotiation, and as we`ve seen in the last year, initial steps into the implementation and rolling out of services that can be rendered across that mobile communications platform.
Woeful WAP
The most obvious service is that of mobile banking, with which Absa, being one of the first banks in the country to offer basic financial services through this channel, has made headlines.
Similar services have been offered by Nedbank, among others; the difference is that Nedbank`s offering made use of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) - the much-lambasted technology which has been described as cumbersome, slow, extremely limited and horrifically expensive to boot.
No one could have anticipated how rapidly SMS would be adopted, and indeed, how enthusiastically South African mobile phone users would dive into the service.
Basheera Khan, Journalist, ITWeb
The Absa offering uses the short message service channel instead, allowing users to access the basic financial services through a wireless Internet gateway. It`s cheaper, yes, but whether it will be any faster than WAP is yet to be determined. I have had the experience of receiving SMSs literally hours after they were sent - primarily because mobile telephony networks are at times completely overloaded.
No one could have anticipated how rapidly SMS would be adopted, and indeed, how enthusiastically South African mobile phone users would dive into the service. I personally know someone who sends an average of 350 short messages a month - she manages to juggle her sometimes mind-boggling social life without significantly disrupting her time at work.
Brainpower
Other developments also bode well for a healthy mobile communications industry. Innovations such as Palm`s GSM sled that transforms your handheld PDA into a mobile phone, for example, have the capacity to change completely the nature of 21st century communications.
The much-circulated jokes about the businessmen who try to outdo each other`s biotech implants spring to mind. Experiments in this marriage of technology and biology are already underway, but I wonder how many enthusiasts will actually display the courage of their convictions and voluntarily join the early adopter group. Always-on communications, and the various other services that result will be welcomed, I believe, but the thought of invasive communications technology sets my teeth on edge.
Perhaps one day, that sort of technology will be an inbred trait, added to the gene pool in utero. Perhaps one day, technology will fall by the way side as the human race learns how to better harness individual brainpower.
Either way, I hope I`m around to see the day when enhanced communications technology is cheap enough to deploy to just about anyone who wants it. A Utopian goal, yes, but completely unattainable? I truly hope not.
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