Tag Archives: mobile 2.0
Applications now open for LIRNEasia Young Scholar Tutorials, hosted by NUS, Singapore. Click here for info on how to apply.
LIRNEasia mGov findings published in Indian media
Findings from LIRNEasia’s Mobile 2.0 study on m-government services has been published in India’s Economic Times, Ahmedabad. The research examines the potential for the supply of government services over the mobile through a case study of such a system developed by Mumbai-based Zero Mass Foundation, that has proved popular in the country.
“This is one of the highly effective tools for achieving financial inclusion. But the system is suffering because of the lack of interest among government agencies. There needs to be a policy change to take the model further and make the system financially viable,” says IIM-A Professor and LIRNEasia’s Senior Research Fellow, Subhash Bhatnagar, PhD.
The research is a part of a larger study conducted by LIRNEasia on the use of mobiles for more-than-voice.
Read the full article here.
How mobile handsets are doing
A story on the Barcelona GSM World conference had this interesting summary on the state of the handset market. With our focus on infrastructure we have not written much about handsets over the years, but it’s becoming difficult, especially in the context of the Mobile 2.0 narrative. As I said in a recent interview with the Expanding Horizons magazine: “Mobile networks will provide the key connectivity, especially as we see handsets becoming more advanced.”
Global shipments of handsets had been falling every quarter since the third quarter of 2008, when the global financial crisis erupted, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.
But shipments surged by 10 percent in the last three months of 2009, “signaling an end to the industry’s year-long recession,” Strategy Analytics said in a January 29 report.
Smartphones alone grew even faster in the fourth quarter, jumping 30 percent.
Sony Ericsson and Samsung, the world’s second biggest mobile phone maker behind Nokia, have small slices of the smartphone segment, which is dominated by Nokia, iPhone-maker Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM).
Samsung unveiled its new touch-screen handset, the Samsung Wave, on Sunday, as part of its plans to triple its smartphone sales to 18 million ..read more
Tharoor tweets; MSM twit
Apparently MSM in India are conspiring against new media:
The news media breathlessly chronicle each of Mr. Tharoor’s supposed Twitter missteps in editorials and talk show discussions. One news channel scrolled his latest Twitter updates across its screen under the rubric “Breaking News.”
Twitter enthusiasts say the news media make a fuss about it because it usurps its traditional role as intermediary and interpreter between the powerful and the masses.
“By constantly associating Twitter with controversies, Indian media will successfully dissuade other politicians from joining the social networking site,” Ajit Narayana, an avid Twitter user who is organizing a conference this month on Twitter’s use in India, wrote in an e-mail message.
Not only in Sri Lanka that there is a conspiracy behind everything. But not a bad story.
Mobile money presentations and new networks
By Erwin A. Alampay
Over the past month, I’ve had the opportunity to present my research on mobile money for remittances in two different conferences, with different audiences (the paper and PPT presentation can be downloaded here and here).
On October 10, I presented my research on the use of mobile money for remittances in a panel on Mobile Adoption and Economic Development. This was for a conference held in New Brunswick on Mobile Communications and Social Policy, hosted by the Rutgers School of Information and Communication. Harsha de Silva also presented his paper in the same panel on the “Role of social influence on mobile phone adoption: Evidence from the BOP in emerging Asia.” His paper and presentation can be downloaded here and here.
On October 23, I then presented the same research, this time to a Filipino audience in the 2nd Living the Information Society conference at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City
The audiences for both conferences were academic in composition. Their reactions, however, were different. Those in the largely Northern audience, still had an abstract understanding of how it all worked, and their questions tended to focus more on the methodology, and notions ..read more
Maldives cell broadcast report featured in SciDev
SciDev, a prestigious science communication channel, has featured our cell broadcast report, the first of the Mobile 2.0 reports to be released.
Texting short messages through mobile phones could help in early warning of natural disasters in the Maldives, says a new report.
The technology, called cell broadcasting, helps to deliver messages simultaneously to multiple users in a specified area.
“In the case of the Maldives, if an early warning is introduced, it must be able to reach all of the outlying islands including tourists on resorts. With mobile phones quite ubiquitous, it may be an ideal time to introduce an emerging technology — cell broadcasting — for public early warning,” says the report, ‘Mobile Cell Broadcasting for Commercial Use and Public Warning in the Maldives’, which was published last month (15 July).
Phones for more than voice
An interesting article on MIT’s website discusses how several business ventured started by its students spawned by class projects or independent work are exploring news ways of using the mobile phones for improving the day-to-day lives of people, particularly in the developing world. Applications range from mobile health-care services to agricultural and mobile payment services as well.
Many were developed as entries for business competitions, or as part of the MIT Media Lab’s NextLab program to develop mobile phone applications geared toward the developing world.
Read the full article here.
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LIRNEasia’s Mobile 2.0@BOP project also seeks to explore the use of mobiles for more-than-voice services, both in terms of the regulatory conditions needed, and current applications in place. More information can be found here.
“Mobile2.0:Beyond Voice?” ICA Pre-conference: Papers and presentations
Research papers and presentations made at the “Mobile2.0: Beyond Voice?” pre-conference workshop at the 2009 ICA Conference, 20 – 21 May 2009, Chicago, are now available for download below; the pre-conference is being organized by LIRNEasia (www.lirneasia.net). More information on the event is available here. Rich Ling’s notes are here.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS, Tim Kelly (infoDev, World Bank) | Presentation
SESSION 1: Mobile Internet Use, Chaired by Francois Bar (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California)
- The iPhone and Mobile Access to the Internet, Richard Ling (Telenor/IT University of Copenhagen) and Pål Roe Sundsøy | Paper | Presentation
- New Paths: Exploring Mobile-only Internet Use in South Africa, Jonathan Donner (Microsoft Research, India) and Shikoh Gitau (University of Cape Town) | Paper | Presentation
- Internet and Online Media Usage on Mobile Phones Among Low-Income Urban Youth in Cape Town, Tino Kreutzer (Center for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa) | Paper | Presentation
SESSION 2: Trends in Mobile Usage: Part I, Chaired by Tim Kelly (infoDev, The World Bank)
- Mobile Phones Use and Social Network Development Among Small Malaysian Retailers, Tom Erik Julsrud, Grace Roldan and Andrew Wong (Telenor Research & Innovation, Norway and Malaysia) | Paper | ..read more
Indian innovation in political communication using the mobile
In line with our current research focus on mobile-beyond-voice, we have been highlighting some novel information services that could be provided over the mobile. Here is another. In operation in India now.
A number of civic groups, meanwhile, have devised cellphone-based ways of informing voters about candidates for Parliament. If you text your postal code to the Association for Democratic Reforms, it will reply with candidate profiles like this:
CANDIDATE A Crim. Cases – No, Assets 175373142, Liab 0, Edu graduate_professional
CANDIDATE B Crim. Cases – Yes (1), Assets 445015617, Liab 2489959, Edu illiterate
Full story with other interesting applications.
Mobile 2.0: Beyond Voice? Draft program available
Preconference workshop at the 2009 conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) | 20-21 May 2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA
The draft program for this one-and-a-half day preconference is now available. Twenty five papers were selected through a peer-reviewed process; papers based on research in 15 countries in five continents in on various aspects of mobile usage will be presented. Registration can be completed through the ICA conference website.
Google on mobile?
It appears that erstwhile rivals Google and Verizon are talking about putting Google on the mobile palmtop. Good news for those who see a mobile-centric future, like us.
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