Every now and then I see a presentation or read a piece on something and I think "yeah, he/she’s so right". It happened to me again this evening when I found "Mobile the 7th mass media is to internet like TV is to radio" by Tomi T. Ahonen over at Communities Dominate Brands. I you haven’t seen it so far take a look, it’s a real eye opener on why the mobile Internet does not only include all benefits of print media, audio and video recordings, the TV and the Internet but far surpasses them due to it’s unique capabilities.
He goes on to explain that developers should not aim at improving and creating new services to make the mobile Internet experience resemble the desktop Internet as close as possible. The is because the mobile is "Not the dumb little cousin of the Internet" as Tomi puts it. Instead, he argues that developers should use the mobile’s advantages such as it’s close relationship to it’s user, it’s unique identity, that it’s always on and always carried, that it has instant payment possibilities and it’s instantaneous support of the users creative impulses as guides and opportunities to create new services. Truly a masterpiece!
It’s good to see some companies have already understood this concept as mobile’s such as the Nokia’s NSeries phones, Sony Ericsson UIQ phones and others are great platforms to base such ideas on. The best phones, however, are no good if operators hide inside their walled gardens. But some of them have already understood and are embracing the future rather than to fight against it. Shining examples in recent months are Three with their free international roaming, German MVNOs offering prepaid mobile Internet access for a fair price to the masses, and operators such as One in Austria who have started selling high volume wireless Internet access for fair prices as well.