Mobile Phones Advancement - Report Example

Technical Report on Mobile phones Advancement Name: College: Course: Tutor: Date: Technical Report on Mobile Phones Advancement Executive Summary This paper highlights the history of mobile phones, their technological advancements, and role in business and communication. It also analyses various challenges that the advancements of mobile phones may pose to businesses. The paper intends to address technological advancement of mobile phones in relation to its role in business and organization development. To this end, it focuses on various phones that have revolutionized the industry, and the impacts they had on the world. It makes some proposes on expected future of the mobile industry in the next 20-30 years. The paper shows that the highlight of mobile growth is development of 3G technology and smart phones. Introduction Mobile phones or cell phones have been one of the key technical advancements of the 20th century. The last 30 years have seen a huge revolution in mobile telephony, both in function and design. From the big cell phones installed on cars, to the current smart phones, the mobile industry has undergone a complete metamorphosis, which one can describe only as ‘Revolutionary’. Where the first mobile phones were bulky, the current mobile phones are small in design, but they contain more features and applications than earlier phones. Today it is easy to take a picture, upload it to social media, play videos, watch a movie, text and do many things from a mobile phone (Agar, 2013). Indeed, most people consider the mobile phone the future of ecommerce due to its ability to transact easily and conveniently. This report looks at history of mobile phones, from the first Motorola DynaTAC to current iPhones, BlackBerry and various smart phones. It also details some challenges facing the mobile phone advancement, and predicts the future of mobile phones. 1. Mobile Revolution over the Last 30 years Arguably, the first mobile phone from Motorola hit the market in 1983. However, this is not entirely the birth of mobile phone technology. Indeed, the technology used for mobile phone had its inception in the 1940s. Nevertheless, it would take decades before the first mobile phone would see the light of day. The first gadgets that would remotely resemble the current mobile phones were mainly used in cars, especially big trailers and trucks, emergency vehicles and police cars. It is not yet clear whether the makers of these car phones had an idea of what their technology would play such a huge role in people’s lives, decades later. Today almost every person uses or owns a mobile phone (Agar, 2013). Motorola Company manufactured the first portable analog mobile phone, DynaTAC 800X. Figure 1.Motorola DynaTAC 8000X Source: Webdesignerdepot.com These phones resembled phone booths rather than current mobile phones. Such early phones used analog technology, and were installed on cars. Years later, technicians designed the phones such that it was possible to use them outside the cars. This gave rise to first portable mobile phones or first generation (G1) phones. Nevertheless, the phones were bulky and it was not possible to carry them around on huge distances. The main purpose of G1 phones was for traffic of voice, but they were insecure as other people using similar devices or police scanners would listen to ones conversation. Also, they were very expensive, hence only available to the rich and prominent people. Other early models include Motorola Micro TAC 9800X, which was also a car phone. In the 1990s, mobile manufacturers improved the G1 technology. This gave rise to new generation of phone or G2 (Second Generation). All phones manufactured in this period relied on G2 technology, which were more secure and convenient. The G2 technology also adopted digital capability, replacing the earlier analog technology. This improved the phone speed and reduced the noise interference characteristics of the analog phones. The digital technology also allowed manufacturing of small gadgets with advanced applications, which popularized the use of mobile phones. In addition, the new phones came with small batteries, which lasted longer than before and were energy efficient. Moreover, the small size and mass production of mobile phones greatly reduced their prices, making mobile phones available to many people. Indeed, the 1990s was truly beginning of the mobile phone revolution. Some of the early G2 phones include Motorola 3200 and Nokia 1011. Figure 2: Motorola International 3200 Figure 3: Nokia 1011 Source: Webdesignerdepot.com In 1993, IBM joined Motorola in the mobile phone industry, manufacturing the BellSouth phone. The BellSouth or IBM Simon combined phone and PDA technology in one hand held small gadget. This phone was very popular with distributors, warehouses and large scale producers. They could use it to keep track of stocks and communicate with employees across various areas of operations. Figure 4: IBM Simon or BellSouth Source: Webdesignerdepot.com With the growing popularity of mobile phones, manufactures of mobile phones made further revolution with introduction of the 3rd generation technology (3G). 3G technology came amid the hype created by 2G technology. IBM Simon was one of the early phones to use the 3G technology. This allowed users to make calls (voice transfer) as well as transfer of other data over the phone network. Such data include instant messages (text messages) and email. This capability greatly increased popularity and sales of mobile phones across the globe. The texting capability of mobile phones was so essential in mobile advancement, that most people prefer texting to making calls. This helped increase the security and convenience of mobile phones. Also, it saw many mobile phone network providers arise all over the world. Currently, leading mobile network providers are some of the most powerful companies in the globe (Eagle, Pentland & Lazer, 2009). 3G technologies coincided with innovation of the internet, World Wide Web and the social media. People can now serve the internet, or access their popular social media sites from their mobile phones. Indeed, tablets and mobile phones are more popular especially among young people than personal computers (laptops and desktops). Some of the early phones to use the 3G technology include Nokia 9000. This was arguably the first smart phone in the market. Figure 5: Nokia 9000 Phone Source: Webdesignerdepot.com Some of the 1990s popular brands by Nokia include Nokia 9110i series, 5110, 8210, 7110, and 5210. The Nokia 7110 was the first WAP enabled phone in the market, which allowed the phone to freely access the internet. Figure 6: Nokia 7110 Phone Source: Webdesignerdepot.com Introduction of GPS enabled phones allowed users to access the internet faster than WAP technology. Pioneers in this technology include Benefon Esc, which mainly sold in Europe. To make phone exciting, innovators came up with many applications for mobile phones. Samsung Company was the first manufacturer to come up with a phone with an MP3 music player. Since then, most phones have either MP3 or MP4 capacities. Some phones even have wireless radios and TVs. Other features of current phones include calendar, reminder, clock, Bluetooth; colored screens, clear cameras, among others. Currently, there are talks of innovation of the 4th generation phone or 4G. In the new future, the world may yet see new and highly innovative products in the mobile industry. Figure 6: Smart Phone Revolution- HTC Touch Diamond Source: Webdesignerdepot.com The expansion of smart phones may yet again change the scope and capacity of mobile phones. IPhones and Blackberry have changed the way people communicate and share pictures and other information across the globe. Most smart phones operate on Android operating system, an open OS from Google. This new operating system increases the capacity of smart phones, which makes them multipurpose. Introduction of Android to smart phones may open doors for other manufacturers to come up with innovative systems. 2. Role of Mobile Phones in Communication and Business In the 21st Century, almost every person uses a phone. This greatly enhances communication, and business both locally and international. Business people are recognizing the effects of mobile phones in business advertisements. Experts estimate that most traders prefer mobile phones for transacting business rather than PCs. With millions of mobile users across the globe, the mobile network provides an amazing avenue for business. Mobile phones also allow people to communicate with either socially or for business purposes, especially across social sites. Some estimates argue that most people spend half of their daily interactions on media through mobile phones. This even surpasses interactions through TV, radio, and PCs. Most people are normally on a phone when watching TV, conversing or listening to radio. Radio and TV stations recognize the affinity of people to their phones that they encourage people to interact with their popular hosts through text messages or phone calls. Easy accessibility of mobile phones makes them the best tool for passing information and advertisement. Since 2013, most organizations and governments are shifting the mode of communicating with masses. This means coming up with advertisements or information, which conforms to mobile phones (Eagle, Pentland & Lazer, 2009). Such innovations open ups doors for growth and development of businesses. Indeed, advertising on mobile phones is one of the most efficient and cheap way of communicating with customers. Meanwhile, mobile operators are developing mobile payment and money transfer systems. This makes it possible and easy to order and pay for goods using mobile phones. As the world moves towards cashless systems of purchasing and payments, mobile phones provides an alternative system to cards such as MasterCard and Visa. 3. Challenges of Mobile Phones Developments Unfortunately, even as mobile phones and the capacity develop, it creates some challenges for manufacturers and businesses. Organizations have to make huge investments in systems that run on mobile phone platforms. It is becoming increasingly difficult for managements to justify making such investments. Coming from tight budgets characterized by the recent Great Depression, organizations have to scale down on their expenditure. Managers have to convince investors and shareholder that any investment on mobile systems shall generate revenues. Fortunately, organizations that understand the need for such investments are bound to reap immense benefits. Currently, innovators are working on systems to track consumers’ use of their mobile phones. These systems measure mobile orders, downloads, and purchases. Unfortunately, this is still at innovation stage, and it may be quite some time before organizations can really understand mobile phones technology and its benefits. Nevertheless, there is room for growth of mobile technology and its use for businesses and organizations growth. For instance, as more people join the social media frenzy, it is possible for businesses to advertise on such sites (Aker & Mbiti, 2010). 4. The future of Mobile Phone Industry One of the expectations in the mobile telephone is introduction of near field communication (NFC). Most analysts expected Apple to incorporate NFC in iPhone 5, but that dream did not materialize. Nevertheless, there is still hope that NFC capacity in smart phones may be the future of mobile phones communication. NFC allows smart phones to communicate with one another either when touched together or when near another smart phone or NFC enabled device. This allows quick, easy and free transfer of data. Some smart phones with NFC capability include Google Nexus. Such a device can share data faster than normal use of Bluetooth devices. It can also be useful when making payments, just like use of credit cards. For instances, if a consumer wants to purchase something in a mall, he or she can just scan the item with his enabled smart phone, and the phone transfers the payments instantly. This system works for the convenience of the customer and the retailer (Aker & Mbiti, 2010). As more people continue to buy smart phones, mobile advertisements are bound to increase. This shall increase the budgets for such advertisements, increasing employments and enhancing businesses in the industry. This shall also increase consumer awareness tremendously. With expected growth in mobile telephony, the future of mobile phones looks blighter and blighter. Mobile phones have capacity of affecting and changing consumer behavior in the 21st Century. Therefore, organizations are more likely to invest more in mobile industry than other avenue in the future. Actually, the future of mobile industry is already here. Companies who are keen on developments must investing and making necessary changes now. With expected shift towards advertising using mobiles phones, the industry may see a shift in advertising strategy. This may involve developing systems, which can track and measure mobile performance and its impact on businesses. Therefore, measurements of mobile performance in businesses may be the next great technological breakthrough. In the next 20-30 years, mobile phones may be the standard for measuring development and performance of businesses. For this to happen, innovators may continue coming up with ‘killer’ applications. This shall increase demand for mobile phones and make it necessary for standard applications. Currently, there are so many mobile applications in the market, but there is no clear standard fro such apps. Fortunately, as the world turns to mobile communication, there is need for setting standards for such apps (Eagle, Pentland & Lazer, 2009). It is expected that mobile phones shall surpass tradition systems of communications and advertisements such as TVs, radio, and print media in the near future. As a result, some of these Medias may have to find alternative ways of making money, or fully embrace mobile phones as part of their system. Conclusions As the paper shows, mobile phones have been one of the biggest technological advancements of the 20th and 21st Century. Mobile phones have taken over how people communicate, interact and transact on daily business. This provides businesses and organizations with an ample avenue for development. Unfortunately, it also creates some challenges, mainly due to lack of clear ways of measuring performance in relation to investments. Fortunately, there is room for development in this industry. As more people continue to go mobile, it is becoming increasingly clear that the future of business and communication is on mobile phones. By understanding the effect and impact of mobile advertisements, businesses can benefit immensely from this platform. Business and political leaders can take advantage of the benefits provided by mobile phones to reach as many people as possible. References: Agar, J. (2013). Constant touch: A global history of the mobile phone. Icon Books. Aker, J. C., & Mbiti, I. M. (2010). Mobile phones and economic development in Africa. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 207-232. Eagle, N., Pentland, A. S., & Lazer, D. (2009). Inferring friendship network structure by using mobile phone data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(36), 15274- 15278. Web Designer Depot. (2009). The Evolution of Cell Phone Design Between 1983-2009. Retrieved online on July 2, 2014 from http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/the-evolution-of-cell-phone-design-between- 1983-2009/. Read More