February 12th, 2011



Welcome to Mobile 1.0

This post originally appeared in my email newsletter back in November.  Thought it was worth posting here.

I am trying to transition as much activity as possible to my iPhone. Things I previously wrote-off as necessitating a computer I am now more willing to attempt on my phone.

I hope that 10 years from now people refer to this period in the world of technology as “mobile 1.0.” Looking around on trains and in public places, the activities that people do on their phones are pretty limited: games, email, messaging, reading the news. Sort of like what people did on the early Internet.

And smartphones are still fairly new and not completely ubiquitous. Service isn’t always reliable. Last weekend at the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC, there was no cell service and no wireless at all.

So where’s it going?  To me, the emergence and immediate popularity of an app like Instagram indicates a few things:

1. There are few social products built for the iphone that really “work”.

2. As my friend Nathaniel so eloquently said: “Good products allow you to do something you already do more effectively, more simply, and with less pain. Great products make the experience so joyful that you end up doing more of it. Mint was able to achieve this with tracking personal finances, and Instagram is definitely doing this with photo sharing.”

3.  While there is no question much widespread addiction to mobile devices (“crackberry” anyone?), the opportunity for mobile products to really change behavior is only, I think, just beginning.

Will be very curious to watch this market develop over the next few years.

–

sent from mobile

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  • http://www.mostlymaths.net/ Ruben Berenguel

    I'd recommend you bought an iPad. I had been blogging for a long time in my iPod Touch, drafting posts on the go, sketching, whatever. Then my girlfriend bought me an iPad and it is amazing for all these: writing, answering emails, drawing (bigger size!), browsing. It replaces my desktop Mac very often, and has superseded my iPod Touch.

    By the way, I didn't get an iPhone basically because I want my phone to call, my camera to take pictures and my iDevice to work for audio and wifi browsing. I don't want to kick myself for killing the battery of my phone by playing and then be unable to make a call, or take a picture.

    Cheers,

    Ruben

  • http://www.ipad2forfree.co.uk free iPad 2

    i recommend you dont make your iphone, everything, have it for fun and games, text and calls just in case you lose it, then it will feel like you have lost alot

  • http://www.galaxys3reviews.net/ JackCC

    i recommend you dont make your iphone, everything, have it for fun and games, text and calls just in case you lose it, then it will feel like you have lost alot