HOMO DIGITALIS

SOCIAL INNOVATIONS IN CELL PHONE’S HISTORY

After the activation of the first cellular infrastructure (the NMT), in 1981, the first generation of cell phones went to retail. They were "car phones", transportable, but with the car.

In 1987, the movie "Wall Street" puts cell phone (Motorola 8000m) in the collective imaginary, making it an object of hate/desire for millions of people.

Always Motorola, inaugurates the era of mobile devices with a truly portable telephone (the MicroTac 9800x), which introduced the "flip" in cell phones design, something that became an important part of its identity as a product.

The Nokia 1100 is the symbol of a revolutionary feature arose into that already revolutionary world: SMS.

Two other milestones in social innovation in mobile phones are the first devices with WAP browser (in 1999) and the photo/ video camera built in (in 2000).

Finally came the iPhone, and “après lui, le déluge “.

GENEALOGY OF THE PORTABLE PCs

In the beginning was the “portable computer”, nothing more nothing less than a transportable computer, thank to its small size.

With the addition of the rechargeable battery (early models had not it) born “laptop”, which adopt the camshell design.

The laptops evolved in two directions. The first one brought to the “notebook” (products that tend to all-in-one), which moved to: 1) reduction in the width and length of the products, generating “handheld PCs”, and 2) the reduction in thickness and weight of the products, leading to the “ultrabook PCs”.

The other main evolution direction of “full size laptop” brought to "tablet PCs", products designed as an effort to innovate  the interface. Existing “tablets” descend directly from them, as well as the PDA (also in credit with the “handheld PCs” family).

From “handhed PCs” focused on the Internet, “netbooks” were born, from those focused on mobile phones came  “pocket PCs”.

P =

Here's an interesting definition of "portability", a concept with a lot of similarities with "mobile". It refers to products, only products.
P = "T" (usage time of a single charge) by "U" (ubiquity of usage: 1 only indoor 5 indoor and outdoor) divided by "w" (the weight of the product in grams).
According to this index, the most portable product, among a 17 range products considered, has been a Bluetooth earphone, with a 4,6 index. At the other extreme you can find the 17.inch laptop, with a 7,500 times lower index (0.0006045).
More details about this model and more things about portability in "Portable Consumer Electronics", by S. Canumalla and P. Viswanadham.

WHAT'S MOBILE?

It is more than a family of technologies that can be used in mobility and it's more than a bunch of activities made ​​using these technologies.
It's a state of mind, which determines attitudes and social behavior, which determine the adoption of some technological equipments. A "brainframe" - in other words.
"Mobile" is an experience that gradually, at different rates depending on the individual, is more and more intertwining with the lives of people, changing not only behaviors but also how they look at life.
If previously the dimension of mobility was severely limited, today it enjoys the same freedom of all other social dimensions, freed from technological constraints. Can be 'filled' with exactly the same things and the same intentions of virtual life in the broadest sense.

WENT MOBILE IN....

Also from the technological point of view, as well as mental and social, mobile is neither automatic nor immediate.
As illustrated in the graphic below, the main domestic technologies took some time to became mobile.

The older ones (radio and TV) certainly were limited by technological difficulties. But, the reasons why the others were late are related with the gradualness with which the needs and habits of consumption change. Transfer static activities to mobile extensions is neither automatic nor immediate. At least until now.
As may be observed in the figure, over time, the waiting time has gone drastically shortening and PCs, to refer to a device born static and then upgrade mobile, only took about 5 years to evolve.
Today, in m_societies, mobile is part of the genetics of the products as well as in the expectations of consumers.

THE ORIGINS OF "MOBILE"

At the origin of “mobile” idea that we are interested in, referred to widespread consumer electronic devices, there are the transistor and the battery. Between 1954 and '55, in the United States, already conquered by consumer electronics, appeared the first “transistor radio”, a small radio easily portable. It was not a marketing intuition, instead a bet of the two companies that had developed the transistor technology.

Contrary to what is happening in the current mobile diffusion, the transistor radio did not create a parallel environment, different than traditional radio environment.

But affirmed the concept of the domestic technologies use (as well as other products) in mobility, a concept that marketing would have adopted and that would have increasingly led the R & D for decades to come.