Why Mobile Phones Suck, And Why It Will Change

It has been a dream for quite some time that Mobile phones become a true extension to our computer. That dream hasn’t been a reality. Even when you do have a smart phone that can get online, the interface was clunky and you couldn’t just add/remove apps as you wanted. The cell phone carrier dictates what you can and cannot do with your phone. And if you want to change it before your contract is expired, they’ll charge you a penalty for your troubles.

This is all going to be changing, though.

The Interface

Cell phones typically have the worse software interfaces ever designed by man. For instance, I am using a phone powered by Windows Mobile 6. The thing is just bad – no other way to put it. Navigating the web is a horrible experience. Pages look unreadable if they are not designed for mobile phones (which most aren’t). Multi-tasking sucks (every programs stays open unless you force it to quit). Aside from phone functions (obviously) and basic web tasks like checking email, I don’t want to use my mobile phone to do much of anything.

Apple’s Iphone represents a drastic sea change. The Iphone is based on OS X and has the slickest interface I have ever seen on a phone. It isn’t just pretty, it is extremely functional.

The Iphone represents where mobile devices are going. But, Apple isn’t the only company thinking ahead.

Google Leads The Charge

Google is playing a large role in more ways than one. A big part of their equation is Google Android. Android is a new software platform for the mobile phone that is completely open source. That essentially makes it the anti-Apple of the mobile world. So, what is Google doing to change the face of the mobile industry?

• Google, along with some other internet companies, convinced the Federal Communications Commission to require that any company which won the auction for the 700MHz wireless spectrum allow consumers to openly use the network with any wireless device they choose. Since that time, Verizon has gone to win that auction and will thus control this bandwidth, however they will need to permit others to use the network. Google, for it’s part, really only made the bid in order to open up what would have been an otherwise closed wireless network. A win for Google and the industry as a whole.
• Google’s Android platform will bring mobile phones into open source – two words which would have never before been in the same sentence with mobile phone. Now, the thing to understand here is that Android is a platform, not an operating system. This means we’re going to see a bunch of different flavors of phones all running Android but looking and acting very differently. Android, though, is being developed to allow open development for the platform, a very different approach than Apple has taken with the Iphone. It is even going to allow developer access to the hardware, such as the built-in GPS, camera, wi-fi, bluetooth, etc. This is going to lead to some incredibly powerful third-party applications which can be freely installed to an Android powered phone.

This is exciting stuff.

Keyword: Open

Take the uber-controlled device you now use and think what you could do if you had the same freedom with it as you do your own desktop computer. That’s openness. And that’s where we’re heading.

This is also going to open up phones to working with other services on the Internet. Again, this is something you just don’t see much of now because mobile companies just don’t want to allow it. For instance, what if you could use your mobile phone to snap a picture or record a video, have the phone automatically insert metadata of where it was taken (using the built-in GPS) and upload to your Flickr account with the proper tags? Or how about easy integration of your full contact list, speed dial, todos and calendar with Google?

An open platform would also lead to more freedom for Internet companies to create web-based services which integrate with mobile devices. For instance, what about VOIP using your cell phone?

On The Lookout For New Hardware

Open networks also mean more potential devices than just phones. We’re going to see other types of devices start taking advantage of the network to make remote connections.

The Amazon Kindle is one such device. Now, it uses a cell data modem to “phone home” using Sprint. This remote access allows you to surf for and buy e-books from Amazon right over the Kindle. Now, they are bundling the access costs for this service into the price of the Kindle, but this represents the potential of where we’re going.

So, what about your Ipod having a modem and allow you to stream or buy music direct to the Ipod? Or perhaps the same for the Zune?

Will Spur Competition

All this openness is going to invite strong competition. It is also going to drive down rates. If you pit service providers against each other on a level playing field, good things happen for you and me.

At this point, I think Apple represents the best of mobile software design and represents where we need to go. Google, for it’s part, is perhaps our best ally in driving all this openness into reality. Ultimately, it all comes down to money. Google isn’t doing this out of charity. They are doing it because they want to get Google apps onto your phone and be able to deliver mobile advertising.

But, in the process of getting there, we’re likely to see some big changes to the way things are done today in the world of mobile phones.

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