The days to come...

So, computing is now following the utility model – pay as you go. There is a grid which supplies how-much-ever, whoever wants. Today’s cloud computing model was proposed long ago – even before Nicholas Carr keyed in the then (in)famous book, ‘Does IT matter?’ It is not surprising as we humans follow a pattern in whatever we undertake. Take the example of cars. The early models used to resemble a horse carriage. Television resembled radio. How about the internet? Remember the early days when pages were content heavy? Well, it followed the newspaper model. The early newspaper used to highlight events for the day so as to attract people for the same. Entertainment, education and sometimes pure business – newspaper played a vital role in bringing together people with similar interests. Now, we have social media addressing such niche interests.

No doubt, the internet has since evolved to create a virtual market place, replicating the brick and mortar businesses. Where do we go from here? While the internet gave us the convenience of doing whatever we wanted from home, the emergence of mobile as a device capable of doing anything, anywhere gives convenience a new spin.

M.S.Dhoni, captain of the Indian side can enjoy a ride inside a tanker truck. Thanks to technology enabling him to take part in a birthday for which he got delayed, be on the dance floor in a pub…it could be real and very soon. There is no doubt that the young are relying more on their smart phones, which could possibly mean that the coming generation would be seen skipping the technology called PC or notebook. If a fisherman in remote Andhra Pradesh can today sell his catch through the mobile phone even before hitting the shores, imagine what could happen in a metro in the days to come. My neighbor, Retd.Cdr.Sukumaran Nair tells me that he talks to his son on his mobile, chats with his granddaughter at night on the same device and reads news while on the go.

I was left thinking about how brick and mortar organizations would change their business model to embrace ‘mobility.’ More importantly, address an increasingly segmented audience that are increasingly seeking personalized services. For those in the business of communications, it is time to look for devices and applications that is enabling customization.