Open Mobile. Understanding the Impact of Open Mobile: Implications for Telecoms/Devices, Web, Social Networks, Media and Personal Privacy

Open Mobile: Understanding the Impact of Open Mobile - Implications for Telecoms/Devices, Web, Social Networks, Media and Personal Privacy took two years to write!

The idea for this book first arose when Ajit spoke at Stanford University in late 2006 and met Anna through a mutual friend, Dr Adam Tolnay.

The book took more than two years to write .. And with good reason.

In that timeframe, much of the closed ecosystem we once took for granted has now been transformed by the Open Mobile mindset. And recent events indicate that there is now no turning back...

We also explored the topic of Open Mobile from multiple perspectives (Telecoms, Content, Web, Social Networking and Privacy). In that sense, this book attempts to present a Neutral Point of View.

Thus, this book has been written against a backdrop of rapid change and we view it as 'perpetual beta'.

This book explores the interplay between the world of the Internet and the world of mobility. The Internet world is regarded as being 'Open'; however, as we shall see, 'Open' can be interpreted differently depending on constituency. The mobile world is supposed to be 'Closed'. Thus, the interaction between the Internet and mobile worlds extends beyond technology - and into the realm of philosophy (Open vs. Closed). Driven by customers and under the influence of the Internet, it is inevitable that the closed mobile ecosystem is now 'Opening up'. We call this phenomenon 'Open Mobile'.

This book explores the three drivers of Open Mobile:

* the Internet
* social networking and
* the creation of content (also called Web 2.0)

We also consider the five perspectives of Open Mobile:

* the Internet/Web
* telecoms/devices
* content
* social networking and
* privacy

We then extrapolate the current and future impact of Open Mobile in terms of:

* services
* business models
* Cloud computing and
* The Internet of Things

In the Web model, the money is in the links and not the nodes. The Open ecosystem fits well into that paradigm by enabling the creation of new links - between people, objects and content. The mobile future, when it manifests itself fully, is bright. However, getting to that future will mean a transformation of industries and economies. We accept that different constituencies react differently to the word 'Open', hence, the need to explore the topic of Open Mobile from five different perspectives. These perspectives are not aligned in their meaning and adoption of 'Open'.

However, by choosing to address Open Mobile from the perspective of different players in the ecosystem, we provide a unique (and sometimes contradictory!) insight into a rapidly changing environment. This holistic approach adds value since it gives insights into the strategies and goals of other players - many of whom may not be from your industry.

It takes a lot of thinking and 'putting yourselves in other people's shoes' i.e. an NPOV(Neutral point of view) perspective and then to also capture the evoltion of these principles(trends) and the ethos of open collaboration (i.e. the impact on society of all these changes). Plus we wanted to make it very readable!

Anna and Ajit had the scope and breadth of knowledge - and yet it pushed our limits and took a long time to write!