US Mobile Industry

The entire planet is about to enter the next cycle of Human Communication.  The June Tsunami’s effects will be felt by every human on the planet.  This revolution will be bigger than the Personal Computer, and it will be pocketable.  And it’s all starting in two weeks.

Advanced mobile users have always had a tough time finding the perfect device.  Historically many devices have needed to make great sacrifices to remain pocketable in size.  Gadget lovers have long been forced to choose between a mixture of 3G, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, A2DP, Removable Storage, a great camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, QWERTY keyboard and/or large touch screens.

In their search for the Perfect Mobile Device, many advances users were forced to import unlocked devices not sold by their carrier of choice.  This meant the devices were expensive without carrier subsidies.  The worse downside was that often the 3G frequencies of imported devices weren’t the same as the carrier, so Expensive Imported Devices were trapped in modem-like network speeds with EDGE.

The Nokia N95 was one of the first devices that didn’t make compromises.  Sporting most of the above listed features, save the touch screen and qwerty, The N95 was the singlular choice among most bloggers and media creators prior to the iPhone.  Remember that Nokia has sold over 10 Million N95′s in less than one year.

The iPhone has kick-started the revolution of well-equipped devices with full carrier support.  While many Nokia users would scoff at the iPhone (and many also switched!), many iPhone users were upgrading from a crap-phone like the RAZR.  To these users, the iPhone experience out-of-the-box is mind-blowing.

Two Thousand Nine is the year that all US carriers will (Finally) offer wide choices of very powerful pocketable computers, many US exclusives. The Palm Pre, iPhone 3.0, Sidekick LX, Nokia N97, Nokia E71x, Samsung i8910 are all new devices delivering on this promise starting in June. at&t recently launched six qwerty “messaging phones”, and Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all have Tsunami-compatible devices in their near-future lineup.

The next infobit to consider is the mainstreaming of Social Media.  Oprah’s on Twitter, your Boss is on Facebook, and your little brother is a star on YouTube.  In the very near future a device *will not sell* if it does not support Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter out of the box.  Many of these devices will support widgets, which will deliver updates without requiring launching a dedicated app.  Some of these devices will pull the phone directory from these online services, as well as profile pictures.  Sporting full QWERTY keyboards, typing a quick status update, instant message or email is no longer an annoyance, it’s downright easy.

Most of these new devices not only record decent quality video, you can upload the videos to YouTube with just a few clicks.  The user becomes the media creator overnight.  After an initial period of shyness, the wave of video publishers will be big.  Having a camcorder in your pocket will also bring social justice.  The people are watching the watching men.  The camera is the new gun.

Yes, the June Tusnami is the effective end of CrapPhones as we know it.  It is the beginning of much higher expectations from most users.  From taking great pictures and video, to instant communication, the next round of devices are evolutionary, and will start a Media Revolution.

Communication barriers are shattering all at once.  In your pocket. Right Now!

Clearwire, the only WiMax internet provider in the US, is looking to roll out WiMax in San Francisco!  This job posting found on Twitter (thanks, @sfmobilejobs) is seeking a Project Manager for Network Deployment in San Francisco.  According to this article posted at Mobile Burn, the Sprint/Clearwire WiMax rollout for San Francisco isn’t happening until 2010, so this person’s going to have a busy year!

While I won’t be applying for *this* job at Clearwire, the more WiMax rollouts the better.  BTW, we’ll be trying out WiMax and LTE (HSPA+, 72Mbps down) at CTIA next week.  We’ll be doing bandwidth tests, and videoing as much as possible.

Here’s more about ClearWire, from the job posting:

Headquartered in Kirkland, Wash., the company launched its first market in August 2004 and now offers service in 16 states across the U.S. as well as in Europe.

On May 7, 2008, Clearwire Corporation and Sprint Nextel Corporation entered into a definitive agreement to combine their next-generation wireless broadband businesses to form a new wireless communications company to expedite the deployment of the first nationwide mobile WiMAX network. 

In conjunction with this agreement Intel Corporation (through Intel Capital); Google Inc.; Comcast Corporation; Time Warner Cable Inc; and Bright House Networks have collectively agreed to invest $3.2 billion into the new company.

Late Night tv show host Jimmy Fallon (when did that happen?) is a big gadget nerd.  Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky was invited to the show, and they spent seven minutes talking about the Palm Pre.  Oh, yes.  The full on media blitz is on!

They slid in a little bit of bad news at the end of the demo; the Pre’s charging “stone” is not included with the Pre.  You’ve gotta buy it seperatly.

Jimmy Fallon’s drummer is ?est Love from The Roots, which I also love.  ?est appears to be in charge, as they’ve got the drumset front and center, which I find unique.  I always buy every album from The Roots sight unseen.  Listen to The Roots.  Big Ups!