A New View on Mobile Tech

I am sure many people were wondering how long it would take for me to include Apple in one of my posts. I have admired Apple ever since I purchased an iMac for my wife back in 1999. After spending a weekend configuring and setting up a brand new Pentium PC and uninstalling all the crudware that came standard on most systems, I thought I finally had a system I was happy with. It took me about 16 hours to get everything setup, configured, working with my mail, connecting via dialup to the Internet. I felt rather smug and pleased with myself.

During that week I received a call from Jeff (the CEO of BuildDirect) offering me a chance to help build a dream – help build a company that would change an industry. A pretty compelling offer for sure. I had lived in Ontario for almost a decade and it was a difficult decision at first. My wife’s family were all in Ontario and this would be a big change for both of us. She surprised me greatly when she thought it was a great opportunity. We knew that she would have an opportunity to work in the School District in Richmond, BC and the school district all worked on Macs. So naturally I thought if we bought her a Mac before we moved, she could get familiar with a new operating system (Mac OS 9 at the time).

So one sunny day in Ontario, we went out and purchased an iMac DV Special Edition. Having ridiculed some of my friends that used Macs (the stereotypical marketers) I ate “crow” and brought the Mac home in my car. I must say it was strange. My PC came in 4 different boxes and I had cables coming out all over the place. The iMac came in 1 box. I thought it was a toy. Not for real work.

I carried the box through the door and set it on our dining room table. opening the box I pulled out the computer, keyboard, mouse and power cable. I plugged the keyboard and mouse in then plugged the cable into the wall. I turned the computer on and within 8 minutes of opening the box, I was connected via dial up to the Internet and reading my mail. Are you kidding me? EIGHT minutes. I don’t think I touched my PC much after that. It made me rethink how I viewed computers. I was lulled into thinking you just accepted pain when working in a Windows world. That it was normal. Boy, was I wrong.

Anyways, I digress. I came across an article today that shows how Apple is aiming once again to change our perception of the world and to help make things easier. Apple has patented a means to setup iPhone servers in locations such as restaurants, airports and even zoos. Basically, when you enter a WiFi zone, data would be automatically be transmitted to your phone based on your settings and requirements. For example, if you entered an airport, departure information would be sent to your iPhone for immediate viewing. Likewise, if you were in a restaurant the menu would be transmitted and made available on your iPhone. If you had dietary restrictions, the menu would reflect that. Custom restaurant menus. Smart. The article is posted by the good people at AppleInsider and can be found here.

We need to prepare and be ready for the oncoming wave of mobile technology. Mobile subscribers almost triple Internet subscribers and with a new wave of Internet-friendly cell phones such as the iPhone and the forthcoming BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Thunder, mobile is going to become the dominant Internet platform.

iPhone Keyboard