It's funny - in the last month, I have been interviewed as an 'expert' on the mobile phone scene and its future in India by representatives of companies like Nokia and some large telcos (NDA's prevent me from naming them!). Moni Kivirauma from Finland was here a few weeks ago and she gifted me the Nokia N800 for exploring further, and will be doing a post on my experiences with it soon - the benefits of being an expert! (I've always been so envious of so many of the VoIP bloggers in the US, on the Nokia N Series Blogger Relations programme who keep getting these very cool gadgets to play with!)
Today Reshma Anand, a fellow qualitative researcher came over to my place, once again to interview me as an expert for a project she is doing on the mobile phone industry and its future. Was an interesting conversation we had around the emerging roles of mobile phones and their future in different segments of Indian society.
One of her question to me was, what's the role of a mobile phone today ..... is it an addiction? I found I wasn't comfortable with the term addiction - although it goes everywhere with me and I rely on it so heavily for all sorts of things, and it fulfills many needs. I can run my business from anywhere in the world because I can be always on with my mobile phone. It makes me feel so safe travelling anywhere and at any time - I have often told my folks not to worry - "I have my cell phone with me", when driving home late at night. I also realise that I rarely feel the need to supply full details (as I did in my pre-mobile phone days) of hotels I'm staying in and flights etc to my family anymore. When travelling and on the field, my reliance on my laptop has really gone down, I don't 'ache' to get back from the field, as I can check stuff out, almost anytime and anywhere, even in a remote village. And entertainment of course .. music, FM radio. I use it as a backup modem to get connected to the internet. In the future, I am hoping I can make payments and pay more bills through the mobile ... and use wifi with more hotspots coming up .... and mobile TV .. mmmmmm. [picture credit]
As we were chatting, I struggled to find a term for all this - not sure whether addiction is the term - addiction somehow implies isolation. For me, it's quite the reverse with my mobile phone. Neither is it an object-of-desire. The mobile phone is about many things - access, communication, utilities, mobility, information, personality entertainment, youthfulness and staying young - am wondering if there's one term to describe all these needs. The best way I found to describe this was comparing it with the clothes, the earrings, the shoes I wear daily or the handbag I carry ... imagine stepping out without these ... I'd be completely bare! Much the same with my mobile phone - while I don't 'wear' it, it is a part of me, I feel completely lost if its not with me. Am wondering if there is a term that embodies all of this! [picture credit]
Ok ... these reflections may seem very obvious and basic and me-oriented don't maketh me the expert :):):). More nuggets soon around future catalysts, drivers, needs and segments and their implications on user-interface and on how the mobile phone will evolve here in India. All from a researcher's perspective.
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