According to the UN's head of telecoms, Hamadoun Toure, about 60% of humans will own and use a mobile phone by end 2008. With 600m new mobile users joining every year, 2 out of 3 humans on the face of the planet will own a mobile within 6-9 months of this article.
It is amazing to see that although within a year or so most people will own a mobile, a scaleable mobile services platform that can be used to build solid and reliable mobile services worldwide remains elusive. Discussions in the mobile development world focus more on the differences of approach between technology factions, such as Java, Brew, Symbian, etc., with little talk about a platform that anyone can use to build out their mobile services globally, on all phones, and regardless of where you are.
It required the likes of Apple with its new mobile user interface, Google with its eponymous internet-based map services and Android wannabe-OS, and Nokia with its purchase of the powerful Symbian mobile operating system to nudge the world into thinking maybe we need to worry that when we build a service, it should be accessible from anywhere, on any phone, and not only on 15 handsets in one geography.
There are a lot of people outside the comfort zones of the maturing European and Japanese mobile markets (and upcoming US market) that need the mobile as a part of their day-to-day survival. When 2 in 3 humans own a mobile and want to use services anywhere they are, the mobile technology world needs a system that can live up to that challenge, and do it cheaply and efficiently.
More on the details of this statement over at the UK's The Guardian website.
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