Russ responds to a post by Nokia's Janne Jalkanen about the use and usefulness of mobile devices. The basic idea is that the difference between a mobile device and a laptop with Skype installed is the fact that the mobile device can be put into the background. You can give it as much or as little attention as you feel necessary. This is much different than a laptop where you are always compelled to have it be the center of your attention.
When I was at CollabNet, it was rare that I didn't bring my laptop into meetings and generally only pay partial attention to what was going on. I would be checking mail, writing code or interacting on the company's IRC channel. I wouldn't do the same thing with a mobile device because the perception of others in a meeting would be totally different. Of course, a device like a Blackberry could be a bit more acceptable in a meeting, which I'm not saying is a good thing.
I like the idea of having my mobile device in the background, ready for use or ready to have data pushed to it. It gives the power to me whether or not I want deal with the incoming data whether it is a call or a reminder. Case in point, Thursday night I was playing golf with a couple of friends. We've tried to do this most Thursday nights during the summer. The wives go out on Wednesday and we go out on Thursday.
At any rate, opening night for the NFL was also happening and the times overlapped. I kept updated on the score by using the browser on my phone. It wasn't the best experience I've had but it did the job I wanted it to do. I would much rather have had some sort of score announcement happen so I didn't have to constantly check. The announcement could have been done whenever a score happened or a time-based event, such as the end of the quarter or half. Knowing that would be sent to my phone, I could have moved my phone from my background attention to the foreground at my leisure as opposed to the checks I did after each hole.
It's a silly example I know but there is tons of data out there that I want to keep track of and I don't want to be forced to go and get it. I'd rather some of it come to me and I decide when and where to interact with it.
Posted by Josh at September 11, 2005 11:48 PM