Open Gardens

About Open Gardens

Open Gardens is published by futuretext

Rated 8/10 on Blogged.com

About The Open Gardens Blog

I (Ajit) founded the blog on May 26, 2005 based on my vision and philosophy of OpenGardens i.e. the philosophical opposite of 'walled gardens' especially as applicable to the mobile data industry.

Today, the OpenGardens blog is one of the few blogs that span both the Web and the Mobile domains.

The blog covers wireless/mobile applications, open networks and mobile web 2.0. My vision behind the OpenGardens blog has been :

The blog is about the Mobile data industry and Digital convergence('Mobile web 2.0')
Analysis is more important than story/controversy. I don't believe that bloggers are true journalists. The blog is not about the latest 'story' but it's more about independent analysis/viewpoint
The OpenGardens blog is broadly about opening up the networks, growing digital usage and digital businesses i.e. we don't advocate closed networks, broadcast media etc
It is about disruptive digital technologies

Founder & Chief Blogger Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar is the founder of the London based publishing and research company futuretext (www.futuretext.com) focussed on emerging Web and Mobile technologies -including Web 2.0 and Mobile Web 2.0.

His thinking is widely followed in the industry and his blog, the OpenGardensBlog (www.opengardensblog.futuretext.com), which was recently rated a top 20 wireless blog worldwide

In 2009-2010, Ajit was nominated as part of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet by the world economic forum. He hopes to use this opportunity to further extend the pragmatic viewpoint of the evolution of Telecoms networks in an open ecosystem.

(Note: The Network of Global Agenda Councils plays a significant role in shaping the global agenda by monitoring global issues and elaborating recommendations to address them. Each Council, comprised of 15-20 Members, serves as an advisory board to the Forum and other interested parties, such as governments and international organizations. The Global Agenda Councils also act as the intellectual drivers of the World Economic Forum's Global Redesign Initiative, an unprecedented international, multistakeholder and multimedia dialogue that aims to develop a 21st-century vision of global cooperation. Members of the G20, the UN and other International Organizations have pledged their support for this initiative. )

Ajit is best known for his books Mobile Web 2.0, Social Media Marketing. Two new books ('Open Mobile' and 'Implementing Mobile Web 2.0') are being released in 2009.

His consulting activities include working with companies to define value propositions across the device, network, Web and Social networking stack spanning both technology and strategy. He has worked with a range of commercial and government organizations globally including The European Union, Telecoms Operators, Device manufacturers, social networking companies and security companies in various strategic and visionary roles

His recent talks and forthcoming talks include: CEBIT 2009;MobileWorld Congress(2007, 2008, 2009); Keynote at O Reilly Web20 expo (April 2007);Keynote at Java One; European Parliament – Brussels – (Electronic Internet Foundation); Stanford University's Digital visions program;MIT Sloan;Fraunhofer FOKUS ; University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Mobile Web Strategies (partner event of CTIA in San Francisco)

Media appearances include BBC – Newsnight – 3phone launch; CNN money; BBC digital planet

Ajit chairs Oxford University's Next generation mobile applications panel and conducts a course on Web 2.0, Social networking, Mobile Web 2.0 and LTE services at Oxford University.

Ajit lives in London, UK, but has three nationalities (British, Indian and New Zealander) and is proud of all three. He is currently doing a PhD on Privacy and Reputation systems at UCL in London. Ajit is a fan of animation especially Tom and Jerry, Tintin and Asterix and likes the music of ZZ Top and other rock bands

You can contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com

You can follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AjitJaokar

See a video of my talk at CEBIT in Hannover
(intro in german - presenttion in english)

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December 6, 2006

The Mobile Web Phone: A gedankenexperiment ..

If you read my books or my blogs, you will know that I am ‘pro’ web/Open Standards.

Thus, this post should not come as a surprise … and it’s a bit of a gedankenexperiment

What I am proposing is a mobile phone optimised to accessing information on the Web (which is predominantly browsing but not necessarily so i.e. could include Widgets and RSS).

Firstly .. Let us start with some observations

a) For most people voice is still the primary service they access on a phone. However, increasing numbers of people also want to access information on the web i.e. browse/RSS etc.

b) I expect that more people in the developing countries will skip the ‘PC’ revolution and go to the phone directly .

c) ‘Smart’ phones are becoming too complex.

d) But ‘Dumb’ phones are too dumb!!

e) I think when we say ‘basic phones’ (also called ‘Feature phones’ in some literature), we mostly refer to phones that can be mainly used for voice. As an extension, I am proposing that the basic phone would be extended to include optimised Web access

The operative word being ‘Optimised’.

Phones today are not optimised towards accessing information from the Web.

They lean at one end to being ‘voice only’ and the other end to being ‘Smartphones’ .

Thus, this new ‘phone’ – if it may be called that would have the following features (fewer the merrier!)

a) It is a ‘phone’

b) It’s screen and other device form factors are optimised to browse the Web(sort of like the Blackberry device is predominantly geared towards email)

c) It would include ‘caching’ i.e. localised storage if information

d) Network connections would be optimised towards browsing

e) It would also support Syndication, Widgets etc on a mobile device(not just browsing)

One way to look at it is to think of the same principles of simplicity and optimization both of Nicholas Negroponte’s idea of 100$ computer or Larry Ellison’s Network computer

Implementation aside, the $100 PC and the Network computer are basically valid and the idea of a ‘Mobile Web Phone’ is taking the same principles to the Mobile Web.

But it’s important to see what this idea is NOT and also some caveats

a) It is not a VOIP phone

b) It could be implemented by anyone i.e. network operators / device manufacturers etc.

c) It is not the same as the Sony Mylo – an excellent device but conceptually oriented to a different purpose

d) It could be based on the idea of Cloud computing as I said in a previous blog

e) It is simple, cheap and based on Web standards(W3C)

f) It supports the ‘Full’ web browser i.e. not only WAP

Who could do this?

Many people but my bets are : Google, Opera, Operators(maybe 3 considering their recent announcements , a handset vendor, Nokia or a new start-up?

I am sure that variants of this idea exist on the Web. I just wanted to put it all together, ‘Open source’ this idea and create some discussion around it – with the hope that someone with more resources will take it. Please post comments/email me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com and I will try to blog/comment on it

I am at Oxford University conducting my first ever course on Web 2.0 and User generated content at the University of Oxford ! .. so responses a bit delayed

Read my book Mobile Web 2.0

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Filed under: mobile web 2.0 — ajit @ 7:00 am

Comments (4)

4 Comments »

Is it mobileIP?

Comment by Saravanan — December 6, 2006 @ 12:39 pm

Ajit, I completely agree with you. I wonder how much Apple’s iPhone will take this into consideration. The rumor is its not going to be tied to any one carrier.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/03/kevin-rose-confirms-iphone/

Comment by Justin Thorp — December 6, 2006 @ 2:23 pm

I wouldn’t count out companies like Infowave to play here either. They have been quietly beating the mobile drum for years and are now turning profits.
Nevertheless, I agree with your assessments. I have a Razor and never read manuals. I only use about 10 of the 5439 features.

Comment by Duane Nickull — December 6, 2006 @ 4:35 pm

Our company is working on exactly this idea.
The problems we have are usual suspects
1. Smaller pipes on network side.
2. Javascrits do not run fast enough
3. Javascript messes up battery life.
Unless these problems are solved, I think it is just another J2ME.

Comment by Lalit — December 6, 2006 @ 4:50 pm