In the coming years we’re going to see the dramatic evolution of the 3G network into 3GPP or Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE will have the advantage over WiMAX because it’s anticipated that about 80% of carriers world wide will choose LTE technology over the open developed WiMax, largely for the better network performance.
Vodafone will be starting rolling out LTE on a global scale in 2010, however the service probably won’t achieve wider adoption till about 2012 with businesses taking the lead as the need for workforce mobility heightens and network capacity needs increase.
In the next 4-6 years…
We’re also going to see the development of ad-hoc networks and Multihop relay networks which can be deployed anywhere quickly and with little infrastructure. These networks, like the internet, will alter the route of the data depending on network conditions and change path based on the best transmission mode.
These networks rely on the use of femtocells and picocells. A femtocells and picocells look a bit like a Wi-Fi router but performs the same function in the home or office as cellular base stations that sit in brick buildings at the base of cell towers. Think of the handset as being the network, and when I say ‘handset’ this could be a mobile device, a watch, and earring or an implanted chip in your tooth.
Less power hungry devices in combination with flawless speech recognition will allow mobile devices so small they can reside in your ear or mouth and can be activated by your voice. Tomorrows mobile chips are going to combine multiple radios including Wi-Fi, 3G and WiMAX on a single chip.
I can even see a time when a device could be connected to your brain waves in order to operate it. But that is probably a thought belonging in the following section.
In the next 7-10 years…
This takes us to an important trend that is going to emerge, which is the mobile device as a personal assistant. They will be able to do things for you because you tell it to, or because it thinks it’s a good idea. It will have a customised personality and also be able to learn about how you communicate and change its behaviour based on that knowledge. As outlandish as this sounds, Google already changes the results they deliver to you in Search Engines based on your previous search behaviour.
Your mobile device is going to be responsible for all the current phone features like appointments, address book and music, but the mobile devices of the future are also going to monitor your health, manage and book your travel just by entering a date into a calendar, manage your bank accounts, and even send flowers to a loved one on a special day. The device itself will just be the access point which will log into your personal network which might be hosted at your home but really could be anywhere.
So imagine then, if you will, the unfortunate event that you find yourself in a car accident. Your mobile device, connected to diagnostics in the car, calls the ambulance to let emergency crews know you’ve had a heart attack and been involved in a crash. You arrive at hospital where the physician treating you has access to all your medical history, the administration has access to all your health insurance information and while you’re recovering you access all your favourite ‘get well’ music. As futuristic as it sounds, the technology that supports this scenario is already in development.
When you have a situation where access to this kind of information could hold incredible power over someone, security as well as privacy is going to be a key concern. The technical aspect will probably be resolved with a combination of software (as opposed to complete reliance on the network) and biometrics, so a combined eye scan, voice activation and password. As usual, it will probably take regulations a little longer to resolve some of the social implications of the technology.
