Doubt no more. The use of the mobile device has gone beyond voice, and it's important to recognize that an increasingly number of savvy users are creating a new generation of mobile users who, through word-of-mouth (another topic which I will deep dive into at a later stage of this blog), are ready to use the mobile device for other purposes besides making a phone call.
Thanks to a blog posting from Jeremiah Owyang, I was informed that the terrorists that committed the hideous crime in Mumbai were connected digitally via their Blackberries. They maintained their network and communicated easily through an encrypted Blackberry network, despite the authorities cutting off all connectivity cables to the hotels. It is omnimous that the Indian government was at odds with RIM on the very issue of email encryption which will hinder the security agencies to monitor emails purportedly sent by terrorists.
In this case, the wireless connectivity triumphs over the cable network. Surely the Indian authorities won't shut down the entire Blackberry network in Mumbai?
Reading through Jeremiah's posting brought me to a tale from an Australian survivor who used his Blackberry to stay connected with his loved ones when he locked himself in his room. His Blackberry was also used to connect with security professionals (assumed to be hired by his law firm) to get updates and advice on how to stay alive under those distressing periods.
As you can see, the mobile device has transended from a tool to make voice calls to a device that connects people to the outside world. The connectivity "bridge" can be any of the services in the mobile ecosystem today - Tweeter, IM, SMS, MMS, etc. The list is only limited by technology advances which are happening daily.
When people choose to stay connected through their mobile devices, it means that they will accept 2-way dialogues from channels that they trust. These individuals certainly used their devices to create a trusted communication network. Can advertisers create that trust to be accepted by the user and establish a trusted communicated channel to the user's network?
Darren
