As a male whose shiny-gadget gene actually occupies a whole chromosome, it seems curious that it is only recently that I took the plunge to stay connected 24/7. I am the proud father of a Treo. I was stalling largely because I spend enough time working as it is and having access to my email and the web means I would take advantage of it – constantly. This is the beginning of the end.
I took delivery of my child (not sure what sex it is but given I have two daughters seems like it should be a son – at least that’ll ensure the shiny-gadget gene gets passed on), on the day before the MCN conference so I was actually using it during Ken Hamma’s keynote. I meant no disrespect but to prove that I was actually multi-tasking and listening, there were a number of things Ken said that were prophetic. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that Ken is my ex-boss.
One thing he said while reminiscing of websites and technology past was: “We know that the future library is largely my library, that is, the one that resides on my hand-held media player or the one that comes via my all-purpose handheld communications device … that incorporates browser, VOIP, file rendering and media playing.” I know he must have seen me tinkering in the back row.
But the US is behind the curve in adopting cell phone and handheld devices, largely I think because ‘traditional’ communication technologies are more pervasive and accessible, particularly free local calls which is why the Internet established itself so quickly in the U.S. Cell phone market penetration is at 100% in some nations, including Sweden, the U.K. and the Netherlands, but it is only about 70% in America.
Today’s installed base of cell phones is more than 2 billion, with projections of 800 million units sold worldwide this year (2006). In the U.S., new subscribers tend to be those on lower-cost plans and accounts set up by parents for their kids, already more than 40% of 12- to 14-year-old Americans carry cell phones. These kids will support the cell phone companies for the rest of their lives. By next year, about 8% of U.S. homes will have canceled landline service entirely, relying on their cell phones instead.
Under-developed countries get to leapfrog the technology path, no cable or fiber optic infrastructure for them, they go straight to wireless without passing GO – more than 5 million new cell phone subscriptions are opened in India every month alone.
I spent a frustrating week waiting for the delivery of some 4GByte SD cards for my Treo, one for music, which took about 45 minutes to fill up, and one for my work files which should last a while. I surfed eBay on my Treo to find them, switched to laptop to buy them, however I could have just as easily made the transaction on my Treo or used PayPal’s new Mobile Purchasing Service to call in or text the payment. Accessing and transferring data and entertainment via cell phone is growing at a rapid clip – gaming via wireless handsets alone is a $2 billion worldwide market and increasing rapidly. Verizon customers, using their built-in cameras, e-mail about 300 million digital photos yearly.
So, does any of this impact the Museum world? Absolutely, let’s review: 40% of 12-14 year olds, 70% penetration. Let’s take a leaf out of the under-developed countries’ book and go straight to wireless without passing GO. Let’s get out of the business of supporting shiny gadgets in-house and concentrate on developing content for the devices that our visitors bring with them. Let’s face it, as a whole we don’t do technology particularly well. Are we excluding the financially challenged? I don’t think so, at least no more than we are now by charging them for our own shiny gadgets.
Statistics courtesy of Plunkett Research, Ltd.
