Entelligence: Context is the killer application for mobile
By Michael Gartenberg 
posted February 7th 2010 3:02PM
posted February 7th 2010 3:02PM
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
We live in a world of diverse mobile devices. Laptops, smartphones and everything in between define the mobile experience of the 21st century. But what is the killer application for mobile computing? We all know the theory of killer apps -- they're the reason and the purpose people invest in new devices. The killer app in the early days of PCs was the VisiCalc spreadsheet. PageMaker and the creation of desktop publishing were the killer apps for the GUI-based PC, most notably the Macintosh. But for mobile, it's not as clear; some people think the killer app for mobile is email, while other say it's the mobile web. Personally, I don't think there's one specific killer application -- I think the killer app for mobile is simply context.
Historically, we've tailored the devices we use to the places where we are. We distinguished between business users and consumer users because the functionally required was often tied to the location the user was sitting. Mobility was often dead space. People found ways to distract themselves during travel time, and were generally disconnected when out and about. Today, the mobile space is connected, and that
makes it quite unique: it's neither home or work, work nor play. Your context shifts rapidly depending on what you're doing, where you are, and what devices or devices you may be carrying -- in our age of digital ubiquity, you can access the relevant information, either personal or professional, wherever you are, on whatever screen you choose. Delivering the contextual information users need, when they need it, is what's critical -- not any particular application or service.
Context contradicts conventional wisdom. For one thing, feeds and speeds are no longer the defining metrics for value. The fastest and most powerful laptop won't do much for a user on the road if it weighs 10 pounds and gets barely an hour of battery life -- or can't open in a coach seat on a plane. By contrast, the ability to check email, browse the web or listen to music doesn't matter if your phone won't make a call when you need it to. Smart vendors will learn technology applied to context for users is what matters -- especially since I think there's an upper limit on the number of devices most people will carry with them at any given time. As I've said in the past, for most of us that's two, with a maximum of three.
It's time to be liberated and connected. The dream is real -- now it's time to see more devices execute and deliver the vision.
[Image via Celebrity BlackBerry Sightings]
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net. Contact him at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
Historically, we've tailored the devices we use to the places where we are. We distinguished between business users and consumer users because the functionally required was often tied to the location the user was sitting. Mobility was often dead space. People found ways to distract themselves during travel time, and were generally disconnected when out and about. Today, the mobile space is connected, and that
The fastest and most powerful laptop won't do much for a user on the road if it weighs 10 pounds and gets barely an hour of battery life -- or can't open in a coach seat on a plane. |
Context contradicts conventional wisdom. For one thing, feeds and speeds are no longer the defining metrics for value. The fastest and most powerful laptop won't do much for a user on the road if it weighs 10 pounds and gets barely an hour of battery life -- or can't open in a coach seat on a plane. By contrast, the ability to check email, browse the web or listen to music doesn't matter if your phone won't make a call when you need it to. Smart vendors will learn technology applied to context for users is what matters -- especially since I think there's an upper limit on the number of devices most people will carry with them at any given time. As I've said in the past, for most of us that's two, with a maximum of three.
It's time to be liberated and connected. The dream is real -- now it's time to see more devices execute and deliver the vision.
[Image via Celebrity BlackBerry Sightings]
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net. Contact him at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
"...and everything in betweeN define...."
Sorry, I just had to point that out. Also, great article.
@Joseph9307 along with "and what devices or devices you may be carrying"
@Joseph9307
To me it seems just a collection of platitudes.
Contexts change many times a day for each individual and that's why a device that hopes to have success in today marketplace has to accomodate as many killer and not killer apps as it possibly can handle with as much flair as it possibly can.
AGPS is the killer app when I am lost, a music player is the killer app on my "beach" context; an e-mail at the right moment can save your butt and be a killer app in some contexts, and can make you very angry in some other context and be the app you want to kill.....but I mean is it necessary even to talk about this?
@Plexus When I saw the headline, I thought he was going to write about a device that _knows_your_ context; e.g. location based applications. I can run Yelp, Redfin (real estate application), Google Maps, GPS applications from newer phones and they can immediately provide me with information relevant to my current context; where I am, what I am doing (searching, traveling, making a call). _That_ is a piece that I miss from applications on my desktop when I leave mobile-space.
Bubble?
I agree. It is time for the all in one device.
@DEREKH
why do we need or want one device? I like having two devices. I like having a powerful desktop at home. I don't want to sacrifice speed for portability. Which is why also have a mobile phone that lets me keep my digital life on me at all times.
I think you are completely missing the point of this article. I think he's pointing out that people have various needs and we will flock to devices that compliment our needs best.
@EM1
Agreed. I like having two devices, too, even if I have them both with me. This ensures that no matter how much I use my phone, I still can get at least 10-20 hours of music listening no matter what.
Until power consumption of smartphone/'superphone' is down (and/or battery capacity is up) so much that it no longer matters (and I mean that it REALLY no longer matters, not 'sort of' or 'in some cases' like it maybe is getting to now, somewhat), give me 2 devices. One for communication, information and the odd game, the other for some high-quality low-power media consumption.
Isn't he the same writer of the "what we learned from Apple" iPad piece?
Ok guys just a heads up, if you're gonna say something bad about the writer of this article (which most of us always do) be prepared to get banned
@Seven
I enjoyed most of his articles...esp the one about mobile OSes. But one particular piece was full of a lot of "miss", followed by another one full of too much "obvious". After all it's a free world, he's a good writer and is able to fluently express his opinions, however, whether we agree with them or not, that's up to the reader.
@Seven
The context that is the killer application is delivered through a web browser or email app... So, umm, context is not the killer app, but the method of delivery is. Context is the end point.
PS. I personally believe this particular author is the sole reason there were requests to rate the authors of Engadget.
@TareG
"I enjoyed most of his articles...esp the one about mobile OSes".
i never comment.but i just had to on this one - especially after the whole removing comments situation that occurred before. i concur, the mobile OS's article was well written and fully thought out. my problem in this column does not lie with the article or author but the title and theme. I think entelligence is a brilliant play on words for a column, but because the articles don't deal with actual gadgetry and more or less just an idea it has to be more than just well written. personally when i read an "entelligent" article on a "gadgetry paradigm" if you will, i want to feel like i've heard something fresh and new that i've never thought of, but yet still wish i had. maybe my expectations are too high, and i think everyone else's is too when they read this column. i was always told growing up that expectations are the greatest evil - and whilst not the "greatest" evil in this case, they certainly are working against the author. just in my opinion, of course.
please don't ban me?
Ahhh yes pagemaker was quite the killer app. His grandson Indesign isn't to shabby either.
Excuse me while I google VisiCalc spreadsheet, as I have no clue what that is.
I would love to Txt back and forth with an Intelligent Primate :) I would teach them how to fight back to keep from being hunted into extinction!
Good point about form version function (on the 4.5kg laptop). Perhaps this same kind of argument was made to support the development of the iTablet (turn that hard to use small touch screen into something more palatable, but far less clunky then a laptop, and snappier via lightweight optimized OS rather than trying to run a full OS on an underpowered netbook.
~Nice Article M. Gartenberg
@cosmicinglewood
I have a laptop that weighs 3.4 kg and lasts 90 minutes on battery power, but i'm not complaining since it's used at home as a desktop replacement 99.9% of the time (yes, i did a rough calculation on that percentage). I guess that there is a right product for everybody.
@(Unverified) yes, and power saving laptops could save most people %50 to %70 on their computer power bill for engadget/ email/ word processing tasks which the vast majority of people use their computers for. Desktops are wasteful, and should really only be used where performance per $ (of hardware) is mission critical, or where ultra high performance is required, and or where the enthusiasts enjoy building them (me included).
I think the tablet form factor could be most appropriate for people who spend a lot of time at home (self employed, unemployed, teenagers, stay at home's) as an alternate (Google/ Bing) search appliance. For instance as a recipe look up in the kitchen, or a fact check device in political debates at the dinner table, or for very causal even more power friendly internet browsing or game play.
So the form factor of the tablet lends well to specific niche application types, but for many who stick a TV in every room, including the bathrooms, having a light, power thrifty, snappy, long battery life (super long standby times), device will be useful. Most people I know get a new computer every two or three years, and many have switch to notebooks/ laptops (not because they are portable), since they are used as a desktop replacement 99% of the time... they are just versatile since you can move them around when you need or desire to where ever you need or desire, and with wifi being a snap (sorta like a cordless phone) you can get what you want within reason in all sorts of places.
Ultimately, Apple will pick up a lot of people with the iTablet because it has a clean design, nice form factor, reasonable price, snappy performance (although sever key features missing as others have noted)... great battery life, touch interface, quality color screen, probably Epeat Gold Class rated, Energy Star 5- sorta like a netbook but without the disadvantage of trying to run a full power hungry OS on a less powerful hardware platform... like most netbooks.
That said form factor is very important to people (hair styles, clothes, cars, motorcycles, glasses, watches, fashion and style) people are vain, and apple's industrial design appeals to the modern affluent well funded/ or style enthusiast computer people who like simple, clean, well built hardware that is intuitive to use and a pleasure to own.
Ultimately the utility of the Tablet is limited, but with the low entry price, I imagine many will develop enough gadget lust to drop 5 to 9 bills on one... but only time will tell if that stupid as a rock name they gave it will derail some of the potential buyers.
I cant believe engadget did not put up a poll to ask people what they think of the name iPad... yuck!
seriously, what were we suppose to learn from this? tell me something my grandma's uncle couldn't have told me.
I'll take a ten pound notebook, thanks
Just to be clear, this had absolutely nothing to do with chimps texting, correct?
@spade
After a quick rescan, sadly not. False promises.
@nicholiservia
It only takes seven? I mean I knew the script was unimaginative, but come on, it takes freaking infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters to come up with hamlet!
Honestly this is the [most intelligent] only intelligent thing that I have read from Entelligence...
The killer app for a mobile phone?
Making phone calls.
@MarkAnderson nah, i think most people text message much more then they make phone calls.
@MarkAnderson
I think you're missing the point..
@wingedLegionary
Nope. The killer apps for a mobile phone is making calls and, as mentioned, texting. Mobile internet is also nice.
After that maybe mail, maps and an media player.
Anything else is window dressing.
@MarkAnderson
It really depends on the market. In Japan, which is quite unique, people exchange E-MAIL addresses instead of phone numbers a lot of the time. WAP might have been the killer app/function for them.
@Arcticpenguins sorry if i sound like a broken record, but don't expect any deep thoughts in entelligence columns.. i just skipped the whole thing after reading the big bold excerpt.
@gargle Where's your column? Get pretty tiring when people keep complaining about writing and don't offer anything constructive to say about the author's thought process or how the articles are written.
"The fastest and most powerful laptop won't do much for a user on the road if it weighs 10 pounds and gets barely an hour of battery life -- or can't open in a coach seat on a plane."
Yeah, that's why you dont buy a laptop made in 1993.
@LAY
hahahahaha..... Yea... Only if we had these things that were like laptops but smaller that we called netbooks, and could now do hd thanks to this company called nvidia... I know, i know, i'm imagining things again...
@LAY
You ever hear of the Alienware m17x? It starts at 11.68lbs, so they do still exist but I don't really expect too many business people to run out and buy one.
I'm taking that pic as my wallpaper.
@musicssound yea so seven ought to do it for avatar's script
Um, hey, cool. How about some insight into how mobile device makers can better serve these needs? As it is, this article is just a bunch of words that don't actually say anything.
@nicholiservia
and if you give them some glass, they'll eventually come up with 7 windows
This picture is not safe for work !!! I just spitted the water I was drinking all over the monitor... Serious wallpaper material
what happened to a few of the comments?
@Lucas that also.. along with about 5-6 more
@Lucas Yeah, I've had that too. I ended up making one going simply *waves to the moderator*
Shockingly, they didn't like that either ;) And our conversation will not last too long here either, I'm guessing.
Monkey FTW!!!
Maybe I'm just dumb, but this article seems abstract to the point where it doesn't even say anything. "Context" is a word that can mean pretty much anything, so all I get out of this is that you don't know what the killer app for mobile is.
@Chefgon
Agreed.
Let me summarise my interpretation of what Gartenberg is trying the say here...
What people want is something that will help them perform activity Y when they want/need to do activity Y.
Wicked insightful.
@Chefgon I think you need to take it in context.
Paragraph 1: there is no agreement about what constitutes a killer app, the writer says it's all about context (i.e., our requirements differ depending on the situation)
Paragraph 2: developers ought to consider context
Paragraph 3: context is the most important factor
Paragraph 4: basically "let's hope developers consider context above all"
Very philosophical, but ultimately not very interesting, useful or insightful because it lacks a message and a conclusion, as if it were all intro to a meatier bit of prose. But hey, it was free and no-one forced me to read it so I'm not complaining.
@Chris Aubeck
I'm totally hearing you on the introduction part...I wonder what are his ideas on how developers can consider "context" in the context of making mobile devices/applications for said devices. It's one thing to convince us with abstract arguments, and it's another thing to leave us uncertain with a confusing statement without concrete examples.
@SoulinEther context "is" an abstract term used to define a number of variables for a user. They are often referred to as "where, when, what and who". It can include many other variables it is an intentionally woolly term. So that it can cover wide range of variables. Other that have been proposed include, but are not limited to, emotional state (heart rate, sweaty palms etc) current activity walking, exercising, sleeping.
Most of these things are achieveable with existing technology.
Where: Location from GPS/AGPS/Cellular network ids/Wifi
When: Time is recorded everywhere network/device/service (also includes past history)
What: Activity from Motion sensors, microphones, light sensors.
Who: Who are you with/talking to/meeting soon - Social networks, e-mail and location tied together.
On their own these things do nothing what Michael is saying is that Smart vendors will be able to leverage this "context" and provide the appropriate customer experience in a given context.
There is missing element though.The reality of a users context is personal to them and they need to be able to personalise their experience so any service/app/device needs to learn from a user and seek feedback/input.
Here is an example of simplest application which I could do on a windows mobile 4 years ago. Based on my location (Cell tower id) my phone would use a different set of notifications (ringtone/SMS/reminder/alarm). I went with "discrete" at work, "amusing" at home "loud" in the city.
Actually I miss that app can you get one for the iphone?
is he saying it's up 2 the user to decide what they need
ok guys who didnt read
TLDR version : we need the iPad, srsly.
@nicholiservia
If you put 3D glasses on them and take them to see the movie, they'll be leaping and howling in joy and excitement.
They'll reach out and try to grab the image too.