The emergence of the mobile Internet is, arguably, a most profound shift. It is influencing the rise of a global culture, independent of geographical and cultural boundaries. The twin ingredients that characterize the nature of this shift are connectivity and mobility. It’s an important question then whether the evolution of this vital and forward-looking technology should be constrained by legacy considerations or regulations that were relevant for the industrial revolution era over a century ago.
Mobility is a quintessential attribute of human existence. Connectivity bridges uncertainty in time and space. The dance of mobility and connectivity provides boundless vistas of lifestyle enhancing services, along personalized conduits of experience, amidst a web of interconnected information.
The trinity of mobility, connectivity, and experience form the leading edge of evolution with new and expansive value models that highlight the essence of the information age. This essence holds the promise and the potential for influencing and shaping new markets that depart from a “scarcity” model to a “flexible” one.
The scarcity model is a relic from the industrial revolution era, where the notion of value relies on the notion of insufficiency. It is an idea which is implicitly bounded and rigid by definition. It has the connotation of a compartment or restriction, which then requires rigid processes to both create and sustain value. A flexible model, on the other hand, implies robustness in terms of scalability and sustainability. It is an articulate model, held together with loose coupling and coordination. It is self-organizing, decentralized and distributed.
My take is that innovation in the marketplace should be unfettered by any artificial intervention. A minimalistic referee role, which is non-intrusive and avoids obsolete models from the industrial age over a century ago, is sufficient. Such a role would be akin to that of a traffic light, for avoiding chaos at road intersections. At the same time stewardship on the part of the people or commercial entities, must be recognized and rewarded, while enforcement fades away. Inertia is not a proxy for imagination.
The applicability of uniqueness of value to the many is as natural, dynamic, and evolutionary as a boundless sea of waves that shapes the experience of an ocean. Such is analogous to the uniqueness and universality of a mobile Internet. Reformation and renewal of legacy models of the industrial age, unimpeded by artificial intervention, are pivotal. Legacy models of intervention are irrelevant in the age of information, as a result of technology-propelled commoditization. A culture – social or commercial – that embraces a plurality of styles and stories, inherently promotes abundance through an unfettered proliferation of choices and styles, where frameworks of fairness are minimalistic and serve as non-intrusive referees.
Just as in the infinite wisdom of nature – one size or style does not fit all. The age of information is an invitation to a feast of abundance, where the infinite and distributed wisdom of nature fills the table. The mobile Internet is a ubiquitous fabric in the feast of life – universal, yet uniquely grand.
A minimalistic referee role for regulations, which is non-intrusive and one that inspires innovation, aligned with the interdependent nature and experientially valuable service potential of the wireless information age, would serve as a catalyst. Interesting perspectives and trade-offs are examined in the Internet entrepreneur. The evolution of the mobile Internet hinges on choices that promote its expansion and widespread adoption, while not being affected adversely by any other autonomous process.
