September 3, 2010

I'm up in Newfoundland visiting relatives. Sure, there are smart phones here in the easternmost province of Canada. But because I don't want to pay huge data roaming fees, I opted to buy a prepaid mobile phone with basic services (phone and text). 

The results? Eye-popping.

On this prepaid phone, I can call people and text people. That's it. I can't roam the mobile internet and ask Google what's around me. I can't see how my social network is faring. I can't find deals from Groupon in my inbox. I don't even have an inbox. What does this tell us?

There's a Mobile Divide, too

When we talk about "digital divide," we sometimes use this term to describe the lack of access to internet infrastructure. The conversation often falls along poverty or race lines; but the digital divide is mix of culture, with one part provisioning and one part economics.

The mobile divide, meanwhile, is the gap between those people who use smart phones and those who don't. Yet.

Does It Matter? Do We Need Smartphones?

Yes. I think that the genie is out of the bottle with mobile computing. The new dial tone is wherever we choose to be reached, and fewer and fewer people seek to be reached by voice. At a minimum, we want email. At a maximum, we want our Facebook and our Twitter and our Foursquare (not me, but you might) and our Google. Heck, without a smartphone, I lack maps. I lack orienteering to the outside world. I lack the annotation of Yelp.

We can get by with a simple mobile device, but I believe we're missing the larger picture without the smartphone.

And yes, I realize that this is a first-world problem, and that people in many communities would be happy with any kind of communications device. (And yes, Canada is actually pretty wired, even in rural spots.) That's not the point of this post. The point is that in places where technology is supposedly ubiquitous, there's a new divide.

What's Your Take?

I'm going to presume you have a smartphone of some kind. You might not have the latest Android or iPhone 4 or whatever, but chances are, your phone can receive and transmit more than calls and texts. How much more of the Internet are you using from your phone these days? Could you live without it? What do you say?

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• Technology

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Chris Brogan, Article, mobile, e-mail marketing

Join the conversation ( 14 )

• Darin Honey 1 year 8 months and 22 days ago

  

  The mobile divide isn't what you think it is. Pew Research found that the less affluent actually have a greater propensity to access the web via mobile devices. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/352610/pew_research_wealthy_use_laptops_poor_mobile_phones/Perhaps people that can but don't own smartphones don't know what they're missing. Ignorance is bliss.

• Julie Rains 1 year 8 months and 24 days ago

  

  Cost is an issue in the mobile divide (and various forms of digital divisions) but there are other forces. Geography plays a role in the divide -- sometimes because of connectivity but many times because of critical masses; certain functions need other people and social networks to make a difference. Groupon, for example, has offers in a neighboring city mostly but just a few in mine. It doesn't make sense to be on Facebook unless you have friends there (or fans). I can't see a friend during a Skype call if he/she doesn't have Skype also (at least I think that's how it works). Being the first in a group to adopt can be lonely for a while, which is much of what the divide is about.

• Christina Shaw 1 year 8 months and 26 days ago

  

  Chris, Thanks for addressing this in such an articulate way. I had a similar revelation recently talking to my provider (AT & T) about my options with my first generation iPhone and the access in our new community. It dawned on me that this "mobile divide" is a conundrum - the future of communications is being driven by a rather antiquated and somewhat traditional "Ma Bell" like service structure. While I don't know the answer, it seems that the one is eventually going to have to keep pace with the other, lest we find ways around it, as with Skype and Google as Ed Gaskin pointed out. At what point does "someone" intervene and mandate appropriate changes to allow the continued evolution of the mobile age?

• Steve Thomas 1 year 8 months and 26 days ago

  

  I don't own a smartphone and have been thinking about it. It is the way now days, but I don't know that I want to spend the $$ to get it. I don't text. If I want to talk to you I call. My cell phone is nearly five years old and my wife's is so old I can't remember when we got it.Being connected is important to me, but where does connection end and tech for tech's sake begin?

• Steve Thomas 1 year 8 months and 26 days ago

  

  I don't own a smartphone and have been thinking about it. It is the way now days, but I don't know that I want to spend the $$ to get it. I don't text. If I want to talk to you I call. My cell phone is nearly five years old and my wife's is so old I can't remember when we got it.Being connected is important to me, but where does connection end and tech for tech's sake begin?

• Jason Clarke 1 year 8 months and 26 days ago

  

  I have been trying to decide what to do with my current smartphone. After the recent purchase of an iPad, I have hardly used my phone (or my laptop) for anything but calls. I might switch back to the lean mean old flip phone and save my data consumption for the iPad.

• Stephen Brogan 1 year 8 months and 29 days ago

  

  My next phone will end up being a smartphone in order to feel connected. What we are now experiencing in this age of the Internet was not even dreamed about when I was born. What next wonders will there be 50 years from now. We can only imagine.

• Stephen Brogan 1 year 8 months and 29 days ago

  

  Add your comment hereThe

• Ed Gaskin 1 year 8 months and 29 days ago

  

  Back in the 80s I heard a statistic, once technology falls below $300 it becomes widely available. They were referring to satellite dishes. It seems to have held true since then. When cell phones/PDA’s came out, priced below $300, I predicted the digital divide would end as I thought of them as mini computers which even included Microsoft office. When cell phones with internet access emerged, I said the divide was over for sure as there was no need to buy an internet only device, or need to go to a library or cyber café to have internet access. You provide an interesting example of the device being affordable but the access to the content/data isn’t. My bet would be the situation is temporary as Skype has demonstrated an ability to disintermediate traditional providers and Google looks like it is trying to. I believe cloud infrastructure will enable the emergence of alternatives, which will provide more access at the same or lower price. There is demand for smart phones because of their utility, and there are a lot of stakeholders (hardware, software/aps, etc.) who have large incentives to make sure smartphones are in as many hands as possible, being used as frequently as possible. Therefore, I predict the mobile divide will be eliminated one way or another, so we won’t have to live without out our smartphones.

• MARK CORPUZ 1 year 9 months and 0 days ago

  

  This is a very good article. I can live without my blackberry but it makes it a lot easier to respond to emails and actually saves me time so I dont have to check my email anymore. I try to be careful to not always be on it. It is not a good thing when people are glued to their phones.

• Nei Grando 1 year 9 months and 0 days ago

  

  I am from Brazil and of course I can survive without my iPhone, but I prefer to use it to be more connected almost all the time. I have also payed huge data roaming fees because I have used my iPhone during my travel to Europe in April, mainly because I used Web to see the news and also Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, now I will travel to US, but I will only use the iPhone with wi-fi connections when available.I think SmartPhones will be cheaper soon and it will be used normaly for everyone like a cell are been in use today.

• Aprille Byam 1 year 9 months and 0 days ago

  

  I, actually, have a dumb phone. Partly because I drop it - a lot - and thus think all I deserve is this beatup thing. Partly because I've been wary of data plan prices. Partly because we take way too long to make most purchase decisions in our house and have not yet gone out to get the smart phones we've been discussing.I'm hoping to go this weekend.I do have an iPod Touch and love the connectivity on that - I'm glued to Twitter, FB, and gMail on it. I get really frustrated w/ WiFi access when out and about, though I'm getting better at finding ways in. Because we know what's there, our expectations are much like yours- to have the info at our fingertips - then we get disappointed when we can't get to it.There's a comfort to knowing you can get to what you need - and if you know it's there but you can't reach it, it rather sucks. Like watching an old *** mystery where a chic's car breaks down and she has to wait in the dark and wet for a car to pass for help and you're thinking - GET A CELLPHONE!

• Mark Van Baale 1 year 9 months and 0 days ago

  

  Hello Chris, This is a good article that hits upon some good questi0ns that I have thought about before. I do not have a smartphone and only have one that makes calls and sends/receives texts. In fact, I have thought about getting a smartphone so I can stay connected via my Twitter account, email account, etc., but have not got one yet. Also, I think of the consequences of having a smartphone always connected to the Internet and how this could become addicting after awhile. So, for now, I am fine with a regular phone that makes calls like the phones we used to all have before the Internet hit.

• Adele McAlear 1 year 9 months and 0 days ago

  

  Chris, one of the things that's guaranteed to make me rant is the price of mobile data in Canada. We pay the third highest data rates in the world, which makes the adoption of smart phones with data rich mobile apps much lower here. There is no such thing as an unlimited data plan in Canada. Yes, cell providers must cover the cost of infrastructure across a vast country, and spread that burden across a small population. But, I do believe there are ways to make mobile data service more affordable to the masses here. I'm just not convinced that the carriers are motivated to do so. One thing is for sure, the high cost of mobile data in Canada inhibits business and innovation, and keeps all but the wealthiest Canadians off the mobile web. And that is a crying shame.