Ubiquitous computing

The release of the first mobile devices using Google’s Android operating system, to a flurry of media interest, is likely to see an increase in user take-up of mobile internet, especially once competition with other modish devices, such as Apple’s iPhone, drives down prices. Lower prices make such next generation devices and services affordable to ‘pay-as-you-go’ customers (about 60% of users in the United Kingdom). Increasing bandwidth and more powerful processors in the machines themselves, together with more user-friendly interfaces and applications, will drive take-up of services. Along with increasing coverage, this form of access will increasingly compete with old fashioned fixed-line delivery, and even relatively new high speed broadband, delivered through fibre optic cables.

Computer-tethered internet

Mobile broadband will continue to grow, with other relatively new wireless technologies such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) also gaining a foothold in the ‘last mile’ of internet delivery, perhaps displacing older WiFi technologies:

• For the time being, the internet to some extent will continue to be ‘computer-tethered’ – while users may choose mobile broadband, they will connect to it using their laptops (and to a lesser extent desktop computers). 

• However, over the medium-term, the mobile net increasingly will be accessed using a richer ecology of devices. 

While this encompasses particularly mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA), next generation processors and flash memory chips will allow radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders to be used to send information to computers embedded within items such as clothing and appliances.

Towards an internet of things?

This offers potential for an ‘internet of things’ to develop, with objects being given unique digital identities, allowing them to be tracked and sorted.  Trends of this sort are already visible within organizations, especially those with a large logistics component such as supermarket chains. This has potential to make the lived environment more visible, and easier to navigate, for consumers, businesses and government.

Advocates for the technology claims that it would involve the internet being transformed into a ubiquitous ‘cloud’ of information, with information processing integrated thoroughly into everyday activities and objects. However, such enthusiasm is misplaced, at least for the time being:

• RFID chips remain relatively expensive and lack international standards, which make them unsuitable for some segments of business and society.

• RFID signals can be impeded – for example by water and metals – and remain vulnerable to viruses and similar attacks.

• Perhaps most importantly, the prospect of widespread use of RFID chips raises serious concerns about user privacy – international bodies such as the European Commission have examined their implications for consumer rights, and concerns are likely to persist in this area.

Therefore, while mobile internet capabilities are likely to develop ‘augmented reality’ applications that present live data in a way that is relevant to the user’s location, the key longer-term challenge in fostering a ubiquitous ‘internet of things’ will be to develop RFID technology that is not overly intrusive or insecure. Given the challenges of design, standardisation and then popularization which that presents (and the time that takes -- modern RFID technology dates from the 1970s), evangelists for ‘cloud computing’ ought not to hold their breath.