©Mark Ollig
An
estimated 40,000 people attended this week’s Mobile World Conference Americas
(MWCA) program at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
“The
Tech Element” was this year’s theme.
MWCA
keynote speeches were given by leaders in the mobile and computing industry.
Ajit
V. Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, gave an address to
the conference attendees.
Improving
mobile broadband internet access availability and enhancing mobile internet
deployment were two topics he addressed.
Pai
stated there are efforts underway to bridge the mobile digital divide;
including an initiative called Mobility Fund Phase I, which provides $4.5
billion in federal government funding assistance.
Low-,
mid-, and high-band mobile radio spectrum for licensed and unlicensed use is to
be made available by the end of the year, he said.
The
FCC currently defines fixed-broadband internet data download speed at a minimum
of 25Mbps, and uploading of data at 3Mbps.
A
mobile-broadband internet speed has not been established; however, 5 and 10Mbps
has been discussed as possible minimum mobile internet download speeds by the
FCC in Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act report, recently given to
Congress.
Pai
said he wants “to make sure the US continues to lead in 5G, and to enable
wireless consumers to benefit from these technologies sooner rather than
later.”
Personally,
I look for a 5G LTE industry standard in late 2019, with the service becoming
available to the public in 2020.
It
was acknowledged nearly 5 billion people worldwide, including 700 million in
the northern and southern American hemispheres, are using some form of mobile
communications.
Mobile
wireless technology and high-tech mobile devices were being exhibited
throughout the nearly 300,000-square-foot Moscone Center, by some 1,100
venders.
Contributing
to the growing wireless “cloud ecosystem,” Nokia discussed Cloud RAN (radio
access networking), one of its cloud-based technologies.
The
Smart City panel talk for using mobile solutions to improve accessibility to
public services was just one of many MWCA dialogues taking place.
At
the Moscone West venue, Microsoft headed a mobile-enabling conference.
The
M-Enabling Forum conference highlighted technological improvements empowering
seniors and persons with disabilities, improved access to mobile digital
technology, and the content, and services offered by city government
organizations.
Improvements
consist of better-quality mobile connections, and easier-to-use apps (software
applications) on mobile devices.
The
use of advanced mobile technologies for quickly connecting those in need to
online assistance is essential.
MWCA’s
Woman4Tech conference addressed the need to reduce the gender gap existing
within the mobile industry.
Discussion
involved mentoring youth in career development, and addressing women
entrepreneurs and visionaries.
Woman4Tech
also spoke of ways in which to strengthen the overall “mobile ecosystem” by
means of gender equality.
Other
conference topics covered artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual
reality, content and media, and innovative mobile technology.
As
we all know, the IoT (Internet of Things), and the high-tech wireless sensors
embedded within mobile devices, are generating massive amounts of information
about what we buy, where we travel, and much more.
Information
gleaned from IoT sensors is shaping an overall illustration of our personal and
professional lifestyles.
We
have a right to be concerned about whose eyes are accessing this information,
and for the exact purpose it is being used.
Controversy
exists on whether outside entities should be recording, selling, or providing
others information about our lifestyle without us being aware of it.
What
are they doing with all our information?
Of
course, IoT information is analyzed and used by companies to entice (target) us
to purchase the products and services we have been systematically deemed to
have a need or desire for.
Sensors
in our smart mobile and wearable medical/fitness devices can track how fast we
drive our cars on the road, our buying habits, what businesses we patronage,
where we ate lunch, and who we called or texted.
Medical
sensors track our blood pressure, heart rate, calories burned, and even the
number of hours we sleep.
When
one thinks about it, the IoT is essentially morphing into the internet of you
and me.
Yours
truly did find the “word cloud” tag collection on the MWCA website somewhat
revealing.
The
word cloud showed the most frequently searched technology and subject
words/terms regarding this year’s MWCA event:
•
App/Software Development.
•
Connected Living – Smart Cities.
•
IoT.
•
Big Data & Analytics.
•
Devices.
•
Gaming/Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality.
•
Location Based Services.
•
Media/Content/Entertainment.
•
Information Technology.
•
User Experience.
•
Marketing/Advertising.
•
5G.
MWCA’s
website is https://www.mwcamericas.com. Its Twitter hashtag for this year’s
conference is #MWCA17.
MCWA
2018 will take place in Los Angeles, CA.
Follow
me on Twitter at @bitsandbytes using your mobile or landline computing device.
(Image royalty license-to-use paid)
