Making Everything Mobile

by Michael Kramer / Aug 12

As ubiquitous as mobile devices have become, I’m surprised how it is all somehow less portable.  We still need to make long strides in simplicity, convergence, portability, and standardization.  It starts with our laptops, smart phones and PDAs.  Each one needs an AC adapter to power it and charge the battery.  Some incessant workers insist on carrying an extra battery for one or more of these devices.  The six pounds becomes twelve.  We take along more than just the devices we carry, we bring all of their accessories as well.  We make everything mobile, and the manufacturers have to keep up.

Biggest Mobile Challenges

Ergonomics: Finding a spacious, ergonomic, and effective work area.

Greater risk: Having all eggs in one basket, greater risk of losing all information and functionality.

Lack of standardization or integrated features: Having to carry all of the accessories and necessary components is a problem.  Universal chargers exist but won’t charge proprietary Li-Ion technology that some vendors such as Dell have.  Every international traveler I know instead opts for a Sony or Lenovo laptop for their next purchase so they can have one charger for everything.  Being proprietary doesn’t always work out, even when you have a huge existing market share.  Look at what happened to IBM with their PS/2 architecture.   Also, a compact, mobile laptop should have an integrated optical drive.  There’s a reason we couldn’t wait for the Lenovo x300 to come out.  Make that several reasons.

Power issues: Common complaints are short battery life, lack of power outlets, and confusing piles of adapters needed for different countries.  Kensington makes a great universal power plug adapter, but it doesn’t have the capacitors built-in to truly adapt to the different voltages.

Everything The Mobile Worker Needs

Battery chargers: Unfortunately when mobile, all of those battery-powered devices need a way to recharge.  This has meant carrying one charger per device.  I don’t consider that very portable.  Companies like iGo make universal AC adapters with a wide variety of charging tips so the mobile worker only needs to bring one charger.  Beware of devices with proprietary Lithium Ion technology though.  These universal chargers will power the device, but won’t recharge the battery.

Spare batteries: Mobile workers on long international flights that need their devices running for the whole flight may opt to carry additional batteries.  There are “air chargers” that can plug into the airplane’s power outlet, but such outlets are not available for all service classes.

Wireless broadband card: I feel this is a “must” for any mobile worker.  “WiFi hotspots” are just unsecured Internet access points.  We’re talking mobility here.  To truly be mobile, one should only need to pull over their car to get on the web.

Carrying cases: We need a protective case for each of our mobile devices.  The way to win here is either bring a small enough case that holds all mobile toys or converge the various technologies into one device so there are fewer to carry.
Hands-free options:  Cities like Chicago have banned the use of a phone without a headset.  Hands-free options have become a must.

Mobile data protection: We have to protect all of that valuable mobile data.  More companies are encrypting their mobile devices, but we still need to back up the files.  A truly mobile worker will have weeks worth of locally-stored files that are at risk.  To protect them might mean carrying an external hard drive to synchronize with.  It could mean an automated process that whenever connected to the Internet, the data sync’s  with a server back at the main office or to a storage service “in the cloud”.

Support phone numbers: Mobile workers should have their own IT staff’s phone numbers with them and the international support numbers of their wireless providers with them as well.  Don’t store these numbers on their mobile device.  They need a way to reference this information if they lose their mobile devices.

Eyes on the Prize

The mobile workforce is growing and competition amongst mobile providers is fierce.  I feel the companies that will be victorious are the ones that are less proprietary and offer more features in a smaller space, for less money.  It sounds simple enough, but how many vendors are actually focusing on this concept?

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