Re: Framework document

Ken, Steph, All,
   That's where perhaps we need to have a clear description of the target
scenario detailing the ground realities and challenges as a background.

I was not talking about the commercial smartphone type of phones that are
available from mainstream vendors today, when I said mobile/multimedia
computers. What I meant was the kind mentioned in the following link:

http://www.amidasimputer.com/

Many of the initiatives for lesser developed regions have tried to come up
with low cost solutions such as these. These devices are not the traditional
phones or smartphones, are of lower cost, and they have capabilities to
access Internet and can use less expensive or free access networks such as
Wifi/Wimax. It is true that such solutions have not achieved mass scale
penetration as of now.

However, with the introduction of open platforms on a larger scale, whether
its Google's Android, or Nokia's Symbian (they recently opened it up) or
MAEMO, we can expect economies of scale and perhaps see more mainstream
handset vendors entering the scene.

Overall, the idea is that there will be a heterogenous set of device types
available to the end-user having multiple network interface capabilities in
the coming years and therefore using the term mobile "phone" may restrict us
from looking at all possible aspects to the solution.

Also, note that though our focus is on the device and related platforms, we
should not forget the economic and technology challenges caused by the other
elements in the end-to-end service delivery such as the access network
types. In many cases, these elements can influence the types of devices used
by our target end-users. For instance, a mobile network (GSM/CDMA) is easier
to launch that fixed lines but are expensive from a data usage view-point.

Another point to mention: Are we considering a specific time horizon for the
problems and our solutions ? Is it a 5 year or a 10 year plan? What is the
time period of "today" and "tomorrow"? This space is contantly evolving and
stating a specific numerical period may not be appropriate. It may therefore
be best to fix a clear set of challenges/scenarios for which we come up with
the solutions.

Vision statements usually are short. So, are we planning to have a separate
document where we go into the details of each section? Do we have a plan for
this?

Regards
Renjish




On 8/1/08, Ken Banks, kiwanja.net <donotreply@kiwanja.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Steph, all
>
> I agree that we need to think in terms of a "dual" approach, i.e. what's
> possible now on whatever mobile devices people have in their hands, and
> what
> might be possible tomorrow when the whole world has an iPhone.
>
> The whole episode with Google Android sums up this topic beautifully, I
> think. When it was announced last year, the Android Challenge quickly
> followed, seeking to encourage the developer community to build apps for
> social good, with a slant on developing countries. I don't know how long
> it's going to be before rural populations in developing countries have
> Android-powered phones, but it's not going to be for some time yet. Right
> now, on the mid-to-higher level devices at least, we have Java, and GPRS,
> and a browser. And, of course SMS (on all levels of phones). We're hardly
> scratching the surface with these, let alone on something that doesn't yet
> exist.
>
> I wrote about this here if you're interested:
> http://www.blogspot.kiwanja.net/2007/11/battleship-google-fires-its-new-gun
> .
> html
>
> So, I agree. Let's keep a sense of reality on what we seek to do. The
> future
> doesn't exist yet, but the present does!
>
> Have good weekends.  =)
>
> Ken
> www.kiwanja.net
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-mw4d-request@w3.org [mailto:public-mw4d-request@w3.org] On
> Behalf Of Stephane Boyera
> Sent: 01 August 2008 08:32
> To: Renjish Kumar
> Cc: public-mw4d@w3.org
> Subject: Re: framework document
>
>
> I'm ok to use the concept of mobile devices instead of mobile phones.
> That said, i would like to make it clear that the key objective for me
> is to focus on currently installed base of devices, and to take
> advantage on mobile phones/devices which are in the field today, which
> are for now low-end phones in most places.
> I believe that in some ways, if we consider mobile phones as a whole, or
> even cover a broader category under mobile devices, we might miss some
> challenges. using a low-end phone as an ict-platform, is not the same
> thing as using a smartphone. and i believe we will have to adresse this
> difference.
> my personnal view again is that we have to see what is possible today
> right now, and what would be possible in the future. We have to pave the
> road to this future, but start from where we are today, ie what is in
> the pocket of the targeted people.
>
> stephane
>
> Stephane
> Renjish Kumar a écrit :
> > Hello,
> >    For the vision section, are we not considering mobile
> > "devices" instead of mobile "phones" ? I think we should take a broader
> > view on the type of "mobile" device used for web and not restrict it
> > only to phones. In fact, some handset vendors are already moving towards
> > renaming such mobile phones as mobile/multimedia computers.... In my
> > opinion, mobile web could be over any type of mobile device in future
> > such as UMPC, Tablet PC or the likes.
> >
> > Regards
> > Renjish
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 7/29/08, *Stephane Boyera* <boyera@w3.org <mailto:boyera@w3.org>>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >     Dear all,
> >
> >     As committed yesterday during the call, i put online the first
> >     version of the framework document.
> >
> >     what i did is the following:
> >
> >     1- i created from the wiki homepage
> >     (http://www.w3.org/2006/12/digital_divide/wiki/ )a new section ""
> >     from this section i created a dedicated page for the framework
> document
> >
> >     2- in the framework document itself, i put few info for those who
> >     would get to it without knowing the mw4d group, 2 new sections
> >     (editors and contributors) and the original document i send to the
> >     list 2 weeks ago.
> >     in the editors section, there is now Jeff and myself, but if anybody
> >     else interested to join us, you are welcome.
> >     in the contributors sectino i listed all people who either
> >     participated in one of the 2 teleconferences in which we discussed
> >     this topic, or who send comments on my original proposal. I might
> >     have missed someone. let me know. For some people i put their
> >     affiliations because i knew it, for someother either i didn't know
> >     or i was not sure it was appropriate to cite it. Let me know if
> >     something needs to be updated for you.
> >
> >     3- i didn't yet incorporate all the comments received on the first
> >     draft i sent to the list, but i just focused on the first section
> >     "vision" which was the focus of yesterday call. I wanted to release
> >     this document asap to trigger discussion for next week call. I will
> >     update later this week the other sections with the comments received.
> >
> >     4- in the vision section, and for other sections in the future too,
> >     i believe that we are not in the phasis of writing content, but more
> >     about brainstorming. So i decided not to make sentences yet but to
> >     have 2 sub-section: one describing what should be in the section,
> >     and one just listing ideas and concepts we want to integrate in the
> >     section. When we will have consensus on all the ideas we will be
> >     able to move to sentences.
> >
> >     5- i tried in the vision section to list all the comments, ideas we
> >     discussed yesterday, and on the mailing-list, plus one or two more.
> >
> >     The document is at
> >     http://www.w3.org/2006/12/digital_divide/wiki/mw4dframework
> >
> >     now, comments are welcome !!
> >
> >     cheers
> >     Stephane
> >     --
> >     Stephane Boyera         stephane@w3.org <mailto:stephane@w3.org>
> >     W3C                             +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 34
> >     BP 93                           fax: +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 22
> >     F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,
> >     France
> >
> >
>
> --
> Stephane Boyera         stephane@w3.org
> W3C                             +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 34
> BP 93                           fax: +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 22
> F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,
> France
>
>
>
>