photo: archrecord.construction.com
The internet has been incredibly successful in crossing huge distances but has had mixed success crossing the smallest yet most important boundary: the last ten feet between the bedroom computer and the loungeroom consumer. The concept of ‘the last ten feet is usually discussed in regards to television, movie and music transactions over the internet. In America, companies such as TiVo and Netflix have had some success in selling media to the couch dwelling consumer. The concept can be expanded to all internet publishing and some other important distances that need to be crossed. The picture at the top of this post is the LG Internet Refrigerator, a commercial failure because of it’s high price and the fact that most people found the concept ridiculous at the time. The underlying principle, that the internet should blend into our lives like any other appliance, is now considered a worthy goal for electronic content providers. The iPhone is one example of internet publishing that not only follows you into the lounge room, but everywhere else you go to. Coupled with an iTunes account the iPhone user can become a mobile money stream by removing the barriers to impulse buying. Run out of music on the train? just purchase and download another album on the go.
Companies like Telstra have set the bar pretty low for basic mobile internet. Common complaints for years have been that mobile phone internet is too slow, expensive, too hard to read, and awkward to use thanks to tiny keypads. The latest touch screen smartphones offer some hope for a faster, smoother mobile internet but there is a price to be paid in battery life and money. In the end you will be doing a lot of searching for power leads and free wifi networks to give your lithium ions and phone bill a rest.
The Amazon Kindle may be the answer to bridging e-books and newspapers from the internet to you (and your money in the opposite direction). There have of course been the usual arguments over copyright and the worry of creating a monopoly on these kind of things. Perhaps it is now only mindsets and not technology which holds the internet down on your desk?
