Page 355 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILE
SERVICES AND BEYOND

If you think that mobile networks and devices are going to stop innovating . . . well, don’t
hold your breath. The horizon holds many exciting developments. Some of the key driv-
ers are increased network bandwidth, longer battery life (including batteries that charge
from ambient radio waves), higher-resolution screens, faster processors, and more.
Companies are even working on making their processes greener.

Just think of what you could do with faster data speeds on the phone. Today, 4G net-
works are the norm and 5G is starting to compete. (4G is the term commonly used for
fourth-generation mobile networks. The first generation, or 1G, began in the early
1980s; the second generation, or 2G, emerged in the 1990s; and 3G was formed in the
late 1990s.) With each successive generation, mobile network capabilities and data
transfer and network speeds increased. 4G networks, with data-transfer speeds reach-
ing 100 Mbps (megabits per second), allow you to do full-motion video conferencing
and video exchange on phones and other mobile devices. This capability has a big
impact on mobile devices’ roles in social media.

Near-field communications and RFID

RFID and NFC technologies are going mainstream. Many phones and other devices
are equipped with them. These systems — radio frequency identification (RFID) and
near-field communication (NFC) — are similar in concept to Bluetooth in that
they’re both short-range communication systems, but they have unique identification
and commerce capabilities.

In Germany, for example, NFC-enabled phones are used to purchase train tickets.
A user simply hovers the phone near an NFC reader, and the reader charges his
linked billing account (to a credit card, for instance) for the purchase of the ticket.

RFID chips can be used to identify you and can even personalize signs as you walk
by. (Have you been in a store like Staples and walked by a sign that talks to you?
That’s what we’re talking about.)

Phone interaction

It just takes a tap, a shake, a swipe, or a swing to interact with many of the phones.
One of the most recognizable phones on the market leveraging this motion and
gesture technology today is the iPhone, but other phones have it, too. The motion-
and gesture-sensing capabilities of these phones improve their usability and

CHAPTER 23 Building an SMM Mobile Campaign 339