Technology on a regular basis challenges human beings to think out of the box to provide more user friendly and easy to use devices. The technological developments in every field has been tremendous, and the customer is in a dilemma to choose the best option in these changing developments, which have their own advantages and disadvantages. The progress in technology is limitless, and the success levels in these improvements cannot be measured. Information Technology (IT), which means the usage of software, hardware, services associated with the devices, and supporting arrangement to accomplish and provide information using voice, data, and video has seen major transformations in the past few decades. One technology that interests me is the telephone, cellphone, and the radio equipment, used for the data communication. In this paper, I describe about the mobile technology, its features, advantages, disadvantages, and its association with Information Technology.
I understand that the people in the earlier generations were lethargic to identify and determine computer and information systems technologies, which resulted in losing opportunities to influence new and quickly developing mobile information systems technology to expressively advance new tools for the current generation, to touch and involve a far-reaching public audience, and eventually preserve and safeguard the earlier resources. In just two decades, the ever-more mobile technology has primarily transformed the ways in which people connect with each other personally and conduct business professionally.
MOBILE TECHNOLOGY. Mobile technology has become a key driver throughout information technology, and the use of mobile technology provides opportunities for innovation, agility and flexibility in the workplace . Wireless networks in combination with mobile communications, and computing devices provide the students to access classroom information to communicate with their fellow students and teachers, and allows the teachers to modify the classroom concept. Mobile technology has moved from the button enabled phones to the touch enabled phones (smartphones) that provide more features and help the users according to their needs. Ease of use of these smartphones, enabled with mobile internet makes these devices more user friendly as information can be obtained on fingertips.
Mobile networks are complex as compared to wired networks as they require more tuning and management. The packets in mobile networks are differentiated by application, providing different routing and processing to voice packets than data packets and this differentiation will continue till the mobile networks are totally integrated with Information Technology . With the addition of wireless feature, Bluetooth, and Data networks, mobile technology has moved a step ahead in accessing information quickly.
Working Principle of Mobile Phones. When a call connects between two users, the phone captures the sound of the voice and converts it into analog signal. The network equipment at the Home Location Register (HLR) routes the call and proceeds to route the signal to the destination. Using electromagnetic energy, this information is transmitted via radio waves from the cell to the antenna and received at the switching center. The call then routes through the telephone system to the switching center transmitting to the cellular antenna near to the destination. If the call cannot be transmitted then the information is stored as a voicemail. The modern IT systems can also accommodate multimedia by transmitting alphanumeric characters, images, and sound . The mobile phone as a means of information technology captures, routes, connects, stores and presents information.
Business through Mobiles. Without the progression of mobile technology, connecting to people easily, video calling, multimedia messages, instant chat, and various applications needed for daily use would not be possible. Apart from using the laptop, desktop, and other portable devices, mobiles are currently being used for business purposes. All web-enabled mobile phones now contain advertisements and information of various business to attract consumers. A few applications used to conduct business through the mobile phone are Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, and many more. Mobiles can now be used as a desktop publishing tool as they contain software’s that help in printing and publishing. Many healthcare providers deliver services through mobiles, for example, mHealth from Deloitte. Online shopping, bank transactions, utility payments, money transfers can now be performed using the mobile phones.
Future of Mobile Technology. The basic feature mobile phones were introduced in the early 90’s, which later transformed to the smartphone’s with 3G. Apple, the technology giant introduced a unique operating system for its products and are currently the leading mobile phone providers globally. The future is bright for the new phones that would be enabled with 4G technology that provides ultra-broadband Internet access at higher speeds. The devices are available in the form of wide screen mobile phones, and tablets, which would be available later as super phones. Though the mobile solutions are driven by user demand, a few issues are to be addressed such as, greater mobility and faster access to information for a user population that is distributed all over the country and globally, ability to deliver the earlier inaccessible services and applications to sustain mission procedures in the field, and improved flexibility regarding anxieties about depending on on a particular smartphone seller.
Discussion. In my opinion there is a lot of scope in the mobile domain in the coming years, as there can hardly be any day when anyone can live without their phone. Providing security features concerns me, as it is challenging to design mobile devices to meet security needs across various platforms and operating systems. It is also important to provide importance in tools and processes to support enterprise-level configuration management and controls for federal agencies .
Works Cited
Aksoy, Pelin and Laura DeNardis. Information Technology in Theory. Cengage Learning, 2007. Print.
Benett, Richard. "Going Mobile: Technology and Policy issues in Mobile Internet." Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (2010): 1-57. Document. <http://www.itif.org/files/100302_GoingMobile.pdf>.
CIO Council. "Government Use of Mobile Technology." CIO Council (2012): 1-11. Document. <https://cio.gov/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/12/Government_Mobile_Technology_Barriers_Opportunities_and_Gaps.pdf>.
