Paper Example on Mobile Tech: Revolutionizing Communication in Science

Introduction

Communication is an essential part of science that has always existed as a focal point of information exchange among parties at different physical locations. The invention of telephones brought a new chapter of communication since they replaced traditional media like telegrams and media. Similarly, the term mobile has wholly changed communication by creating opportunities for creative applications that are limited to an individual's imagination. Mobile telephony, tablets, and other handheld devices swept the world in a short time.

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Studies show that the first cellular network in the world was developed in 1977, but the mobile phone has dominated the history of the fastest diffusing communication technologies with over 6 billion subscribers since 2011 (Ahmad et al., 2016). Today, experts have regarded mobile communication as society's backbone. All mobile system technologies have improved the lifestyle of humans. Most importantly, portable media has privileged a lot of people in the community (Badawood, 2016). Mobile media is improving lives and catalysing sustainable development. Since its introduction, the internet has changed the global society at an alarming rate, with mobile as a primary tool supporting its rapid acceleration.

The internet improves life by making information and other significant services available by a click of a button. Mobile internet also helps users to communicate efficiently, receive news and information, improve their education, and access health information and financial (Farman, 2015). This paper is grounded in the idea that mobile media is built on conceptual and taxonomical bases. Within this context, the paper employs previous fragmented approaches to studying mobile media, analyses them. It develops a set of definitions as well as applications of mobile media to consolidate this concept.

Objectives

• To highlight the history of mobile media.
• To explain the concept of mobile media.
• To illustrate the key characteristics of mobile media.
• To find out how mobile media started its current situation.
• To determine the advantages of mobile media to the user.
• To investigate the advantages and disadvantages of mobile media in the media industry.
• To identify the critical elements of mobile media.
• To outline the usage of mobile media in the world.
• To point out what professionals think and say about the future of mobile data.

Research Questions

• What is the history of mobile media?
• What is the concept of mobile media?
• What are the key characteristics of mobile media?
• How mobile media started, and what is the current situation in 2020?
• What are the advantages of mobile to the user?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of mobile media in the media industry?
• What are the critical elements of mobile media?
• What is the usage of mobile media in the world, maybe, historical statistics from the 2000s till 2020?
• What do the professionals think and say about the future of mobile media?

Literature Review

More than 6 billion people in the world use mobile phones, making it the most common and rapidly adopted communication in history. This development has impacted internet usage Flora et al. (2014). Farman (2015), in his study, projected that within the next decade, more people worldwide would access broadband internet through mobile devices than they do via desktop and laptop.

In addition to Farman’s (2015) view, Steinkuehler & Squire (2019) pinpointed that today's mobile users have escalated, and this number is likely to double in the next few years. In this regard, Steinkuehler & Squire (2019) noted that more than half of mobile users rely on their mobile technology as sources of information, implying that in the next decade, mobile media will be used by many as their primary sources of obtaining information.

According to Goggin (2010), smartphones, such as Droid, iPhone, and Blackberry, are on their way of becoming a mass mobile phone market in developed countries. Badawood, (2016), in his study, found that mobile users have rapidly increasing options in mobile devices and available mobile services, which is one of the contributing factors to the growth of mobile media. However, Humphreys et al. (2013) assumed that the growth of mobile media depends on the compatibility of technology with the understanding of the user and appropriation of mobile devices.

History of Mobile Media

Communication between humans has existed since the beginning of time. The increase has influenced the advancement, accessibility, and user-friendliness of information transferred from one party to another in technology. According to Jones et al. (2013), information has transformed into media, and media has transformed into mobile media. Today’s widespread availability of advanced mobile media would be impossible without the various achievements of inventors and business professionals (Jun & Lee, 2017). History depicts that the first mobile media occurred when the ancient Egyptians used papyrus as an alternative to stone tablet inscription (Farman, 2015). This idea of transporting written media is later shown by the invention of Johannes Gutenberg of the printing press in 1440 (Ling & Donner, 2018). The printing press was a significant advancement for media distribution because it allowed for mass printing and supply of newspapers.

A few centuries later, the Chappe brothers developed the first working mechanical telegraph (Farman, 2015). The telegraph changed the world of mobile communication since it speeded up the transfer of information between two people who were at further distances. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell, replaced the telegraph, thus, bringing another revolution in mobile media. Bell first demonstrated the telephone in 1877 (Goggin, 2010). Later, he founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT &T).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Bell legitimised his invention, though, after some turmoil and competition with the dominant telegraph company during that time (Farman, 2015). Initially, the use of the telephone was not widely adopted across the globe. Approximately 10 million telephones were available in the entire world in 1910, and the U.S. accounted for about 70% of the telephones (Ling & Donner, 2018). According to Flora (2014), a handheld radio telephone service was envisioned in the early stages of radio engineering.

In 1917, Eric Tigerstedt, a Finnish inventor, filed a patent for the pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone (Farman, 2015). Early predecessors of cellular phones included analog radio communications from trains and ships. In 1921, the Detroit Michigan Police Department first used mobile radio in a vehicle (Goggin, 2010). Although a few people used telephones when it was first discovered, its usage later increased rapidly. By 1922, more than 20 million telephones were available worldwide (Ling & Donner, 2018). The number grew to approximately 50 million in 1939 to around 75 million in 1950 (Farman, 2015).

Bell died in 1922 before witnessing the real impact of his invention in the world, but his company, Bell Labs, continued to develop various significant technologies (Farman, 2015). After World War II, the company's work on computers, computer languages, and software provided a framework for a network of mobile telephones (Goggin, 2010). This period marked the beginning of the race to create truly portable telephone devices with developments occurring in many countries. Partners of the firm programmed software that could switch calls, charge radio frequencies, turn radios on and off, and connect receivers to the telephone system automatically (Ling & Donner, 2018). These technologies created room for the development of a cell phone. Research shows that the cell phone is another invention that completely transformed how people transported media.

A study by Wei (2013) showed that digital wireless and cellular roots began in the 1940s. During this period, new frequencies between 30 and 40 MHz were available (Wei, 2013). More channels were available in the police systems. Mobile units were also available within private companies, public agencies, and individuals (Wei, 2013). In 1945, the first mobile telephone system was introduced in St. Louis, US (Humphreys et al., 2013). Along the highway between Boston and New York, a public mobile system carried a higher frequency distance in 1947 (Jones et al., 2013). In 1949, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorised separate radio channels to common carriers (Wei, 2013). A new system with automatic channel selection was created in 1964 (Farman, 2015). This new system allowed customers to dial a call for themselves, and it eliminated the need to push-to-talk operation. A study by Ling & Donner (2018) indicates that the advances of mobile media and mobile telephony have been traced in successive generations starting with the early Zeroth generation (0G) services like Bell System’s Mobile Telephone Service and its successor, the Improved Mobile Telephone Service. These 0G systems supported a few simultaneous calls and were expensive (Memon & Otho, 2017). However, they were not cellular.

In 1973, John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola demonstrated the first handheld mobile phone using a handset weighing c. 4.4 lbs 92kg (Jones et al. , 2013). This year marked the origin of the modern cell phone when Motorola invented the first cellular portable telephone known as DynaTAC 8000X (Wei, 2013). Cooper is believed to be the inventor of this mobile phone for use in a non-vehicle setting. Wei (2013) asserted that there was a long race between Motorola and Bell Labs to produce the first mobile phone. Cooper and Mitchell together pushed Motorola to develop wireless communication products that would be small enough to be used in an open environment (Wei, 2013). On April 3, 1973, Cooper made the first cellular phone call on a handheld mobile phone using a heavy portable handset. His success in creating a cellular phone call showed the inception of mobile media, as inventors were certain that information could be passed from one person to another in a free environment using a mobile phone (Farman, 2015).

In 1978, AT&T proposed the advanced mobile phone system based on the cellular idea conceived earlier (Goggin, 2010). In the same year, the first commercial telephone systems were tried in Bahrain and other regions in the U.S. such as Newark, New Jersey, and Chicago, where the first cellular service was provided. In 1979, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone launched the first commercial automated mobile network (Goggin, 2010). In 1980, Cellular systems were constructed in the Washington D.C. area, where cell phones received a significant demand (Farman, 2015). This was followed by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland in 1981 (Wei, 2013). This first-generation (1G) system could support simultaneous calls, although it still used analog technology.

At around the 1990s, cell phone technology continued to advance (Wei, 2013). Cell phones began to have features like multimedia and cultural exchange of information through text, touch, sound, and voice (Memon & Otho, 2017). In 1991, the second generation (2G) digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard (Wei, 2013). This launch sparked competition in the technology industry as the new operators challenged the 1G network operators.

In early 2000, access to the internet and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology became available for users of cell phones (Ling &a...