Mobility for the masses

Getting off the philosophical track, and on to the technical track here. Mostly for the lifetime of this post only. But I just had to write this one.

One of the advantages of being in the USA is the ability to see technologies being built. I can view the entire life cycle here, and it gives motivation to be involved in something creative which will affect generations to come. I see business plans for the next Web version, acquisitions and consolidations. Everyone is preparing for the next big bang in computer communications. The market is going to explode with new money and everyone is gearing up to have a go at the pie. But, where are we? Where is India?

We don't manufacture network components (world class, I mean) so we definitely don't stand a chance there. We can't invest in large scale infrastructure, so no place in the realm of domain brokers either. The only part of the picture where I see Indians involved, is in the implementation of next generation services on the Internet. And, except in the rarest of rare cases, the ideas for these services will also come from the USA/Europe. So..., there we are. Not good enough!!!

Whatever happened to creation/design/innovation/deployment process in India. Somehow, somewhere we lost the keys (or we never had them to begin with ;-)). If we accept that we are at this position to begin with, then we can start looking at what to do about it.

The most promising technology right now is wireless. It is here to stay for at least a century (until something better comes around). The focus on the wireless front, here in the US, is mainly geared towards the Enterprise. Reason - big bucks. Market something to the Enterprise in the US and easily earn billions in revenue. Which other part of the sector is so reliable in terms of ROI and profits. None in the US other than the Enterprise. For India, it is the reverse. It is the populous at large that stands to benefit most from the wireless phenomenon in India. And they are the ones which will make it a success.

What is needed then is low cost, high performance design and manufacturing of wireless cards (VLSI). A viable mobile alternative for the desktop - the laptop is catching up with the prices so thats good news. Great, stable and feature rich mobile phones. And a deliberate move away from the wired networks and into the wireless arena all around India. Create satellite networks (we are good enough at satellites), use mesh networks for cities, and optical only in the long haul (going from one tip of India to the other).

Dreaming is always good, isn't it? But this seems possible to me (the most challenging is the first part - designing cheaper wireless cards is going to be difficult with no foundry around). If this happens some time soon (like in the next 6-8 years), we will see a shift of day to day business from the wire to wireless, from the office to the home, from standing in queues to instant service. We will see a waning dependence on wires. We will see ever increasing opportunities in every city for new services, better ways to get things done. And we will see that India leaves every other country of the world to grapple with the wires, while it roams seamlessly.