Satellite Phone Industry & Mobile Computing - Research Paper Example

Satellite Phone Industry & Mobile Computing Name Professor Institution Course Date Satellite Phone Industry & Mobile Computing Table of Contents Satellite Phone Industry & Mobile Computing 2 Table of Contents 2 1.0 Part I 3 1.1 Challenges of mobile phone services in the 1990s 3 1.2 The advantages of the satellite phone service over the cell or PCS mobile phone services 4 1.3 The advantages and disadvantages of LEO compared with GEO 4 1.4 What the terrestrial mobile phone companies did to cope with their narrow service region 5 1.5 The market Iridium tried to target 5 1.6 How mobile phone companies developed “Substitute services” for Iridium 6 2.0 Part II 6 2.1 Mobile Computing 6 2.1.1 Overview 6 2.1.2 Current situation and lesson learnt 7 2.1.3 Advantages of mobile computing 10 2.1.4 Concerns and strategies 11 3.0 References 11 1.0 Part I 1.1 Challenges of mobile phone services in the 1990s In their way to current growth, mobile phone services companies faced numerous problems in the 90’. Competition in the industry forced many companies to expand rapidly yet they no proper infrastructure which could support the needs of customers (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.49). One of such infrastructures is the cell sites. Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.49) contended that lack of cell sites meant companies could not provide the required bandwidth for offering effective customers services. The result of the situation was that several phone users could on a frequent basis face unexpected disconnection on mid-conversation. Another problem associated with mobile phone in the 90’s is the fact that mobile phone firms had adopted dissimilar communication technologies and frameworks in their country and even across nations (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005). Surprisingly, customers traveling across cities could find themselves unable to make calls due to lack of network connection. Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.49) stated that sometimes no-connection status meant consumers were required to pay roaming service fee for reconnection. In addition, Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.49) claimed that consumers who were travelling to another country were required to buy or lease a new equipment to enable them access mobile phone services. 1.2 The advantages of the satellite phone service over the cell or PCS mobile phone services Limitations of mobile phone equipment and technologies made the companies to focus on satellite phone due to their advantages. Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.49) argued that by adopting the use of the satellites to send messages, shareholders thought they could deal with infrastructure, roaming and signal quality problems which weighed down usual the phone services. Therefore, satellite phone advantage over cellphone is that it has more bandwidth which enabled quick transmission of voice and data (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.49). Unlike cell phones services, satellite phones did not need the roaming fees and also did not have problems of compatibility across the networks due to its effective and spanning infrastructure across the globe. The effective infrastructure of satellite phones enables consumers to move across countries without unexpected disconnection (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.49). 1.3 The advantages and disadvantages of LEO compared with GEO LEO and GEO are types of satellite systems of communication which vary based on signal strength and orbit. Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.50) posited that LEO satellite is frequently used by satellite phone because of its high signal strength compared to GEO which have low signal strength (see figure 1 below). In addition, LEO’s high signal strength enables it use mobile phones with smaller omni-directional antenna which is easy to carry (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.40). LEO also has its disadvantages entailing financial and technical issues. Technically, companies required developing a new LEO systems design which could continuously switch the signals across satellites. According to Altinkemer, Yue & Yu (2003, p.35), the situation is attributed to the fact that LEO satellite move quickly compared to orbit of the Earth and a mobile phone service. Another disadvantage is that LEO is closer to the earth’ orbit compared to GEO hence it degrade rather rapidly. In financial perspective, it means companies needed to allocate more funds for developing new satellites quite often compared to when they had adopted GEO satellite platforms (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.50). Figure 1: Comparison of three Satellites in terms of Advantages and Disadvantages Source: (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.50) 1.4 What the terrestrial mobile phone companies did to cope with their narrow service region Since terrestrial mobile service is often blocked by hills and buildings, companies operating and having such infrastructure were compelled to adopt MEO to deal with narrow service area. Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.52) asserted that the reason for this practice is that MEO covers a larger area and its network does not connect quite often. 1.5 The market Iridium tried to target Iridium tried to target larger corporate companies in nearly all sectors including oil and aviation industry while neglecting small business in remote areas and customers in lightly populated areas (Lim, Klein & Thatcher 2005, p.53). The Iridium case was mass market targeting. 1.6 How mobile phone companies developed “Substitute services” for Iridium The substitute for Iridium services was the cell phone mobile services. Iridium undervalued “substitute services threats”. Lim, Klein and Thatcher (2005, p.52) stated that when Iridium launched services, the cell phone firms had already developed infrastructure which would tackle many of the complaints raised by consumers such as roaming fees, signal quality and costs of various services. 2.0 Part II 2.1 Mobile Computing 2.1.1 Overview Today, technological innovation has been on the increase in business due to its competitive advantage it offers to companies in terms of production, product development and communication and marketing efficiency. A research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2012, p.5) has regarded mobile computing as one of the technologies which have emerged to influence innovation. According to Reza (2004), mobile computing is described as the application of the portable computing gadgets like the laptop, smartphones, tablets and other handheld computers in combination with the mobile and communications technologies so as to facilitate end users to connect to the data or internet on their work or home personal computers from any part of the globe. Communication issues involve infrastructure and ad hoc networks, communication properties, data formats, concrete technologies and protocols (Stefan 2009). Top-performing firms have demonstrated great mastery in the way their leverage mobile computing in planning, innovating, measuring results, interacting with clients, and creating value. In the recent times, mobile computing use has been on the rise among companies across the globe. The situation is attributed to the fact that several millennial are getting into the job market as baby-boomer retire continuously. Scale (2009, p.10) believed that most millennial were born between 1982 to early 2000s at the time technology was rapidly advancing. Godwin-Jones (2008, p.4) opined that millennial became the first generation to enjoy technology as most of them grew up when computers were highly accessible at home, in school and even at work. In fact, the pace of mobile computing made Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to encourage teachers to focus education on the use of technology so as to offer the needs of the new generation children who are growing up in the internet era. 2.1.2 Current situation and lesson learnt Mobile computing has evolved over the years to be where it is today. Such evolution of mobile gadgets has gone various phases including communication platform, application platform, sensing platform and digital representation platform (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2012, p.6). Communication platform was the first opportunity business had to improve their operation and competitive advantage. PricewaterhouseCoopers (2012, p.6) maintained that the development of communication devices provides the companies and individuals with the capability to get in touch with one another without being forced to stay on your desk. The development of communication gadgets has moved from radio transmitters with long antennas and landing connected with wires and network to wireless devices like mobile phones and tablets (Dihal et al., 2013, p.6). Most of communication gadgets emerged with the development of telephones in 1870’s. However, the advancement of cellular phones in the 1990s has considerably improved communication among people, businesses and government agencies. Mobile computing has also been boosted by development of application platform. Chappell (2011, p.2) described mobile app as a program developed to run or operate on the mobile gadgets like tablet computers and smartphones. With the advancement of technology, mobile application platform has been greatly growing in the recent times. The majority of these gadgets are in market and sold with numerous pre-installed app web browser, calendar, email client, contact manager and mapping program among others (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2012, p.6). A room is also given for a device owner to buy or freely install new application and delete them at will. Applications are majorly categorized into two and they include standalone client application and distributed applications. Chappell (2011, p.2) claimed that examples of standalone application consist of word processing, games and software used in reading magazines and books. The advancement of mobile computing has lead to change in versions of word processing such as word 1995, 2000, 2007 and 2010. The app now also works in different platforms like smartphones, tablets and laptops. On the other hand, examples of distribute technologies comprise of business packages like ERP systems and other custom applications (Chappell 2011, p.3). Sensing platform is another great mobile computing, which has improved business among people and companies. According to Asoke and Roopa (2006), sensing platform is described as radio frequency identification gadget which supports computing and sensing, and is powered by the radio frequency energy. Such applications are now used to make smartphones, fingerprint identification, biometrics, digital camera and thermometers (Findling, Mayrhofer 2013, p.195). Lastly, there is digital representation which also makes a great improvement in mobile computing. This platform implies to how an individual represents him or herself within the digital world. This process extends to the behavior, control and interaction. Boyd, Chang and Goodman (n.d) reported that, in Australia and beyond, the engagement in a digital world has increased as more people now own laptops, smartphone, tablets and desktop computers. In this information age, college students are often in touch with their families and members of the organization and are also required to be connected with their lectures and studies hence they employ technology especially mobile technologies such as mobile phones, laptops, desktops and tablet to link up with them. The trend is on the rise than in the previous generations. A survey carried out by Stefan (2009) on mobile computing in Australia among students held that 97 percent of students possessed a computer, whilst 94 possessed a mobile phone. The same research also revealed that students frequently speak to their parents 1.5 times per day on average regarding various topics. Another study by Godwin-Jones (2008, p.5) established that 76 percent of students globally apply direct messaging, whilst most people use internet to get information from managers and even news around the world. Students use their laptops and desktops computers to learn online or to conduct researchers and submit to their tutors using online platforms. In a nutshell, mobile gadget now enable people to access each other, enable access into the application which are stored within the cloud and other source of data. Furthermore, Dihal et al., (2013, p.8) staffs can work or operate from any place and cooperate with colleagues or their managers any time to achieve desired results. Mobile computing has been used by employees to increase product and innovation. Therefore, companies are required to provide employees with a tool (mobile computing device) which match their individual habits and engagement (Godwin-Jones 2008). Such tools can be laptops, smartphones, tablets or desktop computers. 2.1.3 Advantages of mobile computing Mobile computing has made research much easier as users only need to carry them to the field, conduct research and feed the data to the system for analysis at the office or home (Stefan 2009, p.58). The growth of mobile computing has eased the situation for the researchers and field officers to gather and feed information from their location without going to the office. Therefore, the duration or time used to travel from the office to the field and back have been reduced. Godwin-Jones (2008, p.5) argued that currently, one can access vital files and documents over the secure portal or channel and edit or work on it as if they are one their computing device. The practice has improved communication among different companies and people. Furthermore, it has decreased unnecessary expenditures which the company can incur. Mobile computing has improved learning and entertainment both at work and at home. People can now stream audio or video live at watch TV programs or music from any location using smartphones, laptops, computers or tablets (Dihal et al, 2013, p.8). In addition, mobile computing has made it easy for people to access numerous informative and education materials and movies to keep themselves busy over the weekends and other holiday. The advancement of internet technologies has further enhanced mobile computing processes. Godwin-Jones (2008, p.6) contended that people can now browse high speed internet at an affordable cost when conducting research or looking for entertainment and news. Mobile computing has company expenditures as business leaders do not necessarily need to travel to business since they can choose to use video and voice conferencing (Asoke & Roopa 2006, p.104). In brief, seminars, informative services and meetings can be carried out using video or voice conferencing so as to reduce cost of travelling. 2.1.4 Concerns and strategies Despite the growth of mobile computing, privacy and security remains a big concern (Yao & Jong 2010, p.4059). Most of these mobile computing gadgets are used to access and store information online. Social and business sites often require the consumer to provide personal information to login into their sites. Inappropriate and disreputable practices like hacking, pirating, industrial espionage, malicious destruction and online fraud are some of the major challenges being experienced by the mobile computing growth. The increase of hackers is a threat to such personal information. Therefore, Yao and Jong (2010, p.4062) contended that managers of these sites must focus on network security technologies like virtual private networks, firewalls, virus prevention techniques and intrusion detection systems to support online security. 3.0 References Altinkemer, K, Yue, W. T & Yu, L. 2003, Adoption of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems: A Diffusion Model under Competition, Information Technology and Management, Vol.4, pp. 33-54. Asoke, T & Roopa, Y 2006, Mobile Computing: Technology, Applications, and Service Creation, McGraw-Hill Professional Boyd, D, Chang, M & Goodman, E n.d, Representations of Digital Identity, Journal of Information Management and Systems Chappell, D 2011, What is an application platform? Chappell & Associates, pp.1-9 Dihal, S, Bouwman, H, Reuver, M, Warnier, M & Carlsson, C 2013, Mobile cloud computing: state of the art and outlook, info, Vol. 15, No.1 pp. 4 – 16 Godwin-Jones, R 2008, Emerging technologies mobile-computing trends: lighter, faster, smarter, Learning & Technology vol.12, No.3, pp. 3-9 Findling, R.D, Mayrhofer, R 2013, Towards pan shot face unlock: Using biometric face information from different perspectives to unlock mobile devices, International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, Vol. 9, No.3, pp. 190 – 208 Lim, J, Klein, R & Thatcher, J 2005, Good Technology, Bad Management: A case Study of The Satellite Phone Industry, Journal of Information Technology Management, Vol.16, No.2, pp.48-55 PricewaterhouseCoopers 2012, How to drive innovation and business growth: Leveraging emerging technology for sustainable growth, PricewaterhouseCoopers, pp.2-9 Reza, B 2004, Mobile Computing Principles: Designing and Developing Mobile Applications with UML and XML, Cambridge University Press. Scale, M.E 2009, Cloud computing and collaboration, Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 26, No.9, pp. 10-13 Stefan, P 2009, Ubiquitous Computing: Smart Devices, Environments and Interactions, Wiley. Yao C.T & Jong, CY 2010, Perceived risk of information security and privacy in online shopping: A study of environmentally sustainable products, African Journal of Business Management, Vol.4, No.3, pp.4057-4066 Read More