Asia Unplugged: The Wireless and Mobile Media Boom in the Asia-Pacific

This ‘study of wireless ecosystems and regional communication discourse of Asia-Pacific’ is not a book on technology. It is about the direct and indirect impact of the growth of wireless/mobile in the region. Nearly 36% of mobile phones of the world were in Asia in 2002, and the figure is likely to cross 50% by 2007. Seven of the ten most profitable wireless operators today are from Asia. Asia is indeed ‘at the cutting edge of wireless information society’. The book under review documents the rapidly expanding and changing mobile/wireless Asian market by bringing together 21 experts from the Asia-Pacific region to look at different aspects of the subject (T. C. A. Srinivas Raghavan, in a review of the book pointed out that this ‘very speed is an enemy of a book like this’, as it is likely to be outdated rapidly).

But the book does not confine itself to report this growth – in fact, it spends little space on that. Instead, it focuses on the evolving services and markets and how it impacts different sections/segments of economies and businesses. As the voice revenues for operators decline (several country-studies documented in the book show the general trend that the voice revenue declines as the market expands), they need to try to enhance their revenue using data services and the Internet. In fact, it is said that mobile phones will become mobile companions when they leverage the full power of the Internet. Therefore, while there are chapters that document success of i-mode services of DoCoMo in Japan, there are others which point to the limitations of mobile devices, primarily due to inadequacy of user interfaces (An excellent set of reviews of various books,presented in the last section, examines this in greater depth). Then there are chapters on mobile gaming, mobile payments, mobile commerce and the impact that mobile/ wireless technologies is likely to have on transport and supply-chain businesses. The impact of mobile and wireless services on news and entertainment industry is briefly discussed and the potential of the technology to bring together community groups, which could trigger popular movements is documented using Philippines as a case in point.

The book has an excellent chapter on location-based services, discussing technology as well as its implications for businesses and new services. Expanding the scope of the book from existing mobile systems to wireless Internet in rural areas and use of Wifi in local networks, the book touches upon their potential to transform governance and education. A section of the book looks at the regulations and their impact on growth of wireless and mobile services. The book is unique as it even looks at the growth of venture capital available for wireless area in the Asia-Pacific region.

The breadth of the book is to some extent its limitation. The book lacks depth inany of the areas, even in documenting the growth of the wireless industry adequately. A specific area which is only cursorily dealt with is the growth of wireless in rural areas of the region. It does not adequately address the issue of how connectivity, while growing rapidly, leaves out a significant section of the people and what is being done to overcome this situation.

Similarly, while the book does mention the relationship between telecom operators and technology equipment providers, it does not even deal with policy issues surrounding technology development. As Asian countries are recognized as leading markets in the world, will they not like to take a lead in technology development and own IPR and technology rights? Korea and Japan have focused on it for long. China, with its recent support to home-grown next-generation wireless technology, TD-SCDMA, is moving in this direction. India has set up a ‘Center of Excellence in Wireless Technology’ at Chennai to be amongst the leaders in wireless technology. A lot is happening in this area and a discussion on it could have been of significant value to the book.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the book is of great reference value and collects together a huge amount of data. For practitioners and students, it would be a book,which could give a quick overview and information about what is happening in different countries in the region.

source: ASHOK JHUNJHUNWALA