1. Internet invasion

The penetration of Internet in countries in transition varies from country to country - but is still very low even by European standards, not to mention by American ones. This had to do with lack of infrastructure, prohibitive cost of services, an extortionist pricing structure, computer illiteracy and luddism (computer phobia). Societies in countries in transition are inert (and most of them, conservative or traditionalist) - following years of central mis-planning. The Internet (and computers) are perceived by many as threatening - mainly because they are part of a technological upheaval which makes people redundant.

2. The rumour mill

All manner of instant messaging - mainly earlier versions of IRC - played an important role in enhancing social cohesion and exchanging uncensored information. As in other parts of world - Internet was first used to communicate: IRC, MIRC e-mail and e-mail fora were - and to a large extent, are - all rage.

The IRC was (and is) used mainly to exchange political views and news and to engage in inter-personal interactions. The media in countries in transition is notoriously unreliable. Decades of official indoctrination and propaganda left people reading between (real or imaginary) lines. Rumours and gossip always substituted for news and Internet was well suited to become a prime channel of dissemination of conspiracy theories, malicious libel, hearsay and eyewitness accounts. Instant messaging services also led to an increase in number (though not necessarily in quality) of interactions between users - from dating to provision of services, Internet was enthusiastically adopted by a generation of alienated youth, isolated from world by official doctrine and from each other by paranoia fostered by political regime. The Internet exposed its users to west, to other models of existence where trust and collaboration play a major role. It increase quantity of interaction between them. It fostered a sense of identity and community. The Internet is not ubiquitous in countries in transition and, therefore, its impact is very limited. It had no discernible effect on how governments work in this region. Even in USA it is just starting to effect political processes and be integrated in them.

The Internet encouraged entrepreneurship and aspirations of social mobility. Very much like mobile telephony - which allowed countries in transition to skip massive investments in outdated technologies - Internet was perceived to be a shortcut to prosperity. Its decentralized channels of distribution, global penetration, "rags to riches" ethos and dizzying rate of innovation - attracted young and creative. Many decided to become software developers and establish local version of "Silicon Valley" or flourishing software industry in India. Anti virus software was developed in Russia, web design services in former Yugoslavia, e-media in Czech Republic and so on. But this is reserve of a minuscule part of society. E-commerce, for instance, is a long way off (though m-commerce might be sooner in countries like Czech Republic or Baltic).

Imagine a situation where you are about to make an important Sales Presentation. You realize that you have brought wrong presentation slides and you call up your colleague. She immediately emails file to your 3G terminal and you transfer it to your laptop. Another scenario is having video-conferencing and sending character-based messages simultaneously with your clients. With 3G, possibilities for wireless applications are numerous. For instance, imagine calling up a map in your car, conducting a video conference over wireless phones, checking e-mails, and browsing web - wirelessly.

3G Defined

3G stands for third generation of wireless communication technology and industry direction are to raise speeds from 9.5K to 2M bit/sec. According to 3gnewsroom.com, devices will fall into four categories. The first category includes basic 3G phones will be used mainly for talking and will store all their information on network. The second category will support video-streaming, and will provide user with news and web content. More sophisticated models will be information centres which let users download information from Internet and store data on device.

A recent initiative by four leading handset manufacturers–Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens–plus messaging companies CMG, Comverse and Logica was motivated by launch of 3G. The companies hope to create awareness and foster development of multimedia messaging service (MMS) by making audio, video, photographs and other images to accessible to handsets.

3G and Growth of Wireless Mobile Market

The wireless mobile market is set to explode and this will provide fresh graduates with exciting job opportunities. According to Will Daugherty’s The Growth of Wireless Mobile in Business 2.0, there will be 3 waves of mobile data services. The first wave is linked wireless access to existing information and data applications. The current second wave takes advantage of wireless-specific functionality. The third wave will bring rich graphics, video, real-time multiplayer games.

Don Tapscott has been quoted “Mobile commerce is next stage of e-commerce, where we have integration of physical world with digital world…What we ’re talking here is beginning of pervasive and ubiquitous computing where billions and billions of inert objects become Internet appliances - enabling sharing of knowledge and delivery of a vast new array of services.”

Need more convincing and statistics?

According to findings in Wireless Portals: Information Gateway to Wireless User, by end of 2006 there will be close to 1 billion wireless portal users worldwide. The bulk of these users will be wireless voice users, WAP users, 2.5G and 3G subscribers, and other wireless device users such as those using PDAs. Multi-modal users worldwide will stand close to 282 million in 2006.

The Reaction of 3G in America

The importance of 3G technology can also be gauged by stance of National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of U.S. Department of Commerce, which is Executive Branch's principal voice on domestic and international telecommunications and information technology issues. NTIA recently published a report entitled "WIRELESS" INTERNET: What 3G Challenge Means for U.S. Competitiveness where it insisted that 3G is important for future of America's global competitiveness amongst other things and that Europeans and Asians view 3G development as their golden opportunity to beat United States' in area of telecommunications and ecommerce. The report also went further to state that US will remain two years behind many Asian and European countries on 3G services.

In contrast in another report entitled "Can U.S. Wireless Firms Ride Business Applications to Global Leadership?," Summit Strategies Practice Director Warren Wilson argues U.S. vendors and service providers stand to win strategic high ground, first in their home markets and then internationally. "Japan and Europe are leading way in consumer-focused wireless applications, but business applications will drive U.S. markets,'' Wilson says. "North American vendors and service providers that correctly gauge which business applications to offer, and development and deployment models that serve customers best cannot only catch up to global competitors, but even turn tables and claim leadership roles in wireless data. It won't be easy, but it's far from impossible."

The importance of 3G and Wireless collaboration with US has not been lost with NTT DoCoMo which understands that in order to move towards 3G, it must persuade other carriers to follow suit. DoCoMo’s USD$10bn investment in AT&T Wireless came with agreement that AT&T transferred towards W-CDMA.

I will highlight some promises provided by 3G Technology:

1)3G and Workplace Dynamics

3G Technology is an enabler of development of Wearable Computing Industry. The WearTel (TM) phone, for example, uses EyeTap technology to allow individuals to see each other's point of view. Therefore, miniature laser light source inside WearTel eyeglass-based phone scans across retinas of both parties and swaps image information, so that each person sees what other person is looking at.

This technology will enable HR manager to have a better understanding of how to motivate and reward their employees as personal documentaries of their work-life will be shot from a first-person perspective. HR managers can provide better advice about handling difficult customers or closing sales. However, immediate benefit is that this technology can be used as a training tool. The reason is that privacy laws have to be reviewed and updated in order that customers are adequately informed of this technology

2)3G and Mobile Job Interviewing