There is a story out there today talking about how, at least in Japan and the UK, that older people are the biggest users of the mobile web (post WAP). This is interesting in a way, but I would want to see what the numbers are for the younger generations and if this includes Blackberry or WiFi connections as well. They say that about a quarter of mobile users aged 35-54 are using the mobile web. To me this suggests that we are not really seeing a trend that is unexpected. These are people who are likely in administrative positions that are using the mobile web for work. This does however give a good indication that within a few years as the profit margins for the mobile web become more reasonable, the user group will expand just as it did for cell phone and computers in “computer” generations past.
MS-DOS based PCs came into schools because they were used in the business world, so I’m thinking that the mobile web may come along the same way. TXT messaging was propagated in a similar manner as well (via pagers).
In 5 years, phones could become that much more important for educators to look at in terms of being an instructional platform. It could be sooner if the rumoured Apple phone sees the light of day or if WiFi phones roll out faster than expected.
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