I recently
realized that I am neither as young nor as patient with the progression of
innovation as I used to be. Yes, I love Information Technology and anything
techno (that includes all the tech gizmos, new generation network solutions
etc) and especially smart phones but even I have my limits and judging by my
recent “why does it have to be so complicated” thinking, I think I may just be
approaching the last one of those limits. What limits you ask? Well let me just
put it as plainly as I can; there comes a time when you don’t want a DIY cell
phone and applications (I’m looking at you, Android) but want one that is
minimalistic and just works (my gaze is upon you, Windows Phone 7). That’s a niche
plane though so let me humble my middle-class self and write about a technology
that can run on your very first Bosch or Nokia cell phone whose size rivalled
ATMs. Be at ease though as it’s still in keeping with the abovementioned issue
(DIY vs. minimalistic).
Do not get confused;
the bare minimum for a cell phone that is concerned in this piece of writing is
a dumb phone that, at least, supports Java ME and has internet access so kindly
put that Stone Age Nokia or Bosch, erm... cell phone of yours back in the
shelf.
Nevertheless,
the technology in question is the Unstructured Service Supplementary Data (USSD,
you know, the *120*123# thingy? Yeah, that) which I find interesting how it’s
given the back seat even when it’s supposed to be on the driving seat. Yet, we
are constantly being bombarded with new mobile sites that sell content (forget
the dedicated Application Stores) which bring no innovation in the user
experience at all. I mean if downloading a “free” application is like firing up
a starship enterprise, what’s the point of calling it free at all?
The thought
of a neat, interactive menu independent of the browser for access to online
legacy content sounds better to me than politicians making promises to the
public and just as better than having to play a Harvard Computer Science genius
navigating through countless pages of ads, terms and conditions, and more ads
just to find the “action” (known to some as the “download/upload”) button. And did
I mention that navigating through those pages takes up data? I am aware of the inconveniences,
for web-based content providers at least, that having to not have those pages
(particularly ads) would cause like how web-based content providers make money
through these ads but if man could invent a nuclear bomb, and actually praise
Steve Jobs more than he does Dennis Ritchie I’m sure he can find a workaround
to that predicament without having to compromise on my idea of a neat, ad free,
aerodynamic, no nonsense menu for provisioning desired content.
Even some
applications could use a diet and go my USSD route. And some have already been
doing for quite some time now. Like weather, news, and stock market
applications (of course in exchange of visuals and sophisticated interactivity,
all of which we grown folks don’t care about anymore than a Honey Badger cares
about pain). I can hear developers’ cry saying: “but what good is knowing that
tomorrow’s going to rain without seeing an animation resembling an actual rain?
There might be some people who, though blessed with the gift of sight, might
have never seen what rain looks like before”. Well... hard times!
Taking it a step further
Is it honestly
not possible to get some more mileage out of this technology before deeming it
an old dog that can no longer learn new tricks? My scope of Information
Technology brilliance indeed knows boundaries, especially in the programming
front let alone the XML language in which the USSD applications are coded, to a
point where I think they might be cousins but I am an annoying optimist on this
meadow so as you can presume, I can’t seem to find the word “impossible” in my
lexicon.
I am also aware
of a few things like how USSD is, by no means, SIM Application Toolkit but
something of a silhouette really (at least for the most part) nevertheless is
it so hard to integrate a USSD Gateway and an application’s direct function
link back to back allowing for both “pull” and “push” based actions in a
single session and said application being hosted online? That’s slightly more
interactive than the ordinary USSD applications but far less complex than most
dedicated applications and it should give users direct access to the “action”
button which is good news to those of us who want something that just works.
Plenty of
room for innovation here so off to work then, lads...
(NB: the picture I used in this post is not my property but that of http://www.mobicents.org and I used it purely for graphical presentation reasons and not with intent to infringe any copywrite licenses whatsoever.)
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