Is this year the start of another communications revolution, where ordinary people can afford access to mobile marketing tools previously reserved for corporations?

You wouldn’t think that in the early days of mobile Internet, you have large brick like objects like the  Nokia Communicator.

Then as time progressed and Britain welcomed the Psion devices we saw a glimpse of what might be the future of the Internet – if only it wasn’t black-and-white!

Then there was, and apparently still is WAP where the dot com bubble was still expanding fast. These devices required a remarkable eyesight and a devout amount of patience.

Nokia and Ericsson were the world champions of mobile devices. A small Canadian firm called Research In Motion (RIM) launched what they hoped would be the answer for business and called it the Blackberry

Microsoft entered the game with Windows and gave it different names before deciding on, ‘Mobile’.

As the field became larger Psion reinvented it’s successful operating system into Symbian, which became the preferred mobile platform. Sony teamed with Ericsson and Korea had yet to dip it’s toes in the water. The PalmPilot dismissed fully mobile communications for a while too long, now they are left playing catch-up.

Time moves on, bypasses the Newton then the iPhone lands.

This is not just a phone, it really is a proper device. It’s smooth and intuitive, simple to use and has bags of style. It is really poor at texting and taking pictures!

With Nokia retaining an early lead and now having complete ownership of Symbian, the Apple iPhone is the only serious challenger to their hardware.

If you’ve texted into a television programme to vote, or you’ve donated to charity by mobile, you’ve already experienced the first taster of what is coming your way. It will allow you to reach those who previously had been inhabiting a place away from the Internet – real life!

For a tool to be successful as Apple have shown, it needs to have a simple to understand and use skillset and allow for customisation. The iPad is the big brother, but still has the same operating system and the same ease of use.

This 2010 generation of tools” target=”_blank”>mobile marketing tools might just herald a new era in communication with those you would like to reach beyond Twitter and Facebook.

As ever with any technology time will tell and the SMS texting traffic will no doubt increase.

Related articles

• Symbian 3 Preview (technologizer.com)
• The return of the Psion-sized PC (theregister.co.uk)
• Psion to Revolutionise Rugged Mobile Computing (eon.businesswire.com)
• Over half of the world’s Internet users use it from a phone (allaboutsymbian.com)
• Facebook edges past Google for weekly traffic (sfgate.com)

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry, IPad, IPhone, mobile marketing, Mobile phone, Nokia