People do the darndest things with cell phones
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Most people take a vacation to get away from their jobs. Cyriac Roeding took a vacation for his job.
Instead of relaxing on a beach, Roeding — a mobile technology expert and enthusiast — took a 'round-the-world odyssey to see how the rest of the world uses cell phones. He saw parking meters that talk to phones in New Zealand, teenage text-messaging monks in a Himalayan monastery and cell phone charging stations along the Ganges River in India, right next to a raging funeral pyre.
Roeding, 35, quit as executive vice president of CBS Mobile in March after steering the new division of the media giant through its first three years and creating cell phone-based products for the company, home to shows such as the "CSI" franchise.
Roeding, who had founded a mobile business in Germany before coming to CBS, said he quit the network because he tends to work on projects, and once CBS Mobile was up and running, he was ready for a new start-up. Before he started a new project, Roeding felt the need to "expose myself to a lot of uncomfortable situations and take myself out of my cozy little life," he said in a recent interview.
He and his girlfriend drew up a list of the places they wanted to visit. Informing Roeding's list, however, was more than just a desire to see exotic scenery: He wanted to see how cell phones were being used in parts of the world he'd never dealt with while working at CBS.
"I need input," Roeding thought at the time.
The result was a jaunt that began July 8 in Los Angeles and wrapped up there Aug. 20. Roeding and his girlfriend went to Fiji, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, South Africa, Brazil and Costa Rica. He declined to give the cost of the trip.
THEY'RE EVERYWHERE
Roeding's takeaway from his circumnavigation (other than an ear infection): "I have known how important mobile is for some time now, but I've got to tell you, I was personally surprised and sometimes shocked at how far the use of mobile goes," he said. "It actually surprised me that mobile is reaching to the very edges of the world."
By late last year, global cell phone penetration had reached 50 percent, research firm Informa said. Worldwide sales of cell phones rose 12 percent in the second quarter of 2008, compared with the same period last year, according to Gartner research. The biggest gain came in the Asia-Pacific market, where sales rose 21 percent and Roeding spent much of his trip.
In the countries Roeding visited, texting generally is more widespread than talking because it's cheaper. Cell phones often include AM/FM radios. Because of the high cost of data transmission, mobile Web browsing is only beginning to catch on in poorer countries.
Even though most cell phone keypads are in English, non-English speakers are using the letters of the English alphabet as symbols for words and phrases in their own languages, much the way the Japanese use kanji, or Chinese characters.
What all this means for businesses is clear, Roeding said: Companies that want to offer mobile service should be "pure-play" mobile and not try to create content, services and devices for both mobile and PC-based media. In most of the developing world, PCs and laptops are nonexistent; the mobile device is king and might remain so.
IN LIEU OF LAND LINES
Poorer countries have typically not built extensive land-line telephone infrastructure and may never. But cell use is pervasive, meaning those countries have leapfrogged over what industrialized nations have always assumed is a necessary step in technological growth. In some countries, another leap is about to take place, as WiMax rollout begins, enabling fast mobile Web browsing.
During his trip, Roeding saw things that surprised even a mobile veteran like himself. Such as:
At the Tiger's Nest Buddhist monastery, at an elevation of 10,200 feet, Roeding saw a 14-year-old monk on a cell speaking to his family in another part of the country. Before he got the cell phone, the young monk said, he could never communicate with his family. But now, he said, he spends most of his time texting with other monks.
Cell phones played a key role in the recent Maoist insurgency against the Hindu monarchy, allowing protesters to quickly organize. They became so effective as a tool of the opposition, the government tried to ban texting twice. During spring elections, the Maoists sent texts to voters: "A new thinking and leadership for a new Nepal ... Give Maoists a chance this time."
In some ways, Roeding found, the United States lags behind poorer countries in cell phone savvy.
"Here, we think it's cool to announce the vice president by text messaging," he said. "In other countries, there wouldn't be any other way except by newspapers."
Roeding will take his recently acquired input to his new job, which he begins in two weeks: entrepreneur-in-residence for the Silicon Valley venture capital firm KPCB, coming up with ideas for mobile-based businesses. KPCB recently partnered with Apple to create the $100 million "iFund" to invest in new applications and products for the iPhone.
