Ubiquity, Mobility, Security: The Future of the Internet, Volume ...

Scenario 1

the Evolution of Mobile
Internet Communications

Prediction: The mobile phone is the primary connection tool for most people in the world. In 2020, while One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and other initiatives to bring networked digital communications to everyone are successful on many levels, the mobile phone—now with significant computing power—is the primary Internet connection and the only one for a majority of the people across the world, providing information in a portable, well-connected form at a relatively low price. Telephony is offered under a set of universal standards and protocols accepted by most operators internationally, making for reasonably effortless movement from one part of the world to another. At this point, the “bottom” three-quarters of the world's population account for at least 50% of all people with Internet access—up from 30% in 2005.