Becoming P2P: Technology for the Future
The popularity of laptops has been getting higher and higher while their price has been getting lower and lower. Connecting yourself to the world’s largest source of information and communication while being mobile – who wouldn’t want that? After becoming a huge competitor for desktop sales, laptop sales have managed to beat them and we can’t even say – surprisingly; laptops are cheaper and apart from becoming highly attractive they’ve outsmarted many larger desktops. But what really makes the difference here is that keyword, spelled P-O-R-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y; although the battery still remains an issue (in terms of weight) developers are working hard on improving this aspect.
Who doesn’t remember what cell phones used to look like a decade or more ago? The enormous piece of plastic which could have righteously been regarded as a self-defense weapon has undergone amazing transformation, being enjoyed at the moment as light mini-computer. In this respect the iPhone is “guilty” for many of the developments. The tendency to bring the computer's functionality to the mobile devices is at its pinnacle - WiFi, web browsing, email, document productivity, and of course, file-sharing.
With all the impediments lingering, sharing files through the mobile phone is starting to get mainstream.
Assuming that a recent study of Pioneer Consulting is accurate, the arrival of file-sharing on mobile devices could mean a high price paid by the entertainment industry and when we say high we’re talking $16.4 billion high by 2012.
Though the research document hasn’t been published yet in its entirety (due to the huge sum Pioneer Consulting wants for it) the company reveals that the technology the entertainment industry is currently using is miles and miles behind the technology mobile devices employ in content distribution.
“Mobile operators need to embrace peer to peer (P2P) methodologies within their own networks and focus on the advantages of using both assisted P2P and augmented P2P to mitigate the disruption”. According to Aditya Kaul, Senior Analyst, Emerging Wireless at Pioneer “P2P is generally treated with contempt by operators and has now become the ‘P’ word that should never be uttered. It is more of an attitude problem rather than an engineering one, and unless operators wake up to the reality of the situation, we cannot even begin to solve the problem”.
It kind of makes you wonder – is the entertainment industry actually blind or deaf at all these facts and warnings? If it fails to cope with the technological progress and adopt a more flexible standpoint soon it will be buried in its own obstinacy.
