Serendipity35

One thing I always talk about whenever I do presentations on podcasting and iTunes U is using it as an entry into mobile computing. However, anyone who knows the live version of me knows that I don't get real excited about cell phones.

The launch of the Apple iPhone was not a stand in line moment for me. In fact, I only know a few people who own one. But there's no getting around the trend towards the smartphone as THE convergence device.

I don't think there's a definitive definition of a smartphone right now, as the technology is early in its evolution. Most users would agree that it is a mobile phone with advanced capabilities that make it more like a computer than a traditional phone. I'd say that (unlike your average cell phone) it would also be running some complete operating system software. And many people would add that is would also allow third-party applications to be added.

Apple was not one of those many when the iPhone first released. The phone was locked and there was plenty of attention given to both the hackers who tried (and suceeded) in unlocking it, and Apple's updates which could turn those unlocked phones into very pretty paperweights. Apple got a lot of bad press on that approach.

This month Apple made two announcements that it will support third-party applications on the iPhone and that Orange (Apple’s partner in France) will be selling unlocked iPhones for a slightly higher price.

Apple says it was always their intention to release a Software Development Kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch (probably next February after MacWorld) and that the delay in opening the iPhone was on the side of caution in protecting users from malware.

Apple has also created the iPhone Dev Center to provide resources (guidelines for optimizing Web apps for the iPhone, sample code, tutorials). It's part of the Apple Developer Connection, a Mac-heavy (free) community of developers.

Now, I am not a developer, and I don't live in a Mac or Windows only world. Some potential readers of this post already left after the first few paragraphs because of the Apple-heavy talk, so let me return to the original point. Convergence.

If your institution is using Web 1.0 or 2.0 applications (who in the crowd won't raise their hand on that?) from the Net, through an LMS, podcasting, RSS, distance learning course, emergency notifications etc., you can not ignore mobile computing. It's here. It's growing. It's where we are headed.

I wrote here almost a year ago asking "Are you .mobi ready?" - meaning are your web development team and instructional designers making content ready for use on mobile devices? I suspect that the majority of institutions are not .mobi ready, and don't take the entire issue very seriously right now. It won't be a tragedy on your campus (as with emergency notification systems) that will bring this to the table, but it will be an issue that eventually schools will need to address, and many will wish they had taken it into account earlier.

So how does podcasting and iTunes U fit into this? I see iTunes U as an easy way for a school to enter mobile computing by allowing Apple's team to enable you to deliver content quite easily to mobile devices - and that certainly includes their own smartphone. Our enhanced podcasts and video look really good on a iPhone.