CONVERGENCE. OF WHAT AND FOR WHOM?

There are a million ways in which the word "Convergence" is explained in the IP Comms industry. Wikipedia has the following to say: The term convergence is commonly used in reference to the synergistic combination of voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity applications) and video onto a single network. These previously separate technologies are now able to share resources and interact with each other creating new efficiencies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_convergence

Great! More technologies merge to make more complex technologies. Where's the end user in this definition?

There is not one "Convergence". It's multiple trends happening at the same time, devices, networks, industries, user behaviour and expectations. I can come up with one definition that encompasses all of the above, but maybe you can give me a hand and tell your definition, so leave a comment. I'll publish mine later.

MOBILE BROADBAND

I'm sitting at yet another airport and being frustrated yet again with trying to connect over Wifi. Thank god Mobile Broadband is growing at 100% per year, so that in the future, we don't have to worry about connecting to Wifi, and paying seperately. That's again one of the grat things about user experience, I'm sure people will use their Internet connections on their laptops more often if you wouldn't have to set up the whole Wifi connection, but just get charged on your mobile. I'm also quite sure it will be cheaper to use HSPA in the long run. At least when I am using Wifi that I pay for, I use it to receive anbd send my emails that I wrote on the plane, which means I only need a few minutes of Wifi but I'm paying for an hour.

I think most people were thinking the same about HSPA: just another minor upgrade but in fact, it is revolutionizing the industry as mobile operators can now offer broadband that was traditionally only available to adsl users.

Talking about mobile broadband, I just got back from Asia where HSPA is available everywhere (in the big cities but even on the countryside as well in some countries). Some of the operators are heavily competing with Wifi and fixed line providers. All of a sudden, your mobile-only operator can offer broadband everywhere, and bypassing your fixed line provider. This is great for competition, and also great for convergence as we will see a lot more converged services: fixed line operators going for wireless services and mobile operators going for broadband services. This is good, not only for my employer, but also for me, as I strongly believe in convergence. Next step: making it easier and richer to use...