CEO Corner

Now recently broadband has moved from a physical connection to a wireless connection and this has manifested itself in a number of ways. 

There is wireless broadband in the home through wireless routers attached to an broadband connections.  A wireless router is now only GBP150+ and you can wander your home free of wires.  Dont forget to turn on the WEP security.

Wireless hotspots throughout cities as becoming common place.  Cafes such as Starbucks have done deals with telco's that allow you to sit, enjoy a coffee and for a small fee wirelessly log on.

Often you can get access to a wireless connection in a city without going to a hotspot.  In many cities, people with home wireless connections dont turn on security allowing others to borrow their bandwidth.  Cities such as Paris, London, New York etc seem to have lots of these connections available.  You just have to wander around and see what is available.  Some major cities are in the throws of creating a city wide network of free hotspots.

There are city wide wireless connections through such services as iBurst.  In Australia all you need is an iBurst card and you can have wireless connection across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast for as little as GBP30 / month.

Finally there is internet access via the traditional mobile phone services who offer GPRS connections or G3 connections and therefore fast (but not as fast as a direct broadband connection) access to the internet from a mobile device.

Any which way you cut it, access to the internet is become easier and easier. 

Devices

The range of devices that connect to the internet is increasing every day.  Initially we have the desktop PC with a modem card.  This then grew to built in modems for notebooks and fnally with the advent of broadband connections - lan connections and a wireless modems became standard with all notebooks and PC's.

So what new devices are on the horizon that are allowing us to access the internet from almost all places.

Of course there is the notebook computer.  The challenge here is that they are becoming smaller and smaller.  I use a Sony Vaio VGN-T37GP.  It has a 10.1 inch screen and weighs next to nothing - and the best bit is the 5 hr battery life.   The next generation will be smaller again - ultra portable devices.  These will be able to be held in your hand and will have the full functionality of a normal laptop computer.  Microsoft is in the throws of launching Origami - an example of one of these devices.  (See: www.origamiproject.com)  The challenge will be usability or finding people with smaller enough fingers to use the devices.

Mobile phones and portable devices such as the O2 and the Treo (see: http://www.palm.com/us/) will become more commonplace.  Today they are the first cross over devices from being a phone to a small computer.  While their current functionality is relatively limited, this will increase over time as you see the convergence of the mobile phone with the notebook computer.

Another potential development may come from mp3 devices merging with mobile phones.  Imagine an ipod from apple that is also a mobile phone.  Many of the portable devices such as an O2 and Treo can already play mp3 files (although not fantastically well).

Household devices such as the fridge and TV will also become internet enabled over time.  We have all seen the ads for the LG fridge with the internet screen on the front.  However, what will be interesting is when your TV is truly IP enabled.  One of the big trends we are likely to see is the delivery of IP video across the internet to your TV. 

Finally, and more in the category of fun then practical, is internet enabled watches.  Check out (http://www.10meters.com/timex.html)

Usage

Finally lets look at how the internet may be used in the future.

Today most of us use the internet to surf static websites.  We look at images, read text and perhaps interact a little through a blog or a forum.  However most of us dont venture too much beyond that.  However, the future will have far great interactivity and more dynamic presentation.

Audio is making huge leaps forward on the internet.  This is primarily being driven by podcasts (see: www.itunes.com).  These are small, up to 30 minutes in length, audio shows that you can listen to on your computer or on your mp3 player - even your portable devices such at the O2 and Treo.  It is the same as taking a radio station, slicing the programs into 30 min segments and then allowing people to list to the segments whenever they like.

Video will also be a dominant player on the intenet in the future.  As the bandwidth increases and devices become more integrated into the normal living environment, internet delivered video will be common place.  Today TV shows are freely available onto video ipods.  While Australians wait for the next enthalling episode of Commander in Chief on Channel 7, Americans have been purchasing the individual episodes for months for only $1.99 for play on their computer or ipods - and there are no advertisements!!  How long will it be before we are watching shows direct from the US via the internet?

Conclusion

The internet is not going away.  In fact it is likely to become more and more pervasive.  The challenge for the property industry will be to work out how to adapt the changes in access, devices and usage to provide the buyer, seller, and the agent with higher quality service.