May 2008 — Features
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Converging on the Market
LUDDITES MAY LOATHE THE THINGS, but converged devices aren't going away any time soon. According to the technology research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 80.5 million converged devices in 2006 (see chart), a 42 percent jump from the previous year. Preliminary figures for 2007 reveal an estimated 125 million units shipped worldwide, with 21 million of those in the US.
"Mobile phones reached an incredible shipment level in 2007,"
says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile
Devices and Technology Trends group. "The number of subscribers in
the US is reaching a saturation point, but growth continues. Younger
and younger kids are getting mobile phones, and many people are
transitioning to a converged mobile device."
Nokia comes in as the undisputed industry leader, with a nearly 50 percent share of the market; the remainder is divided up among Research in Motion, Panasonic, Motorola, NEC, and other brands.
Shipments in millions.Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, February 2007
Learning on the Go
A key contention of educators is that, with today's students constantly on the move, device portability needs to be exploited to maximum advantage. "We're talking about dynamic learning spaces, anytime, anywhere, and in a variety of ways," says Bob Longo, executive vice president of Studywiz Spark, a learning management system customized for the iPhone, iPod, and iPod Touch. The web-based, platform-independent system, marketed by Australia's Etech Group, offers resources that allow parents, teachers, and students to collaborate on and personalize projects. Using any device from any location, students can take advantage of capabilities such as RSS feeds, iPod synchronization, podcasts, e-lockers, e-bulletins, multimedia galleries, messaging, chat, discussion, online polls, testing, and reporting. The Dynamic LearnSpace, as Studywiz Spark calls it, has been in use at schools overseas for several years and entered the US market last November.
"Studywiz Spark provides an environment where you have organizational and control and management capabilities at all levels," says Longo. "For example, with a tool like chat, all the members of the educational community can chat with each other but not with anybody else outside the school, so there is no distraction. And classroom management tools are available to the teacher, who can go into the calendar and see anything the student has been working on."
The unique aspect of the LearnSpace is that it is specifically tailored for the K-12 environment. "Technology takes some time to trickle down to K-12," says Longo. "The applications that come down from higher ed often don't adapt as well."
