The Web is at your fingertips

Imagine standing at a bus stop displaying a code or number that you type into your smartphone. Automatically – Big Brother is watching – the global positioning system (GPS) picks up your location, and up on its little screen comes a bus schedule that tells you that a bus is scheduled to arrive at that bus stop in three minutes’ time.

Buses can be notoriously late. But there is a little tab that you press to establish the actual location of the bus, and through preinstalled vehicle tracking, up comes a Garmin-type map with a little arrow to show that the bus is, indeed, about three minutes away.

So, you wait, happy with the confirmation that the mobile Web has just given you.

Or imagine driving into the city and wanting to park your car in a parking garage. You type in the word “Parking”, again giving away your GPS location, and up on the screen comes another map – not only giving the location of several parking garages near you, but also information in percentages of how full they are.

And so you make a decision that is the most convenient to you.

Wishful thinking?

In South Africa, it still is a dream toward our having a world-class public transport system, but London already operates a mobile transport information system including time tables for the Tube, its other rail services, bus and waterway transport. In addition, it has introduced its Countdown bus-tracking system that does exactly that.

This is to be followed early next year with a system that will indicate where you can park and charge your electric car. That is, if you have registered and paid TFL (Transport for London) – by smartphone or other means – the annual 100 pounds fee for parking at any of the 1 400 charger spots it is putting up at present.

Real-time information on how full its parking garages are, is given by the city of Singapore.

And it is all done via the smartphone and the mobile Web.

Traditionally, access to the Web has been via fixed-line services; and in South Africa, many transport, tourism and hotel operators are making use of it to advertise themselves, their products and services.

In fact, since the first ringing tone was sold on the mobile phone in Finland in 1998, the mobile has emerged as the seventh of the mass media (the others being print, recordings, cinema, radio, television and the Internet).

At the recent Mobile Web Africa Conference in Johannesburg, it was said that the smartphone and the mobile Web are offering a host of new opportunities, including for the provision of transport information “for people on the move”, in which South Africa is behind first-
world countries.

This is especially true about rail and bus transport information, which is almost absent on the Web itself, never mind the mobile Web.

A quick survey by The Project Manager revealed that most advanced in supplying such information are the websites for the Gautrain (including its feeder buses), the Cape Town International Airport bus rapid transit service, and Johannesburg’s Reya Vaya service, which all provide routes and time tables.

Like airlines, intercity bus operators now provide interactive time schedules, route information and online booking, with Greyhound and Citiliner recently having gone mobile as well – one can now book via a smartphone.

Johannesburg’s Metrobus provides its time schedules (no routes) in pdf format, of which there are many pages to scroll through.

One has to actually phone certain telephone numbers for Metrorail and most other bus operators for similar information.

Google Maps, which can be accessed via a PC and smartphone, has a facility that will provide the best routes for walking and driving (they differ) between two given points in South Africa.

It has a facility for bus and train time tables between any two points, but few, if any, operators are using it.

As for freight movement and vehicle tracking, the introduction of smartphones, the mobile Web and the rollout of mobile networks in Africa offer many new opportunities.

Better and shared telecommunications infrastructure throughout Africa will facilitate the harmonising of customs and immigration procedures; the creation of more one-stop border posts; and access to tourism information by people simply having to click on a few smartphone buttons to submit documents, place an order or make a booking, pay for it via Paypal, or simply access the information they require for rapid decision-making.

Brett Faure, manager for all business development in Africa for Digicore, says Africa is showing a “huge potential” and that it is more focused on the fleet management side rather than stolen vehicle recovery. “C-track is operational in 17 African countries already and we are looking at expanding even more.

“With so much focus on minerals and resources on the continent, large organisations are investing into Africa.

“With the increase in development and mining, it is of the essence to minimise risks of injuries and vehicle abuse in these corporations,” he adds.

Furthermore, Faure says that through the C-track system, Digicore could help customers, such as BHP Billiton, to monitor speed violations, driver seat belts, impact and roll over of vehicles and many others.

“With mobile networks increasing their footprint in Africa, more and more users will have access to the Internet.

“Our product uses the GSM networks as well as satellite networks to deliver the information via the Internet to the customer’s doorstep,” he says.

The opportunity to advertise one’s products and services is probably the biggest for transport and tourism as well.

According to the latest Wikipedia update, a wide range of paid media content is consumed on mobile phones, ranging from $9.3 billion of music and $5bn of videogaming to horoscopes, virtual gifts, jokes, news, adult entertainment etc.

Like on all other media, advertising appeared onto mobile when a free news service launched in Finland, sponsored by ads in 2000.

In 2005, the “Crazy Frog” ringtone became the first mobile ringtone to cross over into the mainstream music charts, beating Coldplay for the number-one spot on the United Kingdom charts.

Advertisers are increasingly using the mobile Web as a platform to reach their consumers.

A recent study by the Online Publishers Association reports that one in 10 mobile Web users said they have made a purchase based on a mobile Web ad; 23% said they have visited a website; 13% said they have requested more information about a product or service; and 11% said they have gone to a shop to check out a product.

According to the International Communications Union, an important milestone in the transition from fixed to mobile Web use was reached two years ago when mobile access to the Internet exceeded desktop computer-based access for the first time.

In fact, the shift to mobile Web access has been accelerating since 2007, with the rise of larger form factor multitouch smartphones, and more recently, since 2010, with the emergence of multitouch tablet computers.

Both platforms are more conducive to Internet access and better browser- or application-based user Web experiences than have been afforded by previous generations of mobile devices.

A study conducted by Cisco and World Wide Worx, “Internet Access in South Africa 2010”, has revealed that the number of South Africans accessing the Internet through broadband connections has grown by more than 50% in the past year, and that wireless broadband has been growing almost three times as fast as fixed-line broadband in South Africa.

Wireless broadband subscriptions had grown by 88% in the past year, against 21% for ADSL.

According to World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck, wireless broadband is neither cheaper nor better quality, but more convenient and flexible.

It has changed the way people think about where and how they use the Internet.

Growth in wireless broadband was mainly a result of large companies giving 3G cards to employees who need to be connected while out of the office.

“Today, many workers in South Africa can perform their jobs in or out of the office. The ‘connected life’ allows workers to be productive, responsive and creative in or out of their traditional office spaces,” said Goldstuck.

“Remote or mobile workers can instantly access business-essential applications, colleagues, and partners worldwide, regardless of their location.

“This ability to collaborate and share information in real time will undoubtedly help to increase business productivity and profitability across the region,” he added.

At 21%, growth in 2009 in connections via fixed-line broadband ADSL was declining versus wireless broadband subscriptions that have grown by 88% in the past year due to the deployment of 3G cards to corporate users.

Goldstuck said this highlighted the need for alternative providers of ADSL, which dominated the market up until 2007.

At present, newcomer Neotel, an alternative fixed-line provider that holds 50 000 of the 1.49 million wireless broadband subscribers, is still small, but Goldstuck expected it to grow rapidly.

Dial-up access was declining, and Goldstuck forecast that within the next four years, it would become “a piece of history” and a niche service for areas where there was no access.

The emergence of the undersea and terrestrial cable projects such as Seacom are expected to increase broadband capacity 150 times from 80 gigabytes per second in 2008 to 14 770 by 2011.

Facts and figures from the World Wide Worx study:

• There are 9.5 million Internet users.
• Three million are cellphone Internet users, who also have access via a personal computer or laptop.
• 250 000 are dial-up users who now have access via ADSL in the office.
• 600 000 use multiple broadband means to access the Internet.
• Cellphone has surpassed dial-up for the first time as means of access.
• Academic and cellular growth will be major market drivers for the next
  five years.
• ADSL in small and medium enterprises has connected an additional 756 000 users to the Internet. 

Udo Rypstra