Mobile 2.0 has a distinguishing characteristic, which is the shift from PCs (either desktop or laptop) to mobile handheld devices as our primary computing devices. With Mobile 2.0, PCs will be used only for computing tasks that can’t be performed on handhelds. And mobile devices will be used more for data than for voice.

What are some of the indications that show that Mobile 2.0 is on the rise?

»    There are more than five billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide.

»    In many countries, there are now more mobile devices than people. In Estonia and the United Arab Emirates, for example, there are twice as many mobile phones as residents, according to the International Telecommunications Union.

»    Growth of data-equipped mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, exceeds feature phone sales by a factor of four to one, according to most analysts.

»    Mobile telecom revenues will reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, with 40 percent of carrier revenue coming from data services.

»    As of 2011, 90 percent of the world’s population lives within wireless coverage.

What is driving the continued transition from Mobile 1.0 to 2.0? Primarily, two forces:

1. New ways of doing business are emerging, giving competitive advantage to mobile employees.

2. The 1.0 technology-centric approach to mobile application design is yielding to the 2.0 user-centric approach.

By BMC Software