PMcrunch

Modes of communication are important for a project manager to understand.  This post, part of our continuing series on [tag-tec]modes of communication[tag-tec], presents some thoughts about the cell phone.

A cellular phone was once the largest communication device on the planet. It was bulky, with a long, conspicuous antenna that made the user look like an alien. The screen displays were glaring, the color choices were few, and the reception was bad nearly all the time. There was also little that you could do with a cellular phone once upon a time: you could only call other people or receive calls, and the bills for such phone lines went into extreme highs.

Today, the cellular phone can take on many shapes, sizes, and colors. Depending on their brands, they can be flip top, slide top, or a single body phone, with many different features to boot. These little cellular phones, sometimes as thin as a few millimeters, or as small as the palm of your hand, can allow you to receive and give calls for as low as a few cents a minute. In fact, some calls can even be free! Cellular phone technology has also bred the short messaging service, or SMS. Such short messages, or text messages, are only a few characters long, but they can save on call time since they can be sent immediately.

These are now the two main communication modes of mobile phones on the market, but there are still even newer technologies emerging. The video phone or video conferencing technology that was once confined to offices or conference rooms of major companies is now on your cellular phone: because many cellular phones have cameras, they can also be used to transmit video images in real time. Some telecommunications companies have started using this video phone technology to cater to many different countries where some cultures or people find it important to talk face to face.

Also an emerging technology is video streaming, where people can log on to the Internet using their mobile phones, or they can log on to a special mobile phone service server. Through this service, they can access streaming videos of everything from music videos to news. Such a service can be valuable to people on the go, or who have no immediate access to the Internet but need to get updates regularly.

As cellular phone technology develops, however, we can be sure to see more innovations in advertising and business as well. The cellular phone today espouses quickness and instant replies. The cellular phone today has also become rather annoying if it rings or beeps in a public place. There are laws on where to use them, and businesses need to remember these restrictions. Still, technology has to grow, and there is nowhere to go but forward. What might tomorrow’s cellular phone be like, and what might it mean to the managment of projects?