4G and the Future of Mobile Technology – Part 1

4G is the future of cellular technology, with analysts predicting a global scale commercial roll out between 2012 and 2015. 4G will bring ultra fast internet to mobile devices, bringing with it exciting new prospects for everyone involved in the mobile industry, be they developers, marketers, end users or some other capacity.

Google, a dominant force on the internet and one of the largest advertising companies on the planet, has been diversifying into numerous markets, particularly mobile. In the past few years, Google has developed its own mobile phone – the Nexus One as well as a new, open sources mobile operating system – Android. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, declared at the Mobile World Congress that the moniker his programmers work by is ‘think of mobile first.’

What is particularly exciting about Google’s entry into the mobile platform development market is the innovativeness that they bring. One of the first original products developed by Google for the Android platform, Google Goggles, already has the chance to completely revolutionize the way in which mobile phones interact with search engines and gives a brief insight into what is still to come.

All users have to do is open the app, take a picture and wait for the results. It is incredibly versatile and works with an array of products; everything from books and DVDs, through to landmarks, logos and art, barcodes and text and so on.

Consider this, if you will. A foreign tourist takes a picture of the French menu in a restaurant using their phone, hits the search button and Google returns a full translation of the menu into English. The end goal of the product is for it to be able recognize virtually anything, with future plans including animals, plants and food. It is unbelievable technology as only Google know how.

In Part2 of our series, we look at 4G and the future of mobile technology and examine the potential impact of Microsoft in a 4G world.

This article was written by Alex Speirs of TXT2GET, an SMS mobile marketing company. For more free insights into industry trends and new technology, visit the TXT2GET blog.