Mobile Cloud Computing Demands Wifi Data Offload

 

Mobile cloud computing subscribers was 42.8M in 2008, (approximately 1.1% of all cell phone subscribers) and is expected to reach 1 billion subscribers in 2014 (almost 20%). Mobile cloud applications have been driving this adoption moving data storage away from mobile phones themselves and into the cloud, bringing apps and mobile computing to not just smartphone users but a much broader range of mobile subscribers. Will the carriers be able to handle this additional data traffic over their new congested 4G networks or will users demand data offload through Wifi?  As cloud computing creeps into the home and onto other electronic devices, into the car, games and music devices it demands data offload to Wifi.  Why? Because very few cellular networks actually provide in-building coverage and ever will.

Companies like Dropbox for iPhone users and Google's various email, calendar and contact services that are the primary applications driving the growth.  Enterprises have been much slower to adopt than small businesses but this is expected to change as companies like Blackberry catch on. One of the benefits of owning a smartphone and being a heavy Google user is to have everything backed up in the cloud.  There are many benefits to this including the ability to change phones on the fly and contact, calendars, files are automatically synced.  This saves a tremendous amount of time for anyone who uses a laptop and a smartphone every day for work.  Syncing data in the cloud might be one of the biggest productivity enhancements for the business world in this decade.  If you are like me and don't like to waste time you will especially like the features of having all your emails in the cloud.  This will enable you to delete your inbox or read emails during downtime or while you are in traffic.  I find myself spending far less time in front of my laptop answering emails because I have typically deleted them during breakfast or on my commute (shhh!).