Letter from the Editor - July 2016
By: Tim Young
“Cell phones are so convenient
that they're an inconvenience.”
- Haruki Murakami
One thing I’ve always found charming about many tech journalists and other professionals I’ve encountered in communications and media is that they, themselves, are borderline Luddites.
Maybe it’s a side-effect of spending your days immersed in cutting-edge technology: the tech loses its luster and you simply refuse to let yourself be drawn in. You opt, in your personal life, for the most basic materials you can find which still allow you to get your job done. Pre-paid flip-phones and outmoded but nearly bulletproof laptops.
I was in that camp for a while. I kept a first-gen Motorola Razr until well into the current decade and had dial-up at home until I eventually needed a legitimate home office. I’m a little hipper now, but I still managed to confuse a couple of on-looking teenagers at the Apple Store a few weeks ago while I was there upgrading my phone.
“I am so glad the SE is out,” I said to the guy helping me. “These other phones are way too big to fit in my pocket.” The teens returned to perusing the iPads before them, no doubt mystified by my priorities. One had a phone sticking out his pocket that was nearly the size of the iPad he was sampling.
His opinion of my phone preferences aside, the entire interchange helps to underscore the wide range of mobile devices available to today’s consumer… though the true range of connected devices goes so much deeper than iOS devices artfully arranged in a sleek retail temple.
This issue marks the 1st issue in the 13th volume of Pipeline. Within it, we examine the device revolution. We discuss how connected devices have grown and changed with shifting user demand. We hear from Ericsson on the future of network transformation, Incognito on enabling the device revolution, and FTS on the OSS/BSS considerations of the Internet of Things. I discuss IoT myself as well in a feature on the future implications of that rapidly growing technology, and Wedge Greene explores whether mobile providers should be in the business of selling phones. We also explore mobile payments and examine the latest in news and opinion in our bustling industry.
So enjoy. And one quick note about Murakami’s quote above: It’s not from one of his beautiful novels. At least not to my knowledge. It’s something he posted on Twitter. Sounds inconveniently convenient to me.
Best,
Tim Young
Editor-in-Chief
