15th Edition of Vodafone's receiver ezine

Vodafone has a little know ezine called receiver, which is published four times a year. The ezine this time is about that yearning factor that comes with using the mobile phone, about the meta-message which is always present: 'wish you were here'.

Off the articles that I have read the one that strikes me the most is "The duality of effects - the mobile phone and relationships" by Joachim R Höflich. Part of his piece looks at the why that the telephone is a radical tool as demonstrated by its use in East Germany. I remembner being told by someone that the mobile phone has been shown as a key tool for revolution in that once the population has a mobile penetration rate above 20% it becomes very difficult for governemnets to control the media.

He goes one to write, Not all communication experts were initially convinced that the mobile phone would be a great success. The private nature of telephoning was seen as a barrier. People would not want to let others gain too much insight into their private lives. At times I just wish that the sociologists were right, but it is amasing just how fast mobile's have become eccepted.