By Nicolai Pogrebnyakov
Post-Doctoral Researcher, IESE

So far, every announcement from the electronic book sector has been rife with wishful expectations but few tangible results. This may now change thanks to the fact that eBooks are now available on a more efficient technology and that new publishing initiatives are under way to  make this technological leap a reality.

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The media has used the occasion of the Mobile World Congress as an opportunity to review the current state and development of mobile telecommunications. Points of interest include the number of mobile devices existing in the world, now totaling 4 billion (100 million of which are broadband equipped), and the 6 billion expected by 2013. Despite the swiftness and paramount importance of this progression, the digital divide persists. And that in spite of the booming demand in emerging countries. In China alone, there are already 900 million devices in circulation and according to predictions, that figure will reach 1.1 billion by 2012. This progression is one of the keys, the other being the constantly improving quality of the available models, new technology, networks and services. The third key , however, is less encouraging: The world mobility market is losing steam due to both oversaturation in developing countries and the current economic crisis.

The slowed growth in demand for mobile devices is also affecting Spain. The latest report by the CMT (Spain's telecommunications commission), from November 2008, reports that 65,176 new mobile subscriptions were registered during that month, a vastly different number compared to the 145,056 registered in October 2007. There are currently 112 lines per 100 inhabitants. This proportion is accounted for by people having multiple mobile devices and by the lines used for wireless connections. Operator revenues are also taking a hit. The Spanish newspaper El País reports that in the third quarter of 2008, Spain's mobile market experienced its first drop (-0.16%) after having seen double-digit annual growth since the 1995 arrival of Airtel, whose entry effectively marked the start of competition in the country. New concepts are becoming popular in mobile telecommunications lingo, such as revenue reduction (especially with voice traffic), optimization of spending by corporate customers, consumer priority in terms of the real cost of the monthly bill as opposed to focusing on the most cutting-edge functions available on mobile devices, potentially increased temptation to generate revenue on the part of local governments, the probability of a slower deployment rate for HSDPA networks, and a strategy for subsidizing devices that emphasizes the use of mobile Internet, given that data traffic is the great white hope for operators in their quest to rebound from their current difficulties.

Articles in La Vanguardia (spanish), GSM World, El País (spanish) and  
La Vanguardia (spanish)

Geographic information systems are in vogue. They are nothing new, having been around for 30 years, but are finally ready to make their big leap forward. This is partly due to having found an ally in the mobile device, as discussed in the article in the Spanish newspaper El País on the Mobile World Congress, an event currently underway in Barcelona. It also corroborates the increasing connection between GIS and mobile devices and the media attention being given to Latitude. This new function in Google Maps shows the current location of an individual smartphone (and thus its user's whereabouts), provided that consent has been given by the device's owner. Latitude, which uses the free software Google Maps for Mobile 3.0 (currently available in 27 countries), works on devices from a number of manufacturers (these are listed on the official support website) and, as one might expect, is already causing debate in terms of its possible repercussions on user privacy.
The second factor giving a boost to GIS is its ability to enhance maps by the addition of user contributions, as with the Wikipedia model. There are numerous examples of such GIS-related Web 2.0 efforts (particularly in the area of geopositioning), including the Spanish project Wikiloc, which gathers and shares route data sent in by users, including additional information, comments, photos and videos. Another example is StreetMap, created thousands of volunteers that contribute information on streets around the world. For more insight into the evolution of GIS toward social Internet, there is an enlightening interview with Ed Parsons, who manages Google Earth and Google Maps, published in issue number 40 of Novática, the print version of ATI (Asociación de Técnicos de Informática). It is also available via the electronic publication if...

Articles in El País (spanish), If... (spanish), BBC Mundo (spanish),
Information Week/blog and El País (spanish)

Study: 2008 X-Force Trend & Risk Report
Source: IBM Internet Security Systems
Date: February 2009
Abstract: Identity theft on websites, known as "phishing," is a crime whose purpose is to seize users' bank account information. Companies engaged in the battle against this practice, mainly online security solutions providers, periodically warn of the rise in this form of cybercrime. Now, IBM is the one calling attention to the alarming upswing of such attacks, pointing out that Spain is the world's top phishing sender, a dubious distinction earned by the fact that 15.1% of these messages are launched from servers located on Spanish soil, although most had been infected beforehand in other countries. The report "IBM Internet Security Systems" examines other aspects of malicious code and spam, stating that corporate websites remain the weakest link of the security chain. This is partly due to the fact that 53% of the vulnerabilities detected had no vendor-supplied patches. The recommendation made is for companies to stop managing security risks with a defensive mindset and instead take a more proactive approach, defining a strategy that includes all of the company's processes.

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Study: Enabling the Future of Collaboration
Source: Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Adobe Systems
Date: February 10, 2009
Abstract: Collaborative tools are gaining ground but have yet to win over European users in areas such as efficiency, trust and security. Professionals from European companies use telephone and email as collaboration platforms but are critical of the tools currently available and would like to see some new alternatives. With regard to these tools, the majority (65%) of those surveyed want faster retrieval of information, nearly half (49%) would like to cut down on the amount of paperwork, and 44% demand more collaboration methods. This study by Forrester—based on a survey of 3,000 professionals from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden—highlights IT organizations' need to educate their knowledge workers about the security risks of collaborative tools and prioritize people-oriented design to help them out until the new collaboration tools and Business 2.0 have matured.

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The Catalan Association of Telecommunications Engineers (ACET) and the Official Association of Telecommunications Engineers of Catalonia (COTEC) are organizing the 14th edition of La Nit de les Telecomunicacions [Telecommunications Night] under the theme of "La Nit y el juego de la innovación" ["The Night and the Game of Innovation"]. The event will be taking place on Wednesday, March 4, 2009, at "L'Auditori" in Barcelona, starting at 19:00.

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