Tag Archives: mobile in media

Aiming Towards FirefoxOS

Firefox Marketplace on the Geeksphone

It seems to be some kind of tradition here at MMM to poke a look at mobile devices, services, or experiences that are a bit more on the fringes of what’s possible, what’s happened, or what’s coming. In that light, I think a small look at FirefoxOS, and its aims for those markets/regions where there isn’t that much in terms of smartphones makes for an interesting perspective.

What is FirefoxOS?

For those familiar with the web browser Firefox, there’s a good bit of similarity happening with FirefxOS. The former (browser) was a chance to unseat the incumbent and dominant web browser (then Internet Explorer) by offering a standards compliant, fast(er), and more expandable (through the use of extensions) web browser. In part, the goal was to disrupt Internet Explorer by making it be what it wasn’t trying to be – the center of one’s web browsing environment. FirefoxOS is going a similar route but from the perspective of being a mobile phone platform. And what it aims to disrupt are (a) the route of development, and (b) the use/marketing of the top smartphone platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Disrupt the Route of Development

One of the fabled innovations of the last half-decade of mobile has been the rise of the “app economy” and the ability for those with the time, patience, and funding to get into a platform and design some kind of unique experience within it. This is nothing new to the MMM audience – from as far back as the original Bible Reader on PalmOS Classic devices, the idea of a few people learning a platform then making content or services available made a lot of sense. Over time, this evolved into offerings a places such Handango/PalmGear, Nokia’s Download! service (the first manufactuer-pushed app store), iTunes App Store, and now every other app store imaginable (seriously, look at just the list of places you can download a bible). The problem is that it left the ability to build into a select group of folks who would have a particular motivation to continue. All the while, a place to produce with a lower barrier to entry, i.e., make a webpage, continues to sprawl at an amazing pace.

FirefoxOS aims to disrupt in this wise first: if someone can make a webpage, why can’t they make an app?

Disrupt the Top Smartphone Platforms

What’s also quite true about mobile now is that for the greater majority of those who use a mobile device in developed nations (please note all of the qualifiers that I just used), when asking the question “what is a smartphone,” or, “what is your preferred smartphone device or platform,” there are only two answers: Apple (iOS) and [Google] Android.

In the midst of such an answer are the incumbents whom are older: Microsoft ( with Windows Mobile then, Windows Phone now), Nokia (with Symbian, S40, and Maemo/MeeGo then, Windows Phone now), and Blackberry. And then there are those whom are looking to jump into the scene: Samsung’s Tizen, Jolla’s SailfishOS, Cannoical’s Ubuntu Mobile, and Mozilla with FirefoxOS. The former are more or less looking not to become unrelevant. While the latter platforms are looking to grab a slice of the mobile pie inside of a world context that has shifted the priority and profitability of mobile from a Western European/USA audience to an Asian and South American one.

FirefoxOS wants to be embedded into these newer regions and environments but to do so, it has to also disrupt the attention that the leaders and incumbents have towards their platforms. Disrupt doesn’t just mean attention though, it also means shifting the conversation from what has been possible to what is doable.

Phones for Apps for FirefoxOS

Part of the strategy for Mozilla to change the conversation (disrupt the incumbents if you will), is to offer a chance for developers of any skill level to get into the stream of creating apps and services for their upcoming platform that showcase the flexibility of it, but also endear the platform to the context of the markets it will be developed into. The Phones for Apps for Firefox program that’s going on this month intends to do just that.

If your proposal is accepted (and there are still devices left), then you will have the opportunity to create within the stream of some of that disruption that FirefoxOS seems to be aiming for. And even if you don’t get into the program, there’s documentation and software available to help you get started in making this platform something worth keeping into the conversation of what’s available for you or your content.

What that means for us here at MMM is that we could jump into the fray and either develop an app (we’ve got one worth doing) or learning the platform such that we can assist others who might begin considering it. That’s not a small endeavor (we did mention all of the other platforms that are fighting for attention these days earlier). Still, it makes sense that at the intersection of faith and mobile tech that we look at what’s prime to disrupt the status quo, and then ask the question “what makes the most sense for those folks coming online, specifically through their mobile devices, as devices become more malleable and personal?” We think FirefoxOS is one of several ways to go about answering that. We’ll see what the future of mobile looks like when we design it.

[Repost] Interview at Social Media Church

Social Media Church banner logo

Last November, MMM’s founder, Antoine, was invited to participate on a podcast/videocast wtih Social Media Church (@socmediachurch). That episode has since gone live and from time to time, it has showed up in our logs as a means in which folks are finding out more about mobile ministry. Here’s that episode if you missed it and want to catch some thoughts on mobile, taking a Sabbath from tech, and creativity as mobile’s window of opportunity.

Audio MP3 Download

Bookless School

ESSA Bookless School (via BBC) - visit BBC to see video

A few years ago at the 2011 Mobile Ministry Forum Consultation, I embarked on an experiment where in talking about tablet computers in a mobile ministry perspective, that I performed the presentation strictly from my iPad – no projector, just the tablet. I again performed a presentation at the 2012 MMF Consultation to a greater degree of success, and with some interesting feedback. There’s an important implication we were trying to get over here, that there’s a difference to engaging content that can be done if we don’t rely on traditional methods of presentations or handing out print materials. Good thing we aren’t the only folks trying stuff like this, as witnessed in this BBC article:

A school in Bolton is pushing the boundaries of education by putting away pens and paper and giving all pupils and teachers their own iPad. The Essa Academy says it helps students and has cut costs, including reducing the school’s £80,000 photocopying bill to just £15,000 a year.

Sure, we don’t hear about how much the tech adds to the costs, nor if there’s any training and the compentencies of the kids, teachers, and admin for this school (which is usually the case in these stories). But, we do see possibility that in doing an event in a different frame, without the ropes of some of the past, that we do get something a little bit more introspective, immersive, or even rewarding.

The video on the BBC page was not embedable; we linked to the one on YouTube, so there’s a chance that it might be taken down at some point. The link to the original article at the BBC remains in this piece

Are You Born Mobile; CES’s Question

From our friends over at Mobile Industry Review comes probably the best reason to be at CES and any other tech conference this year – phrased in the form of a question and a perspective:

Chances are, you aren’t. But, you community has members who are. So what are you going to do to enable them to live a mobile-encouraged live that looks like the Gospel?

Glorystone.TV and Shifting Mobile Video Habits

One of the things that marketers, advertisers, and content producers are beginning to come to grips with in viewing mobile is that not everything that happens on these devices happens when people are in motion. It happens on a mobile device, just not in motion. More often than not, the attention required by what’s happening on the screen puts people in stationary states, and therefore what becomes mobile isn’t the device or the person watching it, but the channel or the content has its being shared from one person or entity to another. From that viewpoint, it makes it seem as if mobile is nothing more than a portable, on-demand TV – and if you were to take the approach that many have taken so far in terms of being a content provider, that’s pretty much all mobile is to them.

But, what if mobile and broadcast media took more advantage of not only a state of mobility (the device, the context, etc.), but also the needs of the marketers, advertisers, and existing media producers that have audiences, but not necessarily the digital savvy to make it work great. Could it look something like this:

Glorystone.TV is a different, and in my opinion better take, on the idea of a media platform. Essentially, its a platform of tools and services that enables consumers to find relevant Christian media, marketers to understand and target markets with the best product, and content producers to better find and reach areas of opportunity for their content. All in all, its not like much else out there.

With research coming out saying that over 60% of folks who view videos on their mobile/tablet devices, do so when at home, you’ve got something of an opportunity if you are in the space of creating content. And at the same time, traditional models of broadcasting don’t do a decent job of helping you better target and understand your audience. If this sounds like something you/your ministry could get involved with, get in touch with Glorystone.TV and see what a realized digital solution looks like.

Disclaimer: Antoine is one of the members of Glorystone.TV’s advisory board.

TEDx Video: Why Kenyans Do It Better

This was forwarded to us and asked if it is an example of who and how people and groups associated with mobile ministry (#mobmin) should approach the context of their activities. Much like Alex Oswald, there is a surprise to some at the level (and simplicity) of how mobile is being used in daily affairs.

A (Small) Critique
Despite what’s talked about on the video, an acknowledgment solutions that are obvious and should be applied in better economies, nothing much is being said about the strategies that went creating and implementing them. Solutions like these talk very much towards being associated towards mobile as living with people, not just pushing a platform or a message. Unfortunately, there’s too much of a reluctance, even with those of us who work within this mobile ministry space, to be so invested into using the technology/communications, that we can see where this makes sense in our spheres. In an observed sense, people want to develop towards the mobile audience, but not be the mobile audience they are developing for. We see after another’s implementation that its obvious, but don’t live with it close enough to discover our own.

For as long as this person was in mobile, to be surprised at M-Pesa said a lot about a general blindness to the Mobile past than about opportunities not seen. 10 yrs ago there were 1 billion mobile phone users, we were looking at the second generation of smartphones from Nokia, Palm, and a few others, seeing the fall of the PDA genre coming to pass, and some of the first positive steps in mobile web areas. Weird to me that he was surprised if that’s when he started.

Still, this is good for the mobile ministry space as many haven’t heard about what he’s seen, or might be working on similar and need the encouragement. When in and around mobile, you’ve got to keep your eyes open not just to what you want to see, but also what others have seen.

[Interview] Social Media Church, episode 26

A few weeks back, DJ Chuang of Social Media Church got in contact with us wanting for an interview for their weekly podcast on church and tech. That interview has gone live as of a few days ago. It goes about 30min, and you’ll hear a lot more about how MMM got started, what keeps it going, and some areas that this magazine will continue to push into.

Social Media Church, Episode 26 – Interview w/Antoine from Mobile Ministry Magazine

5 Things About Mobile from Forbes


Its always helpful when thinking about mobile to consider that there’s more than just the technology or the communications medium as key to understanding it and making it work. Forbes has taken note of this with a recent article looking at five points about the future of mobile that could easily be termed five points about the present of mobile. Here are the points:

  1. Understand the person not the technology
  2. Your phone is more important than your tablet
  3. Small businesses should not get their heads turned
  4. Large businesses need a targeted mobile strategy
  5. The rise of face-to-face

Read the entire article – 5 Things You Should Know About the Future of Mobile – which includes explanations on these points, at Forbes

Forbes is a business-oriented magazine. MMM is a faith-oriented one. Could you see these points in a similar, but differently worded, light.

  1. Understand the person and their spirit (orientation, maturity, strengths, weaknesses, etc.) – see 1 Cor 2:6 – 3:23
  2. Your communication is more important than your display – Matt 15:1-20
  3. Producers and creators should not turn their heads – Habakkuk 2:18-20
  4. Leaders and organizations need a specific strategy infused with God’s wisdom and direction – 2 Chronicles 2-6:11
  5. All actions should encourage one to be face-to-face with God often – Joshua 1:8

I don’t think that its all that hard to see how God wants to direct us in this space. At the same time, we have to have to understand that mobile, whether we are talking devices, services, or the overall experience, is merely a channel, the character of the community leading into mobile needs to be consistent with what people will recognize not just as mobile, but also as a witness of the gospel (John 17:20-26). The teachings of the past is the lesson of both the present and the future.

Why Its Not About Mobile

Apple Criticism

Found an excellent article in the education space the other week that really broke through the rhetoric that we often hear in this space when it comes to tools and traditions – that its the tools and traditions, not the products of these that need the people to utilize (or not use) them that makes change happen. I found this article about as life-giving as any others we’ve linked to here, and I think that when we get out of our lenses of preferred devices, services, or even behaviors, that we really can start to see that its not about mobile, but about the kind of life that mobile and other media technologies can enable when led by the Spirit and a good dose of innovation:

…This week, I’m helping host EdTechTeacher’s iPad Summit, what we believe is the first national gathering of educators pioneering the use of iPads and tablets in schools and classrooms. As I think about facilitating the event, I keep coming back to the idea that this event for iPad users can’t be about iPads. My own koan for the week is this:

If you meet an iPad on the way, smash it.

If this event becomes a meeting about how we got rid of power cords or extended battery life or solved workflow challenges or found some neat apps, then we fail. The iPad summit is not about the iPad.

The way we are seeking is one where we prepare young people for a life of civic commitment, of self-reflection, and of meaningful work and contributions to community. The way is about unlocking student talent, compassion, and humanity. If the iPad distracts us from defining the way, then we have to smash it…

Read the rest of Why Its Not About the iPad at Edudemic

Roar’s eBook Interview w/WORDsearch

The future of publishing is something we discuss from time to time here (being an online magazine, it only makes sense to). Therefore, hearing that a frequent contributor to MMM was interviewed by Roar – a company which produces an excellent suite of mobile app and content management tools – to speak on the impact that eBooks have had on Christian publishing at large. Here’s a snippet:

When looking at the future of publishing, ebooks play an integral role.

While many of us may think ebooks are a pretty new development, WORDsearch has been creating books in electronic format for over 20 years. “Every title that we publish through WORDsearch is an ebook that can be read through our advanced Bible study software,” says LaRosa.

The transition from paperback to digital is already taking place, and it will continue to grow going forward. “Technology and innovation are driving us in this direction, both in hardware and software,” he says. “Devices like the Kindle and iPad have cemented ebooks as a mainstay, and why wouldn’t they? The functionality of ebooks far surpasses that of print books.”

Read the rest of Ebooks: A Win-Win for Both Publishers and Consumers at the Roar Blog

Also, do check out Roar’s Mobile Content Management plans and strategies; this probably one of the best complete packages for mobile and social that you’d find the faith-based space. See more in the below video.