Firstly, the ubiquity of mobile phones has brought computing
out into the physical world, untethering it from the desktop
PC and extending the internet away from cables. There is
opportunity to engage with people in any place and at any
time, and encourage them to interact with you in both the
real and virtual worlds. And so businesses and others must
unwittingly become software vendors through their engagement
on the web and on the smartphone, and then from
software vendors they also become data collectors. This is not just a
retail-oriented, Western phenomenon. Cities and governments
are able to better serve their citizens through mobile applications;
the lot of farmers in developing countries has been improved
through data collection effected over basic text messaging.