Enabling The Connected Life

I like the "Connected life" phrase they are using.  Much more along the lines of how I see the future industry than the phrases we have been using for the past couple of years - such as "Telco 2.0" . This goes far beyond anything that old Telco can do by itself, and even viewing the opportunity through the lens of Telco is fatally flawed.  This new services industry is all about understanding how the world works today and how people currently use, or desire to use, technology.  M2M, Mobile Payment, eHealth, Automotive - Success in each one of these opportunities fundamentally depends not on the technology that facilitates it, but on a core understanding of why these new services make sense.  Few if any of these services are based on doing something that could never be done before.  They are based on the principle of technology making it more convenient to do the things that otherwise you would have done in a less convenient way.  So "Connected Life" as a concept captures this quite well.  

Its all about improving life through seamless connectivity.  But the potential of the connected life will not be reached without unleashing the power and creativity of the thousands and millions of small creative potential service providers.  And this is where the TM Forum can help with standard ways that the creative players can plug into the core infrastructure of the communications and internet industry to craft services that will enhance the Connected Life.  Standards in how information is structured; standard APIs for connecting to the core infrastructure; and standard ways for accessing core industry platforms that can offer location information, authentication and secure billing.

This isn't as difficult as it sounds, and something that is likely to be a win-win for all the players who really embrace it.!