Moore’s Law also implies that the cost of computing power is regularly being cut in half. That means that we (industry) could afford to use computing power in new places and for new applications that we couldn’t previously imagine. In the mid-1980s, it meant that we could financially justify putting a PC on each knowledge worker’s desk. Today, it means that we can put a microprocessor in our car key and in the light switch on the wall, and soon will put an RFID tag on every product sold at our local Wal-Mart.

The Internet age was the result of a different economic reality.

Long ago, Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe made the simple observation. He said something like, “The more people that join a network, the more valuable the network is to all the participants.” Again, no deep scientific thesis here, but a simple observation with huge implications.

Metcalfe’s Law basically pointed to the fact that, if a network ever reached a threshold of a certain number of users, then it would become so valuable that everyone would need to become part of the network. That happened ten years ago and we’ve been feeling it ever since.

To get a sense of what comes next, let me make a simple observation: “A product is more valuable the more you can use it.” I call this the Law of Mobility because if mobility gets built into a product, then you’ll have it with you available for use all the time. Think about the BlackBerry. Think about a cameraphone. Neither one is valuable because it’s a more feature-rich, higher-quality version of their less-mobile cousins—they are valuable because you always have them and can use them anytime, anywhere.

This simple observation has significant implications for all of us. As the cost of adding mobility into products falls precipitously, mobility is rapidly being built into everything—and all of it is ending up on your network. (Keep up with the latest at lawofmobility.com.)

What are you doing to capture this power of mobility and how are you managing the emerging dangers?

Capturing the Power
I think I can summarize the power of mobility down to two words: “Here” and “Now.” How much is the value created by our business for our customers constrained because something isn’t “here” and it isn’t available “now”? Mobility creates power and value by eliminating those constraints. I recently shared this simple observation with one of Sprint’s large customers. Their response was spot on: “So, it’s all about the Law of Mobility. How do we increase the value of our product by taking things that were fixed and making them mobile?” For this customer, their “product” is actually a service, and they are now working to unlock information, systems, capabilities, etc. from being tied to a specific location and instead able to move to where that component of their “product” can best serve the customer. Solving the “here” problem will unleash tremendous power and will clearly differentiate this business in the eyes of their customers.