3GScottishUser
23rd April 2005, 02:01 PM
From BBCi (23/04/2005):
This is going to be the first general election when many of us get the results on our mobile phones.
Whether it's sitting in the pub or travelling on a train, when the first declarations and pundits' predictions start emerging on 5 May, many people will be peering over their phone screens to find out.
The BBC's figures show that for the first time five million pages of news and information are being accessed each week in a mobile format.
Mobile phone operator O2 says the number of its customers able to access online news services has almost doubled in less than a year - rising from 2.3m in June 2004 to a current level of 4.1m.
And when big news is breaking, whether via news services or a text from a friend, the mobile phone is becoming a more common way for information to spread. [...]
Mobile phones are also popular with the politicians fighting this year's contest. Tony Blair has repeatedly been seen having his photograph taken by mobile phone cameras.
And as they travel around the country, government ministers and their advisers are getting news updates about the campaign through mobile news services on their Blackberry handsets.
The Blair years have also been the mobile phone years. When Mr Blair entered office in 1997, only about one in six of the adult population had mobile phones. By the end of last year, an average of 78 million text messages were being sent every single day.
If the mobile phone has become one of the dominant cultural icons of the era, then the format for news looks like it could also be influenced. We want push-button, customised news on the subjects that interest us.
It's still the news. But this time it's personal.
Full BBC Article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4457723.stm)
This is going to be the first general election when many of us get the results on our mobile phones.
Whether it's sitting in the pub or travelling on a train, when the first declarations and pundits' predictions start emerging on 5 May, many people will be peering over their phone screens to find out.
The BBC's figures show that for the first time five million pages of news and information are being accessed each week in a mobile format.
Mobile phone operator O2 says the number of its customers able to access online news services has almost doubled in less than a year - rising from 2.3m in June 2004 to a current level of 4.1m.
And when big news is breaking, whether via news services or a text from a friend, the mobile phone is becoming a more common way for information to spread. [...]
Mobile phones are also popular with the politicians fighting this year's contest. Tony Blair has repeatedly been seen having his photograph taken by mobile phone cameras.
And as they travel around the country, government ministers and their advisers are getting news updates about the campaign through mobile news services on their Blackberry handsets.
The Blair years have also been the mobile phone years. When Mr Blair entered office in 1997, only about one in six of the adult population had mobile phones. By the end of last year, an average of 78 million text messages were being sent every single day.
If the mobile phone has become one of the dominant cultural icons of the era, then the format for news looks like it could also be influenced. We want push-button, customised news on the subjects that interest us.
It's still the news. But this time it's personal.
Full BBC Article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4457723.stm)