Google prepares for major mobile revolution

The newly crowned Google Executive Chairman has said that all of Google's strategic initiatives in 2011 will be about mobile.

In a Harvard Business Review post, Eric Schmidt said, "We are at the point where, between the geolocation capability of the phone and the power of the phone's browser platform, it is possible to deliver personalised information about where you are, what you could do there right now, and so forth—and to deliver such a service at scale.

But in order to realise that vision, Schmidt says Google needs to do some serious spadework on three fronts.

"First, we must focus on developing the under¬lying fast networks (generally called LTE). These will be 8-to-10- mega¬bit networks, roughly 10 times what we have today, which will usher in new and creative applications, mostly entertainment and social, for these phone platforms.

"Second, we must attend to the development of mobile money. Phones, as we know, are used as banks in many poorer parts of the world—and modern technology means that their use as financial tools can go much further than that.

Last but my no means least Schmidt calls for a massive increase in the availability of inexpensive smartphones in the poorest parts of the world.

"We envision literally a billion people getting inexpensive, browser-based touchscreen phones over the next few years. Can you imagine how this will change their awareness of local and global information and their notion of education? And that will be just the start," concluded the post.

Schmidt recently handed over the Google CEO reigns to co-founder Larry Page in a major company shake-up.