At issue are the data plans that never amounted to much for wireless companies until smartphones and specifically the iPhone came on strong. All of a sudden, data networks are being pushed harder than anyone ever expected. AT&T was particularly caught off guard by this and their iPhone service suffered badly.

Now, a secondary problem has arisen in that many people have several data intensive devices on their wireless accounts. A smart phone for the husband, one for the wife and a tablet. Each of these devices requires it’s own $25-30 a month data plan. This is pretty cumbersome and expensive. I have been a proponent of shared data plans for a long time now. In the same way you share phone minuets you will soon share a pool of data.

The industry, which always seems to work together on these things, thus eliminating the competition factor has decided to use the shared data pool to change the game completely. Instead of the usual unlimited data for your $30 a month, you will now have to buy into a tired system of data. The larger the data pool you want, the more expensive it will be. I totally get this model and understand it from a business perspective but here is my worry. When data was unlimited, customers did not have to worry or think about anything. They could download and run all types of applications including streaming music and video services. It’s part of what made the smartphone take off so fast. Now, if customers have to be counting bits, it’s going to put a big freeze on certain apps and innovation that will take up too much data. Mobile, Internet connected devices are only as good as the data connection they have. Capped bandwidth could have a drastically negative effect on the adoption and use of connected devices. It’s like we’re going backward. Customers are now getting less bandwidth for more money.

As far as marketing goes, these location aware connected devices hold the greatest promise for a next generation of personalized, localized marketing. Marketers should want nothing more than the most number of people possible walking around and using a wide variety of connected devices. Wireless service is already ridiculously expensive (have you looked at your bill lately?). Here’s hoping the wireless industry doesn’t commit hari-kari like the music industry did.

We are back and will be on a weekly schedule. The show will also have a loose format consisting of social media news, a tip and a tool. I always want the audience to come away with something tangible and useful they can use right away.

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Topics include:

New Android tablets debut at CES

The new Apple Macbook Air and what it means for the future of mobile computing

The coming flood of Internet connected devices or cloud based computing

App stores in the connected world. Apple vs Google

What do businesses need to do to capitalize on all that’s been discussed on todays show

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The key point here is that we are not only living in a Connected World but a device world. The world is littered with millions of devices of all kinds and more people are finding themselves with more than one. When you have multiple devices, the critical factor becomes keeping your data in sync with all of them. The Kindle happens to be one of the best examples of keeping data and state beautifully in sync. We are going to need to see this more with the other applications we use regularly.

This is why we are seeing such a push toward using the cloud, a fancy term meaning the Internet, for these kinds of services. When applications run on the Net, it’s much easier to maintain state and data across devices. Google’s Gmail is another great example of this. You can easily connect to and maintain all the read statuses wether you’re using an iPad or an Android phone.

In the Connected World it’s just as important to be connected to your data as with other people.

Gone are the days of large, powerful laptops designed to handle the work of a desktop on the road. Trends are moving toward smaller, lighter devices driven more from the power of the Net. As notebook computers eventually started to outsell desktop machines, I think we will see these smaller devices, call them NetBooks or tablets or what have you start to outsell typical notebooks. With this, I believe we will also see a resurgence of desktop machines as people give up trying to use one machine for home and mobile use. I have already made this move, as I gave up my laptop for an iMac at home and a small pc based netbook when mobile. Of course I still also have my smart phone when I want complete pocketability.

Apple had no entry in the super small and light portable and the iPad doesn’t quite substitute yet for one. The new MacBook Air fits the bill perfectly. The original Air was maligned with problems and never took off but I think this new model will see much more popularity. As with everything Apple, it’s a bit overpriced but drop dead beautiful and elegant. I think the real legacy of Steve Jobs will be the way he singularly blends cutting edge technology and art. Seth Godin always talks about making products remarkable. It’s an important lesson for all business and Apple gets an A+

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The latest and perhaps most shocking example is the story of Giorgio Galante, an AT&T customer who wrote emails to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in part to complain about several aspects of his AT&T experience. After the second email in as many weeks, Giorgio received a phone call from AT&T’s “Executive Response Team” thanking him for his feedback and at the same time warning Giorgio if he continued to email the CEO he would be served with a cease and disist letter. Threatening your customer with legal action because he tries to communicate with an officer of the company is so shockingly dumb I am at a loss for words. Is that what they teach you at B School?

It’s not the first time, however, AT&T has acted in such a way. As they were being barraged by complaints about the poor network service AT&T said it was the customers who were using too much data and they would have to look into doing something about that. Yes, our service stinks and it’s your fault mr. customer, so I will have to find a way to penalize you for that. And in fact, AT&T has now found that way, this week announcing dramatic changes to their data plans for smart phones like the iPhone. Unlimited access is gone and customers now much choose between two data plans, both with data limits and charges for going over the limits.

How does AT&T get away with this nonsense? Because they have the iPhone, the most popular cell phone in the world and you cannot buy it from anyone else. Apple may have signed a pact with the devil on this one and like it or not, there is some blowback that Apple suffers from all this as well.

I believe something needs to change drastically in the mobile world. We can no longer allow companies to sign us up for long term (2 year) contracts and then treat us so poorly. Since all the mobile companies seem to be in league with each other on most of these egregious practices, it’s going to take some kind of government action to step in and fight for the American consumer.

In the end, I don’t know what AT&T is thinking on this one. Is Giorgio Galante a pest? Unnecessarily filling up an important CEO’s email with trivial complaints? I don’t care if he is a nusense . He’s a customer, he has a right to be a nusense. He deserves to be treated with respect. He deserves an answer to his questions, not a threat of legal action.

I learn so much from watching my kids work with technology. I learn about the future. Having kids is like living with your own personal crystal ball. I also learn a great deal about user interface and ease of use in tech products. My daughter, when she was just nine, picked up my iPhone and knew just what to do with it, no instruction needed. That’s when I knew it was a most amazingly built device. I think every technology company should have kids employed in their labs to do their user testing. If the 5 year old can master it, you’re ready to ship.

Tyler Gray realized the same thing and put it further to test with his iPad and his 5 year old son Cash. I’ve included the video in this post, and here also is a link to the original Fast Company article.

There are indications now that Amazon may try to make a new Kindle with color and multi-touch technology, bringing it much closer to an iPad. I think it’s very dangerous for Amazon to rush headlong into a competition with Apple on their own turf. Maybe the smart play is to remain the dominant player in black and white e-ink technology and let Apple have the rest. Amazon’s strength has always been traditional black and white books, not magazines or comics. Here’s an even smarter play, make a full iPad version of the Kindle reader. Amazon needs to remember their focus, they are a bookstore not a hardware manufacturer. By making a great Kindle reader for the iPad, they stand to sell more books from their online bookstore, even possibly cutting into Apple’s store.

2010 will be THE year of the tablet computer as Sony has also said they want to enter this market. No doubt there will be others. 2010 could also be THE year traditional publishing makes the turn to digital distribution. People have been predicting the death of traditional publishing for years now. These new tablet machines go a long way to bringing that prediction to pass.