Time to Rename “Airplane Mode”?

For months now I’ve been stressing the need to get offline. That is, the more we do online, the more there is a need to go offline and go outside. With Internet access coming to airplanes, is there anywhere that is a safe-zone? There’s no net access in most of the NYC subway but you can interact with your mobile device while underground. In the morning near my train station I see many people standing outside the station looking at their devices before they head down.

Last night at the Eluma party I hosted, I spoke about the slow moving trend to useful apps instead of more social networks or more ability to poke people. It just so happens that useful apps are ones that people will actually pay for and could do very well in the current economic market.

After my talk, several people noted that Tim O’Reilly noted something similar in his keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it so here are a few recaps on Drama 2.0, Profy and More Ramblings.

Last night I checked out one of my favorite bloggers, Jan Chipchase, who has an excellent essay titled, "A Little Switch With a Big Impact". The switch Jan refers to is the "airplane mode" switch on the iPhone. The switch basically turns off all of the wireless connectivity functions of the iPhone so you can utilize the offline functions while on a plane. It’s a must read essay.

Jan looks at the issues of disconnecting your mobile for a number of reasons. There’s the usual reason of going into flight, but there are many other reasons including wanting to be offline. Some turn on airplane mode to extend the iPhone 3G battery life. One of the more interesting parts of the essay looks at how mobile devices are used when they are offline and should developers be considering this as they build their apps.

Jan notes, "What can you do with a connected/communications device when it has no connectivity? Again we can turn to emerging markets to learn from the usage behaviours of pre-pay customers who have run out of credit – they continue to use the phone as a status symbol, a clock, games machine etc. The bottom line – never equate ownership of a connected device with use of its primary function particularly when use of the primary function costs money."

I leave you with this… NY-based Meetup has created a campaign named, "unplug your friends". While the campaign pushes the use of Meetup (they make money on going outside), the video below certainly hits home for many people.