Instructional designer: not to say that you can’t do a course on a phone, just not the ideal use case in my opinion. Look at the pattern of usage of a pocketable, mostly: whip out, quick access, put away. Not long term engagement, in general.

Steve, you’re spot on: it’s about the relationship with our brain and context more than the tech.

“My feel is that you’re correct but the argument seems to be splitting hairs at the expense of the real priority in defining mobile. For example, my laptop is mobile by definition as well, depending on how wide you want to cast the net. The device, or even the form factor, shouldn’t be the primary defining variable in the mobile discussion.

What should be primary? Two things: context and use case. These two factors seem to be buried behind all of the technology talk and I think these are the keys to success or failure in a mobile implementation. Devices are easy to identify or label. But they don’t matter a lick if we don’t identify the problems we’re solving, how we’re solving them, and what other potential problems we might be creating in the process.”

As one would expect, you’re right on the money, Clark. The most common conversations around technology tend to migrate towards the manifestation, acquisition, and possession of the technology — avoiding focus on the right questions. What do people accomplish using technology that would be harder or impossible without it?