Mobile versus Fixed

India-specific VC Models
Venture Intelligence Blog has a quote from Basab Pradhan:

"- Mobile however is hugely interesting. Mobile penetration in India is twice that of the internet and is growing at rates close to 50%. There are opportunities to develop mobile applications that the developed world never needed because of high internet penetration. Booking a cinema ticket in the US is probably done 95% of the times over an internet connection and 5% on a cell phone screen. In India it may be totally different. This also holds out the opportunity that Indian startups may develop mobile applications for the Indian market and then take them to Europe and other developed markets."


You may be right for India or developing countries in which there is no infrastructure or where the infrastructures are not good for digital data.
I think it would be a great mistake to forecast the war mobile against fixed network.
The second already exists, it is much cheaper, and much healthier.
I am not so fond of microwaves and think that they should be used for what cannot be done on a fixed network.
The mobile phone is perfect for what it was invented: telephone calls, small messages, also maybe booking a ticket or something like that.
But nothing comparable to a PC and to a PC monitor.
When I want to work or surf I like to be comfortable, I like to be home.

The mobile computing is perfect for a mobile worker.
But how many mobile workers do we have and most, how many mobile workers do we need?
The main feature of the Internet is its ubiquity.
I am in Italy, in my home and I can reach USA or India or China with the aid of a keyboard.
It is the PC that is taking the place of the phone, not the other way round.