Pervasive computing in India

So far, pervasive technology in India has been dominated by technologies like WAP and unified messaging. But, studies show that by the year 2004, the volume of PCs will increase to 175 million units, mobile users will increase to 700 million units, PDAs to 90 million units, automobiles to 75 million and appliances like television, washing machines and refrigerators will increase to about 100+million units. A great market for pervasive computing and it’s proliferation. About 1 billion pervasive computing devices!!

India will see enterprise applications like embedded systems and embedded Internet solutions help increase efficiency in markets like CRM, ERP, sales force automation and field force automation. In the consumer market, personal information management and entertainment are some of the areas that will benefit.

What India will see is the convergence of traditional IT companies and consumer electronics companies and automobile manufacturers. The technologies behind pervasive computing are wireless networking like Blue tooth and location sensing technologies that are both in the evolutionary stages at the moment. We are talking about devices that respond to human speech and gestures, artificial intelligence-based devices that are more human-centric than at the moment. So, assuming that the pains of evolution will be taken into account, the key challenges that pervasive computing will face arey application.

1. Customer acceptance

2. Pervasive or Invasive

3. Security systems

Will customer’s look upon the new breed of devices as agents of convenience or intruders on privacy? Will the security systems be in place and protect users and at the same time offer all they promise? Or will the fact that the ubiquity they offer, the simplicity of use; minimal technical expertise required, reliability and intuitive interactions make the seeming “negatives” nonentities?