ABSTRACT
The claim of cellular mobiles to be a genuinely global technology is not in any doubt, underscored by the dizzying and still mounting numbers of cell phone subscribers, the size and scale of investment, capital and revenues in the industry, and the significance of the technology in the everyday lives of so many. The cell phone is a sufficient pliable, flexible, even ductible technology to be domesticated in very different ways by those interested in cell phones around the world. In this book, I have sought to approach cell phones as a global media. Naturally, I have encountered a few challenges, and pitfalls, in seeking to do this, not least in only scratching the surface of the topic. Hopefully, though, I have succeeded in showing that such a thing as global mobile media exists, and that, while still nascent, it holds quite some significance for media, culture and society; that it both resembles, and departs dramatically from, other kinds of global media; and that we have a long way to go before global mobile media is given the attention it deserves – at least in our debates over the future of our culture.
