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Future wireless mobile communications will be shifted from today's traditional transmission-specific radio technology to an interface-based technology in order to be more compatible with computer system architecture. The future mobile device will therefore be first and foremost a computer, then an open wireless architecture (OWA) low-power terminal. This OWA technology offers an optimal solution to open up the wireless platform for complete openness and simplicity and would support the service-oriented architecture and infrastructure that is necessary for future mobile phone development and advancement.

The first mobile phone was invented in the United States back in the 1960s by Bell Labs, but the US mobile communications market has remained very much closed and far behind the international movement towards the open market of the global industry. Now the world is evolving rapidly into a personal communications era with true openness and freedom in mobile services, but in our opinion, the US is still lagging about ten years behind other countries, such as China, with regards to having a more open and competitive market in wireless communications.

Though different regions have diversified approaches towards the next generation mobile communication technology (called 4th generation mobile, or 4G Mobile), the future trend is same: Convergence among fixed, mobile and wireless communications. No single wireless radio transmission technology (RTT) can do both broadband high-speed data-rate and seamless mobility, and therefore we need multiple RTTs to complement each other in any optimal way to ensure the information is delivered to the mobile user in a more cost-effective way and in a more spectrum-efficient way.

Since we launched this 4G Mobile initiative program in 2000, over 50,000 professionals and investors have witnessed the great successes and shared the invaluable insights throughout our flagship 4G mobile events including World Wireless Congress in USA, Global Mobile Congress in China and 4th Generation Mobile Forum (4GMF) across the global. About 40 IEEE special issues on 4G mobile technologies have been delivered based on this 4G mobile initiative program, and over 100 leading wireless/mobile industries have sponsored our 4G events worldwide.

4G Mobile technology - The mobile race to innovate, includes the following innovations:

The mobile communications comprise two steps: access to the mobile network, and access to the mobile services. Traditionally, these two steps are all controlled by one operator in a closed and proprietary way. In the 4G mobile era, the access to the mobile services will be evolved to an open Mobile Cloud so that it is fully open to any developers and providers. In this way, any non-wireless industries, such as Google, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, GM, Bank of America can provide services for their mobile users. The access to the mobile network is still controlled by the traditional wireless operators such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and China Mobile. Of course, the operators are very reluctant to go this trend, but for the mobile users and for the future global movement, it is just a matter of time to do it.
The mobile device system architecture will be open in order to converge multiple RTTs (radio transmission technologies) in one same device. Same as laptop computer, the future Smartphone will be based on open wireless architecture (OWA) technology which means, when you change the wireless standards, you do not need to change phone. It is totally different from current multi-standards phone which is in closed system architecture, and users can not remove the unused RTT modules and basically can not do anything on the mobile phone system. In the OWA system, you can just change RTT card in your Smartphone to switch your wireless standards, or you can integrate multiple wireless standards in one RTT SIM card. Based on this OWA platform, you can integrate home phone, office phone and mobile phone into one common Personal device - it is more beyond just a phone. In fact, this 4G mobile device is a system to bring the world to your hand, or we call it iHand - the World in Hand, which is more better than calling it an iPhone.
Any portable consumer electronics device can be a mobile phone by inserting the OWA-powered mobile RTT(s) card. This approach is truly converging the mobile wireless technology with the computer technology by providing the OWA virtualization layer between the high-layer computer-based OS (operating systems) & applications solutions and the underlying wireless transmission-based different mobile networks access means.
More breakthrough technologies are being developed for efficient utilization of wireless spectrum, and the dynamic and open spectrum management. Wireless is totally different from wired communications, and therefore the overall performance relies on both system performance and transmission performance where spectrum is one of the key issues.
Power efficiency is another critical issue for mobile device. The system architecture must be open to enable removable of unused modules, and the processing architecture must be optimized to the lowest possible in terms of the whole system performance. Meanwhile, the RF radio modules should be narrowed to the minimal meeting the basic requirements of necessary RTTs.

The world is moving rapidly towards this 4G open mobile movement. In China, the government has in fact, targeted for 4G mobile industry. In European Union, evolution to 4G has been the mission-critical strategy since 2003. Japan and Korea started 4G regulations in 2002. The US mobile market is a pretty different case, because FCC as a law enforcement agency, basically has no power to enforce law. AT&T, etc pays huge to the congress, and congress manages the FCC. So eventually, AT&T "makes" the law. However, nobody can stop future and it is just a matter of time when this 4G open mobile comes to life.

Everyone is welcome to join forces with us together and move this 4G open mobile technology forward for our future, for our next generation and for our societies. You can take leadership roles or show supports in any of our global 4G mobile events.

A Global Call for Actions by the steering committee of The 4G Mobile Initiative - from the offices in San Francisco, Beijing, Geneva and Tokyo.