The Anywhere road trip

By Emily Green, President and Chief Executive Officer, Yankee Group

A few years ago when we were first centering Yankee Group’s research on ubiquitous connectivity, or what we now call Anywhere, I said something that I now see was wrong. I claimed that the expansion of connectivity around the world would ultimately redefine good vacation experiences not as those that include free WiFi, but those that promise the absence of the opportunity to connect. Meaning we’d be so exhausted from our connected lives that the best vacation would be one in which we would be prevented from connecting - and happy about it.

Hah.

I have been on a family road trip for the past week. Writing today from Richmond, Virginia, I am here to tell you that the best way to vacation in 2010, at least in the U.S., requires the following:

1. A Sprint Overdrive: this slick little hockey puck turns either 3G or 4G cellular signals into WiFi, creating a hot spot for up to 5 laptops, WiFi enabled cellphones, etc. In the car, we toss it into the armrest where it silently creates a traveling WiFi cloud around us. In the hotel, it replaces the usually glacial in-room WiFi. With 4G service via Clear now available in over 40 cities in the U.S., we’ve been pleasantly surprised how often we see the ‘4G’ indicator pop up on the display. Once the cry goes out, the pile-on to take advantage of what my daughter calls ‘real broadband’ is unleashed.
2. An Apple iPad. Even as a longtime Apple fan (if you’re nice, sometime I’ll tell you about the Mac software company I started with friends 25 years ago) I was unsure about the role the iPad might play in my life - but had to give it a try. I’m an instant convert; that’s probably another post. I have the 3G-enabled model, but given the availability of 4G in many of the cities we’ve hit on this trip, we’ve been much better off using the Overdrive’s WiFi instead of AT&T’s 3G network.
3. An HTC EVO phone. Its speedy performance, its access to the rapidly expanding Android app universe, its huge screen and its unique support for 4G means that, in the three-way tussle among our traveling group for the use of the iPad, the EVO makes a damn good consolation prize. Leaving my trusted Blackberry behind to ensure I spend enough time away from office email, I find the EVO is also a great mobile phone, one I’d be happy to make my regular handset.

Once you have these three elements (and of course, sadly, the attendant chargers and cords; the EVO in particular requires a lot of attention to battery management), here’s what happens:

• You ditch all other means of navigation. I’ve been reminiscing on this drive about family road trips decades ago, with my mother unfolding the next map in our AAA Triptik package to guide my father into the next state. So dated… but now we’re already ignoring our car’s own GPS system, whose screen suddenly seems so much harder to read, doesn’t zoom as fast, isn’t as current, doesn’t let you type names… it’s only three years old, but already seems so flawed. We’re not using anything fancy in its place, just the iPad’s pre-installed Maps app; but that app is so good and so easy that I wouldn’t be surprised to see the dog offering to ride shotgun soon.
• You have a richer view of the changing world around you. I’ve traveled a lot in France and always enjoyed the brown signs on the autoroute that alert you to an upcoming castle, cathedral, or Roman ruin. But again, 4G with intuitive multimedia devices creates a intergalactic change. See something along the road of interest? Instantaneous answers via our mobile WiFi cocoon. At a strange ballpark and don’t know the players? The EVO enriches the game experience and guides you to better food nearby.
• You skip the hotel room Spectravision. In a shocking turn of events, the TV remote has sat untended on the bureau, because no one wants to watch TV. Besides four fave movies we pre-loaded on the iPad, we have e-books, newspapers, music, and more, all in one place. One key nuisance, though: Apple’s stubborn stupidity about Flash support.

I’m sure there are two or three more aspects to how different our road trip feels, but I’ve already spent too much time away from the vacation itself. The key is true mobile broadband with great access devices. Won’t travel again without either if I can avoid it!