Thinking about the rapid developments in mobile Internet, mobile marketing, and the entry of the controversial Android, Tomi Ahonen's elaborate assertion that mobile as the 7th mass media is becoming more and more apparent these days.

In summary, Ahonen believes mobile is not the Internet's little dumb brother but a very powerful media because:

• Mobile is a personal Mass media


• Mobile is the first always-on mass media


• Mobile is the first always-carried mass media


• Mobile is the only mass media with a built-in payment channel


• Available at the point of creative impulse

What makes mobile a very potent mass media is its ability to replicate what the other 6 media can do. That's why some view it as a potential threat because it can cannibalize other media, the way Internet advertising cannibalizes newspaper advertising.

As the youngest, least understood, and perhaps the most powerful mass media, it needs to improve and evolve with each passing day.

Contrary to the traditional thinking, the challenge is not how to retrofit the existing media to mobile but how to create a superb computer experience from something uniquely mobile.