Catalyst for Change

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Timeline Developments

2006

• Premature elections in France under pressure of student protests over the proposed liberalization of labour laws bring a socialist government in power
• Blackberry wins the RIM trial, and is en route to become the new business standard for European mobile solutions.
  
  

2007

• Historical loss of the labour party in the UK, rumours about the new anti-European policy of the conservative government start immediately
• Socialist governments in France, Italy (Prodi), and Spain (Zapatero) vow to put a halt of the entrance of cheap labour from Eastern Europe and succeed in passing a European bill on this topic.
• Microsofts’ Origami system finds its first large European client: Deutsche Post starts to use it for parts of its DHL subsidiary. This will enable better planning of package delivery.
  
  

2008

• Mobile office solutions are being used more and more. Vodafone succeeds for the first time in history to roll out a product simultaneously across Europe: its new 3G UMTS 2.0 PC connect card, bundled with an unlimited data bundle for €100,- per month.
• After the European adoption of one GSM standard (instead of three), negotiations start for the adoption of one 3G (and possibly 4G) standard across the EU.
  
  

2009

• German car manufacturers suffer from the policy of the Christian Democrat government and start to plan the movement of manufacturing facilities further east.
• Windows Mobile 6 is released, which offers a single platform for PDA’s and Smartphones while integrating Exchange and 3rd party software applications. It offers advanced 3G support and comes in the European package with built in Galileo support for sophisticated Location Based Services.
• The use of PC data cards takes off as T-Mobile and Orange come with pan-European solutions to compete with Vodafone’s offer.
  
  

2010

• Strikes and strong opposition enforce premature elections in Germany where the socialist coalition achieves a big victory over Merkel.
• After walking away from negotiations regarding the discount the UK has on European monetary contribution the UK announces it will strengthen its Anglo-Saxon ties.
• Europe announces it has come to a 3G standard: UMTS, while it opts to accept (a variation of) HSUPA as new 4G development standard.
• Eastern European governments officially lodge a protest against the limitation of labour movement.
• The 24/7 worldwide economy demands more flexibility from many people. As organisations are not ready for structural changes they introduce of virtual communities to the workplace.
  
  

2011

• Microsoft buys a license on all Blackberry services and patents. This enables the offer of a complete, windows based, mobile office.
• Employees are complaining more and more about the 9-to-5 mentality of many large corporations.
• Strong contradictions are starting to become clear between the blue and white collar workforce. As the knowledge workers seek increasingly more mobility and flexibility the blue collar workers, backed by the socialist governments, frantically hold on to the past.
  
  

2012

• People can get finally rid of the multiple devices they carry around. Since UMTS has become the standard and blackberry and windows are integrated multiple sophisticated PDA’s and Smartphones are available. Samsung manages to introduce the first 10 megapixel camera in a phone, which also incorporates a 25gig microdrive.
• Major phone manufacturers (even Nokia) start to adopt Microsoft’s mobile platform.
• The European socialist movement limits the will and opportunities for companies to change and become more flexible.
  
  

2013

• Minimal investments in public transportation start to become visible as traffic congestion reaches an all time high. This results in office workers more and more trying to avoid rush hours, which leads to more teleworking from home and other public places like libraries, as wireless internet at fast speeds is now widely available in a lot of large cities.
• Microsoft integrates Blackberry services in its Origami 2.0 system. This system is en route to become the de facto standard for all kind of businesses in the need of using mobile computer technology, such as railways (conductors), express services (couriers), and etcetera.
• Developments in the workplace seem to come to a standstill as investments are slowing down and government agencies refuse to change basically anything at all besides the standard modernization.
  
  

2014

• Heavy competition forces Philips and other electronic giants to do major layoffs.
• Vodafone is once again the first mover, as it starts investing in an advanced HSUPA based 4G network, starting near the large cities in the UK and France.
• Microsoft acquires Blackberry
• Office workers increasingly value their life similar to their work and demand more free time and flexibility choosing their own working hours, which is now theoretically possible due to the multinational character of a lot of businesses. However, this is virtually impossible as socialist governments block any liberalisation of the labour laws that may also affect their support from the blue collar workforce.
  
  

2015

• Developments in the flexibility of European major businesses seem to come to a standstill due to the policy of the socialist governments and the limp EU government as they struggle with the economic situation and try to avoid bankruptcy.

Catalyst for Change

While the EU is still recovering from the failure of the European Constitution the developments in the national politics of the Member States continue. Premature elections in France under pressure of student protests over the proposed liberalization of labour laws bring a socialist government in power, while the Labour party in the UK suffers a historical loss. Rumours about the new anti-European policy of the conservative government start immediately. This will be one of the few conservative voices in Europe. The socialist governments in Spain and Italy team up to put a halt to Eastern European labour entering the EU to protect the jobs of their socialist grassroots support. With help of other socialist votes they succeeded in passing the bill through the European Parliament, which probably will have a negative impact on the European unity.

In the United States the long trial between Blackberry and RIM has come to an end, in favour of Blackberry. Following the wide adoption of this device in the USA it is becoming increasingly popular in Europe, especially within businesses. The success of the Blackberry seems to be part of a trend for more sophisticated mobile offices in the workplace. Vodafone anticipates on this by succeeding for the first time in history to roll out a product simultaneously across Europe: its new 3G UMTS PC connect card, which comes with an unlimited data bundle for €100 per month while Microsoft succeeds in selling a first series of working Origami systems to Deutsche Post, which will use it for parts of its DHL subsidiary. The fancy devices will enable faster package delivery.

The European Union, although struggling with the discrepancies that start to become clear between the Member States, starts negotiations on the adoption of one 3G (and possibly 4G) standard across the EU, following the success of the European adoption of one GSM standard instead of three. This results in the adoption of UMTS as 3G standard, and (a variation of) HSUPA as 4G development standard. Sadly this seems to be the only good news from the politicians. German car manufacturers come under pressure of the policy of the Christian Democrat government and start to plan the movement of manufacturing facilities further east. This leads to strikes and strong opposition, which eventually lead to premature elections resulting in a socialist victory over Merkel. The socialist movement in Europe now has a major voice in the European policymaking. The first results become already visible as the conservative UK government walks away from negotiations regarding the discount of the UK on European monetary contribution. They announce they will strengthen their Anglo-Saxon ties. The Eastern European Member States start some opposition as well, and lodge an official protest against the limitation of labour movement across borders.

The 24/7 worldwide economy demands more flexibility from many people. As organisations are not yet ready for structural changes they introduce virtual communities to the workplace. More temporarily, non-structural, measures are supported by introduction of pan-European PC data cards by T-Mobile and Orange to compete with Vodafone’s offer. Microsoft also has quite some interesting news for technological capabilities in the workplace. It introduces Windows Mobile 6 and announces the acquiring of a license on all Blackberry services and patents. These will be soon made available via update for both Mobile 5 and 6.

Strong contradictions are starting to become clear between the blue and white collar workforce. As the knowledge workers seek increasingly more mobility and flexibility the blue collar workers, backed by the socialist governments, frantically hold on to the past. Minimal investments in public transportation start to become visible as traffic congestion reaches an all time high. This results in office workers more and more trying to avoid rush hours, which leads to more teleworking from home and other public places like libraries, as wireless internet at fast speeds is now widely available in a lot of large cities. However major corporations are barely ready for any changes in the flexibility, and those that are capable and willing to change are largely restrained by the measures of the socialist governments. This results in the paradox of employees complaining about the 9-to-5 mentality of their employer. Albeit the continuous improvement of technological opportunities the developments in the workplace seem to come to standstill as investments are slowing down and government agencies refuse to change basically anything at all besides the standard modernisation.

The purchase of the Blackberry license was only the first step of Microsoft. As it now acquired the entire Blackberry company it continues to introduce its functionality, the next target being the Origami 2.0 system. This system is en route to become the de facto standard for all kind of businesses in the need of using mobile computer technology, such as railways (conductors), express services (couriers), and etcetera. As major phone manufacturers accept Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 Blackberry system with open arms (even Nokia) people can get finally rid of the multiple devices they carry around. Since UMTS has become the European 3G standard and Windows and Blackberry have been integrated multiple sophisticated PDAs and Smartphones have become available. Samsung manages to introduce the first 10 megapixel camera in a smartphone, which also incorporate a 25GB microdrive. More technology-candy is to come as Vodafone starts investing in an advanced HSUPA-based 4G network, starting in the large cities in the UK and France (via its subsidiary SFR).

Developments in the flexibility of European major businesses seem to come to a standstill due to the policy of the socialist governments and the limp EU government as they struggle with the economic situation and try to avoid bankruptcy. Philips and other electronic giants seem to be the first real victims as they have to execute major layoffs. Office workers increasingly value their life similar to their work and demand more free time and flexibility choosing their own working hours, which is now theoretically possible due to the multinational character of a lot of businesses. However, this is virtually impossible as socialist governments block any liberalisation of the labour laws that may also affect their support from the blue collar workforce. Europe and its businesses have seemed to reach a dead-lock situation that limits any future economic prosperity and structural changes in the workplace.