Open mobile networks and the thumb people-- could it happen in the States?

Verizon made news by announcing that it will open its network up and

Staring next year, they'll be able to use any phone that meets quality standards

Source: usatoday.com

and while the whole "meets their quality standards" thing may be problematic, this move probably signals the shift in the States to mobile computing as it is in Europe and Asia -- open and ubiquitous, so easy to use, it becomes transparent. The Japanese refer to "Keitai" or things they carry and their mobile phone culture.

And the "thumb people?" How do they have anything to do with politics in the States?

In South Korea, with one of the highest rates of broadband and wireless penetration, their mobile culture is a generation or two ahead of the states. The mobile is ubiquitous and just there, like one's hand. In fact, the winner of the upcoming, increasingly heated presidential election in South Korea may be determined by "thumb people" not by regular voters because ... 

thumb people," cell-phone users who can send a detailed text message in the blink of an eye. Cell phones and text messaging are in fact so ubiquitous here that they have now made their way into South Korea's developing democratic institutions, leading to another catch-all phrase: mobile-voting.

Source: news.newamericamedia.org

The demographics of the thumb people skew young and male and on December 19th, the voting age will drop in South Korea from 20 to 19, bringing in as many as 37 million more potential voters. 

With conservative presidential candidate Myung Bak Lee, mayor of Seoul, the leading candidate, possibly in trouble with financial scandal, the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP) favorite Chung Dong-young, who was chosen in the primary election by thumb people who voted for him, might be a surprise challenger whose young mobile supporters bring him victory.

The same young demographic doesn't vote much in the  States, though the election of pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor in Minnesota showed how opening up the polls can bring these reluctant voters in. In Minnesota, that meant allowing motor voter registration and same day, walk-in registration and voting.
Now imagine for a moment who is watching all the "debates" in the States (I do not call sound bite dramatics a debate) on television. Even when you can ask questions via Youtube, I don't think that lots of people who would fall into the thumb people category, actually watch the debate live or in its entirety.
But once the mobile services open up, and keitai becomes an American word, I expect we will have mobile voting. The thumb people who will determine future elections are probably in 6th grade now, and about 11 or 12 years old. They don't email -- they IM or they MySpace or Facebook. They don't watch TV, at least not on the Networks' schedule. They probably can create an interesting "debate" as a mashup, which they don't even bother to upload to Youtube, because they put it on their social network.
What are they paying attention to, and how will their thumbs manifest the will the people in years to come?

NowPublic

Tags: message | Seoul | South Korea | cell-phone | DEMOCRATIC | Elections | ELECTORAL | Korean | PHONES | Politics | TEXT | thumb | VOTING