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On the floor at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2007
Written by Rich Bremer
Monday, 05 November 2007
At the recent CTIA fall gig I had several hours to browse the floor,
checking out the latest applications, devices, services, and enabling
technologies. The following are a few of the announcements and demos
that got my attention. Some Hot topics this year include: GPS-aware
devices, social networking, security, mobile TV, device convergence,
open systems, and location!
Enablers... Always present, Autodesk was on hand at
the Navteq Connections event and on the exhibition floor touting their location
services developer program to application developers. The developer program
offers developers standard compliant APIs and a building block via an SDK that
puts sample code and documents at the fingertips of developers. Autodesk is once
again encouraging developers to build on Location Logic and enter your
contribution in the LBSChallenge. The company's pitch is that developers can
easily deploy and develop LBS services for the JavaME, .NET, C++, and BREW
environments supporting channels that use SMS, MMS and other enablers. See www.autodesk.com/locationservices
deCarta was on hand touting the deCarta Javaascript
API (and more). This API promises rapid application development and a way to
integrate the company's popular Drill Down Server (DDS) into your LBS
application... also another logical solution for anyone interested in taking
part in this year's Navteq LBSChallenge. The company's API offers developers a
short learning curve, rapid time to market, ability to create customized maps
(and branding), Global deployment on the same platform and more. Some of the
functionality included in the API includes: reverse geocoding, customizable pins
and icons, multi-stop routing, draggable maps, geocoding, address look-up and
more. See www.decarta.com
Navteq was sharing details of Entry Map to
developers interested in the LBS market segment. Entry Map is a set of data
designed for countries that currently have less than NAVTEQ's full coverage.
This seamless data solution crosses boundaries and offers a minimum of road
class one and two network coverages. The dataset is an ideal solution for
developers creating apps that require map display, geocoding, and reverse
geocoding for solutions such as fleet management, asset tracking, vehicle
location, fin-me apps, and geo-marketing. See www.navteq.com
Navteq and friends are always a visible presence on the show
floor
GeoBase (part of Telogis) was offering developers a
look at their Navigation SDK. This package offers a tool box of turn-by-turn
navigation and routing functions, ideal for developing apps for most handhelds
and PNDs. The suite offers a compact GeoBase file format, data clipping,
multi-platform deployment, and Windows Mobile compatible control via a native
.NET component and C libraries for embedded Linux. See more at www.technology4gis.com
Blackberry devices were seen everywhere... most
popular these days are the Curve and now the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition
smartphone. This sleek device is lightweight (4.6 oz), offers 9 days of standby
battery life (3.6 hrs talk time), trackball navigation, preloaded Blackberry
Maps application, Bluetooth and USB support, embedded modem, 64 MB flash memory,
and global roaming on GSM and GPRS netwroks. See www.blackberry.com
Are you a fan of predictive text? If so then fastap
and eZiType technology offers a clever solution that will help you upload
messages or post to your blog from a mobile in no time. The solution enables
flexible texting features like smart punctuation, word completion, one-touch
entry, auto hyphenation, phrase prediction, next word prediction, and even dual
language messaging. the application can be further personalized via a personal
dictionary. This solution comes from digitwireelss.com
On stage with Steve Balmer of Microsoft, the System
Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 and Exchange Server 2007 promises to be an
exciting and hugely popular edition to the company's mobile offerings in 08.
Designed for managing the corporate IT infrastructure, these solutions enable IT
managers to address evolving needs around security and management while
connecting corporate users to the information they need. See more at www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/enterprise/
Steve Balmer of Microsoft talking
about the System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008
Under the topic of cool, I happened to bump into a
gentleman on the floor carrying a new palm-sized Internet Tablet PC... called
thePCedge. This device offers mobile high speed internet access with a free GPS
service. Small, lightweight, stylish, this device definitely turns heads. The
company plans to sell the device for around $299 with a service contract of
about $29 month. See more at www.thepcedge.com
Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) are a HUGE
market in North America and according to many sessions, the revenues and sales
of these devices have been nothing less than stellar! Garmin was on hand showing
off the popular nuvi 200 series. Weighing in at a little over 5 oz., the device
sports a 2.8"x2.1" display, runs on DC vehicle power, offers routing and turn by
turn instructions to users. Preloaded map data comes and there's also an SD
memory card expansion slot, anti-theft feature, and a sporty suction cup mount.
See www.garmin.com
Another Garmin powered navigation service is
offered via EZnav (from xora). EZnav delivers turn by turn audible and visual
navigation to mobile device users. Features include routing, directions, bypass
feature, and re-routing. The service is compatible with most iDen and CDMA
handsets and sells at $5.99 per month. See www.xora.com
If Linux is your thing then you may be interested in the new Nokia N810
Internet Tablet, seen in many booths and being showed off at the way cool Nokia
MOSH party during CTIA. Designed for the traveler who wants to be connected to
the web anytime, anywhere, the N810 provides 4 hrs of continuous usage (10 hrs
of music playback time) on a charge, integrated GPS, pre-loaded map
application (with data), 256 MB Flash RAM, a 400 Mhz processor, high quality
stereo speakers and much more.
Device of choice... no doubt the Nokia N95 received the
most attention at CTIA. This device is new and now available in the US...
sporting 8GB of memory, the Symbian OS, integrated GPS, Nokia maps, and now a
newly released Google maps for mobile this one is a must-have for anyone seeking
a location-aware smartphone. It's billed as the official device of the
LBSChallenge although consumers may have to do a little extra work trying to
locate one.
The Nokia N95 smartphone with integrated GPS
Those of you with a mobile device sans integrated GPS Wayfinder is a handy
solution that provides GPS navigation for your mobile when used along with a
Bluetooth GPS receiver. The application helps users locate street addresses,
provides some 15 million POIs in the US and Canada, and offers turn by turn
voice navigation. Wayfinder requires a Bluetooth enabled mobile device and a GPS
receiver... see www.wayfinder.com
Mobile TV is big and going to be HUGE... one service provider is
mobitv.com... for as little as $9.99 a month you can now have access to loads of
programming on your mobile device. AT&T is supported but sadly, T-Mobile
isn't so I can't use this application at the moment.
Another cool mobile video (and PC) solution is mywaves.com. This is a free
service where users can browse or upload videos and share with the world. Access
the videos from your PC and then send a link to your mobile via text messaging.
Then you can watch the video anytime anywhere... very nice! This is a free
service and it's tons of fun! See http://www.mywaves.com
Another hot application is Weatherbug. This mobile service provides users
with mobile weather. mobile on demand services, and even a handy severe weather
alert notification system. The company actually has a huge network of weather
stations around the country providing them with real-time information on weather
patterns. Most major US carriers are supported for users of Blackberry and
Windows mobile devices (what, no symbian??). Weatherbug is also available via a
PC client - see http://weather.weatherbug.com/
An interesting exhibitor in the Tele Atlas partner pavilion was the Travel
Channel. The company was on hand to tell developers that they have content...
LOTS of content. Developers thinking of creating a compelling application might
consider a location-aware service that integrates some of the fabulous Travel
Channel videos... imagine being able to view a haunted house tour when your
visiting a city that the network covered in one of their shows. OR, perhaps you
want to mobilize the travels of the way cool Anthony Bourdain with a cool LBS
application walking the user through a cool tour of parts of New York they may
have never considered visiting... the sky is the limit! The network is offering
some interesting POIs, rich text, photos, travel related information, and travel
channel access. See www.travelchannel.com
If you collect loads of mobile photos then locr has an application that
should interest you. Locr.com enables users to catalog, manage, and share their
photos on maps. Using the application you can easily connect GPS information to
your photographs, store them online in your moblog, show and share photos with
your friends. Catalog, geotag, and share your photos using locr. The mobile
application supports Symbian OS and Windows Mobile devices. See www.locr.com
Need memory? SanDisk has 1, 2 and 4 GB Mini and Micro SD cards for most
handsets. Adding a 4GB card to any handset enables the user to then carry around
hundreds of songs or videos. Best of all, at less than $100 its a very
affordable solution. Word has it that next year we should see the 8GB micro SD!
See www.sandisk.com
Finally, if you need a hands free solution for your vehicle look no further
than yada. This cool device is a universal phone holder + headset and car
charger. Simply place your mobile in the device on your dash, plop the ear piece
in position, it charges while your driving, and offers safe, hands-free usage
while driving enabling you to keep your hands on the wheel. yada is powered via
Bluetooth and can be mounted in a number of positions including air vent mount,
dash board, windshield (suction cup) or cup holder. See www.winplus.com or www.letsyada.com
Observations:
There’s no doubt about it, content is still king… however, simplicity and
ease of use are indeed “the killer app”. That was the message presented in
sessions, demonstrations, panel discussions, and meetings at North America’s
recent wireless industry convention. Some of the key impressions I took away
from the event include the following:
- mobile content is king and the
industry (and users) are craving more mobile content – in particular
entertainment.
- Application developers have plenty of opportunities,
although the competition is brisk. Simple to use, intuitive applications are
what people want. Make it functional, entertaining, useful, and simple.
-
Location-based services and applications are hot and in demand. Think about it,
there were more than 340 entries in this year’s North American LBS Challenge.
Looking to get your LBS app on a device? Think social networking, community
building, antertainment, and gaming… these appear to be the LBS services that
are of greatest interest (to carriers and end users)
- GPS-enabled devices
are coming on strong.
- Developing applications for a variety of handsets,
operating systems, and languages is still a challenge. Its still quite amazing
to see many applications that have been created to run solely on one application
or even one device.
- We have strong consumer demand
- There’s rapid
adoption and revenues generated from the consumer via voice, data, and in
particular SMS
- We have more location aware devices coming to market
-
The user has been provided with a superior user exp
- go 2 market
opportunities are expanding, new business models flourishing, and new solutions
emerging
- Take note of the 7 pillars or digital marketing: location,
content, search, personalization, community, interactivity, presence.
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At the recent CTIA fall gig I had several hours to browse the floor,
checking out the latest applications, devices, services, and enabling
technologies. The following are a few of the announcements and demos
that got my attention. Some Hot topics this year include: GPS-aware
devices, social networking, security, mobile TV, device convergence,
open systems, and location! 
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