iPhone

Microsoft: "We want to give our customers choice"

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:11:12 -0400

With Apple's iPhone 3G launch garnering so much media attention last week, Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business senior vice president Andrew Lees sat down with Dow Jones Newswires to confirm it will not follow its rival's lead and develop a branded handset of its own. "We want to give our customers choice," Lees said, reiterating that Microsoft anticipates the greatest growth potential lies in mobile software, not devices. Citing an International Data Corp. survey estimating that smartphones will represent 21 percent of the 1.4 billion mobile phones sold in 2011, Lees added "There is a very high growth potential, and we want additionally to gain market share."

According to Lees, Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS now runs on 140 devices from 50 different manufacturers, which he said makes Windows Mobile more successful than the iPhone. He referred to an IDC report stating that while 4.4 million Windows Mobile-based smartphones were sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2008, only 1.7 million iPhones were sold during the same timeframe. "The iPhone hype is completely disproportionate to the number of people that utilize phones that use our software," Lees said.

Lees stopped short of proclaiming his dad can beat up Steve Jobs' dad.

For more on Microsoft's mobile outlook:
- read this CNNMoney.com article

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Study: Most wireless development targets .Net, Java ME

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:05:26 -0400

Despite the hype surrounding Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, more developers are targeting their apps to run on the .Net Compact Frameworks and Java ME platforms according to a new survey released by IT market intelligence firm Evans Data Corporation. Among 384 professional mobile developers polled by Evans Data, 42 percent said they are creating applications for .Net--the same percentage of respondents cited Java ME, followed by Linux and Windows Mobile 6.0. Only 7 percent of developers are creating apps for either Android or Mac OS, although the report notes neither has been around long enough to seriously contend with more established platforms.

Other findings of the Evans Data survey:
• Fifty-six percent of respondents are targeting Nokia devices, followed by Motorola (33 percent) and Sony Ericsson (29 percent).
• Over one-third of wireless developers are developing applications for external use by their company's customers.
• The biggest obstacle to creating wireless applications remains cross-platform testing requirements, followed by lack of access to device APIs.
• More location-based applications are in development in Asia and Europe than in North and South America.

For more on the Evans Data report:
-read this release

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Microsoft: No Zune phone in the cards

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:56:59 -0400

Despite soliciting feedback on how its Zune portable media device might more effectively interoperate with devices based on the Windows Mobile OS, Microsoft maintains there are no plans to release a so-called "Zune phone" anytime in the imminent future. In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Microsoft's entertainment and devices division president Robbie Bach says the software giant is not working on a converged Zune/Windows Mobile device: "We continue driving the path we are driving with Windows Mobile and we are very excited about the approach we have taken this year. About 20 million devices will ship with Windows Mobile on it. We will outsell the iPhone. We will outsell the BlackBerry. We don't make phones ourselves. We don't have any plans to make phones ourselves. Our focus is on the belief that a phone is a very personal thing. Different people want different types of phones. We think that is going to continue, and we think Windows Mobile is in a great position to service all those different opportunities."

For more on Microsoft's mobile outlook:
- read this San Francisco Chronicle article

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Google demonstrates Android applications

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Google publicly demonstrated its forthcoming Android mobile operating system Wednesday during its annual developer conference in San Francisco, touting the platform's mobile web services, mobile gaming prowess and map features by means of an iPhone-like touchscreen device. Speaking at Google's I/O conference, the firm's vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra said Android heralds its attempt to extend the browser to handheld devices: "We believe over time, the browser on mobile devices will be the entry point for many, many applications," he said.

During the brief demonstration, Google showed the audience Android versions of its Google Maps Street View service (bolstered by the device's internal compass and accelerometer) as well as a snippet of a Pac-Man game--other bells and whistles include mobile website bookmarking and a mobile web content magnifying tool.

Andy Rubin, the Google exec charged with spearheading the Android initiative, said Android-based devices remain on track to hit retail sometime during the second half of 2008. Rubin also hinted strongly that Google is planning to launch an Android application storefront: "It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort," he said. "We wouldn't have done our job if we didn't provide something that helps developers get distribution."

For more on the Android demo:
-read this Associated Press article and watch this Android live demo

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Video Takes a Social Turn on Mobiles

Mike Dolan — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:21:57 -0400

Already hot on the PC Internet, sharing video on wireless devices seems a logical next step

By Susan Murray

Wireless data is skyrocketing, networks are getting speedier and community is gaining traction on mobile handsets. All of these factors are helping video become more of a social experience on the wireless phone, especially from the perspective of mobile video provider Transpera, which is looking to help monetize web videos on mobile phones by working with publishers and carriers.

Frank Barbieri, CEO of Transpera, believes adding the social aspect to the mobile video content offerings is important because, "people don't want to just be entertained, they want to share [content] with their friends." This plays to Transpera's philosophy that mobile video is more than being able to view broadcast TV programs on a handset, it is about interaction and community. Early video experiences on mobile phones simply replicated the cable model where users pay a monthly fee, but Barbieri said Transpera has found that users are more interested in video experiences that are shared or user generated.

Transpera is helping to propel the video movement forward on the BREW platform. Alltel used Transpera technology to bring its Alltel Social Video service to its customer base. The application goes beyond just video playback, by enabling users to create share groups and make use of address book integration capabilities. Users also have the option to rate and review videos. "The Transpera platform that Alltel Wireless chose to use for its social video application will provide its customers with seamless video and advertising delivery, while connecting them to the entertaining and social world of online video," Barbieri said.

While the emergence of the iPhone has helped propel video usage on handsets and Barbieri has seen an explosion of growth on WAP, he said BREW can offer users a new level of sophistication. "There is a willingness to drive capabilities for video on the BREW deck," he said. Wireless industry analyst Jeff Kagan agreed, saying BREW is a compelling offer. "It is a great middleware that links technologies," he said.

Adding video or a social aspect to mobile content makes sense to Kagan. "It has only been a few years since [social video] started exploding [on the PC]...and it has become very successful with users. The next step is always to the mobile device," said Kagan, who notes that the success on mobile however depends on how well it is marketed and on the experience of the people running the companies pushing the technology.

The Carrier Perspective

Carriers should wrap their arms around social video for mobiles because it offers them a way to capture young consumers. The 16 to 24-year old set of consumers, which Barbieri called "Mobile Primaries," are highly invested in their mobile phone and are looking to new phones to satisfy them -- it doesn't matter to them where the content originates. To prove his point, Barbieri referred to an ABI Research study showing how mobile consumers are willing to get their content from various sources. The "Mobile Content Survey Results" report found that of the 14 percent of survey participants that watch video content on their mobile device, were divided about even as to where they acquired video content: 35 percent from YouTube; 31 percent directly from the carrier's content suite; and 28 percent from side-loading content. Carriers, according to this study, can benefit by opening up their networks and pushing farther into ad-supported content delivery.

Video Keeps Rolling

Barbieri believes we are just at the tipping point when it comes to video on mobile phones, noting that there will be a strong correlation between 3G penetration and video usage uptake. "If you look at the penetration of 3G-capable handsets, we are at about 30 percent in North America; broadband households was at 30 percent in 2005, which was a tipping point for [broadband]," he said. "We are at a tipping point for mobile."

Musing about the possibility of success for adding a social aspect to video offered on mobile devices, Kagan asserted, "Obviously it is going to be hot ... it is part of the wireless experience that is brand new, but it will be limited to a segment of the marketplace who like the Internet."

Most wireless apps miss the mark

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:18:42 -0400

Even the best mobile applications today don't take full advantage of the wireless network.

By Iain Gillott

Many companies and individuals have described a future for mobile content as it relates to the desktop-based Internet. Coupled with the development of mobile devices (i.e. bigger brighter screens, faster processors, increased memory and infinite battery life) the Web-centric protagonists simply extend the best applications and content to the mobile device.

An example can be seen in the recent concepts that have emerged for games based on Apple's iPhone. The games make use of the iPhone's Mac OS and its processor to simply extend Mac games to the mobile device - the user interface and movement sensor are incorporated into the game's controls.

Other example is music. Music is commonly available on mobile phones and a range of OEMs allow for both side-loading and downloading of music to the device. Some operators offer streaming music and, obviously, video.

This is easy to do but really misses the value of mobility. The Web-centists are just taking Internet content and applications and shrinking them to fit a smaller mobile device. In essence, the content is just moving from one platform to another, without taking advantage of the mobile aspects of the wireless network.

Wireless networks today offer more than simple connectivity. Aside from the location services (based around GPS or cell site triangulation), the network also detects presence for both device and application (for example, a network server knows when you start an IM application on your handset). Through a contact or buddy list, the network knows when your friends are ‘on' network.

Payment and purchase history also are easy to find, as well as communication behavior. For example, the network knows when a subscriber usually makes calls or sends text messages. I make the majority of my calls when I'm in Austin between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. But when traveling, I tend to call later into the evening and earlier in the morning. My kids never call or text (OK, they rarely call but always seem to need to text) during school hours.

The network also knows all about the device I am using including the screen size, the type of keyboard, the processor, memory, speed of the data connection, and battery life. For those people who will argue that open network access will remove this level of knowledge from the network, remember that each device will be certified for the network and will carry an IMEI or its equivalent.

Since the network, and therefore the application and content provider, know a greater level of detail about the subscriber and their device, this information can be layered into the content itself. For example:

A college kid may be introduced through social networking to other students in the same vicinity with a similar taste in music or games. Imagine all of the Britney Spears fans at a university student union ‘meeting.' OK, bad example - Brit's remaining fans could probably meet in a phone booth.

Advertising inserted into mobile games can change to match the user's location. For example, if the subscriber is playing a game on their mobile in the airport, the ads embedded in the game would be for the food court, book shop or maybe a competing airline.

Multi-player gaming could also make far better use of location, presence and social networking to enable more interaction between players. For example, the equivalent of Paint Ball could be played on mobile devices in a building - the phones are the guns and the building's layout would show on the screen together with the location of the other players. Obviously, this would require accurate location determination through a building and a way to introduce everyone but it could be a fun way to pass the inevitable airport delays. Imagine playing Virtual Paint Ball at Terminal D in Dallas Fort Worth Airport with a group of complete strangers you met through LinkedIn.

User-generated content can easily be uploaded from a mobile device to the Web. But what if you could shoot a video and then publish to group of like-minded users through the operator? Compensation based on viewers could be in the form of micropayments or credits to your mobile account. Web cams are limited to a single location - mobile cams would allow people to publish their entire mobile lives.

Maybe some of these ideas are a little far out but you get the idea. Creatively mixing the best attributes of mobile with the computing power of a mobile device will, in the next few years, result in a whole new generation of mobile content.

Iain Gillott is the founder of iGR Research, a market strategy consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile communications industry.

Touchscreen Technology

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:31:34 -0400

by Brian Dolan

Apple's iPhone has served as a stake in the ground for a number of growing trends that are creeping up in advanced feature phones, but more than any other, the handset may one day be remembered for single-handedly killing off the stylus.

Phones that require a stylus to enable their touch capabilities make use of resistive touchscreen technology, which require pressure. Resistive touchscreens have two layers with a gap in between them-when a user presses down on the top screen with a stylus the lower layer indicates the location.

The iPhone, Prada Phone and nearly all of their touch contemporaries make use of a touch technology called capacitive sensing technology, which makes use of the conductive qualities of human fingers. They require users to touch but not press the screen. The screens have three key parts: a clear capacitive touch screen placed over a high-quality LCD and a final layer of a plastic lens that protects it from wear and tear.

"We are at a cusp of the touchscreen trend," said Sy Choudhury, open operating system product manager, of Qualcomm CDMA Technology. "Two things are happening that are driving the spread of touchscreen phones: The realization that bigger LCD screens are becoming affordable thanks to cost efficiencies and the ability to better integrate user interfaces to capacitive screens than to resistive screens."

Apple's iPhone and Prada's iPhone both make use of Synaptic's capacitive technology. The company's ClearPad solution enables users to perform a number of gestures that the phone can recognize as different commands: single-finger tap, double tap, tap and hold or tap and slide, press, flick and two-finger pinch are among the options.

Choudhury said Neonode, Apple and HTC are credited with pioneering capacitive touchscreen phones with the N1, iPhone and Touch, respectively. The key to these phones success will be how well the capacitive screen is integrated with the phones' UI.

Qualcomm is busy integrating capacitive touchscreen capabilities to Windows Mobile phones, Android-powered handsets as well as BREW-powered phones.

While the industry is on the verge of widespread availability of various touchscreen handsets, Choudhury said the next wave for these advanced handsets is haptics, or tactile feedback and vibrations that contribute greater control of the touch capabilities of a phone.

Immersion's VibeTonz System is arguably the leading one in the budding space thanks to its ability to tie a phone's vibration actuator to tactile cues in response to touchscreen presses. The company claims that haptics can help users to navigate their phones without having to look at the screen as much or hear key sounds, leading to improved execution time and decreased error rates.

The adoption of touchscreen phones has long been hindered because users have had to pick up a stylus, Choudhury said. "Trying to hit that little ‘x' with the stylus was absolutely annoying."

Touchscreen as we knew it is now over. Long live the new paradigm of touch.

Tapping the touchscreen phenomenon

Thu, 22 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Phones such as Apple's iPhone and the LG Prada phone have made resistive touchscreens the latest phenomenon in handset design. Both phones make use of Synaptic's capacitive technology that enables users to perform a number of gestures that the phone can recognize as different commands: single-finger tap, double tap, tap and hold or tap and slide, press, flick and two-finger pinch are among the options.

Qualcomm is busy integrating capacitive touchscreen capabilities into BREW-powered phones and the touchscreen phenomenon will be a topic of discussion during the BREW session "Touchscreen and Multiple Device Form Factor Support--Slice and Dice" on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Partner Pavilion.

Browsing with BREW

Thu, 22 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Mobile browsing has become a hot button topic in wireless ever since the introduction of the iPhone last June. But browsing is still the root of a lot of frustration for many wireless users. A recent study issued by market analysis firm Forrester Research reports that 58 percent of total North American wireless subscribers feel the mobile web fails to meet their needs, with 60 percent of respondents complaining their mobile device screens are simply too small for activities beyond making calls and sending text messages.

Many developers say BREW is a preferred platform when it comes to mobile Web browsing because the technology makes it easier to integrate and standardize. In addition, BREW is supported by a lot of handsets, both high-end and low tier. Browsing will be a topic of much discussion at BREW 2008, particularly at the "Browsing on BREW" panel on Wednesday at 2:45 p.m.

iPhone patents forecast GPS, games...and an MVNO?

Tue, 20 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

With the iPhone 2.0 buzz continuing to escalate, mobile phone blog Dial-a-Phone reports that patents filed by Apple in recent weeks suggest the device will include GPS capabilities and gaming among its core functions. United States Patent Application 20080113614, filed by Apple on May 15, 2008 and titled "Personal media devices with wireless communication," details communications between WiFi-enabled handsets: "Such communication provides users of personal media devices with access to several WiFi oriented applications," the patent reads. "For example, in one embodiment a personal media device may wirelessly download subscription assets (e.g., podcast) as they become available. In another embodiment, content specific or local to a merchant may be provided to personal media devices that are in wireless communication with a wireless router affiliated with the merchant. For example, if the merchant is a restaurant, the merchant may provide a menu to the personal media device and the user may place an order on his or her media device by selecting items on the menu."

On April 17, Apple filed two patents: Number 20080088858, titled "System and Method for Processing Images Using Predetermined Tone Reproduction Curves," outlines a new image processing method and system suggesting enhanced iPhone camera capabilities, while patent number 20080088602, for a "Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device," details configurable user inputs based on how the product is to be used, with functionality modes including "PDA, mobile phone, music player, camera, video player, game player, handtop, Internet terminal, GPS receiver, and remote control."

A week earlier, Apple filed patent number 20080085707, "Dynamic Carrier Selection," which is summarized thusly: "The mobile device may not be associated with a particular home network operator. Bids can be received from multiple network operators for rates at which communication services using each network operator can be obtained. Preferences among the network operators can be determined using the received bids, and the preferences are used to select the network operator." In other words, expect the long-dormant Apple MVNO rumors to resume in force.

For more on Apple's patent filings:
-read this Dial-a-Phone article

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