Debating the future

The Best Way to Waste Bandwidth?

davepring — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:20:10 -0800

The biggest breakthroughs in the mobile user experience are going to be achieved by people who focus on how best to waste bandwidth. That was the deliberately-provocative notion presented by Hampus Jakobsson, strategist and co-founder at The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), during a Mobile World Congress conference session looking ahead to 2020. read more »

3G-Enabled Photo Frames – Facebook for Seniors?

davepring — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:39:48 -0800

Will consumers pay to receive photographs? That seems to be the premise behind digital photo frames with a built-in 3G connection. If people are going to pay for pics anywhere, it will be in Japan, where photography is a national passion and people are accustomed to paying for value-added mobile services beyond flat-rate data tariffs. read more »

The Embedded Chicken or the Egg

davepring — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:45:53 -0800

Almost everyone agrees the biggest growth opportunity for the mobile industry is to go beyond handsets and laptops to connect cars, trucks, vans, utility meters, industrial sensors, healthcare machines, cameras and pretty much everything else to the Internet. But there isn't quite so much consensus on how large that growth opportunity is.

In this post, the first in a series on the so-called embedded mobile market, I'll take a closer look at some of the forecasts out there. read more »

Taking Fixed-Mobile Convergence Beyond Discounts

davepring — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:14:04 -0800

As the big incumbent telecoms companies seek ways to shore up revenues and differentiate themselves from upstart rivals, fixed-mobile convergence is once again rising up the executive agenda. But breakthrough services, which will persuade consumers and businesses to sign up to bundled mobile and fixed services, remain elusive. Today, the main draw for purchasing a fixed and mobile service from the same provider is still some kind of discount, which is hardly the way to expand the broader telecoms market. read more »

Start-Up Successfully Sidesteps Mobile Ecosystem

davepring — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:35:37 -0800

Waiting for handsets with Near Field Communications (NFC) chips, can feel like waiting for Godot. Although 400 NFC handsets from Samsung were used in a trial at the Mobile World Congress last week and larger scale pilots are planned to begin in the spring, commercial NFC-enabled handsets are still few and far between. read more »

How Incumbents' World View is Changing

davepring — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:49:04 -0800

News that AT&T plans to establish at least three "innovation centers" during 2010 highlights how the incumbent telcos now realize their world is changing fast and they need to change with it. AT&T said that the centers will be designed to enable AT&T's scientists and engineers to work directly with device makers, network equipment providers and application developers, who will have access to "a full range of AT&T services and network capabilities" to help them develop new applications. read more »

Displaying the Future

davepring — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:22:34 -0800

Scouring the halls of the Mobile World Congress this week, it was crystal clear that the long-promised revolution in display technology is now under way, transforming the mobile experience of watching video, playing games and reading text. A new generation of high-resolution handset displays is paving the way for the development of graphically-rich and highly-immersive applications that really draw the user in, rather than just killing their time. read more »

Google Extends the Hand of Generosity to Developers

davepring — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:04:35 -0800

Google’s charm offensive towards mobile developers seems to be intensifying. Today, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Internet giant handed out free Nexus One handsets, which retail for more than $500, to several hundred developers attending presentations at the Android Development Lab. read more »

Can Start-ups Shake up the Mobile Infrastructure Market?

davepring — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:33:49 -0800

Should start-ups try and break into the network infrastructure market or should they leave it to the big boys? read more »

How Big Brands Play the Mobile App Game

davepring — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:47:09 -0800

Like a once scruffy teenager smartening himself up to take on a professional job, mobile apps have matured from rough and ready Java games, coded in bedrooms or Starbucks, to professional software applications increasingly polished to perfection. Big business has moved in big time.

"The expansion in mobile apps is a lot like the growth 10 years ago of web sites," says Louis Gump, vice president of mobile at CNN, in an interview. "It is easy enough to create mobile apps, but they are still new enough to routinely have notable impact for consumers and publishers when they launch." read more »