The best place to look would probably be CTIA and FCC sites. One can also check out the major wireless analysis companies such as Gartner, Yankee Group, Canalys etc. One should also look at where and when the GSM Association is holding events (probably in Asia/Pac and Europe but really global in nature).
Some other sites to get this information would be:
http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efiercewireless%2Ecom%2Fevents%2F
http://www.mobilemonday-dc.com/
http://totalteamsolutions.com/
http://totalteam.blogspot.com/
http://www.tsnn.com/
http://www.try%20mobilware.org/
http://www.mwwusa.com/
http://www.wowgao.com/ for government-oriented conferences on these subjects
http://www.mwwusa.com/ (Mobile & Wireless World - Computerworld Strategic Programs & Events )
As an advise though I would recommend that one should probably want to really think about why he/she wants to go to such an event, if he/she wants to market something then that's a good excuse BUT if you want to go to such an event to make solid industry contacts you really need to make sure that the meetings are set up in advance.
The worst thing to do is to go an industry event with no planning, preparation and no introductions to the right folks. You will just be bleeding money.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
After SMS what is the next killer application for Mobile industry?
I don't believe that there can be a single answer to this question, because it depends on how different cultures use their mobile devices. For example, in Japan, the norm is that people do not work until they get to work and thus the mobile device is a personal entertainment device. In the US it is seen as a work productivity device as the primary need. Still I have put together the thoughts on what might be the next big thing in the mobility space and as I see that each one has it’s own merits.
Content Sharing & GPS Services
The next and most popular application will be one which allows users to collaborate in the development and distribution of user generated content between users. At present there are pieces of this puzzle that have been formed, but in the final analysis, I believe that a service which allows people to create media through their mobile, then share it between other users - especially with location based services baked in - will be a popular one. This could be the Key to growth to VAS revenues
Voice Control
Spoken commands and responses in voice for things like text messages (first) and browsing the web are expected to become prevalent. Voice tags already allow you to dial without touching the keypad (though we all know how well THAT works), but voice control on PCs is still pretty poor. In the long term, it is expected that the cell phone and ear-bud morphing into the central processor for the wearable computer.
Connecting mobile with home appliances / home computer
Mobile can act as a clutter reducer. People would want to replace the wallet, the keys, as well as the office functions such as email, contacts, calender and entertainment functions such as music and video. But at the same time they would want to be able to access my content from anywhere.
Micro-payments using Mobile Phones
Once the problem of user authentication is addressed then could be the next big thing. Wallet phones can serve as mobile credit cards, room keys, ATM cards and more. Wallet phones create a totally new eco-system, and give mobile operates new business models in the payments and the consumer credit industry. For this the mobile phones will have to be made independent of hardware and mobile operators. Things like biometrics authentication, knowledge based authentication are also on the card.
Mobile Advertising Space
A system that will allow sales people to have sophisticated triggers with Videos, images, documents and other digital assets as a part of the company's story readily available via pda and dispensed intelligently in a matter of seconds. There are five main areas of mobile advertising focus at the moment:
1. SMS to win/SMS to register interest: Allows brands to solicit interest from potential customers and typically complemented by print media, packaging, etc. This is now very common and has a well established business model
2. Mobile Portal banner ads: Very similar to the banner ad model on the internet today but constrained by device capability and consumer use of mobile devices for browsing the internet. Both of these are improving which will speed industry growth. All operators now have a mobile portal that can be monetised in this way and there are other mobile portal providers going this way. Check out the Toyota ad on http://wap.drive.com.au.link below (works in a normal browser).
3. Mobile Search: Similar to the internet model and will increase rapidly as consumers use mobile search engines from Google and Yahoo to navigate off-net content. It will be typical pay to get to the top of the list stuff and even more important when there is only a small screen.
4. Branded Content: Most operators are offering mobile services such as news alerts, video streaming, etc. These are now being sponsored by brands so you will increasingly see pre- and post-roll adverts.
5. Viral Marketing: This is the technology that allows operators to track mobile content as it is shared/forwarded P2P. The key application is to allow branded content (viral video or animated gif) to be seeded to a small target group and then leverage their social network to distribute it further.
SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)
Service-orientation describes an architecture that uses loosely coupled services to support the requirements of business processes and users.
Just as we've seen on the wired web, we are going to see an explosion of SOA services. Applications that query and post to web services will be the next big thing. E.g.
1. Google Maps for Mobile is a perfect example. (This is the mobile equivalent of Web 2.0.): Building on the mention of Google Maps, the real killer app for mobile phones is geographically-related information. If you think about it, the mobile phone is with you wherever you are. In conjunction with that, the phone KNOWS where it is. If you think about how huge an impact the search industry has had on our lives when we're seated in front of our computer, it's obvious that enhanced knowledge of where we are and what's near us is a major area for growth. How many times and ways do we seek information as we travel around? We need directions to get from place to place. We run into traffic jams because we don't know where the construction is. We look for stores or restaurants. We go to these places only to find out that they are too crowded or don't have the objects we are looking for. We wistfully wish we knew about a good live music event and it may exist right around the corner from us! When the mobile phone has access to both your present location and the right blend of information services about these types of things, it will give us a sixth sense that will make our lives more efficient and enjoyable. It will be like walking down the street with a genie in your pocket who can tell you everything about your world.
2. Blogger mobile client is another.
There are other big things which people are talking in the mobile industry, such as, software-defined radio, a new phone generation will be accessible to any cell carrier customer in a software update instead of a waiting for a new phone and network infrastructure.
Links:
• http://comsec.com/software-radio.html
• http://www.sdrforum.org/
Infact after thinking over all this and reading a lot over the net, I personally feel that we are a long way off in achieving this level of integration, so I think it might be too premature to talk about the next killer app.
We still have not achieved even half of the last one - and guess what - I still want it to be a phone and even that one has not been licked yet. Too many places in the world I get no signal either because of the wrong standard or rural areas.
Content Sharing & GPS Services
The next and most popular application will be one which allows users to collaborate in the development and distribution of user generated content between users. At present there are pieces of this puzzle that have been formed, but in the final analysis, I believe that a service which allows people to create media through their mobile, then share it between other users - especially with location based services baked in - will be a popular one. This could be the Key to growth to VAS revenues
Voice Control
Spoken commands and responses in voice for things like text messages (first) and browsing the web are expected to become prevalent. Voice tags already allow you to dial without touching the keypad (though we all know how well THAT works), but voice control on PCs is still pretty poor. In the long term, it is expected that the cell phone and ear-bud morphing into the central processor for the wearable computer.
Connecting mobile with home appliances / home computer
Mobile can act as a clutter reducer. People would want to replace the wallet, the keys, as well as the office functions such as email, contacts, calender and entertainment functions such as music and video. But at the same time they would want to be able to access my content from anywhere.
Micro-payments using Mobile Phones
Once the problem of user authentication is addressed then could be the next big thing. Wallet phones can serve as mobile credit cards, room keys, ATM cards and more. Wallet phones create a totally new eco-system, and give mobile operates new business models in the payments and the consumer credit industry. For this the mobile phones will have to be made independent of hardware and mobile operators. Things like biometrics authentication, knowledge based authentication are also on the card.
Mobile Advertising Space
A system that will allow sales people to have sophisticated triggers with Videos, images, documents and other digital assets as a part of the company's story readily available via pda and dispensed intelligently in a matter of seconds. There are five main areas of mobile advertising focus at the moment:
1. SMS to win/SMS to register interest: Allows brands to solicit interest from potential customers and typically complemented by print media, packaging, etc. This is now very common and has a well established business model
2. Mobile Portal banner ads: Very similar to the banner ad model on the internet today but constrained by device capability and consumer use of mobile devices for browsing the internet. Both of these are improving which will speed industry growth. All operators now have a mobile portal that can be monetised in this way and there are other mobile portal providers going this way. Check out the Toyota ad on http://wap.drive.com.au.link below (works in a normal browser).
3. Mobile Search: Similar to the internet model and will increase rapidly as consumers use mobile search engines from Google and Yahoo to navigate off-net content. It will be typical pay to get to the top of the list stuff and even more important when there is only a small screen.
4. Branded Content: Most operators are offering mobile services such as news alerts, video streaming, etc. These are now being sponsored by brands so you will increasingly see pre- and post-roll adverts.
5. Viral Marketing: This is the technology that allows operators to track mobile content as it is shared/forwarded P2P. The key application is to allow branded content (viral video or animated gif) to be seeded to a small target group and then leverage their social network to distribute it further.
SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)
Service-orientation describes an architecture that uses loosely coupled services to support the requirements of business processes and users.
Just as we've seen on the wired web, we are going to see an explosion of SOA services. Applications that query and post to web services will be the next big thing. E.g.
1. Google Maps for Mobile is a perfect example. (This is the mobile equivalent of Web 2.0.): Building on the mention of Google Maps, the real killer app for mobile phones is geographically-related information. If you think about it, the mobile phone is with you wherever you are. In conjunction with that, the phone KNOWS where it is. If you think about how huge an impact the search industry has had on our lives when we're seated in front of our computer, it's obvious that enhanced knowledge of where we are and what's near us is a major area for growth. How many times and ways do we seek information as we travel around? We need directions to get from place to place. We run into traffic jams because we don't know where the construction is. We look for stores or restaurants. We go to these places only to find out that they are too crowded or don't have the objects we are looking for. We wistfully wish we knew about a good live music event and it may exist right around the corner from us! When the mobile phone has access to both your present location and the right blend of information services about these types of things, it will give us a sixth sense that will make our lives more efficient and enjoyable. It will be like walking down the street with a genie in your pocket who can tell you everything about your world.
2. Blogger mobile client is another.
There are other big things which people are talking in the mobile industry, such as, software-defined radio, a new phone generation will be accessible to any cell carrier customer in a software update instead of a waiting for a new phone and network infrastructure.
Links:
• http://comsec.com/software-radio.html
• http://www.sdrforum.org/
Infact after thinking over all this and reading a lot over the net, I personally feel that we are a long way off in achieving this level of integration, so I think it might be too premature to talk about the next killer app.
We still have not achieved even half of the last one - and guess what - I still want it to be a phone and even that one has not been licked yet. Too many places in the world I get no signal either because of the wrong standard or rural areas.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Is Microsoft getting phased out?
There is a lot of material on the net which talks of Microsoft being dead. But is that the truth?
What is it that makes people think in that manner? Four things, I think, all of them occurring simultaneously in the mid 2000s.
1. The most obvious is Google. Google is the most dangerous company now by far, in both the good and bad senses of the word. There can only be one big man in town, and day by day it is being felt that they're clearly it.
2. Gmail also showed how much you could do with web-based software, if you took advantage of what later came to be called "Ajax." And that was the second cause of why people started thinking of Microsoft's death: everyone can see the desktop is over. It now seems inevitable that applications will live on the web—not just email, but everything, right up to Photoshop. Even Microsoft sees that now.
3. The third cause is broadband Internet. Anyone who cares can have fast Internet access now. And the bigger the pipe to the server, the less you need the desktop.
4. Last but not the least is Apple. Thanks to OS X, Apple has come back from the dead in a way that is extremely rare in technology
But is that the end of the road.
Of course, as an entrepreneur I can't help thinking about how something broken could not be fixed. Is there some way Microsoft could come back? I think, yes.
To see how, envision two things:
(a) The amount of cash Microsoft now has on hand, they can do almost anything
(b) The Windows Mobile technology which was rated much lower in the early part of this century is something to reckon with in today’s date. As the mobile population grows this can be the next big thing for Microsoft which can turn things around.
and there are many more...
What is it that makes people think in that manner? Four things, I think, all of them occurring simultaneously in the mid 2000s.
1. The most obvious is Google. Google is the most dangerous company now by far, in both the good and bad senses of the word. There can only be one big man in town, and day by day it is being felt that they're clearly it.
2. Gmail also showed how much you could do with web-based software, if you took advantage of what later came to be called "Ajax." And that was the second cause of why people started thinking of Microsoft's death: everyone can see the desktop is over. It now seems inevitable that applications will live on the web—not just email, but everything, right up to Photoshop. Even Microsoft sees that now.
3. The third cause is broadband Internet. Anyone who cares can have fast Internet access now. And the bigger the pipe to the server, the less you need the desktop.
4. Last but not the least is Apple. Thanks to OS X, Apple has come back from the dead in a way that is extremely rare in technology
But is that the end of the road.
Of course, as an entrepreneur I can't help thinking about how something broken could not be fixed. Is there some way Microsoft could come back? I think, yes.
To see how, envision two things:
(a) The amount of cash Microsoft now has on hand, they can do almost anything
(b) The Windows Mobile technology which was rated much lower in the early part of this century is something to reckon with in today’s date. As the mobile population grows this can be the next big thing for Microsoft which can turn things around.
and there are many more...
Gartner Reports ..Creating Business Value from Technology Innovation
Mobile technology is fast emerging from the gadget stage. Today, there are hundreds of real-world examples of mobile technology empowering knowledge workers and adding real value to important business processes.
But getting to real value isn't always straightforward. Mobile and wireless technologies are changing fast and notoriously averse to standardization. Users will continue experiencing technology fragmentation, interoperability issues and rapid obsolescence in the coming years. Mobile networks are evolving towards 3.5G. WiMax and WiBro are changing the face of wireless broadband. Consumerization is morphing mobile phones into a diverse range of rich multimedia entertainment devices. Mobility and convergence are transforming VoIP, IM, email and presence technologies while Web 2.0 brings a new dimension to mobility. Clearly, making decisions in such a dynamic environment is a major challenge for enterprises hoping to harness the power of new mobile and wireless solutions. The entire industry is still gripped by the titanic struggle between mobile operators, device manufacturers, content providers, media brands and traditional IT giants. They all want to control the mobile user experience without sacrificing their role in the complex mobile value chain. In such an evolving context, what strategies should enterprises adopt to be successful with mobility? How can you take advantage of the ongoing disruptive transformation and create business value out of technology innovation? As a service provider, how can you continue to grow in such a dynamic and competitive industry? Waiting for the mobile and wireless markets to sort themselves out is not an option. You need to make decisions today that will affect your organization's ability to mobilize in the future.
But getting to real value isn't always straightforward. Mobile and wireless technologies are changing fast and notoriously averse to standardization. Users will continue experiencing technology fragmentation, interoperability issues and rapid obsolescence in the coming years. Mobile networks are evolving towards 3.5G. WiMax and WiBro are changing the face of wireless broadband. Consumerization is morphing mobile phones into a diverse range of rich multimedia entertainment devices. Mobility and convergence are transforming VoIP, IM, email and presence technologies while Web 2.0 brings a new dimension to mobility. Clearly, making decisions in such a dynamic environment is a major challenge for enterprises hoping to harness the power of new mobile and wireless solutions. The entire industry is still gripped by the titanic struggle between mobile operators, device manufacturers, content providers, media brands and traditional IT giants. They all want to control the mobile user experience without sacrificing their role in the complex mobile value chain. In such an evolving context, what strategies should enterprises adopt to be successful with mobility? How can you take advantage of the ongoing disruptive transformation and create business value out of technology innovation? As a service provider, how can you continue to grow in such a dynamic and competitive industry? Waiting for the mobile and wireless markets to sort themselves out is not an option. You need to make decisions today that will affect your organization's ability to mobilize in the future.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Doing Something more ...
I had been pondering over this idea of doing nothing for sometime but somehow it is not happening and niether does it seem to happen in the near future. Much of the time goes for making money for self and company.... Life is amazing.
It seduces you towards itself and just puts you on one of those toy horses. You feel that you are moving because the horse is moving back and forth but what you don't realize is that horse is on a static platform which is not moving. The horse knows that it can fool the human being and give it a false sense of moving as human being seldom see things beyond what they are shown by their senses and people around them.
Here is my 5 point agenda for what I should be doing more often than just working ....
1. Blog more often at http://yak123.blogspot.com/
2. Spend some time thinking ... thinking not only of work but about my life as whole
3. Learn Lawn Tennis, swimming
4. Spend more and more time with my little cutie pie, Sarah
5. Meditation
Not sure if I will be able to complete all of them but I am sure journey should be interesting.
It seduces you towards itself and just puts you on one of those toy horses. You feel that you are moving because the horse is moving back and forth but what you don't realize is that horse is on a static platform which is not moving. The horse knows that it can fool the human being and give it a false sense of moving as human being seldom see things beyond what they are shown by their senses and people around them.
Here is my 5 point agenda for what I should be doing more often than just working ....
1. Blog more often at http://yak123.blogspot.com/
2. Spend some time thinking ... thinking not only of work but about my life as whole
3. Learn Lawn Tennis, swimming
4. Spend more and more time with my little cutie pie, Sarah
5. Meditation
Not sure if I will be able to complete all of them but I am sure journey should be interesting.
Using Google Maps with Photo Album
This site has a tutorial on using Google Maps with your photo album. Each album has a latitude and longitude so it shows up as a pin on a map of the world. When you click a pin, up pops the highlight photo for the albums at that location. Clicking again brings up that album. Makes a great front page to a gallery. Includes a demo with 200 albums from the author's travels. He provides all his code for interfacing with Google maps. Seriously awesome feature for people who travel a lot.
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