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The Great iPhone Debate

Ipoki- One to Watch

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Much too much has already been said about the iPhone in general, but especially recently, with the 3G version rolling out across Europe and news of Apple selling 1 million units in the first weekend of sale (this compares to the 74 days it took to sell the original iPhone).

What we are talking about here is an emotional product, a marketing success by Apple, who have managed to exploit an unsatisfied need in the market with a neat design and just the right amount of cleverly orchestrated hype to make the iPhone one of the most wanted objects in recent history.

That we are talking about an emotional product is clear by the way certain operators enthuse about its virtues (irrationally some may say) and how developers and mobile enthusiasts equally lambast it or praise it.

At the recent Mobile 2.0 conference in Barcelona, Antonio Vince-Stabyl from itsmy.com, expressed his hatred thus, in a now popular quote: "what does the iPhone have that makes it special? It is just about browsing, browsing and more browsing". Antonio also confided later that he had initially handed all his employees a new iPhone and was later flooded with returns because it was simply impractical for business use.

Love it or hate it, the iPhone is here to stay and Apple would be wise to maintain its pricing premium by keeping it in the niche market that it currently comfortably dominates (more media-tainment than telephony).

I just love the story told to me yesterday by a Dutch acquaintance, of a flashy business type busy discussing an important deal on his iPhone, getting out of his taxi in a hurry and putting the phone hurriedly back to his ear after paying the fare, only to have its glossy, slippery surface glide right over his face and form an arc in the air, before landing neatly in a rose bush.

Stricken with panic, the businessman shouted at the rose bush and continued his conversation from a distance...just one of those hazards of the beautiful, sleek and smooth iPhone surface you don't hear about so much..but then again, I wonder how many iPhone aficionados are actually using it for calls...

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Mobile Fragrances-Japan Nose how to communicate

July 11th 2008 14:18

I remember reading 5 years ago how 'smell' would revolutionise modern-day TV, and that future TV adverts would not only show you a video ad of a fragrant pizza about to be delivered, but also allow you to smell the delicious pepperoni & cheese warm topping. Looks like the vision was ahead not so much of the technology, but also of the consumer wants, and it all sadly fizzled out into (odourless) smoke.

So, it is with a jaded eye that I read about the same kind of thing coming to mobile, courtesy of NTT DoCoMo (whose eye must also be a bit jaded by their recent drop below 50% in market share in Japan for the first time since 1996).

MocoNews reports that NTT Communications announced yesterday that it’s running a ten-day trial starting April 10 of its new Mobile Fragrance Communication service (Kaori Tshshi Mobile), the mobile version of a service.

Users will be able to download a “Fragrance Playlist” or files of recipes for specific smells along with visual (GIF animation) and/or audio (MIDI) content from i-Mode’s mobile website. The service uses a handset’s infrared port to transfer the “fragrance data” to a dedicated device similar to a plug-in air freshener that is loaded with a cartridge of base fragrances. The device then mixes them to create the chosen smell, which it then wafts out, accompanying the audio or visual content that is played on the phone. People will be able to share their Fragrance Playlists with friends who subscribe to the service.

NTT is also testing a device controller--the Service Gateway--which allows users to remotely control their Mobile Fragrance Communication system through the internet using their mobile phone. For example, a user can send his or her phone to instruct the fragrance device begin operating before he or she gets home.

The company also said it was accepting applications from companies in Japan wishing to develop content and applications for a commercial version of the Mobile Fragrance Communication Service. NTT envisions for example, ringtones, music and horoscopes combined with fragrances.

In a society obsessed with getting a constant 'fix' of new and wacky experiences, it may well be that Mobile Fragrances go down a storm. I'll keep an eye out for any developments beyond Japan, as I am curious to see if society has moved on from the TV fragrances experiment and if anyone other than Ambi-Pur will show a genuine interest...

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Point to Discover (P2D)-the LBS of the future?

July 1st 2008 08:12

Location-based services (LBS) are receiving plenty of buzz these days. However, what I consider to be exciting is to look at the future possibilities for these services that lie beyond our current reckoning.

The idea of the mobile device as a pointer came up recently at the CES in Las Vegas -where we saw some prototypes of handsets capable of projecting their screen's image when pointed at a blank wall.

Rainer Simon of the Telecommunications Research Centre in Vienna published a paper last year where he gives us an insight into the possibilities of P2D (Point to Discover) technology.

In his paper he asks us to: "Imagine you could point your mobile phone at a bus stop to find out when the next bus is leaving; or point at a tourist landmark to get travel guide information; at an advertisement billboard to take part in a prize draw; or at a mountain top to find out the name of the mountain while you are hiking or skiing". Sounds pretty neat, doesn't it?

Rainer also goes on to postulate that the handset of the future may well come equipped with tilt sensors and digital compasses that would turn them into true interactive, navigational devices. Eventually, handsets could be able to recognise the 3D landscape around them and compute schematized 360-degrees panoramas , presenting nearby buildings and points of interest in a simple skyline-view that scrolls horizontally as the user turns.

Some food for thought for the good folks over at Google Mobile Maps, who may well be testing how to build this future functionality into their current application as we speak...

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Google Launches 'New' Mobile Search Engine

June 19th 2008 13:28

Shortly before releasing their latest results showing a slowdown in advertising sales in the fourth quarter of 2007, Google announced the launch of their 'new' mobile search engine (or, should I say, the improved version of the previous one

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Fugumobile -One to Watch

June 18th 2008 12:48

SHANGHAI -Mobile Gaming experienced substantial growth a few years ago, with many companies entering the fray and was followed by the inevitable wave of consolidation. Today, Mobile Gaming is hot again. The global mobile entertainment market is expected to increase from $20bn in 2007 to $64 by 2012, according to Juniper Research.Mobile games will rank second in terms of end-user generated revenues, boosted by rapid growth in mass market casual gaming. Revenues are expected to rise from just under $5bn in 2007 to nearly $16bn in 2012

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YuMe -The future of Video-based Advertising

June 13th 2008 13:03

REDWOOD CITY-BASED YuMe offers mobile advertisers an appealing proposition: focussing exclusively on video-based advertising, YuMe offers advertisers a tailored platform to stream or download video advertisements to specific channels with optional overlaying of interactive content

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23 and Me-Map your own Genes

June 12th 2008 10:00

MUNICH -I was chatting to a friend a little while ago who was at the DLD 08 in Munich earlier this year and he was telling me about a presentation from a company called '23 and me'. For a modest fee of $999, they offer to give you a full DNA test from a saliva sample and then, through various online tools, allow you to explore your genetic heritage (from whether you have your mother's sense of taste to whether you are likely to suffer from specific genetically-inherited diseases). They bill this 'your personal genome service

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It's India, Stupid!

June 11th 2008 10:14

MUMBAI-It is hardly news-India is the fastest-growing market in the world for mobile telephony, with over 240 million mobile subscribers as at Autumn 2007. According to The Economist, the average owner of a mobile phone there spends 471 minutes (8 hours approx.) on the phone each month and sends 39 text messages. India is also a mobile market marked by savage competition (during my visit to Delhi last autumn, it was hard not to notice the proflagation of billboards advertising various operators on each street corner) as well as a country blessed with an army of bright, young engineers

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Ipoki- One to Watch

June 10th 2008 09:50

Ipoki, founded in Spain in 2006, believes users should have control over their location information and who can see it

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Seesmic -Startup to watch

June 9th 2008 08:54

Loic Le Meur is no stranger to web enterprise -San Francisco-based Seesmic is the fifth such start-up he has embarked upon. Only that this time, there is a special touch, in that in a one-of-a-kind initiative, he is keeping a daily video diary of how the whole adventure unfolds

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August 2008

1 Posts