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New PocketBuilder Demos
I am finally adapting my PocketBuilder Demo applications, so they can be included in the PocketBuilder DVD.
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CTIA 2008 - "The WiMAX Show"
After quite a bit of thought, I can still safely say that this conference had a definite “theme” about it and that was WiMAX. I think that a great deal of the heavy WiMAX presence was due to the WiMAX Forum’s strong promotion of the technology among companies at the conference. In fact, the forum provided a journey of sorts (called the “Walk of WiMAX” Tour), across almost 100 forum-member companies in the exhibition hall. The WiMAX Forum sponsored the WiMAX Lounge with live demonstrations of services in a strategically placed booth outside the main entrances to the exhibition halls in the convention center. I did see a nice demonstration of the capabilities that will be available, later this year, via Sprint’s XOMH service. So whether you needed antennas, WiMAX modems, consumer devices, USB dongles, base stations, testing/measurement instruments, or backhaul solutions for WiMAX, this was your show to attend.
I like WiMAX – and am looking forward to available deployments – with the new 700 MHz frequency bands, mostly allocated to AT&T and Verizon, the technology can certainly resolve some of the “last mile” issues – especially in more rural areas where broadband access is certainly hard to come by (e.g. see my previous blog on how I have to access the Internet). The WiMAX Forum even has a position paper on the new 700 MHz spectrum and WiMAX. The Forum suggests that by 2009, WiMAX will be 700 MHz band ready (right now, WiMAX is available for frequency bands between 2300 MHz and 3800 MHz). The bottom line is that a 700 MHz deployment of WiMAX in areas with lesser subscriber density can result in more broadband coverage and options, with fewer towers and larger cell sizes.
While WiMAX dominated the 4G technology, they were certainly not alone. An almost equal number of companies were demonstrating and promoting LTE (Long Term Evolution) equipment and services. LTE is seen as the 4G technology for most GSM and CDMA based networks, although I’m not sure how it would be in advancing fixed broadband around the world. LTE certainly has more nomadic capabilities (currently) than WiMAX.
As the industry slowly advances towards an more “open” IP-based mobile ecosystem, I do believe that we will finally start to see various services that will require more than just unfettered or unmanaged internet access. Of course, if the current 800-900 operators or so have it their way, they will never become just simple ISPs or “dump pipes” as they are sometimes called. Instead, there will even be more services that require some level of “management” – of things like dedicated bandwidth, latency thresholds, and of course, presence. The presence concept (or availability of a subscriber to accept one or more types of communications) will slowly expand from the Instant Messaging world of today to virtually all types of communications tomorrow. When most of the world is running 3G, 3.5G, and 4G data networks, I think you will start to see IMS begin to take hold to manage these capabilities.
But I digress – back to the show for a few more tidbits –
The handset vendors were all there in force. All except, Google (just like in Barcelona). I cannot understand WHY, why a company such as Google, who wants to play in this space; who has announced a major mobile platform (Android) does not have a strong presence – even just with information on their vision of the mobile ecosystem – and maybe some demonstrations of prototypes with Android. They could so be a popular and educational spot at this conference.
Microsoft announced Mobile Windows 6.1, which should be available soon and all 6.0 Mobile Windows users can upgrade. This will include a new Mobile Explorer browser with many features that look to me, to be very similar to Opera Mini.
Samsung, Nokia, LG and others all now have, what some to perceive as “iPhone killers” – still not much of an iPhone presence at the show, except for the AT&T booth. Touch screens are now definitely in vogue, as are fashion phones – the LG Prada, Samsung Giorgio Armani, Adidas and Bang and Olufsen, to name a few.
Finally, one of the more innovative products I saw at the show was a shoe (yes, a shoe) from a company called ID Conex. They create GPS and GSM enabled footwear, targeted for very specific vertical markets from military to care for the memory impaired.
With over 40,000 visitors and over 1100 exhibitors, this was truly a strong showing this year. Suffice it to say, there was little evidence of an economic downturn as this industry continually refreshes and expands.
TechWave 2008 Call for Papers... Now open
We are now accepting speaker proposals for the 60 and 90 sessions at the upcoming Sybase TechWave conference August 4 - 8th 2008.
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All done, see you next year
So the show has finished, and I'm back in London.
Mobile World Congress 2008 was a great show for us, and in particular for our new mCommerce group. But after 4 days of 9am-7pm, I'm glad to be home.
So some (random) closing thoughts on the show and what we saw...
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Show me... the mobile
My jacket is getting heavier. Heavier everyday. Particularly the left-hand side.
Why? Well the right-hand side is filling up with business cards faster than I can get rid of my own. But the left-hand side is jangling with coins. Euro coins.
Whilst the UK is 'in' Europe, it's yet to enter the 'Euro-zone'. So all this week I have been building up my collection of loose change. Before getting that first coffee of the morning, working out which coins to use is which is beyond me, so just hand over notes, and continue building my collection of coins.
Wouldn't it be great not to have to use cash... well at the NFC Forum lunch today we saw a glimpse of that future.
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Where's the Mobile!
So Tuesday started with a small panic on the stand. No power, and a missing badge.
Ten minutes before the floor opens, and the power cuts from our stand and the surrounding ones. So no rolling-video, no demos, and more importantly no working coffee machine! Thankfully we get this sorted our before the first visitors arrive.
The badge was more of a problem. The badge was not so missing, as uncollected. A colleague had an early meeting, and couldn't get in as the queues to collect show passes/badges were enormous. Which got me thinking... where's the 'mobile' in Mobile World Congress?
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3GSM World Congress - Day 1 - A Theme Looking for a Show
The first day of the 2008 3GSM Mobile World Congress is now in the history books and this year, there is a signficant lack of buzz around any one product or technology. While, some have said this is the year that 4th Generation will be on display, the average attendee won't see an overwhelming amount of 4G technology such as WiMAX or LTE. Still, if you look closely, there are companies promoting their latest WiMAX and either HSPDA or even LTE technology, in places, but it is not overly prevalent, especially given some of the other media promotion around that (see excellent Fierce Wireless Coverage) Another noticable (and I thought disappointing) lack of attendence is from Apple and Google. No where in the exhibits listings for stands and meeting rooms will you find a listing for Apple. You'll only find a single meeting room for Google. I would have thought that both companies would use this immense opportunity to further promote, what some say is fast becoming the benchmark for innovative handsets. There is no giant Google or Android Developer's booth where participants can learn all about the Android development platform or an innovative Apple stand, where Apple has dozens of iPhones ready for eager participants (most of which have never seen and played with an Apple iPhone) to see firsthand what all of the hype is about. I think that if these two companies want to become dominant participants in the mobile industry, they would have a strong presence at the largest, most well-attended mobile show in the world.
Speaking of handsets, a company that most have never heard, called i-mate was showing some fine Windows Mobile 6.0 handsets. In my book, the i-mate 9502 does just about anything your laptop can do, but in the form-factor of a mobile phone. Things like offering connectivity to external video projectors or monitors, so you can beam your Powerpoint directly from your mobile. This phone supports tri-band HSDPA and HSUPA along WITH WiFi plus quad-band GSM/GRPS/EDGE. It also sports a 3 Megapixel camera for both still and videos, a built in MP3 player, GPS and a 2.8" touch screen with a full QWERTY keyboard to boot. With any Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and a standard Video-Out cable, plugged into any monitor or even HD television, you can remotely control a Windows PC -- all with your mobile device. And this is no larger than an Apple iPhone. Of course, it supports all standard SMS and MMS messaging to boot -- something that iPhone STILL does not natively support -- at least the MMS part.
Speaking of iPhone and the concept of touch screens -- they are everywhere now. Of course, there's the HTC Touch in various models, LG offers a number of touch screens now, as do several others. Most notably, though Nokia has yet to offer a touch screen.
In the SMS world, there is still innovation happening there as well. I spent a little time today with a company called Telsis. Telsis provides core-network solutions to mobile operators for both text and voice services. An area that they have done well in are their Telsis Advanced Services Node or ASN. This can be added to an operator's infrastructure to provide value-added services around text messaging that are very similiar to many email services such as message archival, individual subscriber controlled black and white lists, an "unavailable" or "out of the office" response, diverted messages and more. All of these services are configurable by the subscriber via SMS. It is these types of services that can further help retain subscribers and keep the basis SMS fresh and new with new services. During the show, I'll also try to get around to a few other companies that are doing similar value-added services on top of basic SMS.
Like the 3GSM shows of the past, 2008 is packed and is massive in size -- in fact, the GSMA refers to the Exhibition Hall map as their "Village Map." And quite a "village" it is.
Sybase 365 had a constant flow of customers, media, analysts and prospects visiting our stand, throughout the day. Our meeting rooms were booked solid with still more ad-hoc meetings being added all the time. Tomorrow will be the same. Stay tuned. Also don't forget to read Diarmuid Mallon's show blog as well. Diarmuid always has some unique perspectives.
Next stop Barcelona
So next week is the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona - by far the biggest show in the year for the mobile industry. Myself and, fellow blogger, Bill Dudley will be doing our best to capture the show via these pages next week.
Must dash, as the taxi will be here in a minute... now where did I put my passport?
More 2008 Thoughts...
Will 2008 be the year of Connecting Users in the Enterprise?
Personally I think 2008 will be a great year and this is why...
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Mobility Crystall Ball!
As we are gradually coming to the latter part of 2007, so I thought it was about time that I charged up and dusted down my mobility crystal ball!.
Here's what I believe will occur over the next year...
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