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| PocketGPSWorld.com Event Article |
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MWC 2009 Wrapup: My personal view of the event and the market.
For me the 2009 Mobile World Congress was all about location. I know that the last few years have been the same, but this year everyone was talking location.
The industry seems to have woken up and realised that the mobile phone market is not A-B navigation, indeed A-B navigation is an incidental way down the list of priorities. Towards the top is "Where am I?" or more precisely "What is around me?". This is starting to be integrated into social networking so it extends to "Who is around me?". We are now seeing this functionality consolidating into LBS applications for the phone. To a certain extent this makes a lot of sense. If you are in a car you don't want to be squinting at a small screen, listening to a tinny speaker with no volume. Likewise if you are walking you don't want to lug your heavy PND around in your pocket. This then allows the software to be tailored specifically for your device and the potential uses you would put it to.
On the hardware side of things Android and the iPhone were on peoples lips, but Apple did not have a presence and Android phones were few and far between... Maybe next year when the platform is more established will be the year of the Android. On the Apple front we are seeing lots of companies with iPhone applications, and some openly displaying the "banned" turn by turn navigation applications. With the two platforms we see the difference highlighted between an open system and a controlled system. The only restrictions on the Android platform are the hardware limits, on the Apple front you are tied to a strict contract and any application developed has to pass the Apple App Police and then can only be distributed through the App Store with Apple taking a cut.
It is good to see some new faces like Acer (even though they have acquired e-Ten) and Asus two of the big Consumer Electronics companies entering the market. We also have new devices from HTC (which will be rebranded by carriers) and iMate, not to mention Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson etc. The introduction of capacitive touch screens is now allowing the manufacturers to include much better, brighter and higher contrast displays. All in all we are moving forwards not in leaps and bounds, but steadily and surely.
Another "big thing" this year was the introduction of MID (Mobile Internet Devices). These are based around the Intel Atom processor and typically are larger wide screen devices with a myriad of connection options to allow you to have |Internet access wherever you are. Most of the devices have built in GPS and can run all sorts of OS, typically full Windows or Linux. Most of the devices we saw looked like late model prototypes though some like the Clarion MID were production models. There is a long way to go with these devices with development required both on finish, software and User Interface, but it wouldn't surprise me to find these replacing PNDs in the next couple of years.
Whilst the theme was still Location, there is still the perennial problem of consolidating all the components and suppliers to provide a full user experience. Apple have shown how to do it with the iPhone and the App Store, but the carriers still seem to be a barrier to mass adoption of the LBS services.
First and foremost there is the issue of data charges, you can get an unlimited data tariff in a single country now at a reasonable price, but roaming is still a big problem. Europe must adopt a similar approach to Mobile Tariffs as the US has done. There must be full access throughout Europe without roaming charges.
The next problem is one of ownership nobody seems to want to take ownership of a full infrastructure package... We see companies like Navteq who are starting to do this now by aggregating and distributing dynamic data, but we need some open standards for contribution, aggregation and distribution of data. I overheard one French Carrier say that they were like ADSL, they provide a connection and you can do what you want with it. Others want data and services but are not willing to pay the data owners, just wanting free data...
This is a trend started by Google, and we are now seeing the knock on effects of it. Google consolidates free data sources and distributes them for free. The processing of the data and infrastructure obviously costs money to maintain, but they recoup this through advertising. This business model is now extending into navigation and LBS. I am not convinced that this is a good thing unless all parties involved in providing data and services are fairly recompensed for their input, if not then we will be relying on voluntary data which can be of questionable quality.
The show itself was well down on attendance despite a claim that 49,000 people had registered. The easy way to tell this was the availability of hotel rooms, and the ease that restaurant tables could be booked, but the most sure way was the fact that you could actually move in Hall 8 where the big handset companies exhibit. Another sure was to tell was that you could actually make and receive mobile phone calls. With over 50,000 people in attendance last year it was almost impossible to use the device that the show was all about.
So in conclusion I believe the show was a big success once again, with a lot of promise of new technologies both hardware and software to come. After four years it seems as if LBS and more particularly Location Aware Social Networking is coming to the fore. I suspect that the carriers have missed out on a golden opportunity to create the infrastructure for LBS services and will be left as effectively Wireless ISPs providing connectivity only. The Apple business model seems to have opened a lot of minds and doors with other companies like Nokia introducing similar systems. Internet everywhere (or at least connected devices) seems to be the way things are going. The year ahead will still be exciting, despite the current economic climate.
Article by Mike Barrett on Thursday, February 26 @ 14:37:46 UTC
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MWC Day 1 round-up- Garmin-Asus Nuviphone- Rugged iMate- Acer launch 8 smartphones
Day one is over. I dont have my computer with me so it is difficult to update the blog here.
Contary to expectations the show is very well attended, with the usual difficulties of moving around and seeing people. This is of course a good sign, with industry commentators suggesting that the mobile market will ride out the current financial difficulties and in fact the market will increase rather than decline.
Lots of exciting things are on view and there is lots of speculation about devices, companies and applications. Top of the list for discussion is Android, lots of people are talking about it, but there is very little actual presence on the show floor.
Going round the navigation companies, it would appear that almost everyone has a Turn by Turn application that works on the iPhone, and they are all just waiting for the day that Apple relaxes its rules. Some of the cynical comments made are that Turn by Turn will not be allowed until the next incarnation of the iPhone as a hook to get us early adopters to upgrade from the 3G. Interestingly Apple do not have a stand here, but most of the 3rd party accessory providers are all profiling Apple products.
Yesterday I saw the new Garmin-Asus Nuvi phones. The G60 and the M20 devices. The G60 is the Nuviphone that we saw last year at CES Jan 2008, the M20 was just announced last week. The Garmin-Asus project is described as a strategic alliance with no hint of anything more involved. It certainly makes a lot of sense for Garmin to partner with a company with experience in this market space. I actually got to play with a G60 and was most impressed both with the functionality, style, and probably most importantly the user interface. The system is certainly very sleek, as you will see when I publish the video of an device demo later in the week. Interestingly Garmin have announced 2 phones the G60 running on Linux, and the M20 running on Windows Mobile, but future Nuviphones will run on the Android operating system. This will leave the company supporting 3 different infrastructures.
My next meeting was with Jim Morrison CEO of iMate who announced 2 new phones and let me glimpse a new "virtual pc". The first phone was the 810F a rugged PDA running Windows Mobile 6.1. iMate are so confident this phone is indestructable that they are offering a lifetime guarantee with it. I have a video of the demo on the iMate stand where the phone is seriously abused. The 810F will be available at the end of March for $699 SIM Free. The next phone is codenamed Centurion and is the size of a credit card, it is so small that it actually fits into the coin pocket in your jeans, running Windows Mobile 6.5 it will be available for $550 late summer. Both of those phones were great, but the star of the iMate stand was a "Virtual PC" this is basically a combination of PDA codenamed Legionare and a dock codenamed Warrior that combine to provide a netbook sized device. The dock has the formfactor of a netbook, but with space for the PDA to be inserted. The dock contains a full QWERTY keyboard and screen, with a built in battery.
Last night saw Acer launch a range of no less than 8 Smartphones. This is mainly due to the acquition of the Taiwanese Smartphone manufacturer E-Ten, which has allowed Acer to now have a full range of computing devices from Desktops thru Laptops and Netbooks and into the Mobile sector. Due to the amount of media interest in the event it was almost impossible to get hold of a device to look at so I will be visiting Acer later in the week.
Finally the last event of the day was a product showcase event - Mobile Focus. This is literally a large hall full of trestle table and a select group of companies pitching to the press. It reminds me very much of the early PocketGPSWorld.com meets. There was quite a lot of interesting things there from a diamond studded Gold BT Handsfree Headset worth $50,000 to Networks in Motion, Blackberry and Intel. The most interesting product there were some new MID Mobile Internet Devices from a range of manufacturers implementing solutions using the Intel Atom processor.
More detailed reports will follw at the end of the week.
Article by Mike Barrett on Tuesday, February 17 @ 10:49:42 UTC
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Mobile World Congress is the most important global tradefair for mobile phones and the underlying technologies and infrastructure. MWC attracts both visitors and exhibitors from around the globe, showcasing the latest developments in the marketplace. MWC is quite different from the other trade shows we visit as it is totally targeted towards mobile communications.
Posted by bedbug on Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:11 pm
