Touch and Go with WHDI

Want to see just how smoothly WHDI technology can work? Well, they have been showing us quite a lot at Mobile World Congress this year. Wireless HD mirroring between devices? Yes please.

Tags: mirroring, touch screen, WHDI, wireless HDMI, wireless mirroring

Birdstep Wants to Relieve Your Mobile Pain

Mobile World Congress 2012 is coming and we just heard from the fine folks at Birdstep that they have something they wanna talk about. The data explosion, that is data 2.0 explosion – what has caught mobile operators off guard — too much data. They are going to have a whole series about what needs to happen to keep mobile operators from going bankrupt by 2013. Yup, 2013, that is what “they” say. Tune in here and read their blog to get the forecast! Or follow them on Twitter @birdsteptech.

Things we learned week ending Feb. 18

This post is not for the faint of heart…it will take you straight into the heart of darkness a la Joseph Conrad… ok, maybe not that dark. So remember this is the end of a trade show week.

1. An attempted mugging is not a great way to start off the week, it makes you feisty and ready to punch anyone that crosses your path. It also makes you stereotype which makes you feel dark on the inside. Fortunately, a good block and tackle plus a punch in the ole kisser of any would-be attacker makes you also feel empowered.

2. Most people suck and trade show people suck even more. I don’t care if you are in a hurry cause you stayed out too late, hit your snooze button 4 times and are now late to what you think is the most important meeting with RIM you will ever have in your life, there is no excuse for being rude. Good manners cost nothing. Oh and your tie sucks.

3. Swedes rule. Period. Never in my life have I met a collective group of smarter, nicer, sexier, innovative people in my entire life. Yea and dont even try and argue with me on this point, I will punch you.

4. Never miss a party, no matter how tired you are.

5. Still, as predicted, devices and operators will always take center stage at big trade shows. Save your news for after unless you are a novelty or in clean tech.

6. Coffee dealers should be roaming about the show in abundance like they had 5 years ago. People with backpacks of coffee roaming the show floor bringing happiness to everyone.

7. Mostly, mobile folks are uber geeks with no ability to talk about anything other than platforms, AR, operating systems and devices. Get over yourself. Save a life or something.

8. I’m still in love with mHealth, cleantech and any other mobile technology that is good for me and the planet

9. High heels at a trade show still rock. I will never give them up, so for all your 20 somethings that think you are so cool in your flats, you can bite me.

10. Booth babes or guys, big oversized fuzzy animals with humans inside and tacky marketing chicks dressed like cops handing out citations cause you have more than one mobile phone, are stupid. Just a plain old waste of marketing dollars. Oh and BTW, nice job printing all that paper that just gets thrown away or blankets the ground. Very eco of you. (oh and what IS the point of asking grown ups to collect Android pins?)

11. Eric Schmidt had NOTHING to say, he simply vomited up words that said nothing. Give us someone else next time.

12. The coffee and sandwich lady in Hall 2 at Medus is super nice.  She smiled and called me guapa every time I greeted her. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy all over. Gracias.

– JH

Tags: Barcelona, Joseph Conrad, Medus, mHealth, mugging, Research In Motion, Sweden

Our take on Mobile World Congress 2010

There was a trade show going on in Barcelona – did you know that? Or did you just think Mobile World Congress was five days and nights of cocktail parties. We actually it is both. During the day, Mobile World Congress this year put in a grown up face and decided to do some work and companies actually figured out they can do some business there. Some of the same ridiculous nonsense went on -all the big names had big announcements and hogged the spotlight, the increasing convergence of celebrity and tech, obsessed mobile geeks spewing industry stats and glares if you aren’t using an iPhone. But if you were someone with a brain and dug past all of the shiny stuff, you would have seen that the real news was tucked away in several places including the country Pavilions, the Augmented Reality Showcase and App Pavilions  – where innovation was percolating. The AR show illustrated that there is more than one company out there with good AR ideas, the App Pavilion gave us one place to look at a variety of apps not only for fun but that help the planet and the Pavilions were a great place to see country by country innovation. The best things we saw were these companies:

• Powerkiss – A Finnish start up led by a Maija Itkonen who decided that cables and wires really suck so she decided what better way to charge your mobile device than to build a device in to furniture. We call this lifestyle mobile tech and we love it. Ciara Byne of Venturebeat had the chance to talk to them at MWC and reported their plans here. And Maija has agreed to a TattleTech Hot seat so look for that coming up soon.
• Alcosystems –  We have covered them before in the top 5 start ups to watch, but in reality, they are beyond where normal web 2.0 start ups are. This a lifestyle and health mobile device that we think will really affect many people around the world. Monitor your own blood alcohol content -the uses are far reaching. Mobile Health is new business in Mobile technology, read here for more.
• Myfc - More innovation out of Sweden, and this time along the lines of green tech – a portable fuel cell to be used in current and emerging markets like Africa. Mike Butcher, TechCrunch Europe did a great interview with the CEO at MWC about the fuel cells and their uses. This is the space to watch – emerging markets and renewable energy sources for the mobile market.
• TAT – also known at the Astonishing Tribe. The design mobile user interfaces but blend aesthetics and technology together – like mobile face detection and recognition with PolarRose’s FaceLib. Very cool stuff – pushing the envelope to more intuitive UIs including aesthetic augmented reality.
• PuddingMedia – Sure a mobile ad network but completely focused on APAC. We think SUPER smart because this is where the next wave of the whole mobile revolution is coming from. Check them out, they are very nice people and focused on creating and delivering this platform in a very specific way to this market.
• WidespaceMobile – Also an ad network, but much like PuddingMedia, have been intensely targeted on the Scandinavian market and mastering that market. Talk to them, they don’t care that Google bought AdMob, they think its good for them and their numbers show it and their revenue too. They have the good fortune of working with Ericsson IPX which essentially lets them focus on the sale behind the click and maximizing where that ad its make the most revenue.

On the down side, the media coverage still focused on the big names only (shall we say big advertisers?) and in a feeding frienzy around their favorite topics related to the big boys -they were totally oblivious to other innovative companies that were floating around. Not one single media outlet covered the more than 10 country pavilions which was a shame because sometimes the best ideas start small with the exception of the Show daily which covered the Sweden Pavilion. Despite all of that, it was one of the best MWC that I have attended in the past 13 years. Yes, that was lucky 13.

–JLH

Tags: Alcosystems, App Pavilion, Augmented reality, Mobile World Congress, MyFC, Powerkiss, TAT, TechCrunch UK, VentureBeat

Through the looking glass: AR Showcase at MWC

Just when you think it’s all fun and games, leave it to the mobile location smarty pants (Daniel Appelquist @torgo, Christine Perey @ceperey and Mark Kramer (@mamk) to create a Mobile Augmented Reality Showcase that is guaranteed to shed some insight into how this technology will be and can be applied in our daily lives. The companies that have agreed to showcase this much hyped future technology are AcrossAir, metaio, Layar, LibreGeoSocial, Mobilizy and Kooaba. We are super happy that we finally get to see a variety of companies showcased in this AR market. We want to hear more than the hype and “ain’t it cool” -  we want to see and hear more perspective on AR, which is why we will be at the Showcase.

The most interesting company out there we think is LibreGeoSocial out of Spain. They are are applying AR to tourism and as someone that travels alot and is curious about just about every corner, street and old building, I find this something to look forward to. We are also keeping an eye out on AcrossAir, very smart group of folks over there and metaio who represents the best hope we have for mainstreaming the technology out of the tech bubble.

We are are hoping to see this market evolve but also to force these companies (and listen up Layer) to give us more insight into how it will be applied to our daily lives and why we fracking need it.  See you at the showcase, Feb. 17 from 17:00 to 19:00, North East corner of the Courtyard, the area bordered by Halls 1, 2, 4 and 5.

– JLH

Related articles by Zemanta

• Acrossair develops augmented reality restaurant, entertainment listings (venturebeat.com)
• The Business of Augmented Reality (readwriteweb.com)
• Augmented reality apps still struggle to work with iPhone (venturebeat.com)
• To Be Launched: Adidas Augmented Reality (viralblog.com)

Tags: acrossair, Augmented reality, Kooaba, Layar, Mobilizy

Sweden is cool

In the most recent ICT Development Index (2002 – 2007) by the International Telecommunications Union, Sweden ranked number one in the level of ICT advancement in the world. As a result, Swedish mobile and telecommunications companies are in the midst of a renaissance of both development and innovation bringing mobile technologies to edge markets as well as adapting them to existing and new products. Sweden is also ranked as the second largest online networked economy in the world according to a 2009 World Economic Forum report.

But there is more, since 2005, Sweden has had the highest penetration of mobile phones in the world, with more than one handset per person across the country. And, in 2008 more than half of all mobile phones sold in Sweden were 3G and in 2009, they joined Norway as the first two countries to launch 4G service.

Want more? At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from Feb. 15 to 18, you can talk to the next generation of innovation at the Sweden Pavilion. The Swedish Pavilion (Hall 2, stand 2 F13) represents the best and newest of Sweden’s mobile technology companies, products and services. With 18 co-exhibitors and more than 40 affiliated companies, the pavilion showcases a veritable revolution in mobile technology and innovation from Sweden.

Also on the stand is the Swedish Mobile Association, www.swedishmobileassociation.com, which provides data and analysis on the Swedish mobile and wireless market. The 18 exhibiting companies in the Pavilion represent the vanguard of this technology leadership in the evolving mobile landscape. The Pavilion showcases the entire spectrum of Swedish mobile technology from mobile advertising and gaming to online payments, devices and next generation mobile enterprise. Visitors to the Pavilion will be able to talk and meet with C-level executives from the following companies to learn about innovations in mobile and telecommunications technology for the next decade and beyond.

Mobile LBX
– Mobilaris

Mobile Advertising
– Frog2Frog
– Mobile Arts
– Plus Four Six

Gaming and entertainment
– Mobenga

User experience
– Ikivo
– Mobile Sorcery with MoSync

Mobile Infrastucture
– Synapse Mobile Network
– TalkPool
– Transmode
– Aktavara
– Telecom City
– Teligent
– Prosilient

Mobile Enterprise
– The Institution

Devices
– MyFc Launching its first commercial product at MWC

Mobile Training
– · Apis Technical Training

Since 2002, Swedish Trade Council has managed the Pavilion at Mobile World Congress. The Pavilion will also host two on stand parties during the show. The first party is hosted by Sweden Mobile Association, www.swedenmobileassociation.com, on Monday, February 15. The second party is hosted by the Sweden Trade Council on Tuesday, February 16. Both evenings will be opportunities to talk with some of Sweden’s leading mobile and telecommunications leaders regarding their plans for Mobile 3.0. RSVP to @sweden_at_mwc.
— JLH

Tags: Aktavara, Apsis Technical Training, Frog2Frog, Ikivo, International Telecommunication Union, Mobenga, Mobilaris, Mobile Arts, Mobile Sorcery, MoSync, MyFC, Plusfoursix.com, Prosilient, Sweden Mobile Association, Sweden Trade Council, Synapse Mobile Network, TalkPool, Telecom City, Teligent, The Institution, Transmode

Tattletech Hot Seat with Option’s Jan Poté

Option

We briefly mentioned Option right after MWC in Barcelona. So we finally got a chance to invite Option’s Jan Poté to our Hot Seat:  

Tattletech: Option must be around for a while (either that, or you had to pay a substantial sum to own the www.option.com domain) Can you tell us a little bit about how the company started?

The company was started in 1986, and has indeed owned that URL since the ‘90s. The vision was to make products enabling “anytime, anywhere easy access to information”. Today, that vision is still the basic philosophy by which we design and develop products.
We started with designing full-size and half-size PC modem cards for laptops (Toshiba, IBM etc.) – still with a fixed line. Later on we developed the first completely wireless (cellular) PCMCIA data card. It is with that data card – together with a massive marketing campaign from Vodafone in Europe – that we ‘created’ the market for data cards.
In total we have come up with about 22 world firsts in cellular data (the first 3G data card, the first data card combining cellular with wifi, the smallest wireless module on the planet for Intel platforms, etc.). Now we have about 110 customers, including Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, AT&T, and Telefonica. 
TT: You recently launched Ucan – a virtual ‘PC on a stick’ – How does Ucan make our lives easier? At least our digital lives?
It makes our lives easier because you can take with you (in your pocket) all your applications, all your data, all your favorite websites and much more in a device that also lets you connect to the internet via 3G and 3G+ (HSPA). With this ‘PC on a stick’ you don’t need to worry anymore about whether or not you have your PC with you (netbook, notebook, or big laptop) – you just plug it into any USB port of any computer and it automatically creates your own personal digital environment.

TT:How do you ensure user privacy? What happens if I use Ucan on a public computer, open documents etc? Can anyone logging in after me see my stuff?

Not at all… and that is another beauty of this product. When you stop working and take the USB device out of the computer, it leaves no trace at all on the host machine. It is as you where never there, never used it. Yet, everything you changed or added is saved on your USB device.
TT: How is your product different from others already available on the market?

There is no other product on the market that does exactly what uCAN does. You have the simple 3G USB devices (which enable you to connect to the Internet) and you have USB devices with applications on them, offering no Internet connectivity. The latter type of device is similar to uCAN, but works by automatically installing all its software on the host device – it will even require you to have the necessary access and permissions for the host PC.

TT: So, do you really see a future where business people walk around NOT carrying a laptop? 
We do see a future where some business people and consumers will walk around with all of their digital information without a laptop. Having said this, it is also true that it is a matter of ‘customer convenience,’ meaning that not all business users or consumers will prefer to walk around like this. However, as with all advancements in technology, there’s no telling how quickly something like this could become the norm. Would we ever have thought that some of us would go running around with 10,000 songs around their neck? Yet, it happened. Additionally, the type of software/applications that can be installed on the USB device can vary widely according to the needs of the customer (e.g. a USB device for the banking industry would have different software than a USB device targeted at the ‘gaming community’). So yes, we see a very bright future for this type of product – we call it ‘Internet in your pocket.’
-SM

Tags: MWC, Tattletech Hot Seat, Technology

Day 1, Mobile World Congress, Barcelona

First, we woke dreading the crowds, the lines, the herds of people that would slow down my routes. Then we got to MWC and found no lines, no waiting and bocadillos to spare. And, taxis. Taxis everywhere! What was going on here? Was this MWC in Barcelona? It turns out, it was and is Barcelona – the lovely feel of Cannes in Barcelona. People were in a good moods, there were no annoying crowds and busines was being conducted.

Today on the list for cool things was a Dutch company called zCapes, which is making a mobile mini blog. We met them at the Mobile Monday Peer awards and they had just launched one day ago and as we move to more start ups that start with the letter Z – here is Zentym – a mobile TV advertising company based out of Madrid that we had previously met at the European Venture Summit – this time out of the gate with a powerful message and lots of operators nibbling at their toes.

One of our favorite companies from Sweden, JayCut was on of the hosts at the Sweden Mobile Association cocktail hour and proved their online video editing product has a B2B play. Another cool company from Sweden was TAT – The Astonishing Tribe. I think by far they have the coolest logo and they are 100% focused on delivering a god user interface for mobile — combining design and technology. Tattletech will post an interview with Charotta Taranger of TAT this week.

But the one thing that we believe is out of control is all the emphasis on mobile in terms of LBS. Yes we know it is a mobile show – but can we have a reality check? Forty mobile companies presented at the Mobile Monday Peer Awards today – 40!  Lots of duplicates and clones and look alikes out there – the market will consolidate and in six months, many of those companies will be gone.  In the long term, yes its true, all that we know and love will be on the mobile, but the Web will not go away. The lines will become blurred so this means that when we are talking about LBS – we should remember that there are more than 500 million users on Web based social networking sites and those users will want to evolve their social network.

According to Frank Schuil, CEO, IRL, the Web will not go away – the web is a natural extension of mobile and vice versa – they complete each other. Innovation will take place at the intersection of the web and mobile. The key will be to unlock the value of location for those 506 million online users and then bring them to the mobile.

On another note, there are less scantily clad women at this show – thank god for the recession. --JLH

Tags: Frank Schuil, IRL Connect, IRL Corporate, Mobile World Congress, Social network service

Phat Mobile World Congress party in Barcleona

ink Communications is throwing another one of their signature parties – this time in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress. It’s inks phat MWC party.  If you want an invite, tweet @jennalee. That’s the only way in!  Same place ZYB had their party two years ago – remember that? Of course you don’t, the drinks were all blue and that makes you forget things.

Tags: ink Communications, Marketing 2.0, Mobile World Congress, zyb

Nothing Happened today- just kidding!

It’s that show – 3GSM or now sadly called MWC 08 – well we hear they had trouble with the carpet for Fergie’s performance – that’s important.