Nokia’s latest mobile operating system Maemo, launched beginning of October in N900 handset didn’t turn out as expected. At the same time, the processor giant Intel is still waiting for the best opportunity to enter the mobile world. The cooperation between Nokia and Intel has been rumored for a while in the industry and in blogs and finally it is announced today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Maemo + Moblin = MeeGo
This is the new formula that Nokia and Intel put in place to fight Google Android. Watch the video below to check the different point of views from both partners regarding this cooperation.
Google launches a new set of services this week that will challenge many startup companies core products as Gigaom puts it. I see it as a good move for the benefit of technology because Google is one the companies that have the means to make a change at a large scale. Startup companies had the features for a while but the end users didn’t know about them. It is true that the competition is harder now in the mobile application marketplace but very important to see significant improvements. Here is an initial list of the features launched by Google: Real time search They have integrated public updates from Twitter, Facebook Pages in the results pages. Updates from MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and identi.ca will be also available.
Google Goggles Google Goggles is a visual search app for Android phones that will allow web search using pictures from the mobile camera. More information about this service is available here.
Voice search So far the supported languages are English, Mandarin and now Japanese and will soon support more languages. This is a very interesting feature because it will boost mobile web usage. As I explained in an early post, typing text on a mobile device is not cool. In the end, Google wants to support live language translation in a conversation.
These are interesting services for the end user but this is also means more data for Google from which they can create new revenue streams.
Since the creation of the web, searching for information irrespective of the type has been depending on text input to formulate the search query. This approach was good enough since the information was mainly text based. When media content started spreading drastically over the web, photos and videos and as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, the same keyword approach was extended to index photos, music and videos based on the context in which they appear. Google has proven that this method is successful. And from the user’s point of view, it’s very convenient, because typing text on a keyboard is the easiest way to build a query. However, as we are moving more and more towards mobile broadband, other input alternatives must be considered to build a search query. Despite the touch screen and the great user experience it has introduced to mobile users, it can never be as good as a normal keyboard due to the small size of the mobile device. Furthermore, a mobile user expects to build a search query even in a faster way than typing text on a PC keyboard, like speech commands for example. Another input possibility in a mobile phone, is the lens of the camera which allows user to get information about photos or views without having to describe it by text. This ambition is not new, many companies have been investing in image recognition techniques for years. To match and identify similar pictures is a hard technical problem but the search giant seems to have an answer: Google Goggles. Read More »
Developments in mobile phones are generally targeted to the mass and to satisfy the needs of the normal user in the daily life. We have seen High definition camera, Mobile TV, Mini Projectors in Mobile Phones, internet browser and more or less a tiny computer, not to forget the wide range of applications in the smart phones (especially iPhones and android based handsets) that transform the phone to a GPS receiver, sophisticated game console and so on. But a microscope ?? While this is not a feature that a normal mobile user would need, but it certainly has an advantage for researchers out in the field away from the lab. Using about $10 off-the-shelf components and mobile phone, the researchers at UC Berkeley have created a microscope. Check the video below to know more about this innovation. Read More »
A very interesting presentation on Internet and the economy presented by Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker at Web 2.0 Summit on Tuesday.
BusinessInsider summarizes the presentation as follows
Mobile internet is bigger than you think. iPhone is becoming THE mobile platform. Social media, mobile devices are changing communications and commerce. Mobile internet trends in Japan show how the future will be. (Hint: Not much mobile advertising) Carriers will be crushed by demand. The Walled Gardens collapse. Apple wins, Google maybe wins, Research In Motion withers
The number of mobile subscriptions is actually expected to reach 50 billion subscription in 2020 (even bigger than what Mary thinks, 10+ billions is mentioned in her slides). Apple is no doubt a major driver, but Google services are not to be forgotten. Also the android platform is being pushed and adopted by many manufacturers. Despite the iPhone’s popularity, I think it is still possible for other handsets to make a breakthrough. To a large extent, I seem to agree with Meeker about mobile internet trends, except for mobile advertising.
Take a deeper look into Mary’s presentation here and let me know what you think Read More »
Next month, Nokia will release the new smart phone N900 that will run on Maemo 5 operating system. In 2008, Nokia acquired Symbian, the leading OS in the “smart mobile device” market, also known as Symbian OS. According to Nokia, Maemo 5 is completely different from Symbian, Windows Mobile, Iphone OS or Google Android since it is regarded as the technology that will computer capabilities to the mobile phone. The OS is an open source and based on Debian Linux. However, software improvements is only a part of migrating computer capabilities to mobile phone. Maemo 5 introduced a completely redesigned finger-touch UI, cellular phone feature, and live multitasking on the Maemo Dashboard. But what about processor performance? Battery usage? It was said before that Nokia and Intel will have a cooperation which will allow Intel to enter the mobile phone market. But Nokia has chosen the ARM CortexTM-A8 processor for the N900 smart phone. Watch the N900 promo video below. Read More »
JAJAH, VoIP (Voice Over IP) provider will allow its users to make free calls using Twitter. The service is started in beta now. Note both the caller and the callee needs to be part of the @Call service. So how does it work? From twitter, you tweet: “@call @username” using the twitter username of the person you wish to call. If you are logged in to twitter from a PC, you phone will ring, once you answer, the call will be placed you will hear a message “Please hold, JAJAH is connecting your call…” and you wait for the person to pick in the other end. You can also try it from your mobile phone. JAJAH will connect the call without reveal contact information to any party. For privacy reasons, calls can only be made to followers. For more information, watch the video Read More »
At Nokia World 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany, Nokia Research Center showed a new concept in user experience: Nokia Mixed Reality The concept features three concepts:
Gaze-tracking eyewear which allows the user to select and browser with the eyes
3D Audio
Haptic wrist device to feel and fetch media through gesture and touch
This concept allows to you to experience immersion and effortless navigation in an Augmented Reality environment. New types of interactions involving near-to-eye displays, gaze direction tracking, 3D audio, 3D video, gesture and touch. Through these new types of social linkages people will be connected in innovative ways between the physical and digital worlds, as described on Nokia Research Center Website
Take a look at this video to get an idea about Nokia’s vision of future technology. Read More »
A year ago, there was only 10% of the advertising firms that have used and tried mobile advertising, today there are more than 50%. Mobile advertising can either be used as the main vehicule in a campaign or it can also be used as part of a media mix.
There are 3 drivers in mobile advertising: Consumers, Operators and Advertising companies. Read More »
