teleguy
Enthusiast
Oct 28, 2005, 12:09 PM
Post #1 of 1
(411 views)
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Weren't cell phones made for talking? That is so yesterday.
Cell phones are quickly becoming an on-the-go entertainment center.
And everyone from carriers to handset makers to software firms is jumping on the bandwagon.
Just look at the blitz of recent product introductions:
- Phones that double as MP3 music players.
- Phones that air broadcast news and TV shows.
- Phones that play movie clips.
- Phones that allow multiplayer gaming.
For business-minded users, there are phones that download e-mails with attachments at broadband speeds, phones that allow users to work in corporate databases and customer relations programs, and phones attached to cars that diagnose mechanical problems.
To wit: Apple Computer Inc. launched the iTunes ROKR, an iTunes-capable mobile phone, with Cingular Wireless and Motorola Inc. Hewlett-Packard Co. is working on an iPaq Pocket service that uses GPS mobile technology to tell the history of where the user happens to be.
Verizon Wireless in the last month alone launched half a dozen new data uses for its network, including several gaming services, a smartphone with Palm Inc. and Microsoft Corp., a productivity application for wireless laptops, and an MP3 phone. And like its competing carriers, itlaunched a mobile TV service.
Meanwhile, Nokia Inc., the largest maker of mobile handsets worldwide, did its own share of underwriting the marketing efforts of third-party developers who created software for its Series 60 platform.
Nokia estimates 1.5 million developers worldwide are creating software for its mobile phones and for smartphones made by its competitors Research In Motion, which makes BlackBerry, and Motorola, the largest U.S. handset maker.
"Two years ago most developers (for mobile handsets) were game developers. But now what people do on phones is so much more — e-mail, productivity, entertainment — it's so much like a true computer," said Nokia spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong.
Consider some of these non-voice applications introduced for mobile phones:
- MobiTV of Emeryville sells software technology that lets mobile phone users watch live broadcast TV programming over the Sprint wireless network. ABC News, ESPN, MSNBC, Discovery Channel and other networks collaborate with MobiTV to offer the service. This quarter, MobiTV will launch MobiRadio, which allows users to listen to broadcast radio from their handsets.
- I-Play of San Mateo — the heart of the flourishing cell-phone game industry — has converted multiplayer video games normally played on gaming consoles for use on mobile phones. It has licensed content and then introduced mobile versions of Madden sports video games, Skipping Stones, 20Q and other popular multiplayer games.
- RealNetworks of Seattle introduced RealNetworks Online TV, a streaming TV content onto mobile phones.
- Kyocera Wireless introduced mobile handsets fitted with music videos ready to watch.
- Apple, Verizon and Cingular all introduced mobile MP3 music players that download music from the Internet. Just last week, Apple released a new iPid that plays music videos and TV shows.
One big reason developers are rushing to create new uses for
mobile phones is the promise of actually getting paid for usage.
Unlike the Internet, where much of the content is free and content providers from newscasters to game developers have had trouble finding a source of revenue to support their Internet businesses, mobile phone use is clocked by a cellular carrier. The carrier can compensate the content provider based on minutes of use.
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