Clearly, the buzzword at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) is App Planet. It is a place where one can actually see and feel the future of telecommunications. There are some key takeaways, too.
It’s at App Planet that you realise devices are no longer just about offering mobility. They are now moving into an arena where communication and mobility are forming an alliance to create intelligent systems. Moreover, the onus of creating functionality within a device does not rest only on the software developer, but also the hardware manufacturer. The marriage of these aspects will lead to an ecosystem where devices will ‘literally talk’ to each other, as well as gather relevance and provide a seamless service.
For instance, what we found interesting is a development with Opera, which has a ubiquitous middleware solution for devices. While this would seem Greek and Latin to most, it’s actually quite simple and immensely exciting!
Widgets – or applications designed for the Opera browser – can be translated across devices, which allow them to ‘talk and interact’ with each other. The pre-condition for this is that the browser on interacting devices needs to be Opera.
In simple terms, your mobile phone can control your set-top box, if both have Opera browsers. Imagine this: You are watching a Bollywood movie on TV and, at the click of a button, you can get the review of the film, stream or download music of the film onto your mobile handset, and interact with the server to take part in a contest that allows you to meet the actors of the film. It is seamless and contextual across devices.
This should find easy compatibility across devices because, as is unknown to many, Opera is the default browser on as many as fifty million devices — including TV set-top boxes, gaming consoles and mobile phone handsets.
Call to cover health
Speaking of services and mobility, Qualcomm is extremely bullish on the mHealth segment. The company is currently exploring opportunities with device manufacturers for a unique health related service — one that amalgamates the software intelligence with the analytical hardware to ensure utility.
Let’s use a very pertinent example to explain this concept. Imagine a device in the form of a wrist band, which keeps a check on such vital lifestyle health issues as cholesterol, obesity, stress and blood pressure. The moment it tracks irregularities in your health pattern, it triggers an alarm.
This is possible as the device is simultaneously performing an intelligent analysis of the data tracked over a period of time. It comes embedded with a 3G chip, which connects to mobile phones or related devices, forming a community.
This community could comprise anyone ranging from therapists to physicians or even family members who receive this analysis in the form of updates. As the device analyses data, it actually allows you take preventive action vis-à-vis curative measures at the same time. It is definitely an appealing service, when most of us suffer from some form of a lifestyle disease.
And, one can definitely not ignore the Windows Phone 7 Series. This is one software announcement that has been highlighted at the MWC. While all the other phones in the Windows Series were, by and large, a repackaging of the software, the Windows 7 Series is a top-down recoding of the software.
The concept of the Windows 7 Series is simple — Capturing Experiences. And this can be done via video, pictures, music, sound recoding and gaming. The new series also had Xbox Live and Zune integrated into the system.
What especially caught my eye was the Live Tiles concept on the homepage. There is a fairly large element of social interaction and networking and a lot of movement. Interestingly, one can see a consistent economy across all mobile devices. Be it the Apple iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 Series, Samsung or Android — each of these devices have widgets for a marketplace, entertainment, business and enterprise and, of course, basic communication via voice and text.
In sum, applications are definitely capturing a lot of eyeballs, just as the announcement of the Wholesale Applications Community made on Monday. This is a good move for consumers to enjoy a seamless experience and share applications across devices, platforms and service providers. It is an attempt that will set standards in an otherwise, fragmented environment. It will be interesting to see if this can evolve into an effective business model for the application economy worldwide.
(The author is Managing Director and CEO of Hungama Mobile & Chairman of MEF Asia Board)
