Incito MentisA blog by Syed Abdul Karim

For those 500 million smartphone users worldwide, the concept of what one can do from a phone has far evolved. Nokia – the giant that put a mobile phone in the hands of the masses gave us the Nokia Communicator. A phone which felt like a mini-computer. Then Blackberry with it’s Messenger and Push E-mail created an enterprise ecosystem which altered the divide between personal and professional. Not getting an instant response to an email or a message became something to be frowned upon. Then out of the blue came a system which brought together touch technology with an operating system that created a perfect marriage between technology and simplicity – the iPhone was born. What’s more is that it has continued to build on this powerful framework combining previous innovations with newer concepts. It was this holistic thinking that created the iPod phenomena. An mp3 player was nothing new, but combining it with iTunes was what changed the entire music industry. Similarly the birth of the App Store enabled continuous innovation in the use and experience of iOS devices – iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and so on. The question is what’s next?

It is very human to take what we have in the present for granted. Quite frankly a lot of what we can do today was the stuff of science fiction not so long ago. The Trekkies from the USS Enterprise gave us a vision of future communications and one such vision has become a reality today in the form of “FaceTime”. Similarly we can all feel like a cyborg from Terminator with an augmented vision of reality using our smart phones with an app like Layar, for example. Such technology is fast becoming commonplace by the day. Feeling quite comfortable and pleased knowing that I live in an era where technology has profoundly empowered individuals to do so much more than could have been imagined I got jolted out of my comfort zone when I came across another vision of the future. But unlike previous eras however I see such a future becoming a reality pretty soon. Perhaps by the time we get the iPhone 5! Have a look…

Impressed? Perhaps not so much! I don’t blame you. So much is happening so fast. 3D has revolutionized the cinema going experience and pretty soon a 3D home viewing experience is going to become something like wearing a wrist watch. We have gotten used to blazing fast leaps in technology. The likes of Apple have spoiled us silly. But what if I were to tell you that I got something that would truly blow you away! What’s even more surprising is the company behind this vision of the future – Mozilla. Yes, the company that gave us the Firefox browser is up to something truly remarkable. If a search engine company can get into the mobile phone business and God knows what else then why can’t a web-browser company do the same! Well, this is just a concept video but the vision portrayed by the guys from Mozilla Labs is simply out of this world! I can’t wait to get my hands on the Mozilla Seabird! Hold on to your seats before clicking on the video below. Bye-bye Apple, Hello Mozilla!

“Because life is not a spectator sport” – a tagline for Reebok in the 1980s is the mantra for brand building in the 21st century. Brands cannot expect consumers to be static spectators to their messages. Participation is becoming second nature in everything we are doing. Even the way we watch sports has changed. For anyone tweeting while watching the FIFA World Cup would have experienced the game in a way they have never experienced before. It was like watching the game with the world. Proof of this phenomena comes from the fact that a new Twitter record was created in the World Cup with 3282 tweets per second after Japan’s win over Canada (for perspective average Twitter usage is about 750 tweets per second). Brands need to engage consumers in the same way. They have to get in the field, play the game with their consumers and continue the relationship off the field. If there is a likability and genuineness in the engagement then hopefully they would be invited for the next game. This is a radical shift in the role of marketers. Like in a relationship the dynamics of media, mobile and the web have changed the way we interact with brands. Any attempt by a brand to fake it’s way into the consumer’s life is impossible. It’s like befriending someone with an ulterior motive. It’s only a matter of time before true intentions become apparent and the impending aftermath would be nothing short of catastrophic. Social media is simply too powerful and things can spread really fast. As we have seen in the case of BP recently social media has been unforgiving and the impact to the brand has been phenomenal (although a lot of what BP has done at any level is their own doing but that’s another matter).

Telecom brands would have to built based on these same principles. Fortunately the telecom sector is at the forefront of this change, experiencing the impact first hand. As people spend more time online operators are seeing a remarkable shift in data usage, for example NTT DoCoMo reports that approx. 90% of their network traffic is data, for Vodafone this number is about 70%. As Susan Wojcicki, VP Public Policy and Communications at Google put it “U.S. users spend 12 hours per week online, which represents about 32 percent of their media time.” People are spending more time online and doing so using their mobile with increasing frequency. In the US a 110% growth in mobile web usage has been noted in 2009. Point being that habits are changing. For a telecom operator besides the obvious business impact there are huge implications on the way a telecom brand is built.

Using the TeleCompass as a guide to determine a brand’s promise is one thing. Taking this brand promise forward is another. And it is here where the rules of brand communication are being rewritten. To illustrate this point I would refer to one brand who has embraced the new role of the consumer and ensured that everything the brand does is something which involves consumer participation, engages them in way that encourages sharing and builds a genuine two way relationship.

The brand is Koodo Mobile – an MVNO by Telus in Canada. Looking at the 8 spaces on the TeleCompass Koodo Mobile has taken the “Heroism” platform for their brand. By using an iconic character “El-Tabador” Koodo Mobile has taken upon itself the fight for phone freedom.

Building on this promise, Koodo Mobile has made creative use of YouTube to develop an interactive video game – something in which the user can participate and fight against Bloatimus Contractimus.

This is the kind of work that defines our era in which more people are using media that allows for greater participation and play. Koodo Mobile as a telecom player has made use of this new media by creating content that keeps the consumer actively engaged with the brand. As a follow-up to their initial work the latest YouTube interactive video game that went viral early this year was “Sugar Streak – Can you catch the Gingerbread man?”

Reposted from the Luciola Blog

Not yet? Well you could do what you have always done or if you have a smartphone you are only a few apps and clicks away from planning your dream vacation, right now and the on the go. As part of my trend watching on the Telecom Sector one of the most exciting trends I have come across is known as “Techpowered”. This trend looks at how technology is empowering individuals to do some remarkable things with their internet enabled mobile phones or Smartphones.

Like so many areas, travel and tourism too have been transformed by the developments in mobile technology. So what are we talking about? What if I were to tell you that by using a series of applications on a mobile you can not only plan and book your entire trip but manage everything before, during and after your vacation. Skeptical? Allow me to illustrate!

Plan & Book

If you don’t already know where you want to go. You can check out apps like Globetrotr and Arounder Touch, which will allow you to explore some breathtaking views and hot locations complete with 360 views from all around the world. Let’s say you want to go Italy and you need a visa. Get the Travisa app which will give you visa requirements to over 200 locations. Need the right picture for your visa application. You need PassportCAM to tell you how your photo should look like – snap away, crop and fit. Book a flight using the Expedia app. If you want to book your hotels over a Google Map get the Hotels app. It will map out all the hotels on a map with their prices. Put in your details and get confirmation within the app itself. How about renting a car? Most major rent-a-car companies now have a smartphone app or if your are looking for something cool try Zipcar. They not only let you do the standard stuff like locate, browse and book but give you some extra features like using the app to honk your car, or remotely lock and unlock using the smartphone as the key. Not bad? Want to track flights – get Flight Track Pro. It would give you updates of flight schedules, gate details and inform you in case there is a delay. What’s more if you are tracking flights in US airspace you get the same in-flight information as the passenger on your smartphone which includes details like altitude, speed, expected arrival time, exact location on a map in near real time (meaning it does not update by itself, you need to hit refresh and update it yourself – not that I am complaining) Need help packing? There is an app that can help you make sure you get everything you need. All set to go!

Let the journey begin…

OK. Now what you are going to do when you get there? You can get a voice navigation app and be on your way in your rent-a-car as soon as you land and navigate your way around despite the fact that you are a first time visitor. But what about the language? You dont speak Italian. Well beside the multiple language, key phrases and gesture apps available for Italy you could get something far more cutting edge. How about an Italian OCR (Optical Character Recognition) app? This would allow you to take a picture of any road sign, brochure, leaflet etc and have the smartphone app translate it for you in a language of your choice. You will never have to worry about reading Italian ever again. Want to dine out in style? Use Open Table to find a restaurant, read reviews and make reservations all in one place. It lists over 13,000 restaurants from all over the world. Looking for adventure? You can complement your navigation with a couple of location based social networking apps like Foursquare or Gowalla. They would give you an idea of what’s around you. If you want something even cooler you can get Augmented Reality apps that tell you what you are looking at through your phone camera, pull out Wikipedia data, find restaurants etc. For example if you are in Tuscany you can use this app. The first official Augmented Reality tourism app. See a video demo below.

Ready to fly! How about a mobile check-in? Even better a mobile boarding pass in the form of a QR code. If you are travelling by Lufthansa or Air France. You can go paperless all out.

Next Generation Travel Ecosystem

What we have tried to demonstrate here is a sample of the next generation travel ecosystem. There are still a number of areas that need to come together for it to work for most people. One of the biggest issues is data access cost for travelers. There are a few solutions that club various Wi-Fi Hot Spots together under one offering but it is still not enough, without which data roaming is going to remain a premium luxury for the few. The government side of things is also a major area that needs to be integrated into the digital travel ecosystem. Already we are seeing RFID chips in Passports as a step towards the same. Combining this with NFC technology that is being used in Japan we can see applications like ID documents, NFC to pay for train/bus tickets and integrate with transit systems as a secure access and also leading to a possibility that mobile phones could be used as a hotel key card for example, all taking the travel experience to an unprecedented level.

Reposted from the Luciola Blog

A much overdue innovation that is going to change the way we talk to each other over the phone. It’s been a while since we heard of something major in the voice arena. It seems all the action these days is happening only in the data space.

So what is the big news about mobile HD voice for the end user? For one you would feel like you are talking to someone in person. The experience is going to be like shifting from an AM radio to a CD player – sharp and crystal clear. Remember the time when you first upgraded your TV set from the standard CRT to a big screen LCD screen – once you have experienced the richness of High Definition voice you would want not go back to the old way of talking. Mobile HD voice is expected to open up a whole new era for voice based services. Conference calls are going to be the big winners here. No more clinging to the speaker phone trying to decipher every word being said. Other voice services like IVR and Speech-to-Text are also going to evolve to a new level.

So what is stopping mobile network operators from moving full speed ahead with the adoption of mobile HD voice? For one, this service is part of an all IP infrastructure that mobile operators are moving towards as they adopt LTE. Although a good HSPA+ network should be able to handle these wideband voice calls, the volume of calls going forward are going to demand a low latency, high bandwidth network to ensure service quality.

The other barrier is going to be interoperability. Today if two operators offer mobile HD voice they are unable to connect their users with each other. Setting up an interconnection between an HD line and a regular line also requires some transcoding. Only once barriers like these get resolved can we expect mobile HD voice to pick up in a big way as a key value-added innovation for the end user. The good news is that some big announcements are expected in Barcelona this week as the Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicks-off tomorrow!

However, taking the lead is Orange. They launched the first commercial mobile HD voice service in Moldova based on their 14.4 mbps 3G network. To support this launch Nokia had made one handset available and now Sony Ericsson too has announced “HD voice ready” phones under their GreenHeart line. Another operator, 3 UK, is also under going trials for mobile HD voice. If some concrete steps are taken at the MWC we can expect mobile HD voice to be the big buzz this year!

Reposted from the Luciola Blog

Ladies and Gentlemen, the telecom revolution is underway! And it’s happening faster than you can imagine! It is simply fascinating when you think about all the things you can do with your mobile phone. I have to say at the cornerstone of this revolution is actually the iPhone – the genius of Steve Jobs. First he masterminded the ultimate mobile device then he empowered individuals (I mean anybody), anywhere in the world to develop an application and put it on the App store. This has led to some crazy developments and one can expect even crazier ones in times to come! In this post, I would like to bring your attention to one such app! Imagine remotely starting your car with your iPhone, turning on the air conditioning before you get in on a hot summer’s day or the heater in this case (see video below) and doing it all from far far away! Check it out!

Impressive isn’t it! Well this one is out already! In fact I just downloaded the free app! But that’s all I am going to be doing for now! Besides the fact that I need the a $499 Smart Start module to be fitted in my car, the system is not available outside the US as yet (apparently it needs to be configured to work with the GSM networks available in a specific country!) Close but no cigar!

iDrive
Now let’s take this a little further! How about not only starting your car with your iPhone, but also driving it! Yes that is correct! Remember James Bond in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. Well this app makes 007 look old school! Check out iDrive. This one is not out yet! I don’t think it would be coming out anytime soon either, but a prototype already exists! Check out the video below and get ready to be blown away!