mTrends - mobile media lifestyle trends - m-trends.org

At Macworld San Francisco 2007, a couple of hours ago, Steve Jobs unveiled (finally!) the iPhone. You can watch the full keynote here and how the phone works here.

After more than 2 years of speculations everywhere, the iPhone became probably the most ever hyped device before it’s launch. Note that exactly one year ago was the last time I wrote about the iPhone in my mobile & wireless predictions for 2006: “My guess is that if Apple makes a move into mobile, they will come up with something more then just a mobile phone.”

Damn was I right! Apple - btw dropped offically ‘Computer’ from their company name today, comes up with an awesome hybrid device that stays true to Apple’s core: to design high-class technology products… And it’s no less with the iPhone, bypassing all it’s competitors with a full surface touchscreen device for better UI, and reconfigurable/adaptable UI’s:

iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

I will leave you the pleasure to discover the new device, some first thoughts on the features I read about as of now:

• Visual Voicemail = great!
• 3G Radio = ??? Cost? Can you imagine this while roaming
• Exlusive carrier deal = all Apple fans will need to switch to Cingular in US
• 1 more year for iPhone launch in Europe = Apple has time to deal with EU operators
• iPhone runs Mac OS X = developers: start developing those widgets!
• Touchscreen display = seems fragile to carry in your pocket
• Multi-touch support = that’s really complex in tech dev -> chapeau!
• Proximity sensor = turns off the touch sensitivity when close to your face, can you dig?
• WiFi automatically engages when in range = Apple has AirPort experience here

All the rest, no real surprises, except that everything looks SO much better on an Apple device!

FYI: next hype to come: the merging of the iPhone and the iPod = the ideal device

Note to Steve: do something about the iTunes way too closed DRM, buying CD’s might become another next trend to be able to digitalize and listen to the music I bought on ALL the devices in my family…

As last year, I would like to bring to your attention the humanitarian NGO specialising in emergency telecommunications, called Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF), also known as “Telecoms without Borders” or “Communications for Life“. Just as reporters or doctors of the same named humanitarion organizations, TSF is bringing the first aid communication infrastructure to catastrophy area’s in need setting up the basic elements to create communications networks.

There is an urgent need for food, water, shelter, protection and medical help in emergencies, but none of these things are possible without quick and reliable communications. In 2005, TSF team, partners and donors, deployed to 10 countries to the benefit of 50 000 people and 250 relief organisations.

Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF), the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced a partnership in October to provide telecommunications to the humanitarian community in all world crises. This is the first time UNICEF signs a worldwide agreement with an NGO.

Thanks to this agreement, TSF can deploy up to four teams within 24 hours, with the intervention teams of the UN, to help in the case of natural disasters and in humanitarian crises anywhere in the world. The teams, experienced in telecommunications are among the first to arrive on the ground where they open emergency telecommunication centres that help rescue teams from the UN, NGOs and local governments, telephone connections, Internet, video, fax, scanning facilities, and technical assistance in the use of satellite equipment, WiFi and GSM. Rescue teams need reliable systems of communications to ensure logistics, coordination and the evolution of operations.

I decided to donate my Google Adsense earnings of this year to the Télécoms Sans Frontières organization, you can donate here.

BTW: made me think it would be great if Google could develop some automized system to donate to various humanitarian organizations

My favourite rss calendar application upcoming.org went mobile a couple of days ago. In their usual humble style upcoming team anounced: “Just open up m.upcoming.org on your mobile phone’s web browser and log in. We’ll give you your Upcoming events for the day, plus links to your watchlist, your friend’s events for the day, and an event search form, just in case you’re looking for more stuff to do.”

I tried it out immediately but was a bit dissapointed with the given functionality, just browsing my or my friends’ events on my mobile is not really something I currently need when I’m on the move.

I liked the 2nd paragraph of the anouncement though: “We tried to focus tightly on showing 90% of what you’d need while you’re out of the house, but if there’s anything essential missing, let us know and we’ll do our best to add it in. This is an exercise in minimalism, so please think about space and download time when offering your suggestions.”

Well, here’s some I’m looking for when on the move inbetween conferences:

Actually it’s a good excercise to start with for anyone attending regularely events and who needs to travel a lot… What excactly one needs from a mobile accessible, live updateable calendar application? The events you’re attending or watching, you’ll have probably listed already on your laptop, location map functionality is obvious to have when looking for the event location while on the road. What about friends to connect to, attending the same conference? All this makes sence to me.

I created the Mobile Events group a couple of months ago for the Carnival of the Mobilists website (Events section) which you may also view here on my blog. I think it’s a great way to stay updated on events in the mobile & wireless sector and watch which friends are attending events around, have a look which events are currently anounced.

Upcoming Mobile isn’t yet offering the functionalities I would like I described above, however I’m confident upcoming is busy thinking about and/or developing the stuff. They just added some RSVPs and Guestlists for Event Organizers too…

Meanwhile I love the possibility to integrate my upcoming ‘Mobile Events’ group events feed into iCal or MyYahoo! Maps or Calendar

The best part is synchronising my iCal to my N91 beaming all those events with a single click into my calendar on my mobile, that’s neat! Now just keep building the other functionalities around. How about you, how do you manage (or would like to manage) your events and functioalities while on the move?

… One man with an idea, a camera phone and a tag.

Check Google where the 3GSM 2007 search leads you

Graham Brown from Wireless World Forum pointed me out on it again, I’ve nearly forgotten all about it.

Walking out of 3GSM 2006 I just blogged the exit and goodbye message and moblogged that with the 3GSM 2007 tag for gotomobile.com.

Thanks to a combined effort and the magic of Jeffrey at gotomedia. Let me know if ever you get all swamped in your search engine rankings

Yesterday I saw an ad on Spanish TV of Telefonica’s MNO Movistar, promoting flat-rate Mobile Internet acces for their 3G brand e-mocion, co-branded with Google and MSN Hotmail… I couldn’t believe my eyes. Mobile Internet advertising on TV? Of course we have seen some allusion to it on Vodafone Live ads, but as explicit like this? No we haven’t seen it like this here before.

So today I had to know everything about this e-mocion offer. First I tried to find the ad at YouTube but this one seems too fresh yet to be posted there already. Instead I found this really funny one… go and check it out anyway if you’re in for a laugh (no need to understand spanish

People who read this blog often know about my griefs against the high cost to acces the Mobile Internet. You can read the threads here and here if you haven’t done that yet.

At e-mocion website, you can find the announcement to access the mobile internet for 0,30 cent/session… Well, that’s better than my 0,50 cent I currently pay at Vodafone but when reading the small letters, it’s a promotion until September. So let’s find out more about this promotion and the marketing behind this new kind of partnership, at least in the mobile space.

I read the Google and MSN Hotmail Lead the New Portal Services; Movistar Turns ‘e-mocion’ into the New Flat-Rate Gateway to Cell Phone Content press release from May 3, being really surprised I haven’t read anything before on this news. Read also this article at Forbes.com:

” With the new flat rate per session, users will have unlimited access to content and services from both ‘e-mocion’ and the Internet, at only 0.30 euros per session, which, until the month of September, will have no time expiration. This initiative helps users, who will know at all times how much they will pay for browsing and accessing content.”

Good point! Until September all my sessions can be unlimited … not bad after all, maybe I should give it a try and calculate the difference on my mobile browsing consumption, for the price I pay at Vodafone I might have one of those fancy phones included

But let’s drop the pricing issue right now, what actually surprised me the most was the synchronised announcement of the Movistar partnership with Google and MSN Hotmail (get it?) For amateurs, some brain exercise can be done on this one…

Once I can acces the mobile internet I can also access Yahoo! Mobile services or whatever mobile web enabled service, I don’t need a partnership for this, so there is more going on, especially on the Google side. I tried to see the win-win of the partners involved but I don’t really see MSN services competing immediately with what Google wins in this deal…

From the same Forbes article mentioned above:

“With the inclusion of Google as e-mocion’s main search engine, users will be able to search for content based on keywords, facilitating the exploration and discovery of services. Initially, the search results will include links to external Internet content. In a subsequent phase, results will incorporate content from e-mocion. Google will use its technology and its indexing and content updating expertise to turn e-mocion into the starting point to access the Internet from a mobile phone.”

Google offers his Google Search Engine to access Movistar services and content - users can search music and video’s for example, while building its’ own user-base of course. Google gets useful stats and information on users and their search behaviour, soon they’re be able to deliver content through the Google Reader, offer Google Talk (VoIP), and so on… Google can start proposing its Google Music Search, Google Video, why not geo-locate straight to their Google Maps?

Has Telefonica Movistar accepted the role of mobile data pipeline provider yet?

Meanwhile, Google Talk is already offered on the Nokia 770 portable Internet Tablet, don’t have to draw that one out again, no?

Too much of a Google in one article? I just wonder how the small mobile services companies are going to find their way to the mobile consumer? You have to be able to deal straight with the operator or the manufacturer if you want to reach some critical mass, for sure… or going viral?

Maybe I can found out a bit more going to listen to Isabel Aguilera (CEO Google Spain and Portugal) next week at the Internet Global Conference.