Archive for BREW07
by Debi Jones
June 27, 2007 at 3:28 am · Filed under BREW07, Mobile Applications, Awards
And the winners are:
Best Up and Coming Application
Navitime - KDDI (2nd year in a row)
Best Business/Productivity Application
Celltop - Alltel Wireless
Best Location Based Services Application
BiM Active - Bones in Motion
Best Community Application
Juice Caster - Juice Wireless
Best Entertainment Application
NBA AirPlay Live - AirPlay Network
Best Game Application
Brothers in Arms 3D - Gameloft
Best Public Service Application
Wireless Emergency Command System (Kingeye) - Xi’an Kingtone Information Technology Co., Ltd., China
People’s Choice Award
Celltop - Alltel Wireless
Additional finalists were announced on the BREW 2007 Developer Awards page. The countries represented by finalists for awards included: Brazil, China, France, India, Korea, and the USA.
by Nancy Broden
June 25, 2007 at 6:54 pm · Filed under User Interface, Usage + Usability, Events + Conferences, BREW07
Debi Jones’ recent post highlights some of what was new at Qualcomm’s annual BREW conference which wrapped up in San Diego on Friday.
One aspect she didn’t mention was this year’s unprecedented focus on user experience, with panel and breakout sessions over all 3 days on everything from Understanding Users Through Contextual Inquiry to User Centered Design for Mobile Environments and Designing and Evaluating Mobile User Interfaces. Qualcomm also sponsored quick-hit 30-minute sessions where attendees had the opportunity for Q&A in a more informal environment.
The BREW Times, the show’s daily publication, provided a more in-depth look at several user experience related topics such as personalization, user generated content, the problem of feature discovery and mobile social networking, on which I spoke during a Friday afternoon breakout session.
The focus on user experience is not purely altruistic of course - there are high hopes in the industry that mobile social networking and user generated content will provide fresh sources of revenue. Nevertheless, it was clear from the questions I was asked at BREW that the conference is attracting a more diverse audience that is increasingly aware of the importance of a user centered approach to mobile interfaces and seeking out information to this end. This is a good thing for anyone who uses a mobile phone, which is to say, pretty much everyone.
by Debi Jones
June 25, 2007 at 4:46 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Devices, Mobile Tech, Events + Conferences, BREW07, touch screens, iPhone, LG Prada
Today mobile messaging allows one to tap out text messages, view images or pictures, hear music or audio clips and even watch the blend of image and audio as videos. In all of these examples, screen view plays a central role. What about those instances when you’re driving, at an event, in a meeting or in the classroom? If the phone in your pocket could provide important notices or messages even when you can’t view the screen that would be an innovation worthy of the phrase Mobile Messaging 2.0.
Immersion brings the sense of touch to mobile messaging and other mobile phone applications. “With the move to glass touch screens on phones, important tactile feedback has been removed” according to Richard Pierson, director of business development, at Immersion Corporation. Pierson continues, “On a touch screen how do you know that a number was actually entered?” Immersion makes use of haptics, a greek word meaning “the sense of touch,” commonly known as vibrations to provide tactile feedback and/or notices that an action has occurred. Haptics was first created for military applications, then later used as force feedback for PC flight simulators and more recently in gaming consoles of all types to create the rumble feel of action.
You’ve had the experience of talking through 10 minutes of uninterrupted silence when suddenly your phone rings and you learn that the other party dropped from the call 2 minutes after the you started. More than once you’ve heard too quite a call and pulled the phone from your ear or pocket to “see” if the call is still connected. And even though it appears connected, you still ask, “are you there?” If your handset manufacturer has the Immersion solution branded VibeTonz on board, then you’ll receive a unique vibration notification that allows you to feel that the call has dropped.
VibeTonz also provides “feel messaging” selected as various emoticons. Sending a “love” emoticon results in the receiver feeling a heartbeat. The smiling emoticon sends what feels like a giggle, rapid short bursts of vibration. The sensation of VibeTonz’s emoticons in vibration is amazingly intuitive. Unfortunately, VibeTonz isn’t a direct to consumer solution as it requires sensors and firmware - mostly firmware. Your handset must come with VibeTonz installed.
VibeTonz are currently available on a few Samsung devices from Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Alltel and MetroPCS in the US; SK Telecom in Korea; Orange in France and UK; and T-mobile in Germany and UK. I saw a demo using the LG Prada and rumor has it that Verizon Wireless will launch this device complete with VibeTonz in response to the iPhone.
Watch this site for an in depth podcast with Immersion coming soon.
by Debi Jones
June 24, 2007 at 4:46 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, User Interface, Platforms, Software, Events + Conferences, BREW07, Mobile Applications, UiOne, CDMA, GSM
The BREW Conference is traditionally focused on developers. Past events brought together operators, handset makers and developers working with Qualcomm’s BREW platform for the delivery of content, namely games and other applications. There were several new aspects to the conference in 2007 that distinquish it from previous years. A clear signal of the change in the conference and for BREW, itself, was the choice of Keynote speakers, notably H3 and Time Warner Music.
BREW and GSM Operators
The addition of GSM operators this year was a first for the conference. You might wonder what the attraction for a GSM operator would be in a platform designed to deliver applications to CDMA subscribers. The answer is found in Qualcomm’s move 18 months ago to break BREW into three components: UiOne, DeliveryOne, and QPoint.
UiOne has been deployed by O2, Telecom Italia and apparently there is a deal in the works between Qualcomm and Three for use of the platform (no official announcement, yet). In Europe, the UI is determined and controlled by the handset manufacturers, but UiOne places that critical aspect of the user experience back into the operator’s domain. UiOne allows for customization through theme development as illustrated by Alltel Wireless’ Celltop application. The availability of the scripting language TrigML from UiOne’s SDK makes the UI extensible. Third party theme development, enhanced discovery and web services delivery are simplified which is very attractive to operators regardless of their underlying network technologies.
Welcome Media/Content Providers
Also, a new addition to the conference this year was the participation of media companies like keynote presenter Time Warner Music (TWM). This is foreshadowing to the future of BREW plus MediaFLO. A number of other media companies were present as attendees changing the BREW audience and definitely the conference session lineup with broader coverage than in past years. The BREW Conference has been technology centric, but with the expansion of participants new topics arose focused on solutions over technology and seamless user experience as the path to monetization.
by Debi Jones
June 22, 2007 at 7:43 am · Filed under Mobile Tech, Events + Conferences, BREW07, CDMA, SIM, Sprint
The BREW conference is underway in San Diego, CA. The attendance is strong and there are lots of applications which deliver “media”. My first observation at the conference was the following. The phrase mobile content is last year’s color, and now, all is media. Ringtones, wallpapers, logos, text messages, pictures, and of course, video are all media.
Brian Finnerty, director of devices at Sprint Nextel, reached the top of the escalator just as I walked up to it. I took the opportunity to ask him a question or two.
me: “Sprint has always been known as the carrier with the coolest phones. Why didn’t Sprint land the iPhone?”
Brian: “They didn’t ask us. Apple wanted a GSM carrier so they could launch worldwide, or internationally.”
me: “What about SIM cards for CDMA carriers? Will Sprint have SIM cards in the near future?”
Brian: “We are deploying SIM technology without the card.”
me: “When?”
Brian: “It’s working on the phone I have in my pocket, right now.”
me: “Can I see that?”
Brian: “No.”
me: “When will Sprint release it?”
Brian: “In August.”
Nextel phones use SIM cards, and the new cardless SIM solution may be one benefit that can be credited to the merger. From a consumer perspective the benefit of having a card module is the ability to move it from one phone to another or change network operators by popping in a new SIM card to an existing device. It’s unclear what the consumer benefit will be for Sprint’s cardless SIM.
x-posted on: mobilejones.com
by Debi Jones
June 18, 2007 at 11:58 am · Filed under Events + Conferences, BREW07
I’m attending portions of the BREW Conference in San Diego this week. Please visit mobilejones.com for more information, and stayed tuned to MM2.0 for new podcasts and session summaries from the event.
