Archive for WIMM
by Ewan Spence
December 17, 2007 at 9:36 am · Filed under GPS, Software, Usage + Usability, WIMM, mobile social networking
While we’ve all focused on messages that get to you while you are mobile, I thought I’d point out another sort of mobile message – the message that comes from a mobile, to a recipient. And with the flexibility of a computer in your pocket, Nokia’s Sports Tracker (currently in beta) is yet another signpost to the future and what Web 2.0 and mobile can do for messaging.
The application on the handset is very simple. It takes a record of your location using either a bluetooth GPS or (on phones such as Nokia’s N95) the built in GPS. From this lots of info can be derived… your speed, average pace, height and a bundle of other stats from your trips you make. The N95’s built in accelerometers even help with a pedometer coming into the mix. Just hit start and stop at the relevant times. This of course is great for people who perhaps are doing jogging for fitness, or taking long cycle rides (like myself) but it also has a bundle of other uses; two examples…
Vegas the Dog. He’s mentioned a lot in Nokia keynotes on this – his owner strapped an N95 to his dog collar and started to record the walks that Vegas made. Not just where he went as an owner, but where Vegas went when he was tearing round parks, in trees, and after chickens. Where once complicated machinery and gadgets were needed to analysis the habits of the canine, now a simple phone can manage it all.
The second use is when I travel abroad and my family wants to know where I am. Nokia’s Sports Tracker can upload your route to a social network website (http://sportstracker.nokia.com/) where you register as a user, invite your friends, and share where you’ve been with them through the mobile component. All very Web 2.0, but it clearly answers the question “Where’s Dad?†when he’s off bouncing around conferences on the west coast. If I’m feeling particularly ‘open source’ I can turn live tracking on and give a constant “Ewan is here†report.
(Hmm, that might be something to consider for running in the background come prom night….)
So let’s not be blinkered to straight text messages coming into a handset as being the vanguard of mobile messaging. Modern communication is two-way, and the data we can provide is but limited to the sensors we can add to a mobile device.
by Ewan Spence
December 16, 2007 at 6:53 pm · Filed under WIMM, Wifi
I’ve been watching the posts on the idea of what is a mobile message and the surprising thing to me is that we’re almost all focused on the mobile phone as being the receiving platform. When we consider the technology on sale this festive season, I think it’s wrong to assume that the smartphone will be the sole preserve for mobile messaging.
Some of the biggest technology sellers this year have messaging included in them, but seem to slip under the radar. Two significant examples in my mind are both in the portable gaming sector; the Sony Playstation Portable and the Nintendo DS. While the devices are primarily set p for gaming, they both are showing the way forward for connected consumer electronics.
The Nintendo DS ships with a built in messaging client, able to talk to any other DS within range, as well as being able to play both local multiplayer games over wi-fi, and also multiplayer over the internet via connected hot-spots. The PSP goes even further, coming bundled with a full flash-enabled web browser, and an RSS podcast to automatically download audio and video.
Heck the iPod touch is nothing more than a glorified MP3 player, yet it carries a web browser that lets you grab email online, use an instant message client and do all those message-y things we’re talking about.
The common factor in all of this is the Wi-Fi connectivity, not a GSM signal to a mobile phone, and I’m sure we’ll see more and more electronics in the next few years being ‘internet aware’ and the opportunities presented by that are going to drive huge changes in mobile messaging. What shape we’ll end up with, well that’s going to make the journey interesting.
by Ewan Spence
December 9, 2007 at 8:15 pm · Filed under Communication, Instant Messaging, Messaging, Mobile Email, Mobile messaging 2.0, Symbian, WIMM
While at the recent Nokia World conference, both Darla Mack and I decided to ask a number of people just what a mobile message was? Darla’s posted up her responses, but I shall now do mine in the form of a podcast and the spoken word. Over to our guests to find out their thoughts…
MM20 Podcast: What Is A Mobile Message [00:03:05m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
by Darla Mack
December 9, 2007 at 10:17 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, WIMM
This past week I had the pleasure of attending NokiaWorld in Amsterdam. I figured, what better way to pose the question to many people who use technology on a daily basis.
My findings from that simple question was that the majority of the users that I asked all had the same answers prior to a discussion. SMS. One can argue that SMS or text messaging might be among the popular uses of mobile messaging, but it isn’t the final answer.
I asked one of my close buddies from Nokia and his response was complete.
A mobile message is any form of communication that is passed from your mobile device to pc or vice versa via the mobile or cellular network.
This answer seems quite simple and definite, depending on what it is that you are sending. Music, videos and images can be sent via MMS from ones handset, BUT doesn’t have to be done over a mobile network if using WiFi. So would this constitute as a mobile message? Yes, because it was sent from a mobile device.
Now one can also argue that using a built-in mobile IM client is a mobile message, but it isn’t. The IM client uses the network to CONNECT, not necessarily to send the message. You can be connected for hours and not send nor receive am IM.
After asking about 20 people I came to the conclusion that a mobile message is whatever is the popular use. In this case SMS being the most popular.
I can honestly say that this question will be open up an ongoing discussion and one will find that there is no agreed definition to what a mobile message is.
What say you?
by Debi Jones
December 8, 2007 at 11:32 pm · Filed under Instant Messaging, Messaging, Mobile Email, Mobile messaging 2.0, WIMM, mobile social networking
A recent discussion between most of the bloggers of Mobile Messaging 2.0 resulted in a disagreement. We were turning over various topics in our collective mind that might be interesting to our readers and us. As we deconstructed these topics, a starting point of sorts emerged on which we could bring our different perspectives in the hope of providing insight into how some parts of the mobile ecosystem interpret the language of mobility. That starting point is logical and simple although we found the answer may not be so.
What is a Mobile Message? Going around the virtual room to gain agreement on a starting point for considering other topics, it became apparent that the defining characteristics of applying the label mobile to any message was not a point on which we agreed. Over the next week, MM2 will consider this question, share our own perspectives and views relative to our position within the mobile ecosystem and invite you, our readers, to join in the discussion.
The components of a mobile message include the network, the device, the transport (e.g., SMS, MMS, email). Is the mobile network required? Or is it enough to use a mobile device on some other network, for example, wi-fi? A purist might say that the SMS transport is required to qualify the distinction of a mobile message versus merely a message sent electronically. Given the spirited discussion that took place between us, readers can expect some considered opinions and lively disagreement.
The marketing language from operators to consumers specifies text messaging, email, picture messaging, video messaging, voicemail messages, and Voice SMS. What about the mobilizing of social networks and the associated messages? What about mobile IM, chat, etc.? What about social gestures such have been popularized by social networks like nudging, poking, smiling or following? Consider Vibetonz and sending emoticons…are those mobile messages? And finally, do the semantics matter?
Let us know what you like, dislike or were bored by in this process as we hope to do more conversations on shared topics in the coming months. And now, enjoy.
