Coverage at a distance, a final word

After doing some research regarding the European mobile technology at the Mobile World Congress, I found it very interesting to see what Spanish and European telecommunications companies are working on. 

There is a lot going on with trying to harmonize all global networks into one.  Companies all over are improving data transfer and accessibility.

Although I was not able to actually attend the MWC in Barcelona, Spain, I still feel like I learned a fair amount about new, innovative technology that was introduced through adequate research on various topics. 

I think that within the next five years mobile carriers worldwide will begin to merge into one mobile network.  While this has been talked about in previous years and was introduced again this year, I think more coverage was done this time around.  I think it can make the difference and in the long run will be more cost effective and efficient. 

Shazam: The Future of Mobile Advertising?

Shazam announced at the Mobile World Congress a revolutionary idea for advertising.  They are building a social TV business. Right now Shazam is primarily used for tagging music. When someone hears a song they can use the app to tag the song and find out more about it.

Now Shazam is teaming up with companies such as Fox to start tagging TV programs and large televised events.  Now when someone hears a song and tag it using Shazam they receive information from the marketers. For example once someone tags the song, Shazam releases second stream content related to the advertisers campaign. For example, tagging a song in the show can have behind the scene footage.

Advertisers are paying between $75k and $200k for a campaign that runs for a couple months. This new form of interactive advertising is called second- screen advertising. Shazam believes it will make them a multi billion dollar company. However, Shazam plans to remain ethical which means “ not enabling Coca- Cola to show its content when a Pepsi song is tagged.   I feel second- screen advertising is the future of advertising. I believe people will use TV advertising to catch attention of things and then use second screen advertising as the call to action. For example can you imagine seeing something you like on TV.  Your mobile phone describing it to you in detail while you watch and then allowing you to pay for it immediately. That is the future. 

Source

Applications at the MWC

The Mobile World Congress from the perspective of my topic, applications, seemed pretty expected. From Nokia's new applications to AT&T's focus on the developing side, there was nothing EXTREMELY groundbreaking. Each day, with a quick Google search based on this topic, there was never anything that jumped off the page as being revolutionary. The application environment has always been about entertainment of the consumer based on the rigid format of simple downloading-- always the same. And it shows that this has not and will not change, as is necessary and expected. What was introduced will satisfy the customer and make them happy and in the end, that is all that matters. Will these new applications have a huge impact? Probably not as much comparatively to the other big news and revolutionary tools introduced at the mobile world congress, but it will have an impact nonetheless. However, I cannot speak too soon. The application of predictive technology may have an impact on many people's lives but not on everyone's; there will be many who don't get the app. There are not as many snowboarders out there, nor are there as many Tumblr users as Facebook or Twitter-- However, these additions will make some people happy and that is, once again, all that matters. What is likely to come of the new technologies in the application world is that it will always use this technology to entertain. The ARO, though useful in creating the best product, the end line is always the entertainment factor. So I was not surprised and I don't really see any revolutionary changes coming along in the app world. Perhaps next year, I will be surprised. 

AT&T big winner of Smartphone Application Challenge

On the last day of the Mobile World Congress on Thursday, February 28, AT&T had a lot to celebrate. The company won the "Smartphone Application Challenge" at the 18th annual Global Mobile Awards. Within this category of 600 entries, it judges the participants based on criteria by application developers that enable improvements within the app community including downloading data, security and power consumption. The winner in this category was AT&T with their Application Resource Optimizer which is "a free, carrier-agnostic, open source diagnostic tool that enables developers to analyze the performance of their apps, which allows developers to create more efficient apps," according to the press release.  So, the award was not so much an app for consumers but more for developers. Developers can download this tool in order to get recommendations to help optimize their application's performance thereby delivering the highest quality to consumers. After hearing about this award and AT&T's success, perhaps it will bring along even more help to developers. I think that sometimes they can look at just the bottom line and try to get things to consumers for the buck but this is an important system that deserves this award: why? because sometimes just creating the app isn't enough and you have to go back and look at it to always make improvements. With this, it makes it easier for developers to constantly build therefore we, as consumers, are reaping the benefits. 
For more information on this award and the ARO, go to the official press release and this video about ARO.

A screenshot from the ARO video promises that when developers use ARO to look at things like WiFi and the wireless network processor, these developers can make improvements thereby "great customer experience."

Finding Things Made Easier

Lester and Perry's RFID tags have come to life and this year's Mobile World Congress convention. Well, a less advance version. Stick-N-Find Technologies uses Bluetooth Low Energy to create homing stickers to place on items easily lost. 

Since the Bluetooth Low Energy is a battery saver, it allows the homing sticker to be quite small and light. This way it sticks quite easily to car keys, a wallet, IPod, and other personal items. Stick-N-Find Technologies says the battery life for these is about two years.

Pending on the amount of appliances transmitting Wi-Fi signals, the signal of the homing sticker can be picked up as far as 300 feet away but a smaller range is to be expected. The only downsides are the price, two of these homing stickers are priced at $50, and the accessibility; few devices can pick up the homing stickers' signal.

The way this works: you stick the homing sticker on a possession easily lost (lets use car keys,) then you register that homing sticker with your bluetooth device (you can only use the two latest IPhones, the latest IPad or IPod, or the latest smart phone from Samsung.) Once you do this, you can track the homing sticker via your smart device.

Your phone won't be able to tell you exactly where the homing sticker is, but it can tell you how close you are. The downside is that this becomes a guessing game. You realize you're 15 feet away from you car keys' homing sticker, so you walk to the left and you're 17 feet away. Now you move back to the right.

One helpful feature is the "leash" feature. If you "leash" your bluetooth device with the homing sticker, the sticker will start to beep or the device will show alerts when these two items are too far apart. Hence breaking that leash. Basically, you will realize when you leave one of the devices behind.

So you can't type into your computer "car keys" and have them shine blue like Lester and Perry's invention in Makers, but this invention from Stick-N-Find Technologies is a helpful substitute.

It is not the end

It is not the end

Mobile World Congress 2013 just ended.However ,the mobile technologies will never end. They are developing everyday, even every second.

During MWC, we see so many technologies which will influence our life in the future.We saw new phablets, such as Samsung Galaxy Noter 8.0. These phablets will definitely become popular.

As a Chinese, I also paid attention to China technology in the MWC.I am glad to see that China technologies are also emerging.Chinese mobile company designed chips for phablets.

It is a progress. I hope "made in China" will become "design in China."Our China really need more innovation in mobile industry. We'd better  creative our own mobile phones instead of making gadgets for Apple.

"Alwinner, a Chinese-based chip manufacturer, got in on the phablet action by releasing a quad-core processing chip specifically designed for phablets. While other competitors of Allwinner, like Huawei and ZTE, have already made quad-core processing chips; Allwinner has the most influence on the United States and could revolutionize the processing chips used for phones and phablets in the United States. "

I am sure these technologies will become true in the future and makes life better. It will also change the way journalists work.

Mobile World Congress--Smartphones Wrapup

It was a pleasure covering the Mobile World Congress from a distance. I learned a lot about fact checking and finding multiple sources for stories. I also learned that blogs can be credible and can give you good information. You just have to double-check the facts.

New smartphones were introduced at the Mobile World Congress. A theme this year was the size of smartphones. They are getting bigger! ARM, Mozilla, NVIDIA, Nokia, Asus, and LG launched new smartphones at the Mobile World Congress and it’s safe to say that the default size for most top tiered headsets will be about 5 inches. The 5-inch headsets will replace last year’s default size of 4.7-inch headsets. Some of the smartphones that were introduced ranged from about 5.5-inches to about 4.7 inches.

LG announced its new LG Optimus G Pro Android smartphone at the Mobile World Congress. The phone has a 5.5-inch full HD display screen.

The ZTE Grand S LTE Android smartphone was introduced at the Mobile World Congress. It has a 5-inch display screen.

The Huawei Ascend P2 was introduced and has a 4.7- inch display. Huawei is a Chinese manufacturer. 

Will the bigger smartphones catch on in the U.S? Only time will tell.