Mobile World Congress 2008 preview: part three

There is a plethora of mobile industry players exhibiting, speaking and attending next week's Mobile World Congress (MWC, formerly 3GSM) in Barcelona. News announcements and technical sessions are likely to be fast and furious with a danger of missing something if you stand still to blink.

IT PRO will be attending the congress to bring you the news as it happens, but to whet your appetite and ensure you don't miss anything, we contacted those making an appearance and asked them for a sneak peek into what we can expect.

We asked them: "Without giving away too many secrets, what can people expect from you at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) and why should business and IT decision makers be interested?"

Here's what they had to say.

S

Scalado

"Scalado has risen to become a recognised and preferred supplier for the top mobile phone brands. We have clever staff that have been able to design and patented a unique imaging engine that powers imaging capabilities in the devices, ensuring performance that only high end multimedia computers can provide," said Magnus Ingelsten, vice president marketing at Scalado.

"Now, for this year we are not only about technology but also about imaging experiences. In Barcelona we will show you a couple of user experiences built on our upgraded Speed View engine and a layout mechanism that presents images on a phone with super speed as well as an attractive 3D like experience. All these enhance the experience for the end user, increasing the likelihood of them using the camera more, and therefore taking, manipulating and sending images during work and play!"

SEVEN

"SEVEN will be debuting, together with some of its Tier 1 mobile operator customers, System SEVEN version 7 - the next generation of mobile messaging. We believe it will mark a revolution in mobile email and messaging for both business and personal users. System SEVEN v7 has been shortlisted for Mobile World Awards in the show for best mobile messaging service," said Ari Backholm, SEVEN's vice president of marketing and product development.

"Through the introduction of iPhone, everyone will be talking about software and user experience in the mobile industry. It is a significant step for a very technically-minded community."

ShoZu

"ShoZu will be announcing the newest upgrade to the ShoZu experience 'The Community Release' as it takes into account the feedback we have gotten from our growing user base as well as the industry to capitalize on a more community centered mobile experience. With this new release, we will be announcing brand new features that let people connect with several of their online communities on many different levels," said Jennifer Grenz, senior director of marketing at ShoZu.

"We think this year will be a big year to discuss and debate mobile advertising- relevant models, standards, delivery etc. We also expect there to be buzz about the OEM industry with players like Motorola who announced their Z8 handset last year at the show and then followed up by announcing the new Z10 at CES 2008 and how these manufactures are focusing on creating devices that let people interact with media from device in new and innovative ways. In the case of the Motorola Z10, ShoZu is powering the experience."

SIDSA

"SIDSA is mainly showing two lines of products and services, all related to

DVB-H mobile TV, since we are focused on Digital TV," said Jesus Fernandez, director of business development at SIDSA

"We complement the offer with management services and interoperable and proven third party products so a complete turn-key project can be offered. At the receiver side, we offer our DVB-H demodulator chipset, and we complement the offer with a bundle (from third parties) of products so we can offer the complete DVB-H solution for terminal (or module) manufacturers."

Simdesk Technologies

"We'll be launching SimMobile, a complete end-to-end mobile services platform that enables mobile operators to deliver high-value mobile services to the largely untapped markets beyond the large enterprise," said Lou Waters, the company's president.

"SimMobile includes the S-Drive, a network file system, push e-mail, shared calendaring, contacts and notes, and virtual printing - all delivered to any mass-market handset or smart phone. We believe SimMobile represents a genuine alternative to existing mobile solutions such Blackberry. In particular we believe that our price point, which is significantly lower than other providers, makes a tremendous difference, allowing operators to deliver truly affordable services to their subscribers. This will have huge resonance in the SME market and in emerging markets."

Sonus Networks

"At this year's Mobile World Congress Sonus will showcase how wireless networks have the potential to reinvigorate consumers' lives around the world," said Jocelyn Philbrook, the company's vice president of corporate marketing and investor relations. "We will demonstrate how reliability and innovation unite to deliver an unprecedented edge to operators. With the complete Sonus solution, operators will be able to further revolutionize the user's experience through the faster delivery of richer, enhanced voice and multimedia applications, while at the same time, streamlining the operations of their networks."

T

TAT

"At the MWC TAT - The Astonishing Tribe - will present the latest in mobile user interface technology and demonstrate how the UI of handheld devices will look like in the near future. The increasing need for advanced yet user friendly and intuitive UIs for mobile phones becomes apparent when taking into account the amount of mobile technologies and services that will be presented at this year's show in Barcelona," said Charlotta Falvin, TAT's chief executive.

"One of the most interesting aspects of this year's show will be the question how Google's software developer kit Android will impact the industry. When comparing the 2008 show to last years event, during which mobile TV was one of the hottest topics, we will see a strong focus on mobile web 2.0. This issue will be dominated by the question how the look and feel of the internet, alongside location services and advertisement, will be translated to the mobile environment."

Telecordia

"It's hard not to see mobile advertising as the hot topic. Mobile operators have to embrace advertising as a part of their revenue streams and work closely with the entire value chain to make it work and make it productive and sustainable. Everyone thinks of the Internet business model as being 'content and services for free,' but in fact most of it is ad-supported. So, it's not surprising that if the online model is to transfer and work successfully in the mobile world, ads will form part of the revenue stream that supports high-quality, interactive content. But, what business model will the operators employ, and how can advertising be successfully targeted to subscribers? Those questions ensure that debate at the congress will be lively and ongoing," said Pat McCarthy, vice president of global marketing for service delivery solutions at Telcordia.

"Another hot topic will be the 'open' nature of communications. For example, Verizon has announced it will open up its network to any device, and firms such as Yahoo and Google are supporting open devices and open development of new services on them. Then there's the blurring of the lines between traditional communications and lifestyle communications using devices such as the Apple iphone. Operators need to be sensitive to the new demands of streaming media, chat and other new services beyond the traditional demand for just basic messaging, mobile email and voice services. It'll be interesting during the Congress and throughout 2008 to see which operators can adapt to this change in consumer behaviour and which ones get left behind."

Telescope

"Telescope will detail its forthcoming move into the ad monitoring space

for its clients. The company's Telescope Integrated Media Engine (TIME) is already the industry's most powerful, reliable system for managing participation media campaigns for the industry's leading media and entertainment brands, and will now enable greater sell-through and monitoring of interactive advertising content," said Ed Boddington, the company's founder.

"MWC 2008 will be all about mobile video and media content; either

embedded on devices, as opt-in for consumers, or as part of media companies' campaigns or programming. This is the next level in what has been a growing topic at MWC, as international media companies converge on Barcelona to discern where the mobile, or cross-media, industry is going."

Thomson Systems

"During Mobile World Congress Thomson will be highlighting its range of solutions for mobile TV and fixed mobile convergence. Thomson offers a complete range of mobile TV headend and service management platforms and during the show we will launching innovative video on demand solutions for 3G as well as demonstrating video streaming over 3G for mobile phones," said Fabien Maisl, Marketing Director Thomson's Network Intelligence solutions.

"We will also announce several new international customers for our DVB-H (digital video broadcasting) mobile TV solutions. Thomson also has an end to end portfolio of products for fixed mobile telephony - many of which are at the heart of Europe's largest fixed mobile convergence deployments. Thomson's has solutions for all four types of fixed mobile convergence - mobile IP Centrex, wireless VoIP, UMA and FemtoCell - and we will be making announcements on new products here too."

Maisl added: "We could expect to see a growing trend for operators to work with hybrid or convergent networks and we will see more mobile operators launching fixed line triple play solutions to compete against sophisticated multiplay packages. With the growing demand for international standardisation to optimise deployment and content protection for mobile TV, the OMA BCAST SmartCard Profile standard will be a topic that we will be hearing about more in the mobile TV arena."

V

Valista

"During Mobile World Congress, people can expect to learn the latest developments in payments, settlement, and merchandising. Business and IT decision makers should be interested in these topics as payments, settlement, and merchandising all play an integral role in the customer and partner experience and become critical when looking to add new services and content to increase revenue. Additionally, they can provide a competitive advantage in streamlining costs and developing business models which capitalise on convergence," said Mark Denton, director of product management at Valista.

"During this year's event, I expect the hot topics to be focused on the issue of convergence as well as on discussions pertaining to who owns the customer from a content perspective; debating the relationship between content brands and the customer and how the carrier fits into it. I also expect to hear more about mobile banking. However, I believe that P2P will not be as large a focus as at last year's event."

Volantis

"Volantis has been a market-leader in the intelligent mobile content delivery arena since 2001. Many of the MWC delegates will already know our name, and something of our proposition," said Mark Watson, co-founder and chief executive of Volantis.

"In such a rapidly evolving market as ours however, it should come as no surprise that much has changed, improved and added to the Volantis platform over the past year. Volantis addresses over 250 million subscribers across the globe and has been deployed by other mobile carriers, content owners and mobile advertisers in all regions, with ever-changing requirements to help them reach their subscribers. We'll be there to showcase how Volantis can help deliver against these requirements, now and into the future."

W

Wi-Fi Alliance

"Wi-Fi mobile convergence and consumer electronics represent two major growth areas, in addition to the continued momentum in our traditional spaces of enterprise deployment, laptops, access points and hotspots," said Karen Hanley, senior director at the Wi-Fi Alliance.

"...We are very excited to see this market becoming a reality, enabling new business models and offering rich user experiences. When we consider the evolution of this segment from last year's event in Barcelona, we see that the discussion this year is much more about new business models and all the great applications that Wi-Fi enables on the handset. Wi-Fi is well on its way to annual shipments of a billion devices, with more than 300 million Wi-Fi handsets to be shipped per year."

Z

Zlango

"At Mobile World Congress, Zlango will offer attendees the chance to see firsthand their unique icon-based messaging platform that converges SMS, IP & web-based messaging. We will also demonstrate how partners and mobile operators can enrich their messaging offering through the innovative new Zlango application, and how increased messaging usage can equate to substantial business gains," said the company's founder Yoav Lorch.

"One of the main focuses will be how the market is shifting - social experiences are evolving, leading to improved web communities which are now rapidly expanding into the world of mobile. Last year, the industry was still heavily focused on implementing as many mega-pixels into mobile hardware as possible. This phenomena has now peaked - instead of just advanced technical features, new mobile devices are designed to engage consumers through an enriched user experience."

Click here for part two of the preview.

Click here for part one of the preview.

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