{"id":341,"date":"2005-10-12T15:30:22","date_gmt":"2005-10-12T15:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2005\/10\/12\/article3-36\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T18:27:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T18:27:20","slug":"article3-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2005\/10\/12\/article3-36\/","title":{"rendered":"Plugged In at HomePlug"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Viodi View Newsletter – October 12, 2005 <\/strong> <\/p>\n

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Going Mobile – Wee Hee<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle@viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View<\/p>\n

The applications I saw at the CTIA conference, held in San Francisco a few weeks ago, could be broadly categorized into those that improve business productivity<\/strong> and those that ostensibly improve individuals\u2019 quality of life.<\/strong> Some of the applications, especially those of the person to machine variety, offer the potential to make our life easier, while making businesses more productive. <\/p>\n

One of the applications that simultaneously impressed and depressed me was the long-promised electronic payment solution for vending machines<\/strong>. SimpleWire demonstrated a system that allows one to purchase a soda (or conceivably anything else) by text messaging a vending machine. Using my cheap cell phone, even I was able to order a soda. After my order, I received a confirmation question, which I had to accept. A few seconds later, out popped the soda and fifty cents was added to my cell phone bill (that was the depressing part, as I figured the soda would be free since it was a trade show).<\/p>\n

I then received another text message announcing I had won a prize<\/strong> for ordering the soda (I wish the prize had been my fifty cents back, instead of a promotional coffee cup). Kidding aside, what a great application, as this has the potential to offer manufacturers and distributors real-time inventory<\/strong> status, improving productivity, but it also allows brands to build one-on-one relationships with the end customers. This is also a great application for any customer who is short on change \u2013 how many times have I wished for this sort of thing when struggling to buy some time on a parking meter.<\/p>\n

Simplewire Screenshots<\/strong> <\/p>\n

There were also some mobile customer relationship management (CRM) applications that looked of interest. One such application was from a company called eAgency Systems<\/strong>. This company and application started out by providing mobile CRM solutions <\/strong>for insurance agents and now they are expanding horizontally into other industries. They would be interested in partnering with telcos to include their package as part of a telco\u2019s small business offering. <\/p>\n

There were several companies that were showing applications that used the camera feature of a cell phone to snap pictures of advertisements or bar codes that can then be sent to manufacturers or marketers. Applications for this technology include transmission of on-demand product information<\/strong> to prospects, improved customer service (imagine taking a photo of a serial number and being able to provide that information without having to complete a form) and promotional activities. One company, Nevinvision<\/strong>, allows people to snap photographs of television screens and then send the photos to a Nevenvision’s photo recognition software – this could offer some interesting potential interactive television shopping opportunities.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Then, there are the applications that sound ridiculous to this middle-aged dinosaur, but will probably be popular among the youth and may even find some interesting business and social applications. One of these applications was ring-back karaoke tones<\/strong>. With this product, one gets to warble their favorite songs for their favorite people (or enemies, if one\u2019s singing is like mine). Apparently, it could be set up such that different phone numbers hear different songs. I could see an application of this where a business might have different ring backs for customers than they would for prospects. <\/p>\n

Mophone<\/strong> represents the convergence of the Internet and wireless world. It is very similar to a social networking site, like a MySpace, but it is designed for mobile applications. It allows one to use the service from the web or the cell phone and crossing between these two media seemed pretty easy. <\/p>\n

Finally, I met with Mike Pinto<\/strong>, President and Founder of MobZilla<\/strong>. MobZilla is fundamentally a radio service<\/strong>, in some ways like an XM or Sirius, but which uses the data portion of the cell phone network for signal transport. For $5.99 a month, a user can access millions of songs, thanks to their deals with BMI, ASCAP and SoundExchange, via either their PC or data-enabled cell phones. MobZilla views itself as a service provider, which uses its own technology as differentiation. <\/p>\n

The sound quality was quite good. The music is currently categorized into 32 genres. Future genres include sports, comedy and talk radio. One of their big differentiators is they know what content is being streamed to what cell phone, so they are able to use this information to optimize their programming<\/strong> much better than traditional radio. Pinto stated that 83% of their trial customers convert to a paid subscription. In addition to audio, MobZilla has some interesting text services, such as daily horoscopes, pick-up lines and jokes<\/strong> \u2013 with that combination, there has got to be a punch line somewhere. <\/p>\n

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