Spiral Arm News

Data collection on mobile devices saves days of work.

After a successful UK trail McDonald's are now rolling out mobile devices to workers across the world. As reported by Computing (17 March 2005, p. 11), devices were used by assessment staff to complete a 500 question form. By collecting the information and uploading it via the cellular network McDonald's saves 4.5 hours in data processing for each assessment, plus "a matter of days" in reacting to the data.

The solution made us of Pocket PC devices and software from Sybase.

Time and cost reductions, together with an improvement in data quality, were given as the main benefits of moving from paper to mobile devices.

Economist: mobile phones have greatest impact for the developing world.

The leader in The Economist (12 March 2005, p. 11) and a report in the same issue (technology quarterly, p. 22-25) gives an update on the "digital divide" -- the idea that the poor would be left behind as the rich benfitted from new technologies.

The digital divide is a symptom of poverty, rather than a cause. As the newspaper notes, there is little point in giving a computer to people without electricity or with more pressing needs, such as food. The mobile phone, however, looks like it does have an impact on development. Phones do not need permanent electricity, can be used by the illiterate, can be shared and rented, and allow people to call markets to find out prices or to look for work. The mobile phone allows for bottom-up development in these places.

A study by Leonard Waverman at the London Business School found that an increase in the number of telephones in a population raised GDP by twice as much as primary school completion rates does. Although this does point towards the benefit of telecommunication, the Economist points out that other lower-costs technologies are also delivering information (e.g., the radio and printed newsletters).

The UN is meeting later this year to discuss funding for technology aid for the developing world. "The UN has set a goal of 50% access by 2015, but a new report by the World bank notes that 77% of the worlds population already lives within range of a mobile network."

"You are about as likely to get hit by a falling piano as you are to get a virus on your mobile phone".

New Scientist summarize the threat of virus outbreaks on mobile phones. Viruses are restrained thanks to the variety of handset operating systems and the limited opportunities for spreading. The risk may increase if handsets functionality grows without considering the virus threat.

Understanding consumer versus business mobile needs.

The Mobile Enterprise Alliance presentation from 3GSM is available on-line:
Why the enterprise market remains the mobile industry's missing link. The challenge for enterprise take up is in terms of support, billing, tracking, costs (drop consumer features, improve management), and mobile business software. "Developing mobile software requires more than just adapting a WIN32 application to a mobile device. Mobile and wireless environments bring with them a variety of network performance challenges that impact the ways in which enterprise software is written and adapted to mobile workers." To which we'd add that mobile business software nearly always involves an integration with the non-mobile software that a business use -- the two sides should rarely been considered separately.

ZDNet also comment from 3GSM: "Key figures in the mobile industry have admitted they could be doing more for business users, rather than paying too much attention to video and mobile TV services".

MobileATM: using the cash network on mobile handsets.

The ATM operator Link is to deploy a mobile service in the UK this year. The service will allow customers to check their account balance using existing PINs, but there are plans to allow customers to top up their mobile pay-as-you-go accounts using the facility.

Customers will need to download an application to us the service, which will connect to the Java-based Link infrastructure.

Reported in Computing (24 Feb 2005, p. 14).

Proximity servers deliver local content.

The Register reports on Nokia's entry to this market, with a server that delivers links to content. Users then need to use the regular cellular network to retrieve the content to their handsets. A competitor, WideRay, has been delivering actual content via infra red and bluetooth to conference attendees for a five years. "WideRay is focusing on retail, and [Saul] Kato [WideRay's founder] says he expects retailers to use proximity servers to capitalize on existing loyalty schemes. The business case for installing these boxes is that they could be used to beam vouchers, but in many large retail stores they could also be used to provide navigation or simply easily navigable catalogs."

Java now on more than half a billion handsets.

Russell Beattie spotted Sun executive Jonathan Schwartz's comments on the growth of Java on mobile devices. Schwartz says: "Java is continuing to grow, and accelerate - on both the devices (and SIM cards embedded within them), and in the network infrastructure. There are now over 500,000,000 Java enabled phones in the world, and more than 60% of all new phones will ship, from the factory, Java enabled. The rush of new developers we're adding to the nearly 5 million Java developers are J2ME developers, folks creating the services (from commercial to social) through which the majority of the world will experience the internet. And just in case you missed it, let me say it again: the majority of the world will first experience the internet through their mobile phones." If you need an introduction to the Java one the mobile phone, take a look at our one-page guide (PDF).

Businesses need more help integrating mobile solutions.

Mobile operators are letting down businesses by not focussing enough on their needs, reports The FT IT Review (Feb 14 2005, p.5). The network operators focus on consumer needs, and mobile business applications are not their core competency. The operators need to bring in help from the likes of EDS and IBM, although "Jerry Green, principle analyst in enterprise mobility at Ovum, notes that in addition to the big system integrators, there are also a number of smaller companies focussing on particular sectors of the mobile market".

A survey carried out by IDC "...asked companies what aspect they needed help on, they said 'Integration is the bit that worries us'".

In the longer term there will be more packaged solutions.