Spiral Arm News

The potential of m-commerce.

A special report in Computing (19 May 2005, p.34) looks at the future promise of m-commerce.

• Today m-commerce is about the purchase of low-value content (ringtines) through the network operators.


• Gartner predict that in the next 10 years, purchases costing less than US$5 will generate US$60b-US$240b in revenue.


• Improved screens to selected products and improved standards across handsets will lear to an increase in m-commerce.


• "There is no lack of initiatives being created for m-commerce, but there is no dominate commercial mechanism".


• Visa and MasterCard "are busy preparing stategies" for an expected increase in the purchase of high-priced items via mobile phones.


• Short range wireless devices embedded in posters will allow impulse purchases of tickets.

P2P mobile telephony.

TerraNet are testing their low-cost peer-to-peer mobile phone technology in Africa. The system enables all the TerraNet custom handsets in a region to form a network without a phone base station.

Reported in Computing (26 May 2005, p.12).

Nokia moves into browser market.

Opera already supply a web browser for Nokia's handsets, but as
reported in TheRegister, Nokia are developing a new phone web browser based on Apple's Mac OS X web browser. Due to ship for Series 60 in 2006.

The Nokia press release states that the "browser aims at an unparalleled user experience when browsing full Web pages on a smartphone screen", but does not mention what features will be included in the browser.

Mobile phones could reduce credit card fraud.

The BBC reports on the possibility of reducing fraudulent "cardholder not present" transactions using mobile phones. Before authorizing the payment, the card holder would be sent a text message asking them to confirm the purchase.

Nokia's Internet Tablet.

Nokia's new non-phone Wi-Fi product has received wide press coverage, such as at eWeek: "The device is aimed at consumers looking for an affordable extra Internet screen in the house that they can also carry with them and use at wireless hotspots outside the home or connect to a cell phone through a Bluetooth wireless link."

With no PIM functions, storage only in memory or on SD cards, it is certainly not designed as a PDA replacement. The 2006 software edition will include VoIP and instant messaging in addition to web browsing and email, suggesting that the device might perhaps become a home communications centre.

The 770 Internet Tablet is due to ship 2005Q3, but the developer site is already available offering tutorials and open source software contributed by Nokia.

Quit smoking by text message.

The NZ Herald reports on a University of Auckland study that shows sending supportive text messages to young smokers does help them quit smoking. In addition: "Using text crave, participants could "pull" a message of support. Text polls and quizzes added further distraction. A lot of people picked up on text buddies too, with people who were due to quit around the same day helping each other out."

See on O'Reilly Radar.

Bluetooth upgraded to higher bandwidth.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group is launching a new Bluetooth specification which adds ultra-wideband (UWB) technology.
UWB is a short range wireless technology intended to link together consumer home entertainment electronics such as DVD players and amplifiers. Bluetooth with gain support for data-intensive applications, such as video, while UWB will gain from the Bluetooth brand (Bluetooth now appears in five million new devices every week). Both Bluetooth and UWB devlices will gain from from being able to operate together.

Reported in
Computer Weekly, but see also the Bluetooth SIG press release.

Meanwhile, New Scientist reports that "cryptographers have discovered a way to hack Bluetooth-enabled devices even when security features are switched on". The attack is based on faking the ID of an already paired device, forcing a re-pairing process that contains a known security weakness.

Ringtone at number 1 in UK charts.

The Guardian article on Crazy Frog:

• Novelty records are nothing new.


• "Sociologist Peter Webb, from the University of Birmingham, said the frog's success reflected a trend for children to spend more money on mobile phones and computer games than music."


• "Sweety the Chick" is the successor to look out for (or avoid).