Self Aware Content

We have seen a lot of press of late on Location Based Services, especially Personal Navigational Devices such as the Tom Tom and more recently the Nokia N95 coming to market. In the US, Networks In Motion announced the 1 millionth paid subscriber to their GPS navigation service and could an article go without mentioning the allusive Google Phone now with fresh rumours linking it to Orange (UK) and HTC as the manufacturer. All market indicators are talking about GPS and the major services it brings.

Well Rahil Aggarwal's blog has an interesting and well rounded view on several suggestions of what the next killer mobile phone app (after voice and SMS) is including my favourite Location Based Services. I would like to further this article by stating Sensory Based Services of which GPS is one will be the next killer app.

Services and content which utilise the quietly approaching sensory revolution in mobile phones will bring with them significant opportunity. On the hardware side take what Nokia has been doing with technologies including NearField Communication or the Motion Sensor Enabled 5500. Here is a company that has been quietly testing the water with several different sensory devices and there is a growing developer base to go with it. Why would they be doing this? Because they are the most forward thinking device manufacturer on the block.

How long will it be until we see the first mobile phone integrated with heart rate monitor? What do all these types of sensors have in common? They help differentiate the devices since the last 'must have' items became common place in all phones - the camera and media player.

So getting to the point, I believe the next killer application is the creation, sale and sharing of content that is self aware. By this I mean content that is created in such a way that when some preset sensory rule is triggered the content is activated or the user is notified that the content wishes to be activated. This could be arriving at a certain location, my heart rate reaching a certain point or even a combination of several events. This type of content will be a mix of professional and community contributed (user generated content).

At Indaran we call this Intelligent Content. Content that is 'self aware' or more technically 'event driven' will drive the mobile content market moving forward. We see content as having many layers of creativity, firstly there is creativity in the research and writing of the content. Secondly in any rich additions which are done such as voice-over's or adding video content and finally we see creativity in the way the content is told to activate. In this last stage depending on the sensory type, content can be preset to activate based of a complex set of rules which help enrich the user experience. This is where we see the next killer mobile app or service coming from. Yes Personal navigation will be apart of this but there is more much much more.

GPS - The new selling point for mobile phones

A couple of interesting articles floated my way whilst I was on my break. The first was an article by Andrew Kramer of the Herald Tribune posted on the 3rd April 2007. In the article Andrew outlines the current market size and growth of the GPS industry "The global market for GPS devices hit $15 billion in 2006...... and is expanding at a rate of 25 to 30 percent annually".

Next an article which I read earlier this year in itworld where it states that Cambridge Silicon Radio in the UK will be integrating both a GPS receiver and Bluetooth transceiver into the same chip. The article also states that they expect GPS receivers to be driven down the sub $1 price point.

What does all this say to you?

To me it loudly shouts that we are in for a quicker mass market penetration of GPS into our mobile devices than earlier thought. This price point coupled with a consolidation of chips allowing more bang for the same footprint is a good thing for mobile phone manufacturers. It allows increased functionality without increasing bulk and only potentially slightly increasing power consumption.

Finally, with camera's these days no longer differentiaing the product mobile phones as they did in the past, the question has to be posed - Is GPS the new selling point for mobile phones?

India - Where traditional uses of GPS will rule supreme.

I must apologies for such a lengthy delay between posts. I have spent the last month in India and have only just returned. If there is one country screaming out for GPS enabled mobile phones it is India - especially Mumbai. India has become such a major international player both through its insatiable consumer appetite and its formation as the worlds back office however one thing which truly dumbfounded me was its complete lack of traditional locational infrastructure. By this I am referring to street signs. You'll find large banks, restaurants and men's tailors alike all having similar addresses 'MG Road, opposite the CitiBank' or 'Hill Road Bandra, next to McDonalds'. I am not kidding, you will even find it on people's business cards. The reason? There are virtually no street signs (comparatively) and literally no building or house numbers.

So if I had to pick a market where the traditional use of GPS will be most widely felt and utilised in the near term it will be India. It is like the proliferation of the mobile phone networks in countries with dense urban environments, there comes a point where certain fix infrastructure costs like laying cooper or affixing street signs becomes prohibitive in light of other means.

Potenitally this is what will occur in India to help navigate the masses.