CTIA’s Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2007, the largest wireless data event in the industry, is chock full of news and events this week.
The Day One keynote features Steve Ballmer, who will focus on the integration of wireless technologies into vertical business markets. Day Two features in-depth sessions are broken into four different “tracks” or categories—Mobile Enterprise, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Data 2.0, and Policy Outlook. The third and final day will look at WiMax, featuring Senior VP of Mobile Broadband Operations for Xohm, a Sprint Nextel business unit, Atish Gude.
Exhibitor News includes;
- AOL’ new portal for mobile phones offers new mobile versions of AOL Search and AOL Mail, services, such as MapQuest and Moviefone, and vastly expanded content in the areas of shopping, music, news and entertainment. AOL is also launching a downloadable client called MyMobile. Initially available only on Windows Mobile devices, MyMobile is designed to use AOL services such as mail, MapQuest, and CityGuide, within a single application on the phone. Trailing far behind Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft’s MSN in online traffic, AOL might not appear as worthy of worry in the wireless industry as Apple’s iPhone or Google’s prospective gPhone software platform. Think again says Business Week. U.S. traffic to AOL’s mobile Web site is higher than that to Google Mobile’s and double that of MSN Mobile’s, according to Hitwise.
- uLocate Communications today announced the launch of WHERE, the world’s first wireless GPS widget platform on Sprint, Alltel and Boost Mobile. In addition to WHERE’s location based widgets for major brands, such as Burger King, ShopLocal and Eventful, mobile users who download WHERE on their GPS-enabled phones will be able to easily locate gas stations, shops, restaurants and ATMs.
- KickApps, a hosted social media platform, today announced new, Mobile User-Generated Content (UGC) Authoring functionality for sites powered by the KickApps platform.
- adNav, a GPS marketing solutions company, announced today its upcoming launch of Boomerang, an ad supported mobile concierge system integrated with GPS navigation.
- Talkster launched a free calling application on the Facebook Platform
- Airbiquity announced that it will be demonstrating their end-to-end data communication solution jointly developed with Wavecom.
- PixSense has a Mobile User-Generated Content Management solution using Qualcomm’s BREW.
- Jasper Wireless, a licensed global machine-to-machine (M2M) mobile operator, today announced that it powers the Dash Express, said to be the first Internet-connected GPS device.
- Today, at the annual Geoint 2007 Symposium, the announced that Microsoft has joined the Open Geospatial Consortium as a Principal Member. According to David Schell, CEO of OGC, “Microsoft’s support of OGC’s standards process signifies the further maturation of world markets for products and services which require geospatial capabilities.
In related news, New York City taxi drivers are striking to protest GPS requirements and mandatory credit card machines in cabs. The drivers say that New York City’s new GPS requirements violate their privacy. City leaders claim it will not and that drivers shouldn’t have an expectation of privacy.
NYC has instituted rules that require all cabs to have GPS and credit card machines to pass their next vehicle inspections. The New York Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) said that the technology will improve efficiency, provide a system for emergency notification, and help passengers recover lost property more easily
Portable Navigation Devices Will Nearly Double in 2007 as Consumer Navigation Market and GPS Technology Turn a Corner, Says IDC. More than 29 million have been shipped during 2007, thanks to high growth rates in both North American and European markets.
Shipments of navigation devices worldwide will continue to increase from 2007 to 2012, with a compound annual growth rate of 22.5%, according to a new forecast from ABI Research. Europe will command a 53% share of the global market in 2007, and will remain the primary navigation devices market throughout the forecast period. However the Asian market shows the most rapid growth with a CAGR of 27%.
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