2 Chapter Two: Technologies and Applications
2.7 Conclusions: towards convergence and interoperability
The combination of mobile and Internet technologies has already transformed the way people interact with each other and the way business is done. Mobile data has not only been popular in developed economies, but has also made significant inroads in developing ones. Messaging services have brought information technology closer to groups that have traditionally had limited access to it, such as children and the deaf community. High-speed data services combined with additional functionality such as location information and improved security will further enhance the user experience.
Although the majority of content on the fixed-line Internet is in the English language, the majority of Internet users in the world are not native English speakers. SMS and the mobile Internet offer an excellent opportunity for the development of multilingual content as well as culturally-relevant local content, thus enabling global access to the information society. The i-mode mobile Internet service in Japan is a telling example: the availability of content in Kanji and Japanese characters has contributed to increasing the country’s Internet penetration two-fold since the service was launched in 1999. However, in countries where
CHAPTER TWO: TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS 35 literacy poses a significant hurdle to the usability of certain technologies, developments such as speech to text translators, voice portals and voice recognition technologies83 should be encouraged.84
Although mobile data services are already available on 2G platforms through WAP, i-mode and SMS, it is through the advent of 2.5 and 3G that users will begin to fully reap the benefits of the mobile Internet through always-on communications and multimedia applications. What we have learned from the success and failures of 2G technologies is that person-to-person messaging, simple interfaces and timely content delivery will be the key to future service development and revenue generation. A mere simulation of the fixed-line Internet experience will not compel users to take up data services. The development of an adequate payment system for mobile devices is also crucial to the delivery of paid content and services.
On a technical level, the viability of future 3G services will rely on continued efforts towards the seamless interoperability of radio interfaces and the evolution to an IP-based core network. At the service level, convergence between the fixed and mobile Internet is already a tangible occurrence, through services such as mobile instant messaging and fixed-line SMS. This interoperability will eventually encompass complimen-tary and alternative network technologies, such as wireless LANs, short-range connectivity technologies, fixed broadband networks etc. Regulators and industry players alike need to realize that there are a number of different options for providing mobile Internet services, and third-generation services must be considered in their global context. As Figure 2.6 indicates, 3G technologies are only a part of the overall picture.
Figure 2.6: Radio access systems for mobile data Ranges and data rates
Global
1'000
100
10
1 Range (metres)
Data rate (Mbit/s)
0.1 1 10 100
3G
Wireless LAN
GPRS &
CdmaOne (2.5G)
Bluetooth
Source: Adapted from European Information Technology Observatory 2002.
_____________
1 The first commercial launch of the GSM digital cellular system was in July 1991, by Radiolinja in Finland.
2 The PDC standard, for example, is used exclusively in Japan.
3 IMT stands for “International Mobile Telecommunications” Work is currently being carried out under the banner
“IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000”. For more information, see the ITU’s IMT-2000 Web portal at http://www.itu.int/imt/ .
4 ITU’s WRC is held every two to three years and attempts to establish a global framework for the use of the radio spectrum. Its objective is to establish frequency allocations and regulatory procedures for the harmonious operation of global radiocommunication services.
5 For the purpose of clarity, Hong Kong, China is hereinafter referred to as “Hong Kong”.
6 Japan launched 3G services in October 2001.
7 CDMA2000 1x, available in Korea since October 2000, was faster than existing networks but did not initially meet ITU’s requirements for IMT-2000. However, together with the latest evolution of this standard (1xEV-DO), CMDA2000 1x has now been approved by the ITU as an IMT-2000 standard, retroactively making Korea the first country to deploy 3G services commercially.
8 UMTS stands for “Universal Mobile Telecommunications System”. See the UMTS Forum website at http://www.umts-forum.org/.
9 CDMA2000 is based on Qualcomm technology. See the CDMA Development Group website at http://www.cdg.org.
10 See ITU Recommendation ITU-R M.1457-2.
11 The same applies to TDMA (ANSI-136 digital mobile standard) and cdmaOne (ANSI-95, a CDMA-based digital mobile standard).
12 In this publication, transmission capacity or “bandwidth” is measured in terms of kilobits per second (kbit/s) or Megabits per second (Mbit/s).
13 ITU Working Party on IMT-2000 and Systems beyond IMT-2000. See http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/study-groups/sg/sg8/wp8f/index.html.
14 See the 3GPP and 3GPP2 websites at http://www.3gpp.org/ and http://www.3gpp2.org/ respectively.
15 The full name of IEEE is Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. See Section 2.1.4 for an overview of the 802.11 series for Wireless LANs (Local Area Networks).
16 See section 2.4.2.
17 See “The European Commission says the Internet will run out of available addresses by 2005”, 21 February 2002, http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020221S0031. See also “EU sees IPv6 adoption as crucial to 3G success”,
http://www.idg.net/crd_idgsearch_2.html?url=http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/04/27/010427hneuip6.x ml?p=br&s=9.
18 For more information, see the IPv6 Taskforce website (www.ipv6-taskforce.org) and the Task force report at http://www.ipv6-taskforce.org/PublicDocuments/IPv6TF-Report.pdf.
19 See “High Tech and High Touch: Palm Pilots, Wireless Modems & Customized Software Enable Cedars-Sinai Physicians to Access Patient Updates from Anywhere, 24/7”, July 10, 2001, Press Release Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, http://www.csmc.edu .
20 Wi-Fi is also sometimes also referred to as Wireless Ethernet even though Wireless Ethernet actually encompasses all 802.11 technologies.
21 See WECA, the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, at http://www.weca.net/ .
CHAPTER TWO: TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS 37 _____________
22 According to InStat/MDR, 70 per cent of all wireless LAN products sold in 2001 were Wi-Fi while the remaining 30 per cent of all wireless nodes were HomeRF.
23 See “a, b, e, and g--What 802.11 means to me (and you, too)”, 6 November 2001, ZDNet.com, http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2822686,00.html.
24 802.11b arrived before 802.11a because the letters refer to the order in which the different standards were proposed.
25 See “Exploiting and Protecting 802.11b Wireless Networks”, 4 September 2001, ExtremeTech:
http://www.extremetech.com/print_article/0,3428,a=13880,00.asp.
26 See: http://www.netstumbler.com/.
27 See: http://airsnort.sourceforge.net.
28 See “Watch this airspace”, 20 June 2002), The Economist,
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=1176136.
29 Bluetooth derives its name from Harald Blåtland , alias Bluetooth, a Danish king born in 980 A.D. who united Denmark and Norway under Christianity.
30 See: http://www.bluetooth.com/sig/about.asp and http://www.bluetooth.org/.
31 See: “Setbacks”, March 12, 2002, ZDNet Tech Update,
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2854261-2,00.html.
32 KDDI’s EZweb service, which is similar to the i-mode platform, uses WAP and a combination of WML and HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language). See: L. Srivastava, “3G Mobile Policy: The Case of Japan”, INFO, Vol. 3, No. 6, December 2001, p. 465.
33 For information on ITU TELECOM 99 see http://www.itu.int/telecom-wt99/homepage.html.
34 E-plus launched its i-mode service in Germany in March 2002 and KPN Netherlands in April 2002. Both services will be available over the GPRS network. See: “Can i-Mode Give This Also-Ran a Lift?”, Business Week Online, 1 April 2002, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_13/b3776143.htm. See also: “KPN to launch i-mode with high hopes”, 4 April 2002, Reuters, http://news.com.com/2100-1033-875740.html?tag=cd_mh.
35 Services began in April 2002. See: “Americans in the mood for Mmode?”, 16 April 2002, Wired News, http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,51878,00.html. See also “AT&T debuts mMode wireless Web”, 16 April 2002, CNet News, http://news.com.com/2100-1033-884026.html.
36 See: “KG Telecom to Launch i-mode Wireless Service in Taiwan”, 7 June 2002, 3g.co.uk News, at http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2002/3513.htm.
37 PDC stands for Personal Digital Cellular, a digital mobile standard used exclusively in Japan. See NTT DoCoMo’s subscriber growth statistics available at http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/p_s/imode/index.html.
38 Japan is not the only success story. At the end of 2001, more than 50 per cent of Korea’s mobile users, about 15.8 million, were using a mobile Internet browsing service.
39 The FOMA website is at: http://foma.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/.
40 See http://www.blackberry.net/.
41 See the statistics page of the GSM Association at: http://www.gsmworld.com/news/statistics/index.shtml.
42 This is known as a “store and forward” process.
43 The winning entries are posted at http://books.guardian.co.uk/games/.
44 See: “Airline puts text messaging on flights”, 24 April 2002, MSNBC, at http://www.msnbc.com/news/743191.asp?0si=-.
45 See “World’s first full-scale MMS services commercially launched in Hungary”, 19 April 2002, Ericsson News, at http://www.ericsson.co.uk/news/1738.shtml.
46 See “Swisscom lance son service MMS: des SMS avec son et images en plus”, 29 May 2002, Le Temps, Switzerland.
47 “MMS in Hong Kong: (Jump-) Start Your Engines”, 31 May 2002, Asia-Pacific Perspective, Pyramid Research.
_____________
48 The 3GPP website is at http://www.3gpp.org/.
49 For more information on the T68i, see http://www.sonyericsson.com/T68i/.
50 “Western Europe: MMS Expectations Grow as European Operators Launch Commercially”, 7 June 2002, Pyramid Research Perspective.
51 See AOL’s Instant Messenger website at http://www.aim.com/.
52 See the MSN messenger site at http://messenger.msn.com/.
53 ICQ stands for “I Seek You”. For more information, ICQ’s home page can be found at http://Web.icq.com/.
54 According to Jupiter Media Metrix, instant messaging services boast 63 million users in the United States and 250 million users worldwide (est.) .
55 In January 2002, AOL blocked users of Trillian, a service allowing users to access multiple instant messaging programs from one interface. See “AOL blocks instant messaging start-up”, 30 January 2002, CNET News, http://news.com.com/2100-1023-826625.html.
56 See http://www.mobile.att.net/aim. See also “AOL launches e-mail and IM for AT&T users”, 23 April 2002, IDG, http://www.idg.net/ic_851542_6120_1-3097.html.
57 “mMode”, a new service modelled after DoCoMo’s i-mode service, was introduced in the US through AT&T in April 2002. See “AT&T debuts” mMode “wireless Web”, 16 April 2002, CNET News,
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-884026.html.
58 In February 2002, Ericsson held a successful trial of its Instant Messaging and Presence Server (IMPS).
59 Examples of portal providers include Nokia, BT, Sonera, NTT DoCoMo, Yahoo Mobile, Excite, Lycos and AOL.
60 See the Paybox website at http://www.paybox.net/.
61 In February 2002, Vodafone UK announced the launch of “m-Pay”, a mobile payment solution for third-party goods. The target size of the payment would be between 5p and £5, of which Vodafone would keep 15 per cent per transaction. Vizzavi, the mobile portal owned jointly by Vodafone and Vivendi Universal will also use m-pay on similar terms.
62 Services are to be made available at the end of 2002. See “Vodafone and T-Mobile plan mobile payment system”, 14 March 2002, Mobile CommerceNet, at www.mobile.commerce.net/print.php?story_id=1415 .
63 European Information Technology Observatory 2002, 10th Edition, Part Two.
64 The live pilot project is taking place in Denmark and involves cash withdrawals from three ATMs owned by Spar Nord Bank and Laan & Spar Bank. See “Wireless Phone Used to Withdraw Cash from ATM in Europe”,
29April 2002, 3g.co.uk, at http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2002/3271.htm.
65 There are currently two “public” GPS systems. The NAVSTAR system is owned by the United States and is managed by the Department of Defense. The GLONASS system is owned by the Russian Federation. While both NAVSTAR and GLONASS systems are global positioning systems, the NAVSTAR system is often used synonymously with because it was generally available at an earlier date.
66 ETSI stands for European Telecommunications Standards Institute (see www.etsi.org). 3GPP stands for third-generation Partnership Project (see www.3gpp.org ) The third-third-generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration agreement that was established in December 1998. The collaboration agreement brings together a number of telecommunications standards bodies which are known as “Organizational Partners”. 3GPP focuses on developments for Wideband CDMA. 3GPP2 is the third-generation Partnership Project 2 (see www.3gpp2.org), which focuses more on CDMA2000 development, and radio transmission technologies supported by supported by ANSI/TIA/EIA-41.
67 The LIF is a global industry initiative, formed jointly by Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia in September 2000. See http://www.locationforum.org/.
68 See Sony Ericsson’s press release “Sony Ericsson introduces a GPS-enabled tri-mode phone for CDMA systems – the T206”, 5 March 2002, at
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?page=gis&Redir=page%3DC2_1_22%26B%3Die.
69 See Garmin’s website at http://www.garmin.com/products/navTalk/.
CHAPTER TWO: TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS 39 _____________
70 On 26 March 2002, the European Union transport ministers released 450 million Euros (US$ 443m) in development funding for the Galileo programme. The European Space Agency also committed a similar amount. The total project cost for development and deployment is forecast to reach 3.4 billion Euros, with a 2008 operational date.
71 “Qualcomm announces over one million subscribers serve gpsOne-enabled devices”, 8 May 2002, Qualcomm.
Available at http://www.cdmatech.com/press/releases/2002/020508gpsone_1million.html.
72 See http://www.nttdocomo.com/new/contents/01/whatnew0628.html.
73 The J-Navi service boasts 2 million hits per day.
74 See “A Satellite baby-sitting service”, 2 May 2002, Wired News, http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,52253-2,00.html.
75 European Commission Directorate-General Information Society, Accenture, “Digital Content for Global Mobile Services”, February 2002. Nokia has also incorporated a software-only version of Java on its new communicator.
76 The first wave of services will hit on 17 June 2002 when Verizon begins its national roll-out roll-out of
downloadable applications on the BREW platform. Applications offered on 17 June 2002 will include games such as EA Sports™ Tiger Woods PGA Tour® Golf and JAMDAT Bowling from JAMDAT Mobile Inc.; entertainment services such as Mattel, Inc.’s Magic 8 Ball®; and musical ring tones from Moviso LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Net USA. See “Verizon Wireless to launch downloading service”, 6 June 2002, Total
Telecom, at http://www.totaltele.com/view.asp?articleID=52609&pub=tt&categoryid=625.
77 See “The Quarter 1-2002 Mobile Phones Report”, Continental Research http://www.continentalresearch.com/reports/reports/health.htm.
78 ITU Data.
79 An IBM research team found a security weakness in SIM cards that could be exploited by a determined hacker and has also recommended a solution. See “New Technology to Protect GSM Cellphones from Hacker Attacks”, 7 May 2002), IBM Research News, http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/news/20020507_simcard.shtml.
80 Nokia White Paper – Security Identity in Mobile Financial Transactions, January 2001.
81 The IMEI number is 15 digits long and is the serial number of the phone. It’s important to have the number in case the phone is stolen or lost. The following keystroke combination will display the IMEI number on a GSM device:
*#O6#.
82 See “Amsterdam bombards muggers”, 14 December 2001, DPJS Etalage, http://www.minjust.nl/b_organ/dpjs/engels/sec_netherlands.htm.
83 Developers are working on a mark-up language geared at voice recognition, Voice XML (Voice Extensible Markup Language). See: http://www.vxmlforum.org.
84 For an example of an initiative aiming at encouraging the take-up of technologies across literacy levels, see
“Community Knowledge Sharing,” at http://edevelopment.media.mit.edu/comm_knowledge_sharing.html.
CHAPTER THREE: MARKET TRENDS 41