Location-based Mobile Local Search

Talk about consumer LBS (in US) has been around for almost a decade. It is great to see Infospace launch a location based mobile local search app with Sprint. A huge step in AORTA, makes the user experience much better.

A premium J2ME application, InfoSpace Find It! is available on a range of Sprint Nextel phones, with users easily pinpointing their location through automated GPS or location systems, or preset entries such as zip code, address or intersection. The service includes:
– Local Quick Clicks(TM): Find local business listings and locations with maps and driving directions with minimal clicking.
– One-Stop Searching: A single search location for Yellow Pages, White Pages, Maps, Directions, Movie Listings and more.
– Find People by Name or Number: Search using only first and last name, or by entering a phone number to find out to whom it belongs.
– What’s Nearby(R): Access details on what’s close with one click on the phone, even if the caller doesn’t know exactly where they are.
– Click to Connect: Make phone calls with one click instead of dialing the entire number.

Governor’s Reception

Earlier this evening, attended Governor’s Reception with Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire. I first met her at the Korea-US pacific states Joint conference where she was the co-chair and i was on the US advisory committee for the wireless and multimedia conference last year. Gov. Gregoire is passionate about international trade and you can feel the energy in the room while she was speaking. Very impressive. She understand globalization and the new rules of the game. What was striking was her vision to look beyond short-term to 40-50 years down the road so one can lay the foundation of solid educational system and economic vitality. It was her 8th event of the day with one more to go and yet she spoke as if it was her first.

Mobile Wallet

There is a good article on “Mobile Wallet” in NY Times today. I have been talking about this in my recent talks. Frankly, US companies should just license DoCoMo’s Felica, invest in infrastructure and get on with the program.

iHollywood Mobile Entertainment Summit Discount

As a research partner of iHollywood MES event, we get discount coupons for friends and colleagues. If you are interested in attending and haven’t registered yet, please let us know and we will send you the coupon

m-Qube acquisition

Nice exit for m-Qube investors. Timed it well as the value of the company would have gone down in the next 12 months. This will probably reignite the deals game in the mobile industry. Expect to see M&A market heat up.

Japanese Delegation to CTIA

I will be addressing the CTIA-bound Japanese delegation on 3rd April. Companies include NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Mitsubishi, Base and others. If you would like to meet with them, please let me know.

Mobile Advertising

From Visiongain’s report on Mobile Advertising “From 2005 when the nascent market garnered $255 million in Europe and the United States, mobile marketing and advertising in these two geographical areas will grow to exceed $1 billion in 2009, provided certain elements fall into place.” I think everyone is underestimating mobile marketing and the potential for revenues. I agree, key elements need to be in place, but the likely revenue generation will be higher. The real issue will be who has the most useful profile information, can you still put personalized ads without any user profile information? and who has the the most effective data mining tools.

WiMax Report from OECD

A good read from OECD on WiMax: The implications of WiMAX for competition and regulation (pdf)

Seattle Mobile Talk

Had a good discussion on 3G at Seattle Mobile last night. Hans (EMC) and I talked about the trends and the 3G impact on carrier network. One of the most revealing stats was the jump in carrier information data (within the network) - 10-15 times due to introduction of 3G. If storage is not well designed, it could lead to several problems. We are thinking about exploring this topic further. I continue to believe that starting next year, we will see pretty healthy 3G growth in the US market. China and India will start catching up over the next 2-3 years, while Japanese and Korean markets will start saturating.

Origami Debuts

After some clever marketing, Origami finally debuts or at least more details are available. At price range of $600-$1000, it is clearly not a mass market device and won’t take off. Perhaps future versions would do better.