S60 Summit 2008: Reach
1015: José Antonio Moujadami, who is the Head of Applications and Open OS Devices at Telefonica, takes to the stage. He believes that hybrid applications in mobile devices are even more important than in PCs, due to the higher diversity of platforms, amongst others. Mobile devices are always connected, in contrast to PCs, however issues such as limited memory and browsers need to be addressed in order for growth to appear.
1023: Hybrid applications, on the S60, Windows Mobile, and Linux operating systems include binary compatibility, web based UI such as html and flash, scripting and access to native capabilities. As an operator, Telefonica is aware of mash-ups, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other web 2.0 applications, and is started to provide APIs for future hybrid applications to deliver capabilities for mash-ups with telecom services and internet services.
1028: Telefonica has recognised that there are several challenges ahead for them, including fragmentation, security and the distribution and maintenance of runtime environments. Moujadami also wants web 2.0 applications, such as the aforementioned, to be better prepared for mobile use, and to have native mobile applications for handsets.
1031: They’re going to address those challenges by cooperating with the various companies, with most of the industry players teaming up in an industry initiatve, OMTP OTSI. Bit of a mouthful, there.
1036: The OMTP, or Open Mobile Terminal Platform, is a new way to produce standards, by improving the specification through Open Source technology, and will define the requirements for architecture, interfaces and security.
1037: The S60 platform is ‘perfectly positioned’, claims Moujadami, as it’s ‘committed to the new open standard’.
1045: A spokesperson for Samsung takes to the stage, and claims that in 2008, half the phones they’ll be shipping will be based on the S60 platform. The mobile manufacturer is always trying to be on the edge of cutting edge, adopting technology such as 5-megapixel sensors for their camera phones, and ‘strong, slim design’, which is a ‘key part of our DNA’.
1102: Ukko Lappalainen, VP Category Management for the Nokia Nseries, jumps up and welcomes the audience. I have just 33 minutes of battery left, so hopes he sticks to the schedule so I can juice my laptop up over lunch.
1104: Mobile devices are evolving, Lappalainen explains, as they’re always connected to our favourite services, all the time. Nokia is leading the market in convergence, particularly with the Nseries, which is two years old now.
1107: The smartphone360 study is an application which records all the actions an S60 user makes on their phone, and logs it with Nokia, who analyses it and determines how mobile users’ behaviour is evolving. It’s done in several different markets, like Singapore and Finland, so obviously the behaviour and trends changes with every country.
1110: Only 12% of a user’s time is used on voice, about 18minutes per day in 2007, however the overall use of a mobile each day is growing, with browsing and multimedia use increasing to 39 minutes a day in 2007, from 22 minutes a day in 2005.
1114: Streaming has come out of nowhere, Lappalainen says, and that that, plus email, are several functions they’re expecting to get even more popular. Video-calling, on the other hand, has gone down since 2005, when people were most interested about it.
1119: Nokia is creating a ‘huge population of new internet devices’, with 35 million GPS-enabled handsets expected to ship in 2008. Geotagging is an important application to them, which mashes up the camera and GPS so you’ll always know where you took your photos.
1122: As the Nseries is two years old now, it’s very similar to an actual two year old child, as it’s understanding the world, and can see the future. I’m not sure how many two year olds I know who can say more than a few words, but perhaps Lappalainen knows some special kids.
1123: ‘Openness is a basic requirement’, and helps people communicate with one another, and stay connected. It’s the ‘key asset’ for Nokia, to ‘build within our capabilities’. He leaves the stage, with the last claim that Nokia’s Nseries is ‘what computers have become’. Impressive.
