View from Abroad

 May 2007

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Developers Driven to Pack More Capability and Muscle Into Small Phones

Next month, Apple Computer will start shipping its much-anticipated iPhone, an extremely multimedia-aware handheld device that is expected to establish a new competitive level in the U.S. cellular phone market.  

Apple is hoping the new entry will prove every bit as successful as its iconic iPod music player, which commands about 70% of the MP3 player market.  Marketing and positioning the iPhone, however, may a be a lot tougher since an increasing number of cell phone users – especially those in the business sector – select devices based on the availability of applications and solutions. 

This, after all, is the basic reason why devices like the RIM Blackberry and even Palm’s Treo Series are so wildly popular.  If the applications weren’t available, then these high-priced systems would be nothing more than doorstops.

The worldwide market for mobile applications reached US$1.2B in 2005, and is expected to hit US$3.5B in 2010, says market researcher IDC.  This represents a compound annual growth rate of roughly 23 per cent, which can easily be related to mobile system growth since the demand and use of these applications is driving adoption. 

“Customers don’t care about technology,” says Barry West, president of the 4G Mobile Broadband Division and Chief Technology Officer at Sprint-Nextel Corp.   “They care about what the services are and what they have to pay and all the rest of it. The technologies come and go.”

Let’s not discount technology innovation, though, since new developments and twists in hardware can also push a new mobile system to the very top of the demand list.  A number of new and not-so-new companies are planning to embed and layer IC technologies into a cell phone’s already crowded neighborhood to deliver a range of new applications and services that may change the whole nature and use of a cell phone.

For example:

• SNAPin Software, Inc., a maker of mobile interaction management solutions that can easily be integrated into existing cell phones, has developed a way to embed applications directly into a phone’s circuitry or SIM card to allow wireless carriers to quickly customize them for consumer or business applications. 

Most of these applications involve billing, customer care and system troubleshooting – all of which can generate considerable call center and support expenses for wireless service providers.   However, mobile operators can use the technology to customize and brand their products at the point of sale for individual customers, and provide over-the-air (OTA) updates of these embedded applications.

Orange UK is test-marketing phones using this technology  – branded as SuperSims – as a way to offer pre-configured and customized phones to its customers.

• Texas-based Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. earlier this year introduced it’s ZSTAR reference design that makes use of low-power wireless motion technology that can be used by mobile developers to build applications that can sense motion, positioning, vibrations, tilts and even falls.  One target for such motion-aware applications is mobile gaming, although may also be some uses in everyday business as well. – perhaps using a cell phone as a pointing device for a PowerPoint presentation.

At the 3GSM World Congress earlier this year, Freescale also demonstrated a range of chip solutions that are geared for various multimedia and infotainment applications, as well as simultaneous voice and data transmissions for business users. 

• Quellan, Inc., a company that has been around for several years but just now surfacing in the worldwide market, has developed a way to insert specialized analog integrated circuits into cell phones and other wireless handheld devices to improve the signal integrity by up to 400%, says chairman and CEO Tony Stelliga.  

Just as audio noise can be tracked and eliminated through noise-cancellation headphones, the internal and external RF noise created by keyboards, LCD screens and even conflicting communications signals can also be identified and eliminated to improve signal reception and performance in a wireless device

The resulting improvement in signal quality and reception is “the equivalent of someone whispering in your ear while a jet engine is taking off beside you at full throttle, notes Stelliga. 

One possible application for the Quellan technology is to enhance the performance of GPS chips that are built into cell phones and compete for airtime with GSM communications architectures.  The Quellan technology eliminates a lot of the RF noise associated with the GSM signal and other sources, allowing he GPS receiver to get a faster and stronger link to the satellite’s signal. 

This not only results in a faster location fix via satellite, but also allows GPS to penetrate and be used in buildings, which is a huge plus for business users working in major cities.