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In case you haven't had the pleasure of using Uber (https://www.uber.com/), it's the mobile app that has democratized the limo service world (everyone's private driver!) and it is based on using digital swarms (collective intelligence) to deliver value (for more on Digital Swarms, see my book The New World of Wireless: How to Compete in the 4G Revolution).  Uber is a brilliant yet simple approach to matching supply (roaming executive cars/drivers) and demand (users with smartphones), using location/navigation to optimize the assignments/routing.  The user can summon an executive car with just two touches on their smartphone screen and then executes a prepaid/cashless transaction, offering a very easy experience.  It is currently deployed in 9 cities around the world.   Continue Reading...
With the recent release of the Xoom tablet from Motorola comes the first barometric sensor available in a mobile device.  The barometer was added to the Android operating system by Google as a way to support faster GPS access by estimating the elevation of the user when accessing the satellites.  But this new sensor opens up a new range of possibilities (just as we saw with accelerometers and light sensors) including predicting local weather patterns.  Imagine the possibilities of a weather grid with thousands of users picking up local barometric readings.   Continue Reading...
In 2009, a Network Challenge by DARPA placed 10 red weather balloons in random locations around the US and awarded a $40,000 prize to the team that located all 10 the fastest.  A team from MIT managed to do this in less than 9 hours using a combination of multi-level rewards, crowd-sourcing, camera phones, and data mining http://archive.darpa.mil/networkchallenge/darpanetworkchallengewinner2009.pdf). The MIT solution was a powerful illustration of leveraging the ties of social networks with the ubiquity of mobile device and their sensors (camera, etc.).  We are beginning to see the "power of the crowd" show up in more everyday examples such as idea sourcing (Brainstorm, Spigot, etc.), problem reporting/tracking (SeeClickFix, CitySense, etc.), Social Search (Evri, Quora, etc.).   Continue Reading...
In 2009, a Network Challenge by DARPA placed 10 red weather balloons in random locations around the US and awarded a $40,000 prize to the team that located all 10 the fastest.  A team from MIT managed to do this in less than 9 hours using a combination of multi-level rewards, crowd-sourcing, camera phones, and data mining http://archive.darpa.mil/networkchallenge/darpanetworkchallengewinner2009.pdf). The MIT solution was a powerful illustration of leveraging the ties of social networks with the ubiquity of mobile device and their sensors (camera, etc.).  We are beginning to see the "power of the crowd" show up in more everyday examples such as idea sourcing (Brainstorm, Spigot, etc.), problem reporting/tracking (SeeClickFix, CitySense, etc.), Social Search (Evri, Quora, etc.).   Continue Reading...

Think Big - Wireless versus Mobile

January 28, 2012 3:14 PM

Today, we are inundated on a daily basis with information and news about Smartphones and Tablets, the Mobile Internet, and 4G Wireless.   In particular, the terms wireless and mobile seem to be used interchangeably without much thought.  So are we in the mobile wave or the wireless wave and what’s the difference?

Early wireless solutions provided a means for making calls or sending bits between two stationary users through the air instead of over wires. 

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With the recent progress of smartphone virtualization using hypervisors like OK Labs (http://www.ok-labs.com/) and Bluestacks (http://bluestacks.com/) that allow a single device to run multiple OS's, smartphone market laggards Microsoft and RIM could, who lack a compelling app store model, have a potential path to get back in the game.  Especially Microsoft, with only around 7% of the smartphone market, but with a much improved Windows Phone 7/Mango interface and seamless integration with office, adding access to the Android app store could be a game changer.  For enterprise users that are still very much tethered to Office and related Microsoft platforms, the ability to easily run work applications and then access the vast number of third party personal productivity and entertainment apps on the Android App Store could be a great thing.  They key will be performance.   Continue Reading...

Mobile Interventions - Good or Bad?

December 9, 2011 6:18 AM
As class action lawsuits are handed out for invasion of privacy in the Carrier IQ scandal http://www.tuaw.com/2011/12/05/apple-samsung-others-sued-over-carrier-iq-scandal/) and highly invasive shopping tools such as Shopkick, Aisle411, and Foursquare see an early lift in impact on what people buy, it raises the fundamental question: are all these interactions making our life better?  Every user must make their own privacy vs. benefit tradeoff, but the minute these interventions are perceived to be non-value-added (like SMS spam or irrelevant offers), then users will start to shut them off.   Now Locaid http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39275/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-12-09) offers to find the location of any mobile device just buy putting in the number.   Continue Reading...

Is Whitespace a Game Changer?

December 7, 2011 10:25 PM
This week, the FCC begins a 45-day public trial of the Telcordia Whitespace Database (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fcc-announces-public-trial-of-telcordia-television-white-space-database-135037253.html) Whitespace represents the unused TV bands from 54-862MHz, usually available in 6MHz increments.  The spectrum must be used on a non-intereference basis which requires a dynamic database look-up based on the user's location.  The first 45-day trial used Spectrum Bridge's database and this new trial will use Telcrodia's.  The propagation characteristics of whitespace spectrum are very good (can support up to 800Mbps up to 10km) which is why some refer to communications in these bands as "Super WiFi".   Continue Reading...

Enterprise Mobility - the Tipping Point

November 6, 2011 10:53 PM
We have all seen the data.  Over 100 million smartphones in the US by 2015.  44 billion app downloads by 2016.  80% of Fortune500 Companies testing or deploying the iPhone and 65% are testing/deploying the iPad. Mobile devices becoming the dominant method of accessing internet.   Continue Reading...

Amazon+Cloud+Mobile=Disruption

October 2, 2011 3:25 PM
With the announcement of the Kindle Fire Tablet this week (http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38690/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-09-29), we can officially say that the convergence of cloud + mobile is underway.  These worlds have traditionally been separated with the cloud being about virtualizing services and data sources so they can be accessible anywhere, and mobile being about getting services and data onto devices for users on the go.  But now, we are seeing the multiplier effect of having services/data in the cloud and being able to easily access those same data/services on any device on the go.  With better speeds available from wireless networks like 802.11n and HSPA/LTE, more services/content accessible via html5 in the browser, and faster processing on the back-end via in-memory technologies, we can now get more functionality with simpler devices.   Continue Reading...
In the past I have talked about the "Gift Economy" concept (a term most recently coined by author Howard Rheingold) being critical to successfully unlocking the potential of mobility in the future.  (Gift Economies are defined by users investing effort/taking action for the benefit of the greater good versus expecting something in return as is the case in a transaction economy)  There are plenty of recent examples around us like Wikipedia, Participatory sensing networks like CitySense, or even the recent Arab Spring with regime changes coordinated via SMS/social messaging.  I now have an example right in front of me thanks to one of my colleagues at Mobiquity, Jonathan Stark, our VP of Mobile Architecture (and author of several leading books on iOS and Android Development).  Jonathan recently launched a "gift economy" type experiment by posting a picture of his Starbucks Card online and allowing anyone that wanted or needed a cup of coffee to pay for it with a picture if his card downloaded on the screen of the mobile device.   Continue Reading...
I gave two talks at the recent Devcon5 Conference in New York City on "Venture Capital in a Mobile Virtual World" and "Seeding the Start-ups"(http://html5.tmcnet.com/conference/newyork/Agenda/Agenda-at-a-glance.aspx)  Some of the highlights from my talk were: 1) Mobile is a distinct wave (personal, ubiquitous, payments, point-of-decision, behavior measurement, social context, and augmented reality to name a few); 2) Despite the fact that wireless VC investment is rising to $1B+ in 2011, in is still a shadow of the $4B spent in 2000 and pales compared to the $8B spent in Cleantech;  3) Of the 114 wireless deals done this year so far, 65 are early stage/series A and the largest deals included $100M in Square and $50M in Foursquare;  4) New York is quietly becoming a major investment hub for wireless on the back of its strong media/advertising corridor.  New York + Boston now equals the total VC wireless/tech investment in Silicon Valley in 2011;  5) Hot areas for investment include network traffic shaping/offload, video optimization, social media integration, apps/middleware, mobile analytics;  6) HTML5 is lowering the barrier to entry for mobile apps (less dependency on 3rd party software) and new apps store models like Facebook and Amazon;  7) the wireless wave is causing significant "creative destruction" and is presenting new opportunities at the boundaries/intersections of traditional industries (example - Kindle); 8) Large players will need to adopt a co-innovation approach in order to attract the participation of smaller companies with creative, innovative solutions;  9) Several carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have created co-innovation testbeds to make their networks/resources accessible to entrepreneurs/developers;  10) seed funding is available for good ideas and investors are willing to move fast (our own new venture, Mobiquity, was able to close on funding in less than 3 months from the initial plan)
The frenzy around mobile investment is building, but this time, the economics (cheap smartphones/tablets) and market reach (10B devices) are there to support the returns to make this more than another bubble.

  Continue Reading...

Mobile as a Behavior Change Agent

June 26, 2011 4:27 PM
I have talked a lot about collective group behavior and "Digital Swarms" in past blogs, but collective behavior starts with single individuals changing their own behavior which is where mobile become such a revolutionary platform.  The notion of providing people information or insights that can "nudge" their behavior must be done at the right time, in context to have the right effect.  Something only mobile can do as a communications medium, since it can reach the "last foot" wherever you are.  Feedback loops have existing for sometime (such as showing you your own driving speed in a school zone or showing you calories burned on an exercise machine), but mobile is taking this to another level of engagement (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/06/ff_feedbackloop/all/1) 
Whether its helping a patient take their meds when they are supposed to (a $100B+ impact to the US healthcare system), getting a consumer to curb their energy use at peak load times, getting a driver to practice safe driving habits, or getting an investor to save for retirement, every industry will be attacking the same universal problem of behavior change.   Continue Reading...

I recently ran a panel on the impact of Mobile+Social+Cloud on enterprise applications at the INNOVATE conference hosted by Global Logic in Palo Alto (http://www.innovate.globallogic.com/).  The panel itself was very diverse with representatives from SAP, SalesForce, Citrix, HP, SugarCRM, and Yammer discussing a range of issues from security and control of the cloud to changes in software development and business models.  While the group diverged on its views around the dependability of cloud services like Amazon EC2 for mission critical enterprise apps, they agreed on shrinking development cycles, the need for more “user-centered” design, and the drive towards more integrated or “stacked” applications. 

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Augmented Reality getting Real.

June 1, 2011 9:26 AM
While there have been a number of very cool Augmented Reality (AR) apps developed such as Google Goggles, Layar, Monacle, there has been little revenue to speak of produced by AR.  So until now, it has been about possibilities and cool factor.  But the recent activities by Sony show that AR may be hitting an inflection point (http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37637/?a=f).  Sony has developed SmartAR platform to be leveraged in new games/toys.   Continue Reading...
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