I happened across an opinion piece today about cell phones and banks, by Financial Express columnist Janmejaya Sinha, which brought an arresting thought to my mind: I’m part of a generation that can’t recall a time before ATM machines at banks, but some future generation won’t be able to recall a time before banking was performed using mobile phones.   In his column, Sinha references a recent Economist article about mobile money (I believe he’s referring to “The end of the cash era,” Feb. 15, 2007) that explored how people may in the future use their mobile phones for financial transactions. He argues that banks may face competition from telecom companies for some types of money-related services, like transferring funds.   Sinha suggests that, in the future, consumers will be able to use their mobile phones for managing funds.

An EE Times item in the Jan. 27 edition of Information Week reported on the potential uses of RuBee, a new wireless networking protocol announced by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) last June.   IEEE describes RuBee (a.k.a. IEEE 1902.1) as “a bidirectional, on-demand, peer-to-peer, radiating, transceiver protocol operating at wavelengths below 450 Khz. This protocol works in harsh environments with networks of many thousands of tags and has an area range of 10 to 50 feet.”   EE Times reporter John Walko notes in the report mentioned above that RuBee looks promising as a way to fill in some of the gaps left by radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. More specifically, the new protocol could be useful for applications of “real-time inventory under harsh environments, even near metal and water and in the presence of electromagnetic noise.”   Walko notes in the report that RuBee’s main appeal lies in its ability to deal with harsh environments; “getting accurate RFID reads around liquids and metals has been the most significant obstacle to widespread, cost-effective deployment of the technology.”   Because RuBee operates at slower speeds than RFID, it is an alternative rather than a replacement—useful in situations where, since RFID doesn’t work, something slower but relatively comparable could be used instead.   IEEE’s RuBee working group will be meeting Feb. 20 in Boston, just before the RFID Smart Labels Conference kicks off. So watch for news about development plans for the protocol.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, at least for manufacturers of portable navigation devices. Skating on razor-thin margins for devices priced as low as $200, these manufacturers face some tough challenges.   So what’s a navigation device manufacturer to do? One word: differentiate, differentiate, differentiate. Okay, that’s three words, but you get the point.   In particular, a new report from ABI Research says, these manufacturers are seeking to differentiate their higher-end, pricier products.

Pretend for a moment that you run a company that makes a really kick-ass product; a product that has been hailed in your industry has groundbreaking and has had all your competitors jostling to regain market share for years.   Now suppose you develop another product similar to the first one, but with other features, that looks like it will be an even bigger hit than the first one. You’d like to dominate the market in all areas possible, but you’re concerned that the second product may cut into profits from the first one.   That’s precisely the situation Apple may soon find itself in. A recent Pike & Fischer Broadband Advisory report noted that Wall Street analysts are somewhat concerned that, when it hits store shelves in June, iPhone (or whatever it will be called by then) could cut into sales of iPod.   That’s hardly surprising, considering that iPhone includes a built-in iPod; anyone who buys one probably won’t see the need to buy a separate music player. After all, who wants to carry around two devices that both do the same thing, when one of them also does other cool stuff?   Wait, it gets worse (or better): “Some analysts worry that consumers may delay purchasing new iPods as they wait for the June release of the iPhone, which will have the same functions and much more,” Pike & Fischer said in its report.   Could be, I suppose.

Here’s something for all you mobile shutterbugs out there: Exclaim, a provider of wireless and Web applications, recently launched version 6.0 of its Pictavision photo- sharing software for mobile phones.   With Pictavision, users can transform any mobile phone that’s enabled with BREW, Java or SYMBIAN into a tool for sharing and finding video and photos through a variety of media Web sites including KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery, dotPhoto, Flickr, Adobe Photoshop Showcase, and SmugMug.   Pictavision’s interface is designed to make this sharing quick and easy. Among its features are:

• Text and voice tagging
• Background upload of photos and videos
• Multi-lingual support (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese)
• Integrated MMS

“Pictavision lets you take a photo, add a voice caption, send it as a greeting, and save it online in just four clicks, making it the easiest way to take, save and share photos and videos from a camera phone,” the product’s Web site says.   Pictavision is provided on a subscription basis, with plans starting at $3.99. It’s available through the following U.S.