_______________________________ MACHINE-TO-MACHINE Wireless Companies See Potential in Machine-to-Machine Communications
Heart monitors that send vital data automatically, cars that report breakdowns on their own, and vending machines that can adjust prices and order refills are examples of machine-to-machine communications that could bring new revenue as the cell phone market peaks. Wireless carriers could use their networks to transmit machine-to-machine communications when their networks are lightly used at night. Nokia and Hewlett-Packard are working on devices for automatic meter reading, security and traffic control systems. In Europe, Ford is offering a dashboard-mounted wireless system for emergency service, traffic conditions and voice calls. Nokia is outfitting elevators with devices that let them send messages when they need repair. The U.K.'s Tri-Mex uses wireless technologies to monitor cargo shipments. (Source: Investor's Business Daily)
| _________________ Key Requirements - NOTE: This category is blurred across LBS, Telemetics, and other quasi M2M applications - Reliability
- Reliability
- Reliability
- Backup (Ability to send information to 2nd/3rd nearest PSAP even though not in "official" PSAP territory
- Speed (1G-2G won't cut it for some medical info)
- Accuracy (Data)
| ______________ Target Market(s) - Elderly
- Handicapped
- Pregnant Women
- (Non) ON-STAR customers
Business Model - Flat Fee (for more sophisicated info reporting mechanisms), or free (for certain demographic packages such as family or safety/security packages)
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HELP FOR THE HANDICAPPED Charity Collects Cell Phones for immigrants in Danger of Assault (11-19-02)
The Cincinnati area's FREE (Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe) Russian Center is collecting donated cell phones that are programmed to dial 911. The phones will be distributed to elderly Russian immigrants who have been the targets in a string of attacks in which they have been beaten and robbed. (Source: WLWT-TV, Cincinnati) Analysis: Great concept, though I fear that without location identifying capabilities its utility may be somewhat limited, as elderly immigrants (away from their home neighborhood) are less likely to know their location than the general populace. ------------------------- Software Enables Deaf to Use Cell Phones
Cellcom, Israel's largest mobile phone operator, and Israeli start-up SpeechView recently launched a worldwide-patented software that will allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate on wireless phones. LipCecell is a software installed in a user's computer and connected with a cable to a cell phone. When the deaf user gets a call, the software translates the voice on the other side of the line into a three dimensional animated face on the computer, whose lips move in real time sync with the voice allowing the receiver to lip read. Future developments will enable the software to be installed on PDAs. (Source: Reuters) Analysis: No specific idea here, other than providing LBS type services to the handicapped could be of tremendous value to them.
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_________________________________ DEVELOPING COUNTRY LBS APPLICATIONS African Cell Phone Culture Combines Necessity with Tradition (11-26-02)
Cell phones are contributing to the economy as well as the social structure in many African countries. In rapid adoption across the continent, cell phones are changing the lives of their owners. They become communications nodes for their communities. People either borrow their phones, or pay them to use the phones. The cell phone owner's number is left as a callback point for relatives, friends and friends of friends. Conversation and story telling, valued in African culture, drives up minutes of use, and average revenue per user. For example, in Nigeria, the average cell phone is used 200 minutes a week, compared with 154 minutes in France, 149 in Japan, and 88 in Germany. The revenue earned from the average cell phone in Nigeria is twice that from the average U.S. cell phone. (Source: IPS) Analysis: LBS applications could well become an integral part of this type of technology/culture integration, particularly as cell phone penetration increases
| | _______________ Key Requirements (General) - Promotion of location "zones", perhaps tribal in nature
- Location-Sensitive Billing (e.g. within tribal zone vs. other)
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MEDICAL APPLICATIONS Mobile Phones to Help Monitor Patients' Heart Rates, Breathing (12-19-02)
Lucent Technologies is developing a way that mobile phones can be used to monitor breathing and heart rate. An antenna and sensor are added to a mobile phone and placed in front of the patient. The module uses the microwave signals produced by the phone to create a pattern as they bounce back from the chest, heart and lungs of the patient. The data is then sent to a remote health-monitoring center. (Source: BBC)
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