Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
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Now playing: Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken - If Not For You
Earlier this week at Sprint’s Senior Leadership Conference, Jim Patterson, Sprint’s president of wholesale, introduced me to two very interesting examples of mobile broadband being built into products to dramatically increase the value of the product, and in these cases, even save lives.
The first one, DriveCam, is a device that you hang on the rear view mirror of your car (or more likely, your teenager’s car or perhaps a company-owned vehicle). It has a camera facing forward and another facing back into the vehicle. I know, I hear you whining about invasion of privacy, but the company claims that 100% of teens recommend the product to their friends. That’s because it’s all about teaching safer driving, not spying. The camera captures and stores a small amount of video, uploading 20 seconds of video surrounding unsafe driving events (rapid acceleration, deceleration, sudden swerves, or accidents) to driving counselors who then use the video to coach the drivers on how to improve their driving. The company claims that the product results in a 70% reduction in accidents and American Family Insurance has even launched a program to provide the product and service for free to families, because they believe it results in fewer claims.
The second product is CardioNet. This product is comprised of a set of three leads attached to the patient’s chest,connected to a sensor. The sensor wirelessly sends heartbeat data to a small, pocketable, monitor. When the monitor detects an abnormal heartbeat, the data is immediately uploaded to the CardioNet Monitoring Center where the data is analyzed and shared with the patient’s doctor, allowing more accurate diagnosis of conditions and threats to the patient, as well as immediate response to critical situations. The company claims that the product results in three times more effective results than the traditional solution.
It’s hard to find more compelling examples of the power of mobility than when lives are saved!
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Now playing: Russ Ramsey - Land Between
Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
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Now playing: Randall Goodgame - Sweet Story Of Old
After posting the brief note on the demise of SPOT watches because they couldn’t compete with functionality built into cellphones, I turned to completing my monthly post on “Beyond the Phone” - products that build mobility in rather than relying on functionality built into cellphones - and guess what the lead item is - a wrist watch!
So, why am I down on SPOT and yet pointing to this “Cool series” watch?
Well the obvious answer is that this watch is a two-way communication device that provides much better use of the power of mobility. In addition to being a fully functional cellphone, this watch also supports SMS/MMS. It’s not clear from the description provided by Slashphone whether it also supports web browsing. If so, then every bit of information available through SPOT and more would easily be “at hand.”
Not that I’m rushing out to buy one of these watches. My Blackberry will serve me just fine for now, thank you very much!
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Now playing: The Normals - We Go On
Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
—————-
Now playing: Phil Keaggy - McPhernought
Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
Bonus: John Roese describes “Broadband’s Kindle Paradigm”
Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
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Now playing: Krissy Nordhoff - Raise The Roof
Bonus: John Roese describes “Broadband’s Kindle Paradigm”
Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
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Now playing: Krissy Nordhoff - Raise The Roof
My big Christmas present this year was an iPod Touch. Seeing as how it makes no sense for me to sign up with AT&T, the Touch gives me a chance to enjoy the advancements provided by the iPhone. The Touch is a beautiful device. I love showing off the multi-touch interface, Cover Flow, and the Photo Album. But, to me, the coolest application on the device is YouTube.
Don’t get me wrong, I spend almost no time at all at YouTube.com, so I’m not a heavy user. What is so cool about the YouTube application is how well it’s been optimized for a mobile device. Given that broadband (WiFi) is built in, the application just works, making it easy to find, view, and bookmark videos that fit what you’re looking for. The user interface works well with fingers on a touch screen, and the video playback works perfectly on the iPod Touch screen.
My problem is with WiFi. Sure, I have great WiFi connectivity at home, but if I’m at home and want to watch YouTube, I’m probably going to grab a laptop. I also have WiFi at work, but YouTube on an iPod probably isn’t what I’m focused on during work hours.
There are three places that I really wanted ot watch YouTube on my Touch and simply couldn’t.
Shortly after Christmas I went to a party at our church. No WiFi. No YouTube. A few days later, a gathering of family and friends at my dad’s house. No WiFi. No YouTube. In both of those settings I wanted to show friends how cool the iPod Touch interface was and specifically how powerful an application could be if it were optimized for a mobile interface. No WiFi. No YouTube. No Joy.
Finally, returning from my dad’s house, we got stuck with delays in Atlanta for several hours. Great time to look for entertaining YouTube content to pass the time. Of course, the Atlanta airport has WiFi - for a price. Was it worth $8 to be entertained for some unknowable airport delay time? For me, the answer was no. So, No YouTube. No Joy.
Admittedly, what I’m talking about here is the iPod Touch, not the iPhone. The iPhone does have mobile “broadband” in the form of EDGE, but I can’t imagine that would quite be the cool mobile experience I was looking for either.
(Big Sigh)
I guess I have to wait for the makers of insanely great products to wise up and build real mobile broadband in to their products - broadband that is available just about everywhere I go.
Mobile Broadband. YouTube. Joy.
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Now playing: Andrew Osenga - O, Help My Unbelief
Bonus: BusinessWeek says “Open Networks Could Spark a Gadget Boom”
Converging products into a cellphone is one way that mobility is getting built into every product, but it’s not the only way. Every month, I’ll focus on devices that are integrating the power of mobility into products themselves in ways that create new value for the customer. Power up!
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Now playing: Sara Groves - I Saw What I Saw
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