Technology exhibitions are generally the place where companies wheel out their ‘concept products’ for all to see, as well as showing off their latest offerings. For the uninitiated, this means that the fabulous yet kooky mobile phone you spotted at the exhibition may not ever see the light of day again, not matter how much you want a mobile that allows you to write out your text messages and converts your handwriting.
Cebit is no exception. Taking place in Hannover, Germany in March, the exhibition was host to everything from pen mobile phones to foldable keyboards — and not all of them were destined to spend the next few months gathering dust in the manufacturer’s darkest cupboard.
But the most interesting things there weren’t the weird and wonderful products that will probably never see the light of day again. Old reliable products are being given the equivalent of a technological shot in the arm to beef them up and appeal to a whole new market of consumers.
SMS over the landline
For example, Siemens Mobile is hoping to persuade home users that they really need an MMS phone as their landline. There is some logic to this thinking. According to Clemens Joos, president of the cordless products division, the largest proportion of SMS is written at home by children and teenagers. If the landline handset is SMS or indeed MMS-enabled, why not use it to send the messages (and save on your mobile bill in the process)? The company has several SMS-enabled cordless phone, and announced the introduction of an MMS cordless phone last month. The SL740 comes with an integrated camera so you need never miss another moment of family life again (the joy!). Another feature that has its roots in the mobile phone is the picture ID for entries in your phone book. So you can store that photo of your friend looking ‘tired and emotional’ at last year’s New Year’s Eve party or give your mother-in-law the identity you always knew she deserved. You can also assign different polyphonic ringtones to your phonebook entries (the funeral march for your office, etc). The potential is endless.
Push to talk
Another technology that may be big in the coming months (if the phone manufacturers can come up with a common standard) is ‘push to talk’ technology. This takes your mobile phone and adds something similar to walkie talkie technology to it, which can be activated by pushing a button. It works over the GSM network; users will have a list of ‘buddies’ and they can simply select one from the list of those who are online and talk to them at the push of a button. The technology seems popular in the US, but who knows how it will do here? The mobile phone manufacturers appear to be getting behind it; Nokia announced a push to talk handset months ago and Siemens showed its push-to-talk-enabled CX65 model at Cebit.
Also on show was the Panasonic X300, a camera phone with a hinged pop-up display, which apparently serves no other function than to make the phone look more like a camcorder, and the tiny A100 range, the first of which weighs 66 grams and measures just 74 by 44 by 16mm, according to Panasonic Mobile. At that size, it’s smaller than a credit card, albeit substantially thicker.
Flashy Swiss Army knife
Even the dependable old Swiss Army knife, the take-anywhere tool, has had a bit of a technology update with the addition of a USB flash memory drive. So now you have portable storage in your pocket, along with scissors, a red LED, a file with a screwdriver tip, a knife and a ballpoint pen. You know, just in case you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with a storage emergency.
In this case though, the Swiss Army knife is less a concept product and more of a reality; it’s due to hit stores in the coming months. And for those who may have to pass through airports regularly, Swissbit has a safe version (without the banned pointy bits, i.e. the actual knife) that contains a red LED, a ballpoint pen and the flash memory drive.
So for the next few months, we’ll have to sit back and see what makes it on the market and what sinks without a trace.
05/04/04
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