November 09 , 2007

EDITORIAL EDGE
What the iPhone Says About the Almost GPhone
By Brad Smith, Wireless Week Technology Editor

If there is one thing this year's launch of Apple's iPhone has taught us, it is that brands resonate with consumers. People will pay a lot of money for a product they think is cool, even if it doesn't do everything it promises.

People I know who own an iPhone tell me they are enamored with the user interface, especially the way the touchscreen allows them to quickly access different features. They also like the iPhone's version of the Safari browser. But they also say they seldom use the browser to access the Internet using AT&T's EDGE network. They will go on the Internet with their iPhone using a much faster Wi-Fi connection, although not to surf but to get specific content.

I was reminded of these conversations, admittedly just a small slice of the iPhone pie, when Google & Friends announced plans for the Android Linux-based mobile operating system. A lot is being made about how Android will change the mobile world, both in handsets and services. I'm skeptical.

Like Apple, Google definitely has a positive brand name. Unlike Apple, Google doesn't have a "cool" factor going for it, most certainly not for devices (I do happen to think some Google applications are cool but Google as a business is all about search and advertising).

Consumers aren't going to plunk down their money to buy a phone just because Google is part of a consortium that developed the OS. I think most people buy a phone for 1) the services it provides whether that is voice, e-mail access or something else, 2) how easy and logical it is to operate, 3) the price, or 4) the wow factor. Of course, you get combinations of all of these and priorities change with the buyer.

Android phones may operate in all four areas. The potential is certainly there. But the Google brand isn't going to play much of a role, unless perhaps a GPhone does emerge that gives away services for free in exchange for advertising. That's not going to happen with the first Android phones due out in the second half of 2008, if ever.

Meanwhile, Android is going to have to differentiate itself from smartphones running Symbian, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm and BlackBerry. These operating systems offer a lot, including thousands of third-party applications. The majority of consumers won't buy an Android phone to make a philosophical point about "open source" software but rather because it beats everything else out there for what they want.

The next question is how the Android phones will reach consumers' hands. In the United States, that is through the carriers now and no carrier is going to let a phone on its network without some control. Sprint and T-Mobile USA have agreed to use Android phones, but they'll want to know in advance the phones won't bring down their networks. That could defeat the high-minded open nature implied by Android's backers. Of course, Google could buy nationwide spectrum in January's FCC auction, build its own network, and invite all comers to use it. In that case, you could have a Google brand on the network and the phones.

What do you think? Let me know at brad.smith@advantagemedia.com.

(An addendum to my column in the Oct. 25 newsletter: I mistakenly implied Qualcomm was going to use software-defined radio in its Gobi 3G handset platform, which will allow handsets to roam between cdma2000 and W-CDMA networks. Gobi uses software to discover and roam between the air interfaces, but it uses separate radios for the links.)

LTE

NGN Tests Called Success
By Brad Smith

A number of operators and vendors involved in tests of the next-generation network technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE) are terming the initial trial a technological success.

That's the word out of the LTE/SAE (system architecture evolution) Trial Initiative, which was launched in May. Companies involved in the initial effort included Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Recent additions include China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Signalion, Telecom Italia and ZTE.

An announcement by Nokia called the first phase of the trial a success, meeting the LTE physical layer performance expectations that stationary and mobile peak data rates can be met. LTE's goal is for 100 Mbps on the downlink and 50 Mbps on the uplink. The goal also is to have equipment available for 2010 deployment.

"Initial results have confirmed that the technology will deliver high levels of data throughput both for stationary and mobile devices," the announcement said, although not specifying what throughput was achieved. "The joint tests were performed using prototype single and multi-antenna radio systems in both lab and urban field environments."

"These early results show great promise for 3GPP LTE technology," the announcement said, "and are a tangible early validation of the reality of 3GPP LTE systems and services. The collective and cooperative performance test work accomplished to date by this pioneering group is a testimony to the group's leadership and determination to accelerate the availability of commercial and interoperable LTE systems."

IMS

MultiService Forum Plans for 2008
By Brad Smith

There hasn't been a lot of news about IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) in recent months, but that doesn't mean there isn't work going on to bring it to fruition.

The MultiService Forum, one of the consortia working on IMS services, has just announced its plans for next year's interoperability event, called Global MSF Interoperability (GMI) 2008.

GMI 2008 will focus on specific services like IPTV, quality of service, location and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), according to Roger Ward, MSF president and chief technology officer for British Telecom. MSF's members include some 40 operators, infrastructure vendors and test equipment manufacturers.

The testing is done through a half-dozen carrier labs, including Verizon, plus the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab. The latter maintains a permanent testbed for the MSF.

"GMI 2006 convinced us of the growing maturity of IMS as a basis for fixed mobile convergence," says Ward. "Of course, for commercial large-scale network implementations, the devil is always in the detail and it is here that the MSF continues to provide a significant opportunity for industry collaboration as the technology continues to mature."

Ward emphasizes that the MSF is not a standards body, but uses standards from such bodies as the 3GPP and International Telecommunications Union.

Meanwhile, the IMS Forum held its third annual IMS Plugfest at the University of New Hampshire in October and participants called the event a success. Among the participants was Tekelec, which also showed its IMS Demo in a Box at Fall VON, along with Hewlett-Packard.

And Nokia Siemens Networks says it has deployed the first commercial IMS platform in Sweden with Com Hem. The operator uses an IMS core, VoIP application server and session initiation protocol (SIP) technology.

NFC

Technology Proven But Business Cases Needed
By Wireless Week Staff

Near Field Communications (NFC) shows a lot of promise for mobile payments and access, but how much do consumers want those capabilities? That's the question raised in a new report by IMS Research.

The report says NFC "has tremendous potential for contactless ticketing, payments and passive door entry," promising the possibility of throwing away the traditional wallet in favor of using a cell phone instead.

Tests have shown NFC to be technically feasible, IMS Research says, while market research by Visa indicates young Americans at least want to use their phones to make payments.

"This sounds positive," IMS Research says. "However, American culture is a far cry from the culture of most European countries, Asian countries and pretty much the rest of the world. The whole American culture revolves around convenience; therefore it could make sense to install NFC points of sales in say for example McDonalds or on the New York Subway. But would a more 'laid-back' culture, say, Greece for example, embrace NFC in the same way?"

The report says NFC has shown value and that it undoubtedly will be used for mobile payments, but questions when and where the adoption will take place.

"What we envisage will be a multitude of applications all designed to benefit the user, improve their experience of transit, banking and payments solutions," says IMS Research Director John Devlin. "However, it is definitely not a case of one size fits all and consumer adoption will vary widely, affected largely by cultural differences in consumer behavior but also by the demands and competitive influences of local businesses. Of course, this all depends on the various stakeholders agreeing a suitable business model, and relevant revenue streams, for each particular case."

GPS

Mobile Drives Chips
By Wireless Week Staff

The mobile industry is going to drive the use of GPS chipsets over the next few years, according to a study by In-Stat.

The research company says there will be limited use of GPS receivers as a peripheral to other devices. Rather, GPS will find itself embedded in phones, personal navigation devices, mobile computers and other portable consumer electronics devices.

"Integration of GPS within these products will allow for more widespread use of GPS, and will spur much greater GPS chipset shipment volumes," says analyst Gemma Tedesco.

The report goes on to say that cell phones and PNDs are the two largest segments for GPS chips now, that mobile GPS devices will grow from 180 million units this year to 720 million units in 2011, and that the cell phone market, especially for W-CDMA handsets, will be a major battleground for GPS chip vendors.

SDR

Piercing the Porcupine Problem
By Wireless Week Staff

Software-defined radio isn't used in cell phones yet, but companies in the industry have their eye on that market.

NXP Semiconductors, the chip company spun off by Philips, this week announced a technology it thinks answers what it calls the "porcupine problem." That's the issue of including multiple antenna and/or radios and interfaces in a phone.

NXP's answer is what it calls a software programmable vector processor, which it calls its Embedded Vector Processor," which would support multimode and multistandard platforms. The company says its processor could support all the cellular, short-range, fixed and even FM interfaces on a single phone.

The solution, the chipmaker says, breaks the RF design into three classes based on data rates. It envisions one radio supporting NFC, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wibree and UWB, another for configurable cellular combinations, and a third for high data rate access with Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE.

It is not possible, according to NXP CTO Rene Penning de Vries, to continue adding multiple radios to a phone. "The piecemeal addition of these modules onto the system-chip is untenable," he says. "Not only will the aggregate size of the required modules become difficult to accommodate, their combined power consumption will threaten battery life, and the increased silicon content will adversely impact product cost."

NXP says its programmable processor answers that question and is complementary with classic DSP and ARM cores. The processor will be available by the end of the year for embedding in chips and will be included in several NXP products in 2008 and 2009, the company says.

Emerging Tech News Briefs 
Companies in briefs: IntelliOne, Rogers Wireless, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Awarepoint, GainSpan

• A new traffic information technology company, IntelliOne, has signed up Canada's Rogers Wireless for its Live!Traffic and Mobile Location Services. Live!Traffic converts mobile phone network data into traffic congestion information.

• Walter Reed Army Medical Center has selected Awarepoint and it's RFID asset management solution, called Real-Time Awareness Solution. Awarepoint says the hospital will use its technology to track the location, status and movement of the hospital's mobile medical equipment.

• California-based GainSpan has announced a wireless sensor network solution that uses existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. GainSpan says companies can use their Wi-Fi network with GainSpan's technology to set up applications such as temperature monitoring. The technology doesn't require a new network and enables battery life up to 10 years, the company says.