The customary CTIA Wireless keynote addresses held each morning prior to the opening of the exhibit floor were informative and high energy.  Although strong, the keynotes were perhaps not as engaging as April 1, 2008’s address by Richard Branson.  Sir Richard concluded his keynote by inviting audience members who would volunteer for Virgin Galactic’s and Google’s joint project Virgle, to travel to Mars to establish a colony, to join him on-stage.  However, the panel discussion keynote on the third day moderated by CNBC Anchor and Reporter Michelle Caruso-Cabrera with Avatar Director James Cameron, Aneesh Chopra, Obama administration CTO, U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter, made for some eclectic and lively discussion.  Director Cameron remarked that Avatar is the most pirated film ever while Mr. Stone suggested that all one had to do to catch the pirates was to scan internet users for eye patches.

The first day keynotes included an address by J.K. Shin, President, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. during which he emphasized the themes of Screen, Speed and Content.  The choice of display Screen as his first theme became clearer during Samsung’s “Unpacked” press conference immediately following Mr. Shin’s first day keynote.

Given the wide range of portable products and applications exhibited at CTIA, there were a comparably wide range of input and output technologies for display and user interface control.  The exhibit floor space was perhaps a bit smaller than when I last attended in 2008, but there was no shortage of new product announcements.

Many of the announcements involved advanced displays.  These included Samsung’s roll out of their Galaxy S smart phone with a 4 inch “Super” AMOLED display with an integrated capacitive touch screen – clearly aimed as a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone.

While e-readers were emphasized by only a few exhibitors, Kobo www.kobobooks.com launched new e-reader hardware, the Kobo^TM eReader.  While the Kobo^TM eReader was a relatively conventional E-Ink display based e-reader, the hardware platform is a complement to the family of Kobo eReading service and software offerings that promise to be device neutral, content rich, open and globally based.

On the input device side, Invensense showed their digital 3-axis gyroscope as a partner participant in the Qualcomm booth.  Invensense gyroscope technology is currently employed in a range of consumer electronics products for image stabilization in digital cameras and in the Nintendo Wii game accessory the Wii MotionPlus.  Invensense demonstrated at CTIA a smartphone handset with highly accurate gesture input capability.  Although there were other new display and input device applications at CTIA, one that particularly stood out for its novelty was NTT Docomo’s demonstration of eye-controlled earphones as a new form of user input device.

If you would like to see photos from the show and learn more details about the Mobile Display and User Interface advances that we found at CTIA Wireless 2010, I recommend that you visit Insight Media’s website and subscribe to their Mobile Display Report.

Nevertheless, the iPad will issue forth Saturday, April 3, and the interest continues to grow.  In some quarters, interest in the iPad is strong, particularly from applications developers and the VCs financing them. The video below captures the VC interest in the upcoming iPad release.

Other iPad observers seem to be taking more of a “wait and see” approach.  David Pogue’s dueling-points-of-view pre-reviews of the iPad in the March 31 New York Times capture the opposing opinions of the importance of the iPad.

We will have to wait for at least this weekend, and likely beyond, to reach a conclusion concerning the importance of the iPad.  Clearly, Steve Jobs has succeeded again in raising Apple’s profile in the consumer electronics world, and has perhaps distracted us from fixating on the features of the expected new version of the iPhone.  Nevertheless, the ecosystem of users, applications developers and content providers that Apple has woven around the iDevice universe are moving forward together to drive Apple to greater heights.

When I think about it, Neil Young is a pretty important content creator himself.  Neil, how will your content play on the iPad…  Neil, are you out there?

In 2010, it is clear that Apple has strongly influenced mobile industry structure, as well as consumers’ expectations of a mobile device and the ecosystem that surrounds it including service providers, handset designers, applications developers, content providers, accessory makers, and more.  As I pointed out in an earlier article, in my view an essential element that makes the iPad different in an important way is that the iPad is the first widely available platform that will give users and developers the opportunity to explore large-size, multi-touch applications.  This device characteristic combined with Apple’s appeal to the mass market, and the built-in user base and developer community created with the iPhone, have enabled Apple, its customers, and developers to invent the future of user interfaces.  Thus I found an article from the March 21 New York Times revealing and supporting my position.  Neil Young co-founder and head of the iPhone gaming studio Ngmoco, said his company was updating several games to accommodate the iPad, including a multiplayer game called Charadium where players draw items and take turns guessing what the picture is.  The game will get new controls and a roomier blank pad to draw on.

“There are so many more places to touch on the screen,” he said. “We can have a lot more fun with it.” ”

Naturally, since the ever green/very durable Mr. Young is one of my all time favorite musicians, song writers, entrepreneurs, I am happy to see that I am in good company with my views of the iPad.

With “so many more places to touch” the iPad will present us all with an opportunity to test our ideas and see where they lead.

The iPad is the first widely available platform that will give users and developers the opportunity to explore large size multi-touch applications. Steve Jobs made the point that in developing the iPad, Apple stands on the shoulders of devices like the Kindle. The iPad also stands on the many shoulders, and benefits from the ecosystem, of multi-touch-trained users, content providers, and applications developers that Apple created with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Along with their good industrial design, and excellent hardware and software attributes, Apple has consistently been a leader in providing elegant and effective user interfaces. Apple has steadily incorporated high quality input/output devices (displays, keyboards, mice, touch screens) in its products. In recent years, multi-touch input has been a notable feature of Apple products including MacBook computers, the iPhone, iPod Touch and Magic Mouse. No other device designer has had such wide success with touch interfaces.

Apple’s iPad is a bold extension of the touch interface to a much larger size allowing more evolved one hand and two hand gestural inputs. To give earlier workers their due, there have been prior developers that have demonstrated large scale multi-touch devices. However, Apple’s legions of app developers will likely have a field day working to exploit the interface opportunities.

Other ingredients of the iPad may evolve in future versions (cameras, voice, wireless air interface, etc.) but multi-touch input will likely be the defining feature that determines the success of Apple’s latest offering in the tablet category. The continued evolution and success of the touch interface will be validated, or not, by the iPad. Multi-touch on the iPad will be the product’s breakthrough or breaking point. The app store opens the iPad to experimentation by developers and users. I wonder who could have anticipated SonicMule’s Ocarina app for the iPhone and the music potential that has sprung from it.

By creating a larger size, mass market, touch device with a built-in user base and developer community, Apple has enabled its customers and developers to invent the future of user interfaces.

The wireless base station can connect up to two audio sources such as an iPod or compact disc player.  The wireless transmitter’s 2.4GHz technology handles up to eight LightSpeakers providing for stereo sound in multiple rooms and the user can set up two separate listening zones. The transmitter or remote will control the sources, zones, lighting levels and volume.  The LED bulb is rated for 40,000 hours of use and Klipsch claims the LightSpeaker reduces lighting expenses by 80 percent, using 10 watts to produce light that’s bright enough to replace up to a 65 watt bulb. (We will try to determine whether actual lumen output of the LightSpeaker is comparable to a 65 watt reflector bulb often used in ceiling cans as we do not expect that the US DOE Caliper program will get around to testing the LightSpeaker in the very near future).  Further adding to the LightSpeaker’s green credentials, Klipsch points out that the LightSpeaker LED bulb contains no mercury as do compact fluorescent lamps.

A basic LightSpeaker system consisting of two LightSpeakers, a transmitter, radio frequency remote, mini jack to RCA plug cable, lenses and trim, retails for $599.  Additional LightSpeakers are available for $249.  Although this may seem pricey, Klispsch makes several points in the graphic below concerning the cost effectiveness of their new product.

Klipsch also point out that installation and set up are quick and easy, and that homeowners can take it with them if they move.

While it’s too early to say if the LightSpeaker will catch on in a big way, it is easy to see that smart companies like Klipsch are exploring products that provide consumers convenient solutions for old problems while offering greener products as well.

As the battle for cell phone mind and market share continues, we will see more users like Crystal emerge to probe the limits of what’s possible and what’s popular in mobile devices.

A key reason for the success of the Kindle is the inclusion of a wireless means to purchase publications without incurring a monthly wireless data charge.  By bundling the means to wirelessly download publications using the Sprint nationwide wireless network, Amazon has made it transparent and cost effective for readers to browse and purchase publications.

As e-readers improve in design, performance and cost, they have the potential to bring many benefits to consumers, businesses, and the environment.  Consumers appreciate having a slick handheld e-reader that offers many of the same reading characteristics of printed paper books and documents while providing a means to carry and store many publications in a single device.  Students look forward to the day when they can obtain text books in electronic form that are more affordable for use on e-readers that are also affordable and offer lightweight portability.  Throughout the print industry, newspapers and magazines are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with electronic media owing to the high cost of newsprint, print production and distribution.  The print industry has responded by cutting back on the number of printed pages that they distribute and turning in part to electronic distribution on the web.  A key problem going forward is for publishers to reestablish a viable business model.  As e-readers come into wider use, the current print industry has the opportunity to migrate to internet distribution of their content as Amazon’s deals with publishers have shown.

Also important will be the availability of more capable e-readers.  Plastic Logic is developing an e-reader with a 10.7 inch diagonal display.  This week Plastic Logic will announce its prototype e-Reader (photos below) and partnership deals with a number of publishing partners.

A key feature common to many e-reader products is the electrophoretic, or electronic paper, display technology.  Electrophoretic displays made on flexible plastic sheets offer black and white display attributes similar to paper, consume very little electrical power, and are rugged by virtue of their flexible substrate construction.  Although e-readers using electrophoretic displays such as the E-Ink display material of the Kindle, Plastic Logic, and Sony e-readers have been under development for more than 10 years, the evolution and convergence of market factors, the internet, and the need for greener publishing methods are driving the development and adoption of a new class of mobile device.

Popular Science has posted a comprehensive video illustrating the features and operation of the Samsung Show.

Sony has also announced their Walkman NWZ-X1000 portable media player with a touch screen AMOLED display.

As AMOLED manufacturing technology matures, AMOLEDs will find increasing application in mobile device applications.  The increasing penetration of AMOLED displays in the mobile device segment will occur because of their excellent display attributes and reduced power consumption.  Moreover, in the lucrative and hotly contested mobile device market, the superior display attributes of AMOLED displays compared to LCDs make AMOLED displays a market differentiating feature.  Although television applications of AMOLED displays garner a great deal of attention, small and medium size applications of AMOLEDs will dominate for the next several years as manufacturers work diligently to increase manufacturing yields and reduce costs of AMOLEDs.In contrast, the application of picoprojectors in mobile devices opens up entirely new applications for sharing pictures, videos and presentations.  As the photo below of the Samsung Show illustrates, mobile devices with solid communication features will become a pervasive means to carry and share our content.

Handset manufacturers and service providers are all working to respond to the iPhone. Samsung’s new touch-screen phone, the Instinct (below) captured the “Best in Show” Emerging Technology Award at CTIA Wireless 2008. The Instinct also received the Best Cell Phone distinction in CNET’s Cream of the Crop at the event.

Apple, with the iPhone, has turned existing wireless industry relationships on their head. This is particularly so in the US where the carrier has dictated so much to the consumer and device manufacturer. By offering consumers an attractive handset that sets new standards in usability, appeal, and mobile internet browsing, Apple is pointing the way for handset leadership. Initially, Apple launched the iPhone as a very closed platform to make their point and to gain initial market entree. Apple is now orchestrating a phased rollout of a more open platform with the release of their iPhone software development kit (SDK), upcoming acceptance of 3rd party applications, and a controlled means (iTunes store) of distributing “approved” applications. In this way Apple is masterfully doing what the major carriers have not, and don’t yet know how to do without giving up a great deal of control and risking becoming bit pipes. However, Apple, if they continue to execute to plan, have the opportunity to expand their franchise at a high rate and leave nonresponsive carriers and handset suppliers behind in the mind of consumers. Although Apple is starting from a very small base in mobiles, as their large market share in music players shows, their ability to connect with consumers will provide them with a great opportunity to expand the iPhone franchise and their handset market share.

For additional insight, click Comments on CTIA Wireless 2008 to view a few slides about our findings from CTIA Wireless 2008.

]]> http://wrtassoc.com/archives/27/feed 1 http://wrtassoc.com/archives/28 http://wrtassoc.com/archives/28#comments Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:07:45 +0000 Phillip Wright http://wrtassoc.com/2008/03/24/wrt-associates-announces-new-report-on-wireless-device-applications-of-optoelectronics/ WRT Associates (www.wrtassoc.com) announces the availability of a new report entitled “Wireless Device Applications of Optoelectronics.” This report was authored by Phillip Wright, Ph.D., Chief Analyst and Managing Director at WRT Associates, LLC, and Consultant with the Optoelectronic Industry Development Association (OIDA). The Wireless Optoelectronics report package is being made available through WRT Associates, LLC with the cooperation of OIDA. The table of contents, lists of figures and tables, and an excerpt of the Wireless Optoelectronics report is available here: Excerpt Wireless Device Applications of Optoelectronics

The Wireless Optoelectronics report provides a detailed view and forecast of the role of optoelectronics components and modules in wireless devices including mobile phones that currently sell more than 1 billion units annually. The emergence of wireless connectivity in an increasing range of products including digital cameras, mp3 players, portable games, and more is increasing the market opportunity for optoelectronics in wireless devices. In high end wireless devices such as the Apple iPhone, the optoelectronics content can reach 20-30% of the total bill of materials cost. In many wireless devices, optoelectronics enable key features that are highly valued by consumers including large color displays, high resolution auto focus digital cameras, and colorful surface and keypad illumination. The report includes decadal market forecasts for optoelectronic component and module revenue including high brightness light emitting diodes (HBLEDs), image sensors, and wireless device displays by type. The Wireless Optoelectronics report also highlights new optoelectronic technologies and applications that will drive new features in wireless devices. The market roles of Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), flexible displays, 3D displays and micro projectors, and new optoelectronic enabled user interface devices are also covered in the report. The Wireless Optoelectronics report provides a comprehensive overview and forecast of market growth for optoelectronics in wireless devices and provides a timely heads-up on the evolution of new technologies that will drive the market ahead.

WRT Associates are making the Wireless Optoelectronics report available in a package with 2 hours of consultation with the author to discuss the contents of the report and related topics. Consulting conferences can be held by phone or at the customer’s site at added expense. The report will be delivered electronically in PDF file format and is available now for $1,695 by emailing info@wrtassoc.com or by calling +1-970-219-8800.