The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) Wireless IT & Entertainment trade show took place this week in San Francisco. The conference, which occurs twice a year, is one of the wireless industry's leading events.
Many new products were announced, while companies and standards organizations demonstrated quite a few cutting-edge technologies.
Socket SAP
Socket Communications released the Socket Secure Digital (SD) Scan Card Series 3 driver package with support for the SAP NetWeaver Mobile platform.
With the driver solution, the Socket SD Scan Card is automatically enabled in any mobile application developed by SAP or other third-party vendors. It is interfaced to SAP solutions through SAP NetWeaver Mobile to provide mobile professionals an economic alternative to traditional bulky data collection terminals.
Socket¹s SD Scan Card 3E goes for $228.
ShowMate
Impatica ShowMate allows BlackBerry users to project PowerPoint presentations directly from their handhelds. It is the first device of its kind to enable BlackBerry users to perform this function without the need of a laptop computer.
A pocket-sized device that weighs nine ounces, ShowMate supports full-featured PowerPoint presentations including rich text, images, charts, graphs, animations and slide transition effects.
NAVTEQ Nokia Navigation
Digital map provider NAVTEQ is providing Nokia with map data for its newly launched Nokia Wireless GPS Module LD-1W, an integrated solution for mobile navigation in the Chinese market. The companies say the module (due to ship in the fourth quarter) is compatible with all smartphones based on the Series 60 platform, plus a wide range of compatible PDAs or PCs. The standard sales package includes the GPS module and a 256MB multimedia card (MMC) that contains a mobile navigation application from ROUTE 66 and the map of Greater China provided by NAV2.
Mobilcast
Melodeo has released Mobilcast, in limited beta form (and due to ship broadly in October), for the Motorola ROKR - the iPod handset - and RAZR cell phone. The software enables users to search for and download podcasts to their mobile phones. It had already been available for download for select Nokia phones.
Motorola i930 Smartphone
Sprint is launching the Motorola i930, a compact clamshell handset that is the first wireless phone to combine Windows Mobile, nationwide/international Walkie-Talkie services, and international voice/data capabilities. The Motorola i930 will be available nationwide next month in select Sprint business sales channels, Sprint Stores and online for a suggested retail price of $500.
The handset also features a built-in camera and camcorder. Additional media capabilities include support for Multimedia Messages and the presence of Windows Media Player for playing audio and video files. A Secure Digital slot lets users add memory.
Oracle Database Lite for Symbian
Oracle will soon enable Symbian— the most popular smartphone platform in the world, with an installed base of over 39 million handets—support for Oracle Database Lite 10g Release 2. Oracle's goal is to allow for the secure transmission of critical business data to mobile workers using Symbian devices.
Oracle Database Lite 10g Release 2 boasts significant enhancements that the company asserts make it easier to create mobile schemas, deliver high availability options and leverage the Microsoft .NET development platform. Relying on the Oracle Grid Computing infrastructure, the mobile database provides customers with a technology architecture that facilitates performance and incremental scalability to support thousands of concurrent users.
MX7 Handheld
LXE's new MX7 Handheld Computer for use in warehouses and distribution centers runs Windows CE on an Intel Xscale CPU with 802.11b/g and Bluetooth wireless as options. It includes an optical reader that can read bar codes from as far away as 40 feet. There's also vibration feedback, voice recognition, and programmable function keys.
Asphalt Urban GT 3D
Mobile phone game publisher Gameloft has launched a BEW-based real-time multiplayer 3D edition of Asphalt Urban GT, a popular extreme racing game that allows players to compete across the country. Gameloft's real-time multiplayer technology relies on cellular networks based on CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, a 3G standard for high-speed wireless data.
DVB-H Demo
Intel demonstrated multi-channel TV broadcasts on Windows-based mobile devices equipped with add-on DiBcom Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) receivers, a first in the United States. DVB-H bypasses a carrier's cellular network to deliver television directly to handsets. It frees up bandwidth for other mobile operator content and promises excellent quality video.
The Intel demonstration included live, brand-name TV services, digital music, and a feature-length movie, beamed from terrestrial transmitters using the Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) protocol to Windows Mobile-based PDAs and smartphones. The media content was encoded using Microsoft's Windows Media Audio and Video 9.
Biometric Cell Phone
Pantech, a Korean cell phone manufacturer, has added AuthenTec's EntréPad AES2510 fingerprint sensor to its new PCK-6000 handset—a multi-function cell phone that is available through KTF, one of Korea's largest service providers. The new phone is the first in Asia to use AuthenTec's Power of Touch capabilities, including advanced security, convenience, navigation and personalization.
Handango InHand
Version 2.0 of Handango's mobile content delivery platform for Palm OS and BlackBerry devices is now shipping. The InHand family of on-device clients, also available for the Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms, enables operators to deliver application discovery and purchasing across many types of smartphones.
Unified Messaging
Intellisync demonstrated what it asserts is the first open mobile unified messaging platform for wireless carriers and enterprises. The company says the solution provides seamless and secure access plus an easy "one-touch" device interface.
The service supports most types of mobile communication: e-mail, voice, text or instant messaging. All of which are purportedly accessible under a single interface on "any" device in any location. Palm, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC and Smartphone), Symbian (UIQ, Series 60, and Series 80), and BREW platforms are all compatible with Intellisync's unified messaging solution.
The e-mail application built into the Intellisync Unified Messaging platform (due to be released to mobile operators and enterprises in November) supports Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, IBM Lotus Domino and Notes, and Internet e-mail from providers like Comcast, Earthlink, and AOL. The system is also compatible with industry standard communications protocols including POP3, IMAP, and SyncML.
My Ringading
New application from Acon Digital Media enables PC owners to take any piece of music and turn it into a music ringtone. My Ringading reads WAV, AIFF, MP3, WMA, OGG, AVI and WMV (sound track imports from the last two) formats. You can also import and rip songs from audio CDs through a PC's CD player.
