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| THE CONNECTOR |
| News from WIP |
| May 2007, V 7.0 | |
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Greetings! 
OPEN - THE NEW MANTRA
Have you noticed that 'open' seems to be the new mantra for our industry? Technically we are seeing the rise of Linux and the open source community. Stay tuned for more announcements this year and early next year as Linux is embraced by more operators and makes its way into more devices. We are also seeing more open collaboration amongst companies big and small. These partnerships are necessary for growth in our complex ecosystem, but can be challenging to find, put together and manage.
I'm also hearing more about Open Innovation and had the pleasure of attending Nokia's Mobile Mashup event last week in Silicon Valley. Nokia took the opportunity to showcase their new philosophy called Open Innovation which is all about opening up the kimono a wee bit more and reaching out to others to collaborate on technical and market development. This is a monumental shift in the thinking of this big closed company, so I don't expect to see big changes soon, but I applaud them for taking this new tack - its the only way for them and our industry to grown, innovate and prosper. Of course I and the other attendees were pleased with our parting gifts of the N800 - ala Linux no less!
Hmm - do you think that means that more operators will embrace this new mantra too and Ajit Jaokar and Tony Fish will finally see the Open Gardens? Let me know your thoughts.
I'm pleased to have two great fellows provide our featured articles this month, that also fit into the Open theme. Scott Weiss of Usable Products shares some valuable tips to ensure your technology has passed muster on the Usability quotient. And my good friend Rudy deWaele provides his expert advice on On-Line PR, and as one of the leading mobile bloggers (Mobilists) he should know.
And what's upcoming:
And my favorite: WINBC holds its AGM and BBQ Party on May 30. The highlights - Nokia's in-house band The Fabulous Ringtones play and where I officially step down as Chair of the Board of this fanatastic organization I founded in 2001. Come and join me in Vancouver for a great party!
Best, Caroline
Caroline Lewko, CEO and Founder, WIP
The 'Connector' for the mobile and wireless industry.
For those of you new to the newsletter - welcome! You'll find our issues packed with our featured emerging companies around the world and advice to grow them into winners! A lot to read in one go, so print it off to read with your morning coffee, or a long commute. |
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Quick Links |
WIPConnector - the business and partnership directory to pinpoint your next customer, partners, investment.
WIP RESOURCES - find technical organizations, standards bodies, research labs and more....
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| WIP Partner - News & Featured Members |
Trade associations and industry organizations are a key element to support growing companies and the exciting wireless industry. WIP salutes these leaders and is pleased to consider them partners. Be sure to contact them for their view on our sector, their knowledge of their regions and for advice on their members.
 of Ottawa features:
BITHEADS is the software product-building partner that has helped RIM, 3Com, BelAir Networks, Cryptologic, IBM and many others get award-winning software products to market faster. bitHeads' unique ProductStrea(TM) approach provides rapid deployment product development teams, a proven methodology for building new products faster and a partnership model based a commitment to successful delivery. more
 of the United Kingdom features: HSL (Hay Systems Ltd), the leading reputable provider of reliable SMS gateway services, offer high quality and cost-effective mobile messaging, utilising their technically advanced infrastructure. more of Torino (Italy) features:
WEBON4 develops and builds IP-based video surveillance systems since 2001, for both private and public customers.WebOn4 is innovative partner of H3G, Adp, Axis and operates with the main players in the sectors of Telco and video-surveillance devices, and with bodies providing surveillance services. more
of Silicon Valley features:
SYSTEMIC REAL TIME DESIGN of Mountain View CA USA is a leading provider of engineering design services delivering complete real-time embedded systems for OEMs of the automotive, industrial, and medical industries. SRD's technology experience spans real-time embedded systems, QNX RTOS, and telematics for Tier-1 automotive manufacturers and Tier-2 silicon vendors. more
 of British Columbia features:
iCOMMUNITY NETWORKS, is a non-profit promoting public access and connectivity to information & communications. Operating on an open business model, the team's first initiative is to partner with leading industry leaders to build and operate a municipal wireless network in Vancouver. Enhancing community communications, bridging the digital divide. Be Connected.Always. more
 of Seattle features:
AIRBIQUITY is the location technology company that delivers global positioning system (GPS) data to any wireless network worldwide. The company's patented aqLink™ software enables wireless carriers, automobile manufacturers, commercial call centers and Internet portals to offer their subscribers location-based services that enhance productivity, manage assets, and deliver personalized content. more
WIP partners with wireless organizations and associations around the world - see them featured on the Partner Page of the website. Every month we feature the associations, their events or activities and their members online and in the newsletter. Ask your organization to partner with WIP today! |
| WIP members in: Usability |
Every month, WIP chooses a theme - a technology, vertical market or a combination of both. WIP members who reflect that theme are featured, (based on key words they have chosen for their WIPConnector profile).
The May Member theme is: Usability.
Thanks to Scott Weiss for sharing insight into this market for us.
 Usability was a hot topic at this year's CTIA Wireless in Orlando, with Randall Stephenson, COO of AT&T and Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO of Orange both highlighting its importance in their keynote addresses. This article tells you what usability is, how to maximize ROI, and how to implement a usability program at your company, regardless of size.
Usability is "ease of use", but it is also the amount of enjoyment using a product can provide. Usability can be measured by time to complete and success at pre-assigned tasks, as well as by user satisfaction. Usability can be evaluated from a design critique perspective (often called "expert review"), but it is best studied by watching participants attempt to complete pre-assigned tasks-without helping them, unless their failure is documented before the help is given.
Usability labs are simply offices or conference rooms that have a one-way mirror and audio link to an observer area. You don't need a usability lab to conduct usability tests, but the ability for observers to watch without being in the same room can be extremely helpful. It is normal human nature to want to help the participants, rather than watching them suffer through a difficult user interface. However, the struggle that your test participants have will inform design changes that prevent those same challenges for the vast majority of your future users.
The Return On Investment (ROI) for usability fits into three categories: higher data revenues, reduced support costs, and higher customer satisfaction. If your product is easy and enjoyable to use, your customer will use it more often and for longer periods. The product will generate fewer customer support calls, resulting in reduced operations costs. Users who enjoy the usability of your product will buy from you again. In a survey of 500 New York City area mobile phone purchasers conducted by Usable Products Company in April, 2007, usability was rated higher than appearance. 66% of respondents stated that ease of use was "very important," while appearance was rated "very important" by only 46%.
The easiest way to implement a usability strategy is to schedule tests of your products, with the goal to find the most serious usability challenges. Test sequences by outside vendors can range from $10,000 for a quick check to more than $100,000 for a comprehensive benchmark program. Start by working with a usability vendor, and gradually hire practitioners as your usability needs mature.(www.middleeasthealthmag.com/jan2005/ article1.htm)
 Scott Weiss - Is the President and Founder of Usable Products Company (www.usableproducts.com), a mobile-focused usability design and research agency founded in 1996. Usable Products' work includes usability design for Vodafone's Simply and Samsung's YP-K5 MP3 player series, as well as syndicated user experience benchmarks. Scott's book, "Handheld Usability" (Wiley: 2002), was the pioneering textbook teaching design, prototyping, and usability for mobile phones. You can find his blog at www.handheldusability.com.
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Usability in the largess sense also includes ACCESSIBILITY and LOCALIZATION. Accessibility is making your product useable and accessible to disabled communities which are a large market itself. Interestingly, with the onset in age of the baby boomers, this market is increasing as the seniors market has different restrictions in how they access devices and user interfaces. Localization is ensuring the user experience meets the needs of other languages and cultures.
In presenting you with this month's WIP Members In.... we've taken the larger view of Usability; and have also included members whose products are considered superior in their own user interfaces.
Here is a listing of WIP members in USABILITY:
Transclick - Transclick offers new global messaging and multilingual communications solutions that create a new level of global knowledge, accessible,at any time, particularly tailored to globalized finance,health care.. more
Curo Interactive - registered patents on world's first simple user interface for cellulars. more
Mobidia - Mobidia is developing new mobile technologies that drive increased usage of high-value multimedia content by consumers. more
Immr (Institute for Mobile Markets Research) helps companies calibrate demand and accelerate market adoption of very new products and services. more
Absolute Quality - You get flexibility and consistency with the only game test house that performs rigorous tests upon your software for complete functionality, linguistic and technical requirements recognized around the world. more
ShoZu - ShoZu is a free service for your phone that makes it incredibly easy to send and receive photos, videos and music while you're on the move. more
Technical Magic - MovementMobile, is an intelligent wireless system designed for the courier industry. more
QArea - Outsourced software development in the Ukraine. more
Cryptograf - the best security to encrypt mobile SMS and MMS. more
Techneos - a world leader in mobile survey automation software. more
For more information on these companies and others visit:
the WIPConnector Directory.
Upcoming Themes:
June - Broadband |
| Getting to Market: On-Line PR with Rudy DeWaele |
 Caroline invited me to write something on online branding and PR of emerging companies, so I'll focus here briefly on the ones situated in the mobile market space.
Many people ask me if they should use a PR company to get their message and brand out there and I often reply - it depends at what stage the company is. There's a lot of good ideas out there that can be turned into real business and easily promoted on the Internet in technology channels, but I see mobile as a very specific market due to it's roots in telecoms. It's only in the last 2-3 years we see a lot of convergence happening in different areas, so depending where your market focus is, you can target specific groups to communicate to.
Obviously there are the technology channels that specialised in mobile, Internet and social media, but depending what stage you're in, the need to use PR changes. Early development companies can invite influential blog writers on mobile, like the Mobilists, to betatest and write about their company/technology. If it's really worth writing on, people will easily pick it up and spread the word.
3 key tips to keep in mind using PR in the mobile industry are:
1. Mobile is a lot more complex then Internet technology. Make sure your technology works and is well-tested before you start to communicate about it. Perpetual beta is great but it has to work on many phones. Be creative in your message and vary your message - explain, inform and document well what you're releasing.
2. Make sure your technology works locally or globally and communicate this clearly. US, European and Asian markets are VERY different. Specify for which market your product is developed and marketed; to which specific target group you're aiming at...also check your sources, a lot of stuff has been done already, it's a bit silly saying you're the first if it has been done elsewhere, or it might just work at one end of the globe.
3. Make sure you get to know the right people, get to know some bloggers and influential people on a personal level. Events are a great way to get to know people personally and go beyond social networks, it's all about " who do you really know"...
The one thing you should NEVER do?
Don't send 'dumb' press releases to all bloggers and press. Make your communication worth communicating about. Influential bloggers receive 10-20 press releases a day easily, they can't blog them all. Even organised and more professional blogs such as om malik, techcrunch, etc.... don't blog everything. A good blogger does his homework and will not publish just anything, he will check sources and investigate and will not copy just anything pre-brewed for him such as press releases...
The Mobilists group is a good example and pretty influential source to get your information in the network. They are all mobile die-hards and in the business for a couple of years, each in their own specialised area. They can distinguish a good or innovative mobile service from miles away, blindly... It's often a good start for mobile startups to get attention and recognition in that network, as it is read and appreciated by many people in the industry. Many startups have been noticed very early in their career in this network and messages have been spread virally from one network into another.
BIO Rudy De Waele - Mobile Strategist, Enabling Mobile Ecosystems
Rudy De Waele has been working in Internet media since 1995 and in mobile since 1999. He works with start-ups and established brands focusing on next generation mobile services where he assists them with brand building, positioning, identifying market opportunities and business models, creating strategic alliances, funding opportunities and competitive intelligence to help these companies commercialize their technologies in a global market, using open innovation.
His blog mTrends was selected in 2006 among the TOP 20 Fierce Wireless Industry blogs and won the Host of the Year 2006 Award from the Carnival of the Mobilists community. He is also the founder of MobileMonday Barcelona.
Collaborations from the last 3 years include: 22@ (Spain), AdMob (USA), Alcatel-Lucent (Spain), Crammed Discs (Belgium/France), Daem Interactive (Spain), European Commission (EU), Futurlink (Spain), Gotomedia (USA), Idean Research (Finland), MyStrands (Spain/USA), The Rights Marketing Company (UK), Telefonica Movistar (Spain), Vodafone (UK).
Some of his most quoted articles:
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WIPCloud for the month - Keeping you on top of industry trends |
WIP is keeping on top of the industry for you. Our WIPCloud for the month gives you a taste of the key words being searched in the WIPConnector Directory.
You can login as a GUEST anytime for fast access to partners, investors and customers. Perform a search based on technologies, transmission, value chain and vertical market.
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WIPCONNECTOR'S
TOP THREE WORDS THIS MONTH (based on increased searches):
- Investment
- Mimo
- SMS
WHO IS READING ABOUT WIP PARTNERS AND MEMBER COMPANIES:
Canada, the US and the UK
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
East Europe: Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Ukraine
North Europe: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden
Western Europe: France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium
Western Asia: India, Israel, Yemen
East Asia: Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
South America: Brazil, Philippines
South Europe: Greece,Italy, Portugal ,Spain
ARE THEY FINDING OUT ABOUT YOU?
The wireless and mobile ecosystem is large and complex - let WIP connect the dots for you.
Get your profile started today. | |
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