In future consumers will be able to do almost anything via their phones, writes David Shapshak
‘O and of course the vending mach-ines,” Karri Hautanen says, after rattling off a sophisticated list of what you can use your cellphone to pay for in Finland. When I comment on his laissez-faire attitude to what is still a fresh, even unheard of, technology in South Africa, he replies: “Yes, but we’ve had them for four years.”
While in Europe cellular functionality has reached this level of sophistication, South African users have only just been introduced to a rapidly expanding range of value-added functions that cellular communications are opening up.
On a continent with more cellphones than credit cards, where access to a pre-paid contract is easier than access to the banking system, the ease of such minor payments has massive potential for Africa.
These kinds of payments have found fertile ground in the mobile-obsessed countries of Scandinavia, where you can pay for bus tickets, parking, access to paid-for content websites and even buy printers or electronic goods via SMS and have them delivered to your nearest post office.
Apart from these “micro-payments”, a range of other cellular applications are making waves. These make use of the user’s position, called “location-based” services, says Nectari Charitakis, the European director of Hewlett Packard’s (HP) Mobile e-Services Bazaar. It is an incubator for developments in the mobile industry for which Hautanen is the business development manager for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
These services include a medical application on a wristwatch that monitors a patient’s well-being and sends an SMS if their condition exceeds pre-set parameters or notifications for hobbyists like bird watchers, who can be warned that a rare bird has been spotted in the area they have just entered, and will provide real time tracking of where they are.
Another example of a location-based service is for tourists. “I’m at Covent Gardens and I want to go to Buckingham Palace. An SMS will tell you where and what corner, and how long the bus ride is. Depending on how sophisticated it is, it can tell you the bus timetable,” says Charitakis.
In Helsinki, Stockholm and Oulu, in northern Finland, you can pay for parking using an SMS.
According to Add2Phone, the technology provider behind the service, “text messages are a part of everyday life in Helsinki. The ticket arrives in real time when it’s ordered and is automatically recorded on to the customer’s phone bill. All major mobile network operators in Finland, including Sonera, Radiolinja and Telia, have opened their network access for the SMS-ticket service.”
These kinds of services are being scrutinised by European cellular operators keen to pay for the outrageously expensive third-generation licences they bought at the height of the dotcom/telecoms mania.
Indeed, with expected sales of 430-million handsets this year, up from 390-million last year, there could be a lot of messaging.
Key to cell networks’ future profitability is how to translate the SMS frenzy into an equally profitable data service. The big brother of SMS, enhanced messaging service (EMS), is due to make an appearance, followed by the new big kid on the block, multimedia messaging service (MMS).
The former will let you send colour pictures and animations via new cellphones like the Sony Ericsson T68 with its colour screen, while the latter enables much richer messaging, including audio and video clips. The first will be the equivalent of sending a colour postcard of yourself, the second posting a small animated movie clip of yourself talking directly to the message’s receiver.
This visual messaging is the next big thing for the cellular industry, says Gavin Penkin, MD of Exactmobile in South Africa, which will introduce MMS services.
“Mobile services have started to escalate and we believe they will continue to grow. EMS is being rolled out by numerous handset manufacturers at present and this will allow a much richer experience for graphics and ring tones being downloaded.”
Hautanen agrees, saying it follows “the two major revolutions in mobile space were phones becoming mass market then SMS taking off. Now there’s MMS.”
James Munn, Sony Ericsson’s director for Southern Africa, also sees much interest in these new visual messaging services, for which the new colour screen T68 phone is perfect.
“They are taking SMS into new dimensions with multimedia. You can add colour and sound.”
But their benefit is also added revenue, he says. “Most operators are looking for a way to generate revenue and this is a very good way to do it. In South Africa, Vodacom and MTN are very likely to invest in EMS equipment in the near future.”
To use these services, however, requires an equipment upgrade and an upgrade to the current second generation cellular networks that will increase the speed at which data can be transmitted.
While a lot of attention is going to the 2.5G general packet radio services (GPRS), which is expected to be rolled out by mid-year, MTN is using another fast-data system that uses high-speed circuit switched data (HSCSD). One key difference is that the former is an “always-on” connection for which customers will be billed by the amount of data they send or receive (known as packet-switched, for the “packets” of data); while the latter uses the current circuit-switched system that bills you according to the amount of time you spend online or on a call.
While both are in pilot phase, a recent demonstration of HSCSD the operator calls the service MTNdataFAST showed how faster data speeds can enhance the experience of what is becoming known as the “mobile Internet”.
The previous attempt to move Internet access to the cellphone, using a technology called wireless application protocol (WAP) was a red herring mostly because the second generation data speeds were abysmal.
Using an Ericsson T68, an MTN executive retrieved his e-mail (without bulky attachments) in less than a minute; while surfing WAP sites was as fast as on a PC.
GPRS will be a “big paradigm shift” says MTN business solutions’s Brian Seligman, “as mobile users accustomed to having to dial up to see their e-mail won’t have to anymore. Having to check e-mail becomes a thing of the past.”
GPRS is more suited to such low-volume traffic with frequent access (e-mail or WAP browsing), while HSCSD is better for high-intensity traffic or large volumes, such as transferring files or large amounts of e-mail.
“WAP is unbelievable running on GPRS,” says Munn. “It’s awesome. You can go on to some of the WAP sites and it’s almost instant. It’s like clicking on your computer in your office. The speed is phenomenal.”
One cellular use that crime-weary South Africans are sure to welcome is a cellphone in a car that shuts the car down if it is hijacked. The Safety Phone will stop the fuel flow to the engine. Tracking vehicle fleets using SMS has become quite common, as it can be preset to send a message, say every 15 minutes, identifying where the truck is; while with EMS it could send more information, such as speed or if the driver’s reaction times are sluggish and he needs a break.
Another function that is likely to become a hit on mobile phones is gaming. With handsets able to run the Java programming language, ideal for writing mini-programs such as games, the potential for both games that can be played “locally” on the phone or over the network is high.
Gaming companies like Tiga and Sumo have platforms for such interactive community gaming, much like the networked PC gaming that is popular over the Internet, says Charitakis.
Another service that is likely to blossom is e-ticketing, he says. HP is working with Japanese cellular operator J-phone on an e-ticketing solution, which lets you check for the kind of ticket you want, its availability and then you can buy it. The tickets are sent as an electronic code, but will ultimately be a bar code on the phone that can be read with a bar-code scanner.
“SMS is the modern and real-time equivalent of word-of-mouth,” says Add2Phone’s Snellman.
So a popular game or site is likely to be disseminated by the youth market that is a massive consumer of text-based services.
Nokia has tapped into this market with its 5510 phone, which features a mini-qwerty keyboard, split in two on either side of the screen on its larger-than-normal handset. It also has a built-in MP3 player and a radio.
In Finland there is an entire TV show given over to text chatting, says Hautanen. Viewers send their messages to a specific number and these are scrolled slowly up the screen, while a presenter in a small box in the corner moderates the “chat”.
MTV Europe has a show that lets the audience “duel” over which music video will be displayed next, from a choice of two, by sending an SMS.
Maybe one day South Africa will have SMS-enabled vending machines too.