Week in Review: 2nd Febuary to 8th Febuary, 2004

Introduction
With a new week follows many new exciting ideas for data services. The week also saw many new technological ideas such as over the air repair of phone software and Cognima announced a service for restoration of phone data in the event of a lost, stolen or damaged mobile. As ever there were many new games on offer to mobile users and the mobile applications area not caught short of new and innovative services. Spam continues to be a major problem with Vodafone this week announcing the setup of a helpdesk to deal with the issue. The helpdesk will accept emails from customers in receipt of indiscrimate bulk mails and Vodafone will then track the guilty parties.

Events
Some of the more interesting services that could be applied to any market include LogicaCMG's introduction of a mobile ticket service to the Dutch Railway system. LogiCMG, in partnership with Dyomes and T-Mobile also announced a wireless energy meter reading system to allow retrieval of data from remote energy meters. To suit the needs of the businessman, eSignal announced streaming real-time market information direct to the mobile. O2 announced the new Mobile Model Search application where users can take a camera shot of themselves and submit the picture using their MMS camera phone. SilverTip Marine announced the ESP3000 security system which will notify owners via mobile phone if the vessel in question is being stolen

Devices
Many new devices were announced this week. The NEC e313 3G handset will be deployed by 3 in the UK. Motorola were making up for lost time by announcing four new handsets for low end and high end 3G users. NEC announced a novel new phone that is shaped very much like a credit card. Sony introduced two new wireless PDA devices intially for the Japanese markets with plans to market the devices globally. Mobi-Click announced a new easy-to-use phone for the older generation, blind people or children.

Technology
This week Intel, mmO2, Nokia, Panasonic, Real Netwoeks, Samsung and Warner Brothers Studios announced the content management license administraton (CMLA) group to allow a licensing and compliance framework for content on media devices. 3G and satellite interoperability work continues under the scope of the European Union MAESTRO Research and Development project. The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) industry group launched a new version of the Digital Rights Management specification to provide stronger access and copying protection for digital media content on mobile devices.

Conclusion
As new wireless applications continue to be developed and deployed worldwide it becomes increasingly important that wireless operators have the vision to see how such applications can be applied to their customer base. High speed networks are increasingly becoming a reality and the deployment of a targeted bundle of applicable data services to this customer base will lead towards both the competitive and financial success operators have being hoping for.

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