The cameraphone wins again...

Just a short "follow-up" post:

A few weeks ago, I have written here about the rise of cameraphones and the inevitable fall of digital cameras. Well, in the last few weeks I have been to more than a few rock concerts (And I am going to another one tonight...), and as you can see in the picture, people are really embracing cameraphones and leaving their cameras at home.

Now I know that you could see a few people with cameraphones at rock concerts years ago (and even before that in operators/handsets vendors commercials...), but the difference is that now it is the masses using the technology, and not just a few early adopters. There were a lot of people using their phone to capture the moment and practically no cameras around.

So the next time you are at a rock concert or another event, make sure you are equipped with a good cameraphone and leave your digital camera at home...

The keypad and its effects

I just saw a post in MoMo-NY about a new mobile keypad concept called "fastap". Aside from the numeric keys, it features a key for each letter in the ABC in the corners of the numeric keys (However, it does add another row of 3 keys at the bottom).

This keypad is featured on the new LG AX490 phone (in the picture to the left). You can read the full article here.

Anyway, what seems to be another standard handset innovation has more effect that you might think. Improving the human interface (and especially the keyboard/keypad) is a major issue to the success of mobile applications.

And it has to be done wisely, meaning without affecting the phone's total size, since the bigger the phone is the less mobile it is. You don't want to take away the one thing mobile phones are good at.... Or as I have written before: If it doesn't fit in your pocket without competing for space with your private parts - it is not a mainstream device... (This colorful rule of thumb is taken from my post about mobile blogging).

Fastap's solution seems to affect the size, but reasonably, the question is whether it is actually comfortable, and that I will be able to address only after actually testing it.

SonyEricsson has another solution I first saw in 3GSM, in which each key is actually two keys: when you tap it to the left you get one letter, and when you tap it to the right you get another. I tested this one and it is very comfortable, but on the other hand it does add 2 columns of keys (so the keypad is 5x4 and not 3x4) making the device something between a handset and a PDA, which doesn't really do the trick. This keypad is featured for example in their P1 phone.

Anyway, it is obvious that the form factor here is critical to the usage of mobile applications, so whoever finds the best one, will do good not only to himself but also the entire industry.

Virtual Worlds and the mobile world

One of the hottest trends today is the Virtual Worlds "madness"... For those of you who are not familiar with the phenomenon, I am talking about 3D virtual worlds in which you can take the form of a 3D Avatar, walk around in the virtual space, chat with people, buy stuff etc.

Some of these worlds have economy systems with an exchange rate from US$ to the virtual currency (For example, in the most famous world, Second Life, the currency is called Linden Dollars), and people can buy clothes, gifts, vehicles, apartments, furniture and what not... obviously the revenue potential here is big.

The picture here of me hanging out with virtual babes is taken from MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach. The thing about their world is that everyone looks hot... (At least their virtual avatars...). This world by the way has a good vibe too, and I think we'll see its market share rising.

The question is, when and how will this trend translate into the mobile world. Obviously the capabilities needed to render the full experience is beyond mobile devices today, but more than that, the question is whether handsets are the right media for such activity. As I wrote in previous posts, some activities (such as 3D shooter games) are enjoyed best with a big screen TV (Or at least a decent 19" screen..), so the handset will always be a "second best".

But there maybe something between the full 3D worlds and the most used social data application on the mobile (SMS...) that may provide users with a new experience. For example, Sulake, the developer of Habbo Hotel has a mini version of their world called "Mini Friday". It's quite neat, but still lacks in support for mainstream phones.

I also heard rumours about other companies trying to port the full 3D experience to mobile. Anyway, there's a lot of potential there. Unlike traditional games, virtual worlds don't necessarily focus on tasks and missions, but are just a virtual hangout place. And we know that for chat and social activities the handset can be a major platform.

So, it is going to be interesting to see the new stuff that comes out soon. In the meantime, if anyone hears news on that subject feel free to comment here or drop me an e-mail.


P.S. - Regarding the writers team of NextGenMoCo, thanks to all of you who have joined, we expect to launch the blog in its new form (with contributions from various authors) sometime in June.

Join NextGenMoCo's elite team of writers!

It looks like we are assembling a good lineup of contributors to the blog (See the call for writers). Some of you had a few questions about writing here, so I'll try to sum the answers to the frequently asked questions:

If I want to write here - how often do I have to write for the blog?

You do not have to commit to a constant flow of articles - even people who want to write just one article are welcome. And this is the whole idea: In terms of market perspective it is better to have one article from a thousand different people than a thousand articles from the same person.

And what if I do want to write here constantly?

People who would like to join as constant writers are very welcome. Every one that submits at least one article in a month will be also featured on the right column along with a full profile (We will usually upload the profile after 3-4 articles/posts).

What about the IP/ownership of the article?

The original writer remains the owner of all intellectual property rights. You can post this articles in other places or do whatever you want with it. We do not require any exclusivity of any kind, the blog just receives a license from the owner to publish the article here.

What about payment/royalties?

This blog is non-commercial by nature, and is intended to be a free of charge service to the mobile content community written by people from within that community. People can read for free (and with no ads), so we also require the writers to contribute the articles for free.

Can I write about my company? We have the coolest product...

As said, the blog is non-commercial, so we do not appreciate advertisements disguised as articles, however, we do allow and even appreciate articles that are based on examples from the real world and not just on theory. So if you have an article about the future of mobile games for example, and your company is doing something interesting in that frontier, you can mention it and even elaborate on it. Now of course there's a fine line here, but we'll help you to find the balance.

Who reads this blog?

We have readers from around the world, primarily from the UK and the US. The blog got its fame from the famous 3GSM 2007 reacp post that circulated around the globe. Among the readers we have VCs, operators and mobile content publishers/developers/aggregators etc. In terms of traffic the blog can have thousands of readers in a good month. So we are not talking about millions, but these are not random visitors - almost all of the readers are from within the industry. In addition the readers base is expected to grow when we launch the blog in it's new form with a multitude of writers from different segments of the industry.

What's in it for me?

As a contributor to NextGenMoCo you can get exposure to other people from the industry, some holding key position in organizations you may want to work with sometime (And if that sounded like a sales pitch, just write - you'll feel good about it...)

That's it for now, if you have more questions, let me know, and if you want to join, drop me an e-mail (you can find it in my profile page).