Mobile handsets now contain multimedia functionality with extremely sophisticated capability. The extent to which these capabilities will drive higher revenues, or better customer experience remains to be seen, but as handsets evolve into hardware-supported multimedia applications with intuitive user interfaces, they will open up new vistas of differentiation for operators. The new services made possible by handsets’ expanding capabilities will test mobile operators’ ability to deliver on their promises. Today’s customer wants to use high-tech services to increase productivity and personal pleasure, which means that handsets should include four key enablers:
• Multimedia messaging service (MMS),
• Application enablers, embedded virtual machines for games or tailored business applications,
• User-friendly multimedia capabilities for streaming, innovative messaging and content services,
• Geo-localization and A-GPS.
By Alan Gatherer, Texas Instruments Imagine for a moment that the year is 2012 and you have the good fortune to be in London for the Olympic Games. Although taking a front row seat at the world’s most prestigious sporting event is already a fortuitous opportunity, you also have the chance to experience the new wireless communications capabilities that will be available at the games.
