ROW Update

Park and pay by cell phone comes to TorontoPaying for parking in Toronto got a lot easier following an agreement between Mint Inc. and Toronto Imperial Parking (Impark) that allows drivers to pay for parking a number of lots in the country’s largest city using their cell phone. Mint launched a similar service in Vancouver earlier this year (RoW, April 7/04). The service is available at 29 Impark parking lots in the downtown core and along the Yonge St. corridor. Impark staff can verify if a consumer has paid to park and the duration of the stay in the particular lot using any type of wireless device. “We are confident that Torontonians are eager for this type of wireless payment system. It not only offers car owners convenience, but also gives them more control by allowing them to add time remotely. Reaction in Vancouver and Victoria, where we launched in March, proves that PayMint is easy to use and encourages a high repeat use rate,” Mint president Frank Manduri says in a news release. AirIQ grows marine fleet customer baseToronto-based AirIQ Inc. has expanded its marine fleet customer base since its acquisition of Boatracs earlier this year (RoW, Sept. 22/04). The new Boatracs division has expanded service coverage to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and North East of Newfoundland, opening up considerable growth opportunities for further market penetration. “The opportunities in these markets are coming to fruition, which is evident with several new client acquisitions including United Tugs and IMMC, offshore workboat companies operating in the southern region of the Gulf of Mexico,” AirIQ’s Boatracs division VP David Brandos says in news release. Telus Mobility introduces Bluetooth handset to marketTelus Mobility has introduced the Motorola V710 Bluetooth handset to the Canadian market and it is exclusively available through Telus Mobility. The V710 is a stylish flip phone with an integrated MP3 players, optional expandable memory card, offers video capture and playback, and has speaker-phone capabilities. “With its advanced video and picture messaging capabilities, MP3 players and Bluetooth capability, the Motorola V710 provides our clients with an ideal balance of productivity and fun. It’s the perfect addition to our line-up of cool and exclusive wireless devices for the holiday season,” Telus Mobility’s VP of products and services Robert Blumenthal says in a news release. Cingular unveils 3G vendorsCingular Wireless has announced that it has chosen Lucent Technologies, Ericsson and Siemens for the infrastructure component of its 3G network deployment. On the device side, it has opted to go with LG Electronics, Motorola and Nokia, which Cingular considers “strategic handset providers”. Notably absent from this announcement is Nortel Networks Corp., which was used by AT&T Wireless for its 3G rollout in Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego and Dallas. Cingular says in a news release that deploying 3G will enable data throughput speeds of between 400 kbps and 700 kbps with burst speeds attaining several Mbps on certain devices. Enhanced services that will come on line following the deployment, scheduled in some markets for late next year, include audio and video streaming, video capture and playback and advanced multiplayer gaming. New cellular technology growing: In-Stat/MDRHigh-tech market research firm In-Stat/MDR is reporting that the popularity of CDMA450, a cellular technology that literally sprung up over night, is growing. In-Stat/MDR suggests that as a result the number of CDMA450 subscribers will increase from approximately 1 million by the end of this year to more than 2.5 million by 2009. According to the research firm, cheap deployment is one of the more compelling reasons to use this technology. “Cheap deployment, however, is not the only benefit of CDMA450. Since CDMA450 uses the same technology as CDMA 2000 operating at the higher frequencies, it has all the features and data-speed of its parent technology operating on the higher bands, while still only having less than one-tenth of 1% of the total worldwide subscriber base,” reads an In-Stat/MDR market alert.802.11 approved for different frequencies and use in JapanThe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has approved modifications to the 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol to allow equipment based on this standard to operate in the 4.9 GHz and 5 GHz bands in Japan. The new protocol 802.11j “will enable WLAN vendor to offer wireless products that adapt to new, frequencies, different channel widths, and operating parameters,” reads an IEEE news release. The amendment is targeted to the new Japanese rules, introduced by the Japanese government in 2002, and allows 802.11 networks to communicate and move to any new frequency, change the spectrum footprint to improve performance or user capacity, and supports both indoor and outdoor use. “These and other enhancements in the amendment should assure that IEEE 802.11j-based wireless LAN products can meet the growing needs of IEEE 802.11 WLAN applications in Japan and other markets,” Stuart Kerry, chair of the IEEE 802.11 standards committee says in a news release.

ROW Update

News | December 8, 2004

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