GSMA award offers glimpse into the future

Software keyboards for mobile devices, better device management and more efficient mobile device power management are three potential new technologies that could be soon hitting the Canadian market, and in some cases are already here.The GSM Association (GSMA) wound up its regional tournament of top innovators in June - the GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Award 2009 - and the three finalists provide insight into new features that might soon be standard fare in the Canadian wireless market.Chinese start-up CooTek won in the Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric Technology category for its TouchPal soft keyboard for the Windows Mobile platform. The other two finalists were MA-headquartered Red Bend Software, with its firmware over the air (FOTA) solution, and WiSpry Inc. from Irvine CA, which develops Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology.Michael Wang, co-founder of Cootek, told Report on Wireless that his company has already signed a deal for the TouchPal soft keyboard with a major manufacturer."At present this is purely a software product. It started as freeware, then shareware, with the user able to pay for more advanced features. We are averaging 100,000 downloads a month, and have over one million to date. The version we have now is for Windows Mobile, but we are now working on one for the iPhone."The company's T+ technology allows for keyboard flow with a sweep of a user's fingers, as well as different layouts, resizing, and advanced word prediction. This makes the TouchPal up to 300 characters a minute faster than a hard keyboard. The technology has certainly created a buzz, having received solid demo reviews.The runners up were impressive, as well. Lori Sylvia, executive VP of marketing for finalist Red Bend Software, said her company's FOTA technology is already available in the Canadian market."We provide mobile software management. After the device is purchased by the consumer and deployed in the field, our software allows the carriers to manage the device," she added.Red Bend's software has shipped in more than 300 million phones, and is expected to be in 360 million by July 2008. OEM deals include Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Part of the company's appeal, and the reason it was short-listed for the GSMA award, was due to the fact that its client software could provide wireless device management beyond mobile phones."About a year and a half ago we expanded to other kinds of devices that connect over wireless networks," explained Sylvia. "This includes USB modems, PC cards for laptops, as well as machine-to-machine modules that can be deployed in things like vending machines."The other runner up, WiSpry, develops programmable radio frequency (RF) solutions, something that could have significant carrier appeal in Canada, as it can deliver power savings in the 10% to 30% range."This allows the cell phone to be flexible and reconfigurable in terms of frequency and impedance," says Jeff Hilbert, WiSpry's executive VP of product development. "It means that the signal path can adapt to different standards, different frequency bands, and operate more efficiently."WiSpry's technology allows for dynamic changes in hardware characteristics under software control at the chip level. This is a fundamental new RF component that is intended to be licensed to cell phone manufacturers. WiSpry is in pre-production with its lead customer, and should roll-out in the first quarter of 2009."This technology can apply to anything that has an antenna or a wireless interface," said Marten Seth, WiSpry's director of business development, noting that WiSpry will also explain the benefits of its technology to the carriers." drive specifications to their suppliers. We brief them on the benefits of our product, because it not only makes handsets more efficient, it also improves performance on the network. This technology will enable smaller phones and smaller antennas," Seth explained.

GSMA award offers glimpse into the future

News | 07/03/2008 1:23 pm EDT

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