Possibilities

26 October 2006

Mobile phones currently have a rough idea of where they are, and soon GPS is going to start becoming a standard feature. Couple with this the addition of a simple compass and gyroscope set-up, so the phone knows which way it’s pointing.

Add to this a large screen, a camera and a high speed internet connection – many mobiles have all this already.

Then you’ve got something that could change the world.

Imagine holding up your phone, and seeing information being overlaid in real time over the top of the view from your camera. You might be walking down a high street; holding your phone up could overlay street names and directions above roads, show star ratings above restaurants and highlight prices and stock levels of a shop without you even having to go in.

Think of the possibilities this opens up – combine it with IM and have a visual indication of where your buddies are on screen; think of when you’re trying to find someone at a gig, for example – it’s loud, dark and busy. You could just hold up your phone and see a big arrow floating over their head.

You could very easily couple this with RFID to allow you to hold up your phone to a product in a shop, for example, and view reviews and get the best price; or combine it with an online payment gateway like paypal, and buy it then and there with your phone – no queuing, no messing about with change, no hassle. Extend it a bit further, and your phone could replace both your Oyster Card (a RFID based travel card used in London) and your wallet.

The future of mobile is surely going to be location aware services – it’ll be interesting to see what happens…

From: Articles

26 October 2006