Companies are demoing innovative mobile applications at DEMO Fall 2005:
EasyReach, a Campbell, Calif.-based startup that is jumping into the remote document-retrieval space. Punch a few more buttons and EasyReach users can e-mail retrieved documents to whatever address they choose. In addition, EasyReach enables a user to search multiple desktop PCs on which EasyReach’s software has been installed.
Software created by Orb Networks Inc., based in Emeryville, turns the PC into a personal network server that can stream video files and music to handheld devices. TiVo Anywhere.
Avvenu, a Palo Alto startup founded in 2004 and backed by Motorola Corp., intends to challenge Orb on both fronts, said spokesman David Trescot.
Starting next week, Avvenu will match Orb’s network server functions and soon thereafter will launch a service bringing TiVo to smartphones, said Trescot, whose company is a DEMO alumnus.
Several companies have developed smartphone applications that leverage Global Positioning System technology, which pinpoint locations anywhere on Earth through satellite triangulation.
Last March, MapQuest and Nextel Communications launched the “Find Me” Service, which uses MapQuest’s digital maps, on GPS-enabled mobile phones.
At the DEMO conference, MapQuest is expected to announce a similar service for the BlackBerry.
A rival company, Destinator Technologies Inc., is unveiling software for GPS-enabled smartphones and handhelds that automatically updates a route based on the device user’s location.
The Destinator platform, which has been available in Europe for more than two years, also allows friends and colleagues to spot each other’s locations on a map in relation to their ultimate destination and send directions via instant message.
Destinator also includes a real-time traffic-monitoring feature. Few U.S. companies aggregate traffic information but this is expected to change soon.
“We’re going to automated-live navigation,” said Jeff Kukowski, senior vice president of marketing. “Your printed directions from Yahoo or Google can’t tell you how to get back on route.”
The Destinator software takes the user’s GPS location information and compares it to the planned route. Miss a turn, and the software offers up a revised route.
Adoption of all these new smartphone functions isn’t widespread yet, probably because phone carriers such as Verizon, Cingular and Sprint make it difficult for customers to obtain services the carriers can’t closely control and profit from, analysts say.
But smartphone makers are encouraging software companies to keep developing new applications that can drive sales, says Kevin Burden, program manager of Mobile Devices at research firm IDC.
“The makers are lawyers looking for a nice hook because the phones come at such a premium price tag,” Burden said. “To sell these things, they have to offer more than a phone and e-mail.”
Links:
DEMO conference: http1://http://www.demo.com/demofall/
Orb Networks: http://orb.com/
Destinator Technologies: http://destinatortechnologies.com/opencms/index.html
EasyReach: http://easyreach.com/
Avvenu: http://avvenu.com/