Taxi rides made easy with Ridecharge

Getting a taxi became much easier with the mobile phone. Regardless of my location, I just dial up and order the taxi. That is why voice services are still dominating the mobile phone uses. But could it be done in an even easier way?

Ridecharge believes so and has contributed to the ever growing market of innovative mobile service with an application that makes it easy to order, pay and administrate receipts in relation to taxi rides. I must admit that being able to discreetly ordering a taxi would be useful on horrible blind dates where you want to escape fast and suddenly.

How it works: You go to the Ridecharge website and sign up and download a application to your mobile phone.

Novelty: The novelty seems to be that it is a full service product where both ordering, payment and receipt administration is included.

Value: For business travellers and their companies the administration of receipts will be easier. I believe that ordering that taxi would still be perceived as easier through voice.

Why I review it: Because I often find myself in situation where I  a service like this could come in handy.

God is not a DJ – your mobile is (with Tony Player)

Once upon a time music was a unique piece of art. A crafted product of a musician that was valuable and relatively expensive. Those days are over. Music is becoming a digital commodity. Something we expect to be free, in large quantities and omnipresent. One thing remains though…the personal taste in music.
Tony player makes it possible to affect the music on nightclubs from the mobile phone. This way you can bring your personal taste in music to the one place where it matters the most. Not good news on the many universities and academies of classic DJ’ing…

How it works: You go to the tony player website and download a client. The client will track the music you listen to on the web. When you enter a venue with Tony Player implemented you can activate you account with a SMS and the DJ will know what to play to make you happy. 

Novelty: the technology is not staggering but the service is very novel and I have not seen anything like it before.

Value: The perceived value depends whether people feel that their taste in music actually meet. I see difficulties in satisfying 500 individuals but it might only be a theoretical problem.

Why I review it: Because I think this is great example of the mobile phone being an ID containing habitual information that can be put in use to affect the rooms we enter.

Transfer files to the mobile with Scotty

Due to the rapid development in storing capabilities of micro SD cards the mobile phone is becoming an external hard disk that we use for carrying around the most important of our files whether it is pictures, music, video or documents. But like a normal external hard disk you need to transfer files to it. However the mobile phone is used on the go and cable transfer is not always possible. A over the air solution is needed.

The MMS protocol can transfer small files (normally up 100 kb due to operator restrictions) but larger files need another solution. Bluetooth and infrared protocols can transfer larger files but you need to be very close the base station.

Beam it up Scotty (BIUS) has made a service that make it possible to transfer any file to any mobile phone. I know what you are thinking. What kind of name is that for a mobile service!

How it works: Upload your file, choose the compression settings and BIUS will send you an SMS/text message with the download link.

Novelty: I have not seen this service before. Often simple ideas are the best.

Value: I see the service being especially useful within companies where a company representative out of office and need a certain file. With BIUS he can call and ask his college to send it to him.

Why I review it: Because I believe that mobile phones will become an external hard disk that we will use to store important files and a service for long distance file transfer is then needed.

Finding look-a-likes from the mobile with Picollator

Image search based on facial recognition is getting more widespread as the technology is getting better. Facial recognition has some clear advantages over text based image searching because the search is based on the actual content of the picture rather than a description attached to it.

Bringing facial recognition to the mobile phone makes the power of the technology even more obvious. That is exactly what Picollator is trying to do. Imagine that you could take a picture of a person on the street and make Picollator find more pictures of that person or even his or hers online profile. The latter is not possible with Picollator…yet anyway, but wouldn’t it be a natural next step? Big brother is not a satellite, it is us.

How it works: Just opload a picture and the service will respond with other pictures of that person or look a likes

Novelty: Image search based on facial recognition is still novel on the mobile phone but seems natural as the mobile phone is our picture device number one.

Value: To be honest (I always am), the facial recognition technology used by Picollator is not the best. Also the service would be a lot more useful if it was able to find the online profile of the person on the picture.

Why I review it: Because I believe that search engines based on facial recognition will be a big thing on the mobile phone due to the fact that the mobile phone is increasingly used for taking, storing and sharing pictures. Picollator is just among the early pioneers.

DIY special – make your own mobile service

This week’s post is a little different than normal. Usually I review existing mobile services, but what about making your own?  A lot of tools for creating making mobile service are becoming available. The benefits? It is cheap, easy and fun.

Below I have listed a number of free and easy to use DIY tools for making mobile web pages with exiting content. Now you do not have to read my blog anymore because you can just create the services yourself. Just kidding……please don’t go.

 
http://www.mobisitegalore.com/index.html
http://www.mobilemo.com/main.php
http://www.zinadoo.com/
http://www.jag.ag/jagagV3/homepage.aspx
http://winksite.com/site/index.cfm
http://www.mofuse.com/
http://www.wapamama.com/
http://www.mobizcard.com/
http://www.sites4mobiles.co.uk/
http://www.buildmymobi.com/

Order food with Gomobo

We have seen how MNL enables the mobile to bring us free beer. But what about food. Can the mobile provide us with that? Of course the answer to that question is Yes. The mobile phone wouldn’t be the ultimate remote for life if it wasn’t able to bring us food. The mobile service that is making it possible is Gomobo. With Gomobo you can order meals at fast food resturants from your mobile and enjoy the convenience of skipping the line (like Glubbin) and receiving your meal instantly. If you are trying to cut down on your calories you do not want to read the: How it works section. This easy access calories might not be what you need…

 

How it works: Each meal has a SMS code. You simply order a particular meal by sending the code of the meal you want to 466626. Then you will receive a text message with pick up time confirmations.
It can be hard to remember the SMS codes of your favourite meals. In order to help you it is possible to savve your favorite orders as GoMobo favorites from your logged-in home page. When you need these codes you just text ‘MENU’ to 466626 to receive a list of your GoMobo favorites.

Novelty: The concept about ordering food from the mobile phone is mentioned back in the very first articles about the possibilities of mobile internet. However, a functioning real life example is harder to find. Gomobo is one them and among the pioneers.

Value: Time is the single most important resource of our life because it is scarce. Shortening our time to food must be the most basic of all needs. Because of the fat that time is scarce and food is necessary the value creation is very high.

Why I review it: Because Gomobo is a classic example of value creation through mobile devices and a service that will change the behavioural patterns of consumers, I believe.

Phone Events brings events to your phone

Have you ever been hanging out with your friends and talking about what to do tonight? I think that most young people have found themselves in this situation countless times. But guess what…besides spotting girls (Honey Alert), getting you free beer (MNL), broadcasting (Cellspin) and sending gifts (Text to Gift), just to mention a few things your mobile phone do for you. It is also possible to find events and buy tickeet for these. Phone Events gives you an overview of sports events, concerts, nightlife events, theatre plays on your mobile phone. When you found an event you want to attend, you can buy tickets for the event.     

How it works: In order to get Phone Events on your cell phone, access the Internet on your phone and point your browser to www.phoneevents.mobi. You can also use a shortcut on your mobile phone which is www.evmo.mobi. Phone Events is only for US users so far.

Novelty: The fact that the platform supports the entire process from finding events to buying ticketsand only seen before with Glubbin that also facilitates the ticketing process.  

Value: The value creation is substantial. What used to take a long time and use of several different platforms can now be handled in a few clicks from the device that you are already carrying in your pocket.

Popular services in one application with Mobile Tribe

A ODP (On device Portal) is a solution a lot of service providers are using to distribute content to mobile phones. The advantage is fast navigation and creative design. Mobile Tribe is good example of an such ODP. Mobile Tribe has gathered many of the most popular web services and social networks on a single platform.
The logic is obvious. If access to the different services you use are gathered, navigation between the services is  made faster and easier.  To support the logic even further, the basic functions such as voice and SMS can be accessed from the platform as well. This makes the Mobile Tribe application a good alternative to the default desktop on the mobile. Wonder if Nokia owned Symbian agrees….  

How it works:
You download the application in two ways:
1) Through a download link in a SMS you can receive by calling +16505574690
2) Go to http://m.mobiletribe.net from the browser of your mobile phone 
(www.mobiletribe.net and not www.mobiletribe.com. The latter is a very good blog about mobile web that I recommend reading though)

Novelty:
Actually there is nothing novel about this application.

Value creation:
With the rapid growth in mobile services we need a solutions to help users find a way through the jungle. Mobile tribe offers a such solution and could be a useful friend if the selection of services can be accepted. 

Why i review it:
Because that I am sure that many of the services i review in this blog will be accessed through an ODP like Mobile Tribe until unlimited LTE access is available and online is as fast as offline. 

 

 

My gift to you….a SMS!

We all know the situation. Suddenly you remember… it was today! And of course you forgot the gift! What to do….what to do?!

Now just relax…because Text to Gift is here to help you. Text to Gift lets you send gifts by SMS. Seconds later he or she will receive a text message with the pleasant information that a gift is received.

I am sure that Text to Gift could save a lot of forgotten anniversaries. Though it might require that you got a girlfriend or boyfriend with no romantic sense at all. 

How it works:
1. Go to texttogift.com
2. Enter your mobile Number.
3. Enter your mobile number of the receiver.
4. Select the time when you want the message to be delivered.
5. Use Google Check out or Paypal
6 You are done. As soon as the payment is authorized your friend will get Text message in case of send immediate.
7. The receiver can go to www.texttogift.com and shop among the products. 

Novelty: The concept is very novel and sending physical products as gifts through text messages is creative a idea. Text messages are commonly used for wishing friends a happy birthday, so the SMS protocol might be the right technology for this purpose.

Value: Earlier I was joking about how the receiver of the gift should have no romantic sense at all. It might be different from culture to culture, but where I am from giving gift vouchers are perceived as a rather impersonal gift. Furthermore, I don’t think that the fact that it is delivered by SMS will make it any better. The excitement of opening a text message just don’t compare to the feeling of tearing off layers of shiny paper. So I wouldn’t recommend the service for close personal relationships. But in cases where you need a quick gift for someone you wouldn’t know what to give anyway and that you are not spending time with that day it is perfect. Especially if the shop contained things normal people would like and not only a vast number of different puzzles. 

Why I review it: Because I love the idea.

Feed your online profile with Cellspin

The mobile phone is turning into a pipeline connecting the online world with the “real” world. Through this pipeline we can transport digitalized content depending on the direction of the flow. 

Micro blogging is about sending content from the “real world to the online world “We have seen a example of this with “Now Then” that makes it possbile to send pictures taking by the mobile phone  to the Now Then website (see reviewed from august 31).

Cellspin takes it even further and make even rich media micro blogging possible. Cellspin not only supports text and pictures but makes it possible to send voice and video content as well. Furthermore, Cellspin lets users send content directly to an existing online profile on other popular sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, WordPress, Flickr, E-bay, You-tube and many others. That means I can potentially reach the aggregated number of users on the most populated websites in the world from my mobile phone……..I always wanted power!

How it works: You can send Audio, Video, Pictures and Text from your mobile phone to popular sites in two ways.  Either you download a client to your mobile phone and use this program to upload your content or you send the SMS, MMS or E-mail containing the content.

Novelty: Cellspin offers the most comprehensive options for sending content to an website seen to date. Almost all sites and file formats are supported. That is novel in the world of micro blogging.     

Value:The fact that Cellspin is compatible with such a large number of the most popular sites and the fact even rich media content like video are supported, makes Cellspin close to the ultimate mobile micro blogging tool. 

Why I review it: Because it could become a relevant tool for many peolpe and that the advanced features of the service deserves attention.