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Why MWC2015 could be mistaken for a car (or wristwatch) show

By Joo Teoh, managing director

Apppli

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March 4, 2015 | 5 min read

MWC 2015 could be easily be mistaken for a car show. I had a choice of sitting in a Ford, a Porsche, an Audi S7, a Fiat Abarth, or a Chrysler. All with smart driver interfaces, voice enabled controls, driver persona management, even sports score alerts.

Apppli managing director Joo Teoh.

I can control devices in my home from my car. If I want to stop and pick up groceries and a cup of coffee on my way home, I can tell my car to route me accordingly, and even pay for my shopping by driving past the payment point, never having to touch my wallet or present a credit card. A SIM card slot would also turn my car into a wifi hotspot for me and my passengers. Any operating system or software updates would sync automatically. Problems would be communicated to my garage automatically.

It's somehow surprising when I stumbled on an exhibitor talking about tap-to-pay parking. You mean you want me to take out my phone and use it?! Can't you just recognise my registration plate and charge my credit card? Or surely my BLE watch can swipe to pay.

That's the other kind of trade show MWC could have been mistaken for - a trade sales show for wrist watches. Or a home electronics show. I now have a choice of any watch, in any colour, with any strap, which will allow me to check messages, call people, check the weather, set smart alarms, track my physical activity and more.

If I am sporty but don't want to wear something on my wrist, my heart rate and location can still be monitored by smart fabrics and a small gps chip sewn into my sports top. This information can sync with the rest of my behavioural data about my sleep (informed by my bedsheets), my oral health (informed by my toothbrush), the air quality(my smart air filter), my food intake, or even how many YouTube videos I've been watching, to help advise and improve the quality of my life.

But that's for us lucky few who live in developed markets with secure homes, with steady and easy water and energy supply. It is assuring to see great things being done in developing markets by the likes of Vodafone and GSMA Mobile For Development. Vodafone have a "classroom in a box", which can empower a teacher to walk into any community hall, home, or tent, and teach a class using tablets and a projector. GSMA have interesting products in Africa for sending alerts when the pump at a water well is broken, or when the water mains have been turned on, so the local residents know they can come get their water supply for the day. Good old-fashioned SMS is being put to great use to enable small payments to ensure homes have enough power for two lamps, a phone and a radio.

So the big themes I'm taking away from the conference this year:

Seamless convergence of out-of-home and in-home preferences and experiences -

By 2020, IBM predicts each individual will have up to 28 connected devices. You can imagine what those are, and how they will all sync (we hope) and guide our behaviours towards greater efficiencies in energy, time and money. The advent of 5G and new generation LTE will speed up connectivity correspondingly.

Data security -

All this data must be exchanged and stored securely, and must have permission-based access. Manufacturers and designers must ready their creations for this expectation.

Simplicity and tangible value -

We are still people and we need to see the tangible value it brings to our lives, be it trite selfies, heart rates, or the condition of a liver being transported from a hospital in Seattle to a surgery room in Southampton.

There are plenty of other baubles, bangles and beads on show here this week, but these are the big themes I hope to see companies big and small start to road test this year.

Joo Teoh is managing director at Apppli.

Content by The Drum Network member:

Apppli

We are an innovation-led mobile agency. We believe that mobile has the power to immerse and captivate audiences in different ways to other platforms. We  have a...

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