This is the future calling
The New Year will herald a shattering, new development in mobile technology that is expected to leave users baying for more and businesses battling for a slice of the action.
The field is set to expand at a dramatic rate following the alignment of three major factors: mobiles advanced power, their clearer resolution and the configuration of browsers for mobiles.
The Opera Internet operation, which commands a token four percent of Poland's web browsers, is currently on a whirlwind tour of the globe to demonstrate its mobile version of what looks set to become the must-have gadget of the next few years.
While this might seem the long-awaited advance that will erase the disappointment of the WAP-flop, Opera researchers have devised a platform that is likely to set phone manufacturers, advertisers and mobile networks salivating at the opportunities awaiting them.
Competition to claim the territory is understandably fierce. Opera is facing challenges from the UK's Research in Motion, which has designed the Blackberry range of advanced phones/palmtops that allow Internet access. Another web browsing software distributor is Access, which while giving way to competition in Europe, has market advantage in the most developed high tech country in the world: Japan.
Hot data
The Norwegian Opera company has developed and patented what they have dubbed 'Small Screen Rendering' that, coupled with its own browser, allows web pages to fit in the cell phone screen without shrinking it to micro dimensions. It is promising that for the first time, users will be able to download web pages and information in exactly the same way one might hook up with a wireless laptop or desktop PC. The technology means there is no loss of web page content in either pictures, advertisements or logos. Customers can visit any page by simply typing in the 'http' address, and they will get the page as it was designed for traditional screens converted to the small screen.
Independent telcoms and IT analyst Tomasz Kulisiewicz says it is difficult to conceive how widely these and similar systems will revolutionize certain sectors. "I would say you cannot compare the service with what you might call traditional GSM mobile phones. It is a different story-a new media, new channel and new phenomenon," he says.
While observing the novelties on the high-tech market a more general picture emerges. Voice is in retreat, not because telephone users talk less, but because it no longer generates large profits. According to Opera's Eskil Sivertsen, operators need more advanced phones to create new revenue streams, or simply, something they can charge big money for. "Voice is not creating revenues anymore. Data transmission and advanced technologies are going to expand and expand," he says.
Sivertsen's optimism is borne out by other industry commentators. Data currently accounts for 20 percent of all transmissions in Poland- and this is set to grow. "During next years this proportion will gradually shift," says (IDEA operator) PTK Centertel's spokesperson Jacek Kalinowski.
Phone 'explosion'
The Opera system will allow networks to transmit adverts, images or messages onto screens while a phone is not in use-opening an entirely new gateway for advertisers.
Kulisiewicz agrees: "This is just the beginning. You will find that advertisers will be attracted to different types of service and that will depend on who the users are. One can expect that music and music video downloads, adult channels and news will be popular."
The networks are keen to get involved. Kalinowski says phone manufacturers need to get up to speed, supplying models that can handle the GPRS signal that the service relys on.
Kalinowski says: "In Idea we offer less than 10 models of phones that allow video-streaming. This all depends on changes that producers make. GPRS was a novelty some time ago, now it is very common. It is not a problem on the operators' side."
Opera star?
Nokia Poland General Manager Jakub Pancewicz is optimistic: "The main access to the Internet is still a PC. Nevertheless, together with technology development, it will soon be the mobile phone's domain. It's just the right moment for this type of business to spread its wings."
Nokia estimates that by the end of 2008 there will be an additional 200 million smart phones globally. "If we compare that with estimated PC growth, we can clearly see where the future lies," says Pancewicz.
The company already produces phones that are compatible with Opera. He says: "Using them one can view web sites, as they are in reality.
"This is a business for mobile phone producers, because the market for mobile phones offering the latest technology is expanding, (clients are browsing the Internet using data transfer technology. Its also a huge business opportunity for the Internet itself)-for companies which advertise and those which sell adds."
Opera's PR chief Sivertsen is, of course, busily selling his wares as 'the next big thing'. But in this instance, industry experts are backing him as a soothsayer who might be telling the truth.
(Additional reporting by Aniela Dunin)
The field is set to expand at a dramatic rate following the alignment of three major factors: mobiles advanced power, their clearer resolution and the configuration of browsers for mobiles.
The Opera Internet operation, which commands a token four percent of Poland's web browsers, is currently on a whirlwind tour of the globe to demonstrate its mobile version of what looks set to become the must-have gadget of the next few years.
While this might seem the long-awaited advance that will erase the disappointment of the WAP-flop, Opera researchers have devised a platform that is likely to set phone manufacturers, advertisers and mobile networks salivating at the opportunities awaiting them.
Competition to claim the territory is understandably fierce. Opera is facing challenges from the UK's Research in Motion, which has designed the Blackberry range of advanced phones/palmtops that allow Internet access. Another web browsing software distributor is Access, which while giving way to competition in Europe, has market advantage in the most developed high tech country in the world: Japan.
Hot data
The Norwegian Opera company has developed and patented what they have dubbed 'Small Screen Rendering' that, coupled with its own browser, allows web pages to fit in the cell phone screen without shrinking it to micro dimensions. It is promising that for the first time, users will be able to download web pages and information in exactly the same way one might hook up with a wireless laptop or desktop PC. The technology means there is no loss of web page content in either pictures, advertisements or logos. Customers can visit any page by simply typing in the 'http' address, and they will get the page as it was designed for traditional screens converted to the small screen.
Independent telcoms and IT analyst Tomasz Kulisiewicz says it is difficult to conceive how widely these and similar systems will revolutionize certain sectors. "I would say you cannot compare the service with what you might call traditional GSM mobile phones. It is a different story-a new media, new channel and new phenomenon," he says.
While observing the novelties on the high-tech market a more general picture emerges. Voice is in retreat, not because telephone users talk less, but because it no longer generates large profits. According to Opera's Eskil Sivertsen, operators need more advanced phones to create new revenue streams, or simply, something they can charge big money for. "Voice is not creating revenues anymore. Data transmission and advanced technologies are going to expand and expand," he says.
Sivertsen's optimism is borne out by other industry commentators. Data currently accounts for 20 percent of all transmissions in Poland- and this is set to grow. "During next years this proportion will gradually shift," says (IDEA operator) PTK Centertel's spokesperson Jacek Kalinowski.
Phone 'explosion'
The Opera system will allow networks to transmit adverts, images or messages onto screens while a phone is not in use-opening an entirely new gateway for advertisers.
Kulisiewicz agrees: "This is just the beginning. You will find that advertisers will be attracted to different types of service and that will depend on who the users are. One can expect that music and music video downloads, adult channels and news will be popular."
The networks are keen to get involved. Kalinowski says phone manufacturers need to get up to speed, supplying models that can handle the GPRS signal that the service relys on.
Kalinowski says: "In Idea we offer less than 10 models of phones that allow video-streaming. This all depends on changes that producers make. GPRS was a novelty some time ago, now it is very common. It is not a problem on the operators' side."
Opera star?
Nokia Poland General Manager Jakub Pancewicz is optimistic: "The main access to the Internet is still a PC. Nevertheless, together with technology development, it will soon be the mobile phone's domain. It's just the right moment for this type of business to spread its wings."
Nokia estimates that by the end of 2008 there will be an additional 200 million smart phones globally. "If we compare that with estimated PC growth, we can clearly see where the future lies," says Pancewicz.
The company already produces phones that are compatible with Opera. He says: "Using them one can view web sites, as they are in reality.
"This is a business for mobile phone producers, because the market for mobile phones offering the latest technology is expanding, (clients are browsing the Internet using data transfer technology. Its also a huge business opportunity for the Internet itself)-for companies which advertise and those which sell adds."
Opera's PR chief Sivertsen is, of course, busily selling his wares as 'the next big thing'. But in this instance, industry experts are backing him as a soothsayer who might be telling the truth.
(Additional reporting by Aniela Dunin)
