ABSTRACTS

The mobile industry is still growing - not only in volume but in increased usage and functionality as well. Convergence brings new business opportunities, with Internet as its focal point. While the technologies are getting more complex, the challenge lies in making usage simple and seamless. This demands user and market insight, innovation, extensive partnerships, and technologies based on open standards and interfaces. Yet, the future of mobility is not driven by technologies - they are mere enablers. The future is driven by consumer experiences and business needs, respectively.

The Finnish mobile operators are suffered from pressure on voice and data prices past two years. The Finnish mobile market combined all the factors that can lead to a price war: 1) high penetration and low usage growth potential, 2) rapid changes in the market structure due to the entry of new market players, 3) very short contract duration and high churn due to very limited possibilities to lock customers, 4) introduction of a very fast and for customers free-of-charge mobile number portability.

Now the price level of mobile phone calls in Finland is the lowest in Europe. The tough Finnish mobile market has shown that mobile operators have major cost-cutting potential in their operation. But it has also shown that authorities should be very careful when changing regulations which may have significant effect on a business environment

Matti Hämäläinen

Enabling Innovation in Mobile Games - Going Beyond the Conventional

Introduction

Mobile phones are probably the most common, and most personal, consumer item of today. The hundreds of millions of game-capable phones in the world are seen as a potentially massive opportunity for games business. Some recent industry forecasts predict total global revenues from mobile games to increase from around $2 billion this year to over $10 billion by 2010 and accounting for over 20% of mobile entertainment global content revenues. The well established players in the games business are also moving into mobile space as illustrated by EA’s recent acquisition of mobile games company Jamdat with over $ 600 million.

While mobile games have come a long way in less than a decade the unique capabilities of wireless mobile devices have not been much exploited yet (with exceptions in highly developed markets like Japan and Korea). As mobile industry is working to provide faster access and improved ease of use, combined with more transparent and user friendly pricing, we can start envisioning games that make best use of the features of mobile devices and combine those with the recent developments in the Web and Internet environment.

Objectives

The panel will provide first an overview of the mobile games industry and then focus on looking beyond the conventional mobile games business. Ways of reaching new audiences will be discussed by considering mobile games as part of the network media and by extending their scope to “social interactive entertainment”. The specific themes include games in the context of community activity, the role of users in creating the content and the experience - and the implications to business models. Issues in making use of contextual information in mobile games and in developing games to support “serious” applications and learning will also be discussed, aiming at providing some insights in how the ubiquitous access can actually be leveraged in mobile games context.

Format of the panel

The panel consists of experts from both academia and industry. The panel chairman will first give a brief introduction to mobile games industry both from business and technology perspective and introduce the idea of extending the conventional notion of mobile gaming. Each panelist will then deliver a short position statement focusing on some of the above mentioned topics.

Panelists

For many years, the benefits of mobile computing have been very evident in all jobs which involve being away from the desk, especially in business. Recent studies show that the benefits are neither that self-evident nor easy to reap in the helping professions – health care, social services, police, ambulances, fire brigade and the like. What does the landscape of mobile computing look like from this perspective? What are the current issues being worked with and what have we learned to manage over the years? What kind of mobile devices and services – besides the tailored applications – would increase the use (and usefulness)? Or even – are mobile computers simply not suited for the tasks at hand? Why? What kind of devices and services should there be, instead?

Each of the panelists gives a short overview of the above issues from their perspective. During the second round, the panelists comment on each others presentation. The audience is then invited to join the discussion.

Panelists

Professor Helena Karsten, University of Turku Coordinator of the panel

Pekka Nurhonen, Poliisin tietohallintokeskus Mobile computing in police work

Mikko Kaasinen, WM-Data Developing the Merlot Medi system for ambulances

Dr Shengnan Han, Åbo Akademi University How physicians use Duodecim information services

Dr. Sampsa Hyysalo, University of Helsinki User-centered design of mobile health products

Riikka Vuokko, University of Turku PDAs and changes in home care workers work practices Professor

Kent Sandoe, California State University in Chico Surveillance and control with mobile devices

Jaakko Kuosmanen

Converging wireless market: who regulates - who wins?

Many-faceted network convergence is currently happening in the world of networks. Its focal points are various mobile terminals that can communicate over many wireless and wired access networks, including 2G and 3G telecom networks, Wi-FI networks, and Bluetooth/IrDA connections. The newest functionalities included into terminals are mobile TV and satellite positioning. Further, mobile multimedia terminals with video imaging, radio, MP3 player, gaming etc. are also on the market already for a couple of years and offer the above networking capabilities. Voice-over-IP is offered on certain off-the-shelf mobile terminals over Wi-Fi networks. Bypassing wireless telecom networks in VoIP traffic can have deep effects on the mobile business ecology, because so-far ,the main revenue source of mobile operators has been voice traffic on their networks. EU commission is also planning to compel the European mobile operators to reduce roaming tariffs and perhaps also introduce new mechanisms and policies in wireless spectrum allocation. In an ultimate case software radio-based terminals could use a wide portion the radio spectrum and it could be also allocated on-demand. All these issues raise the questions about the outcome of the convergence for the business and innovations. One key issue is how governments and industry should regulate these phenomena.

This panel discusses the development of the communications market and communication technologies in general and about the role of the regulatory authorities in particular.1) Vision of the converging wireless communication markets in 2010 ? 2)  Why has European mobile Internet failed but Japanese flourishes? 3) What should be regulated, what left for market to decide that is: How is competition guaranteed between ISPs in the future  and should price level of access networks be regulated ? 4) What role regulatory authorities should have towards innovations, market ? 5) What kind of regulation is needed to guarantee data security ? 6) How should radio frequencies be regulated in the future ? 7) Should the regulatory framework be redesigned for converging networks

Panelists:

Jaakko Kuosmanen CEO ICT Turku Ltd.

Ville Saarikoski Senior Adviser Finnish Information Society Development Centre TIEKE

Ping Gao, University of Manchester, UK

David Tilson Case Western Reserve University

Kari Ojala, Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications

Lior Herman, Suomen puhelin

Doug Vogel

Mobile Applications in Education

Mobile devices have become increasingly ubiquitous and pervasive in our daily lives. Applications in education present special challenges and opportunities to create learning environments with the students at the center. The students are digital natives but instructors are digital immigrants. Further, institutions are struggling with changing educational paradigms in which traditional classrooms are only one part of the educational spectrum. Technological and behavioural considerations abound as stakeholders seek to address the myriad of issues associated with these changing times. Panel members from both academia and industry have been chosen to provide perspectives and relevant insight in this rapidly changing domain.

Elizabeth Keating

The mobile phone and other wireless technologies are rapidly transforming aspects of human experience. Although mobile phones are highly valued tools for communicating, conducting business, and for maintaining social ties, they can also be disruptive. I will discuss a research project on mobile phones in 15 countries, specifically how mobile phones have impacted people’s daily habits and how people in many cultures are experiencing new challenges in incorporating this powerful and personal technology into established cultural practices. Problems include conflicts between privacy and public space, managing simultaneous and converging contexts in space, a lack of new forms of etiquette for how to handle or prioritize competing demands, intrusion of cell phone cameras, as well as conflicts between “liberation” (new personal autonomy) and “control” (new accessibility to others). New technologies impact cultural practices and cultures impact how new technologies are used. The increasingly technologically-mediated nature of modern life has resulted in a rapidly changing communicative environment where people and technologies interact in complex ways. The societies discussed include Australia, China, Brazil, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Lebanon, Russia, the U.S., Taiwan, Norway, and Korea. The societies range in size from small to large (e.g. India 1100 million, Norway 4.5 million) and in penetration rate of cell phones.

Lara Srivastava

Mobiles for a Smaller World