Day 2! Innovation... or not!
Posted by Peter Gardner on 2008-02-12
I had the pleasure of being one of the judges at the Mobile Innovation Forum on Monday. 161 companies presented, further shortlisted to 50 in five categories, and then finally two in each of five categories giving the final presentation to the judges in front of a good size audience in the Fira convention centre.
I guess, for me, the most interesting, but in some ways also the most disappointing, take away from this whole exercise has been a lack of innovation in the market generally. But that's perhaps unfair. My dictionary actually describes Innovation as "changing something established by introducing new methods, ideas, or products". Most of these businesses were attempting to introduce new methods and ideas, but perhaps I was hoping for more Invention! Having said that, there were ten very worthy finalists and a tough time for the judges. Unfortunately I'm sworn to secrecy about what went on in the judging room but all will be revealed later today. Here are a few examples of innovators bucking that trend:
Audience: This company showed a voice noise reduction add-in for the handset demonstrating a real disruptive leap in quality standards
Flexenclosure: This company produces base station infrastructure that uses sustainable energy in order to be totally self standing, making it ideal for emerging markets and difficult terrains. A very timely introduction of a product hitting all the hot areas, emerging countries, sustainable energy and attention to opex.
Tagattitude: This company has a novel way of authenticating transactions using your mobile phone by using a sound signal. It will still be there filling a gap for simple personal authentication after the dust of the war of the NFC competitors has died away.
Gesturetek: What a great toy - these guys turn your phone into a control device for games or applications by allowing movement of the phone itself to be a kind of joystick or pointer. They make use of the camera in the phone to achieve this.
Inside Contactless: A company that has made significant inroads into the market in the war of the NFCs for using the phone to authenticate transactions.
Zeemote: A great little game add on - a joystick that connects to the phone via Bluetooth.
Xtract: An operator centric tool enabling the operator to understand a lot more about their customer behaviour in order to be more effective in marketing to them.
Valimo: Authentication and validation services for the mobile phone; they’ve achieved impressive penetration into the Turkish market. If they can repeat that in more markets, then they’ll be really attractive.
Vuzix: The one that all the judges wanted to take home! Glasses that give you a 60 inch TV viewing experience when plugged into a mobile video-enabled device! Still not well supported but as iPhone and other devices come out with video-out connections you could see all the early adopters wearing these on planes and trains.
Wyless: Initial impressions are that it's not the most exciting company of the bunch, but with Vuzik, Gesturetek and Zeemote that’s tough competition. However, it's a very impressive worldwide data carrier service in an under-served niche.
Good luck to them all for the awards later today.
I guess, for me, the most interesting, but in some ways also the most disappointing, take away from this whole exercise has been a lack of innovation in the market generally. But that's perhaps unfair. My dictionary actually describes Innovation as "changing something established by introducing new methods, ideas, or products". Most of these businesses were attempting to introduce new methods and ideas, but perhaps I was hoping for more Invention! Having said that, there were ten very worthy finalists and a tough time for the judges. Unfortunately I'm sworn to secrecy about what went on in the judging room but all will be revealed later today. Here are a few examples of innovators bucking that trend:
Audience: This company showed a voice noise reduction add-in for the handset demonstrating a real disruptive leap in quality standards
Flexenclosure: This company produces base station infrastructure that uses sustainable energy in order to be totally self standing, making it ideal for emerging markets and difficult terrains. A very timely introduction of a product hitting all the hot areas, emerging countries, sustainable energy and attention to opex.
Tagattitude: This company has a novel way of authenticating transactions using your mobile phone by using a sound signal. It will still be there filling a gap for simple personal authentication after the dust of the war of the NFC competitors has died away.
Gesturetek: What a great toy - these guys turn your phone into a control device for games or applications by allowing movement of the phone itself to be a kind of joystick or pointer. They make use of the camera in the phone to achieve this.
Inside Contactless: A company that has made significant inroads into the market in the war of the NFCs for using the phone to authenticate transactions.
Zeemote: A great little game add on - a joystick that connects to the phone via Bluetooth.
Xtract: An operator centric tool enabling the operator to understand a lot more about their customer behaviour in order to be more effective in marketing to them.
Valimo: Authentication and validation services for the mobile phone; they’ve achieved impressive penetration into the Turkish market. If they can repeat that in more markets, then they’ll be really attractive.
Vuzix: The one that all the judges wanted to take home! Glasses that give you a 60 inch TV viewing experience when plugged into a mobile video-enabled device! Still not well supported but as iPhone and other devices come out with video-out connections you could see all the early adopters wearing these on planes and trains.
Wyless: Initial impressions are that it's not the most exciting company of the bunch, but with Vuzik, Gesturetek and Zeemote that’s tough competition. However, it's a very impressive worldwide data carrier service in an under-served niche.
Good luck to them all for the awards later today.
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