Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Mobile RFID by Samsung; Open Verizon Network?!

If you are a fan of pervasive computing, you'll be happy to learn that two corporations are trying to make your mobile life more... ubiquitous.

Verizon recently announced that it will provide an "Any Apps, Any Device" option for customers in 2008.

A quote from Verizon's website:

“This is a transformation point in the 20-year history of mass market wireless devices – one which we believe will set the table for the next level of innovation and growth,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and chief executive officer. “Verizon Wireless is not changing our successful retail model, but rather adding an additional retail option for customers looking for a different wireless experience.”


And here is the "good news" about Samsung's venture into mobile RFID:

"Samsung Unveils RFID Reader Chip for Mobile Devices

By W. David Gardner
InformationWeek
November 27, 2007 12:29 PM

With mobile RFID growth expected to skyrocket in the coming years, Samsung Electronics served notice that it intends to be a major beneficiary of the growth with a single-chip RFID reader for mobile devices.

Samsung said it expects the radio-frequency identification chip will initially be designed into card-type readers that plug into mobile handsets; later the chip will likely be included in retail store handheld readers and directly in mobile phone handsets.

"We are enabling anytime, anywhere mobile access to information," said Chihee Chung, senior VP of Samsung's Electronics System LSI Division, in a statement. "RFID chip readers systems allow consumers to pull context-specific information into their mobile devices while on the go. Our mobile RFID single-chip technology is an important step in the evolution of ubiquitous computing."

My comments:

Although Verizon and Samsung's efforts appear to move us closer to Weiser's vision of ubiquitous computing, we must keep in mind that with each advance in technology, there are a host of other problems, such as privacy and security, usability, and accessibility, that remain to be fully addressed!


"Ubiquitous computing names the third wave in computing, just now beginning. First were mainframes, each shared by lots of people. Now we are in the personal computing era, person and machine staring uneasily at each other across the desktop. Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives." -Mark Weiser

What do you think?

Resource:

Information about the early history of Ubiquitous Computing

Posted by Lynn Marentette at 7:41 AM
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)