MomoLondon NFC: Victoria Richardson, Proxama Shows a video of phones touching other phones to a pumping techno soundtrack. Things happen when the phones touch other phones. Service discovery, payments, ticketing and access control are easily made accessible via NFC. But why? Brands and retailers are on the edge of the NFC world Smart Poster: dumb RFID chip. Benefits: trying stuff out, accessing links, and sharing stuff. Sounds like a good scheme for avoiding the burden of knowing about or entering links. For some reason, a Hajj-like image of keen consumers desperately trying to touch posters springs to mind. NFC ties into an infrastructure which already exists (hmm... the readers might exist but this doesn't imply we'll have access to the installed infrastructure) Claire Maslen, Head of NFC, O2 Telefonica Presenting some insights from the NFC trial O2 ran, and some areas of opportunity which - in hindsight - they didn't give enough attention. Trial: 500 O2 customers (prepay/postpay), lots of use cases (transport, payment, access control, smart posters). All using Nokia 6131. Results:

• Encouraging positive reaction
• 9/10 trialists happy using the technology
• 79% said they'd like to use their phone to pay/travel in future
• Convenience, ease of use, and status were factors in getting this positive response

• 89% of triallists wanted to take this up
• 67% said it was more convenient than Oyster card
• 87% said Oyster support in-phone would make a difference to their choice of phone)

• 68% wanted to use this in future
• 41% felt it was faster than paying with cash (not sure how this is a good stat... most people still think cash is faster, no?)
• 47% said it was an influencing factor in phone purchase

TechCrunch has a story on Trutap:

"And I think that while the world seems in love with the iPhone, the reality is that the biggest mobile applications market remains Java, so any application that can run across hundreds of handsets and is lightweight in download size has legs. The harsh reality is that most handsets, including most in the US, are terrible, so any app which makes the business of accessing social networks and IM over data easier is on to something. The very lightweight Trutap mobile protocol means is uses very low amounts of data so low bills are low as well. They have also been smart to stay away from VOIP, which means they can deal with operators. And the Trutap application really is great to look at."

We've been working with Trutap for a couple of years now, helping define, design and develop their mobile client. And Doug Richard (CEO of Trutap) and I will both be speaking at the upcoming Future of Mobile conference in November.

Mobile Industry Review also ran a little piece on Le Tap:

"He showed me a demo of the next version of Trutap — it’s going to be quite stunning. IM, Content, Social Networking — all aimed at the emerging markets (and India in particular). I think that kind of audience will eat up Trutap.

Part of the new roll-out — including this whizzy new client I saw — includes offering Trutap users the ability to subscribe to and receive content."

Watch this space :) We've got some fantastic stuff going on which we'll be able to show off soon...

It's been a good week for a few FP clients past and present, and seeing as FP is a hefty chunk of my life, you get to read about it here ;)

• Locomatrix won the "Most Awesome Use of Digital Media" award at the Brighton & Hove Business Awards, last Friday;
• Trutap have partnered with Sony Ericsson, getting global distribution through their downloads portal;
• Flirtomatic have announced they've reached the magic million registered users - nice one guys :)

Flash on the iPhone?

"At the Flash On The Beach (FOTB) conference in Brighton, Sr. Director of Engineering at Adobe Systems Paul Betlem, confirmed that Adobe is indeed developing a Flash Player for the iPhone. However, Apple calls the shots as to when it'll be available."

What's that saying about the fat lady? I'd draw precisely zero conclusions from this. The fact that Adobe have someone writing some code for the iPhone doesn't mean that Apple will permit the Flash player to work on the iPhone or that they'll do any more than sandbox it within the browser. The latter would let them boast Flash support (and deliver a good full-web experience) without fragmenting iPhone development further (into native app/web app/Flash).

• An interesting debate comparing performance and accuracy of DeviceAtlas and the WURFL;
• Palm is having trouble getting profits from its sales. Have to say, I hear practically nothing of them in Europe nowadays. A shame as their Vx was one of my favourite handhelds for years (and I loved reading the story behind it in Designing Interactions);
• Android is estimated as getting 4% marketshare in the US. Gawd knows how you can work out such numbers ahead of time, but I'm intrigued to see how it works out... not that the first handset launch will definitely make or break the platform (or is even a proper Google phone, apparently), but Android and iPhone seem to symbolise openness vs closed-ness. And whilst my heart's with open, I can't quiet that nagging voice whispering to me that the best user experiences come from tight control, end-to-end. Openness is the new freedom.
• And then a story comes along to remind you that humanity is not homogenous, and hey, some places they might not even *want* the same stuff that gets the 2.0 crowd drooling: "Pricey, slow, feature-free phone fails to catch on in Japan", heh.
• Fun to see people starting to worm their way around Apple restrictions - not that a few edge cases doing it before they're shut down really points to any sort of real change.
• Linux-on-mobile is creating fragmentation; well, yes. Sharing an operating system with another device doesn't imply compatibility, much more than sharing chip hardware does. Android seems a brighter hope for Linux on mobile than anything else I've seen out there yet (most of which seems aimed at hobbyists so far).
• "DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy" - Big Steve on music.
• "Rejecting an application because it might compete with Apple is simply indefensible". Apple doing what's best for Apple - film at 11. Nothing new here, and it's not like this isn't covering familiar ground for them.
• RIM are quietly launching a flip-phone (quiet being a relative term when most of the industry seems to be being drowned out by a Sauron-like roar from Cupertino).

Bedtime for Tombo.