Wave of New Multimedia Apps in Store for Mobile Phones

Technology News covers a recent forecast from Mobile Ecosystem that predicts "wireless carriers in 2006 will be launching a new "wave" of multimedia and entertainment applications on new, 3G networks."

Mark Lowenstein at Mobile Ecosystem said, "As a broad theme, I am officially proclaiming 2006 to be 'The Experiment Year'. Carriers will be launching and testing a wave of multimedia and new entertainment-centric applications as 3G networks become more broadly available. We will learn a lot about what kinds of services, at what prices, are attractive to the consumer."

Lowenstein added, "Google will be a player. There's a huge amount of content out there and we've got to find more effective ways to discover it." Make the handsets easier to use will aslo be critical. "There's a broad recognition that the navigation and presentation model has not kept up with the new capabilities of wireless networks. Look for some breakout ideas in context, personalization, and interface navigation on the device," he added.

Lowenstein said, "The battle for the home has two fronts. In voice, wireless coverage in the majority of homes remains inadequate. So we will either start leveraging the broadband network, or we will finally see relatively small, inexpensive home base station products that boost RF coverage."