INDIA, Feb. 22 -- Tweeting trees and a pink monkey robot that lets kids make video calls to mom's or dad's smartphone- these are the new citizens of the so-called connected society.
A mid the flurry of new smartphones and Internetconnected tablets, a wide range of more exotic devices was on show at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that point to a future in which consumers and devices are connected wirelessly in new ways.
And not all are as frivolous as they may first appear.
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M. Ericsson displayed an orange tree with a wireless-network connection and sensors that can tell when a person comes near and reacts to its environment by sending posts to Twitter such as, "I feel like a star. 191 handshakes in an hour." But the concept was an eyecatching way to show how mobile technology can be used and repurposed for commercial purposes, like wireless advertising, said Ericsson, the world's largest maker of mobile network equipment.
The monkey robot, from South Korean telecom operator KT Corp., will reach stores in the country next month and can be controlled via smartphone to roam around the house so parents can keep an eye on the kids.
Other devices on display had a more immediate practical use. U.
S. telecommunications company AT&T Inc., for example, unveiled a connected drug dispenser that blinks and beeps if medication is missed.
The dispenser also sends weekly consumption summaries to a smartphone application.
There are huge commercial opportunities for the mobile industry in emerging fields such as wireless health services, Paul Jacobs, chief executive at U.
S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc. said in a keynote speech.
Meanwhile, consulting and technology-services group Accenture PLC has teamed up with the insurance industry to create a connected vehicle sensor that warns if a driver goes over the speed limit.
If innovation continues at the current pace, by 2020 there will be an estimated 15 billion devices with so-called embedded mobile functionality, including a wide range of products, such as Internet tablets, refrigerators and cars, said Ton Brand, senior project director at GSMA, the mobile industry's trade group. That is up from an estimated 500 million devices in 2009, mostly consumer items such as notebooks, he said in an interview.
Ericsson is even more bullish, forecasting 50 billion connected devices by 2020, although the GSMA's prediction includes SIM-enabled devices that aren't mobile phones and Ericsson's wider definition covers all kinds of connections, Mr. Brand said.
He said four categories look particularly promising: consumer devices, such as tablets and GPS navigators; wireless health care; in-vehicle features; and smart grids for utilities.
"The tech is already there, so that's not a problem," he said.
"The question is how to turn it into a viable business." There are few limits to the possible business applications, said Mats Norin, head of Ericsson's unit for Mobile Broadband Modules, which builds wireless-connectivity gear for embedded devices.
As the technology gets less expensive, barriers to entry go down and entrepreneurs can enter the evolving market, he said.
There is money in it for Ericsson as well, Mr. Norin said, not only in broadband module sales but also because the data traffic generated by the new connections will increase the need for operators to invest in network capacity.
In addition, operators will earn significant revenue, from rising data traffic and as new wireless opportunities open up in cars and industrial equipment, said Ryuji Yamada, CEO of Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc.
According to research firm Gartner, mobile-services revenue world-wide is expected to grow steadily over the next few years, to around $1.11 trillion in 2014 from $903 billion last year.
Still, the industry needs to deal with a number of roadblocks.
Ericsson's Mr. Norin said there is work going on to solve technical challenges, like connectivity modules that are inexpensive enough for the mass market and functioning antennas for all kinds of new appliances.
Privacy is also an issue, said Tony Jackson, director of telecom solutions for Convergys Corp., a U.
S.-based provider of software for customer-relationship management and billing.
For example, smart electricity grids with connected meters let utilities fine-tune rates and consumers gauge the cost of activities such as taking a hot bath.
But the collected power-usage data also give a clear indication of when homeowners are on vacation, potentially exposing an empty house to burglary.
The industry needs to handle data gathered by smart devices securely and convince consumers that data mining is to their benefit, Mr. Jackson said.
Common certification standards also are needed to resolve regulation issues, said GSMA's Mr. Brand, adding that telecom operators will need to engage with companies in other industries under different regulatory frameworks.
The technology is already there, for the most part.
"It appears to me that the revolution envisaged, or at least part of it, could dissolve the social nature of human beings," said Saverio Romeo, senior analyst at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. "The mobile industry should reflect on this.
Published by HT Syndication with permission from MINT.
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