Phone firms have faith in the future

By Pan Xiaoyi and Zhu Shenshen  |   2008-11-21  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

ARE people still hungry for the latest mobile phones even during the financial crisis?

Industry insiders say handset manufacturers are a leading indicator of the downturn, because consumers during tough times are less likely to upgrade their phones.

Of course, the downturn won't affect all handset makers equally. High-end models, such as the iPhone and Gphone, that have the latest features, such as touch-screens and Internet capability, should weather the storm best.

And even more interesting models are being designed which will be in demand despite the economic downturn.

One in the pipeline can be wrapped around the user's wrist "like a snake" and one is "smart" enough to know whether its user is "working" or "entertaining".

Potential

Users now regard cameras and speakers as standard on mobile phones and attach little significance to them, but designers see great potential.

Jan Chipchase, a designer at Nokia's Design Studio in Tokyo, thinks "context awareness" is the future.

This is simply about making the phone more aware of people and things that matter to you. The camera and speakers can be used as sensors to collect environmental information and make assumptions about the user's current situation. The mobile is then able to operate and react accordingly.

For example, a context-aware-mobile phone may know that you are currently in a meeting and will reject any unimportant calls.

According to Chipchase, such phones are designed to enable you to connect with people who really matter to you, and ignore those you don't want to hear from by filtering out unwanted calls and messages based on the user's habits and history.

An example can be found in the recently released Nokia Friend View system used on both mobile and Web, where you can keep your friends up to date with what you're doing and where you are.

It can locate where you and your friends are via GPS, and even where you are going, on an on-screen map.