Loading ...Gigaom has a thought-provoking article on non-cellphone devices which use the cellular networks. The ones that Stacey mentions are:
* Smart Insoles
* The BI HomeGuard Anklet
* Zoombak
* The Cameo Picture Frame
* Ford Work Solutions
* The Flaik
* DriveCam
Ubiquitous networks are the future, and IMHO, represents a great opportunity for building specialized businesses. What India specific device-oriented applications do you think would be most compelling on top of a network?
A lot of people especially migrant workers in india finance white goods like Tv, Fridge, washing machine from banks/private financers. The defaulters of these loans cause huge losses to the financing institutions. Even 2% defaulters can put a big dent. If these white goods could be tagged with devices (using the cellular network) such that they cant go outside a “circle” or cant be roaming. This would prevent people from vanishing away with the financed goods.
money transaction for the bottom of the pyramid
The devices that can use GSM / GPRS are limited by imagination, some of them can be:
1. Small handheld medical diagnostic equipment for rural healthcare used for telemedicine. Ultrasound scanners, small x-ray machines, blood glucometers, etc.
2. Handhelds devices for microfinance workers - for identification of self-help groups/members, to keep and transmit transaction records.
3. Device used by traffic police to quickly identify defaulters by transmitting data (vehicle number, photos, etc)
4. Handheld devices for vehicle insurance surveyors
5. Devices for courier delivery or food delivery people
6. Remote engine shutdown of stolen cars/trucks or auto sending of approximate location of cars (using a-gps?) and sending data through sms.
7. Census data surveyors can use small devices to send data
8. Electronic voting machines?
- Ripul
I suppose this is the same as what benefits from being mobile networked:
1. MP3 player in car, gets songs on the move
2. Mall shopping carts (entire mall) that announce deals on a small screen fitted in them.
3.Bombs that can be located and triggered remotely - perfect for when terrorists attack the Oberoi again !
4. Portable speed check cameras that can click speeding cars and broadcast to basestation -= I think these are currently wired
5. Election machines that broadcast votes made back to basestation
6. We have seen the cameraphone, how about the GSM-Camera, send pics to Facebook as soon you take them? maybe 3G can even do it for tv crews who currently have to set up satellite equipment to broadcast from location.
7. Permanent visiting cards that update your info as you change it
Device which is very wild but highly useful
1. Device which can trace intentions.
You just focus on person from tht device……it traps all actions of the person. Then define the intention in 7 to 8 category in the starting. In future machine learning Algo can device more intentions.
2. Device which can trace terrorist from mob like speedometer
The cameo picture frame is very relevant to india.
I am not a gadget freak, so I dont know the state-of-the-art, but I dont know why digital cameras are not networked beyond may be bluetooth. Several people including myself struggle to connect their cameras to the computer and download pics. It would be nice if the camera does it on its own- uploading pictures to the web.
I can see the challenges in having a sim card in the camera, and one could argue why do you need this when mobile are coming with built-in cameras. The missing piece really is automatic synchronization of pictures between the camera and the computer. This should be really possible with wifi enabled mobiles, but then these are expensive.
Mobile manufacturers and operators together could come up with such a service, automatically organizing on the web the pictures people capture on their mobile. They can then even tie up with folks like PrintXpress/Printo for printing and distribution. This will be expensive in the beginning, but I have a feeling that this will have a mass appeal.
Does such a thing exist in the developed countries?
What are the challenges in seeing this in India?
PS: I guess I digressed from what is being asked in this post, the first line above is for it.