"No matter how colorful you make it, content will never be king in a wireless world. It's not the content that matters - it's the contact" writes Douglas Rushkoff in his often-quoted article in The Feature.

This statement rings true based on my experience in mobile marketing and content companies. In fact, relevant, timely content can lead to viral distribution, which is about giving people the opportunity for social interaction (see "Social Currency"). Unfortunately, many large mobile phone operators and device manufacturers do not develop the contact aspect enough and prefer to seek new content (for instance, widespread consumer adoption of SMS came as a surprise).

This February I was kindly extended an invitation to visit the 3GSM congress in Cannes by Oberthur Card Systems. While there, I came across Eleksen, a company innovating with fabric sensor technology and was intrigued by their rollable tactile keyboard:

"Among our achievements within this sector are our Logitech and Orange fabric keyboards; providing a full QWERTY keyboard that can be rolled up when not in use, for people on the move. Our fabric keyboard for the Logitech M500 PDA range recently received the IDEA Business Week Gold Award for Innovation (2004)."

The pictured rollable fabric keyboard for mobile devices makes it significantly easier and more convenient to work as well as to establish contact with others (for example, by making it easier to write e-mails, sms or even to chat ... no more sore thumbs from texting!).

Today, I came across  Philips-Polymer Vision's paper-thin rollable screen, which looks like something out of a science-fiction movie:

"In a world of powerful, ‘always connected’ wireless devices, Polymer Vision’s goal is to provide the leading technologies for large displays in small mobile devices. We’re enabling whole new design concepts in mobile products, opening up revolutionary possibilities in form and flexibility."

Besides being more pleasant to watch streaming video, images or text on a large screen, rollable displays also make it easier to share content with others. For instance, the picture below, from Polymer Vision's site, shows two business people jointly viewing the screen on a mobile device.

Today, this situation might occur over a brochure, a laptop screen or the small screen of a mobile phone. Rollable screens multiply the types of information that can be displayed and create additional, compelling opportunities for social interaction.

These innovations are compelling technologies in their own right and hopefully mobile device manufacturers will soon incorporate them into new models. Together, they are sure to enhance your effectiveness not only in working, but also in developing business and social relationships ... in other words, your ability to make and maintain contact.

April 4, 2005 in Mobile & Wireless | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834547b9d69e200d834232a7053ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference These Innovations Foster Contact:

» Innovations That Develop Contact Opportunities from Ecademy Blogs

"No matter how colorful you make it, content will never be king in a wireless world. It's not the content that matters - it's the contact" writes Douglas Rushkoff in his often-quoted [Read More]

Tracked on Apr 5, 2005 12:02:07 AM