Week 2 activity: what can we do with a mobile? (65 ideas and counting...)

Written by: Jonathan Briggs

February 9, 2007 [2840 views]

This activity is bigger than the last one and might take you 2 hours to complete. I want each student to research the most interesting applications they can find...

How is a school using mobile phones in an interesting way?
How is a retailer providing information to customers?
How are phones being used as payment devices?

These are only ideas and I want you to start by selecting one of the following 10 application areas according to your knumber...

Pick one of the industry areas below according to the last digit of your kNumber. If your kNumber is K03xxxx6 then your category would be Games.

0 Education
1 Health
2 Commerce
3 Security
4 Entertainment
5 Business
6 Games
7 Government
8 Communication
9 TV and Film industry

Then find the most interesting application of mobile phones (not RFID, WiFi or Bluetooth) within your chosen field by doing Internet research. Try and answer the following questions:

1. What is the URL for the site your have found?
2. Is the idea in commercial production?
3. Describe the idea in a couple of sentences
4. How much does the application cost to the end user?
5. Why do you think this is interesting?
6. Describe how it works technically if you can work that out
7. How many companies are offering this type of service?
8. Are their any questions you would like to ask about how it works?

Keep notes!

As the week progresses I will make a list of applications that other people have found. Look at this list and try to make sure that your idea is different.

Here is a list of some of the applications so far - so keep yours different...

• Mobile phone acts as barcode reader
• Buying stocks and shares via mobile phone
• Animated advertising messages on your phone
• Learn physics via mobile phone games
• Watch TV on your mobile via digital terrestial broadcasting (not streamed)
• Send patients reminders about their appointments
• Keep a personal fitness diary via your mobile
• Streamed video via an operator portal
• Student assessment via mobiles and handhelds
• Creating a mobile Paypal (+PIN) payment device
• WAP betting service with live odds available
• VOIP client called Fring allows free Skype calls and text messages
• Safricom allows African users to send money to family & friends via their handset
• Handset produces range of vibrations allowing "touches" to be sent
• Checking bank balances for HSBC via the phone
• Using a mobile as your identity to check into an hotel
• Student journalism using iPods and mobiles
• Mobiles that contain GPS for more exact positioning
• Tracking patients with mild dementia
• Diabetes patients are monitored and data updated via bluetooth to mobile phone
• Medical calendar to help women track their menstrual cycle
• Program your Sky+ box from your phone
• Download the track to your mobile that is playing on a radio station
• Transmit patient vital signs such as heart rate to a hospital over mobile
• GCSE and other educational tests and quizes to handhelds
• Sports highlights on your mobile
• Appointment and medication reminders
• Post your own MMS video clips on a website
• Turn your mobile into a microphone and a transmitter for evesdropping
• Use your camera as a scanner for faxes, business cards and whiteboard notes
• Send a text message a get 2 for 1 cinema tickets
• Deliver government services via mobile
• Shop by texting to a shortcode with goods charged to your phone
• Educational quiz by SMS with instant feedback
• Nokia mobile VPN provides secure access to corporate intranets
• Mobile version of eBay and SMS alerts on auctions
• Upload photos onto Flickr and videos onto YouTube from your mobile
• Flash light for mobiles will allow games and interfaces to be developed
• Push to talk (PTT) turns your mobile into a walkie talkie
• Health logging system on handheld allows recording of medical decisions
• Mobile SAP allows customer data to be entered and retrieved on a PDA
• Hi-def low power broadcast TV to a phone
• Person-to-person payments via Yahoo! mobile
• Educational forums on the phone
• Access Sky TV from your phone
• Viewing live lectures on your phone
• Txt to pay the Congestion Charge

Some of the answers so far have been expressed in very general terms such as "enable commerce via mobile phones". This is not precise enough although those people who have already completed the activity DO NOT need to do it again. Make sure that when you are describing the idea that is what you are doing. Simply telling me that it is spreading globally does not tell me what it is!

Do not worry if your application strays a little from the topic described. A location based service could be a business application or a security application or even education.

I will summarise all the answers so that you can see the range of applications that everyone has found.

Deadline: Thursday 15th at midnight

Here is a link to the survey to give your feedback

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