Cell phones: a lot more than just talk
Annual conference expands as new applications grow

SignOnSanDiego.com by the Union-Tribune
By Kathryn Balint
June 2, 2005

Wireless industry executives are converging downtown this week for an annual conference showing off features that allow cell phone users to do much more than talk.

Want to identify that music on the radio? Just hold your phone up to the speaker and let your phone tell you the name of the song and the artist.

Phil Perry, product manager of San Diego-based Digital Orchid, showed how his company's software allows cell phone users to track NASCAR drivers during a race.

Need to keep an eye on your home or business while you're away? No problem. Your cell phone can be used as a monitor for a video camera.

Wonder whether your favorite stock car racer is in the lead? Check on NASCAR racers with your cell phone. You can get real-time information on the racer's place, speed and use of the throttle and brake.

The three-day conference, which ends tomorrow, is sponsored by Qualcomm, the San Diego wireless technology company. Qualcomm makes a programming language, called Brew, that allows applications like these to run on cell phones.

The fifth annual conference has grown as ring tones, games and other applications proliferate on cell phones.

This year, more than 2,200 people from around the world are expected to attend, up from 1,600 last year. And 70 cell phone software makers have booths at the event, twice as many as last year.

As the event began yesterday afternoon, Electronic Arts, the largest U.S. maker of video games, announced that it plans to get in on the game, too.

Electronic Arts said it plans to make some of its most popular titles, including Madden NFL, The Sims and Tiger Woods PGA Tour, available on cell phones using Qualcomm's programming language.

Games already make up a large share of the applications sold for cell phones. But the entrance of Electronic Arts into Qualcomm's circle of software developers "validates the fact that the mobile phone as a gaming platform is really real," said Mike Yuen, director of Qualcomm's gaming group.

The earliest games available on mobile phones were slow-moving, and almost primitive compared with video games played on consoles. But technology is changing that. Phones now have color screens, more powerful processors, and the wireless networks are increasingly capable of faster download speeds.

Five years ago, Qualcomm introduced Brew, making it even easier for game developers and other software makers to create applications for cell phones.

Qualcomm's fifth annual conference featuring software for cell phones opened yesterday at the Manchester Grand Hyatt downtown. More than 2,200 people are expected to attend the three-day event.

"The impetus of Brew was to accelerate the adoption of mobile applications," said Michael King, a San Diego-based analyst with the Gartner market research firm. "When Brew came on the scene, there was a significant question as to the value that mobile data provided. So what Brew did was make it quite easy for application developers to have a standard to write to."

Qualcomm's Brew technology - the name stands for binary runtime environment for wireless, but it also can be read as a jab at Sun Microsystems' competing Java programming language - is available through a limited number of wireless companies. Verizon Wireless is among the 40 companies in 24 countries that offer it.

There are thousands of Brew applications that wireless companies can choose to offer. Cell phone users pay $1 to $10 a month for each application.

Wireless companies see the applications as a way to boost income from phone calls. The wireless providers and Qualcomm take a cut of the sales. The software developers get the rest.

Qualcomm distributes the applications, collects payments from the wireless companies and pays the software developers.

Over the past five years, software developers have earned $350 million from sales of wireless Brew applications, including $150 million in just the last eight months, Qualcomm's Yuen said.

More than 340 million applications have been downloaded worldwide during the five years.

For small companies that make software, Qualcomm's Brew technology enables them to break into the cell phone market more easily.

Phil Perry, product and service manager for San Diego's Digital Orchid, said Qualcomm's technology "gave us the ability to get our brand out globally." Digital Orchid makes NASCAR.com To Go, an application that lets cell phone users track stock car racers.

King, the Gartner analyst, said Qualcomm's Brew technology is a success so far.

"You could easily argue that Brew has been quite successful in terms of the number of applications, the number of developers and the number of carriers," King said.

But King said most Brew applications lack technical support for customers.

"The support side of Brew is a big question," he said. "There's very little support for a customer who has downloaded the application and can't get it to work." In those cases, King said wireless companies generally refund the price of the application.

The applications being shown off at this year's Brew conference are more sophisticated than ever.

Kristi Konotchick, director of business development for San Diego's Inetcam, demonstrated software that can be used to monitor a video camera in her office. A touch of the cell phone's keypad can move the camera or zoom it in on something. It also can record the video.

A police department in Puerto Rico is testing the software to monitor 133 video cameras in its jurisdiction, Konotchick said.

Basil Abifaker, director of the San Diego division of Intellisync, demonstrated how his company's Email Executive can be used to remotely access messages from almost any e-mail account, including Yahoo, Hotmail, America Online or from home or the office.

Wayne Yurtin, chief executive of Rocket Mobile, based in Los Gatos, showed what happens when he holds his cell phone to a speaker playing rap music. His company's software, Song Identify, recorded 10 seconds of the song, then reported that it was "In Da Club" by rapper 50 Cent.

"As soon as new songs come out, they're on our database," Yurtin said. The software is capable of identifying 3 million songs.