IP Talk, a subsidiary of electronics firm Mitsubishi Electric, will sell a phone that works on voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) only. It will operate only when in the hotspot of a Wi-Fi (802.11b) access point, according to Nikkei Electronics Asia Online.
Almost exactly 30 years ago, Motorola’s Martin Cooper, now regarded as the father of the modern cellphone, unleashed an entire industry when he made some of the first calls with a portable cellular phone in New York city. The rest, of course, is history – a lot of which is being written right here in Asian countries like Japan.
Each client interacting with the sign can choose to allow an icon representing the owner to be displayed on the screen; the icon can display a message like “looking for partner to attend jazz concert at 7:00PM.” If you wish to accept the offer, simply drag your icon down to “mate” with the other. The clients will then be notified how to contact each other and a date can be made on the spot. Unlike the Americans, the Japanese are building highly personal, device-to-device, and socially interactive communication capability into their system from the ground up.
There’s a whole donburi full of WLAN projects in the works right now, including efforts by NTT DoCoMo, NTT Communications, Yahoo BB, Speednet, and others. All are following the famous “hotspot” model, and are angling tie-ups with your Macdonalds, your Mos Burgers, and your coffee shops. But we found a new entrant with a contrarian approach. Forget all the relatively immobile burger eaters and coffee drinkers; MIS provides fat pipes to surfers who are actually walking down the street.
