Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta
Chances are that in a couple of weeks we will hear announcements that WCDMA-based 3G services are available here. We will be the third ASEAN country after Singapore and Malaysia to have this service. We will be joining around 50 million other people who already have access to 3G networks around the world.
Are we going to eagerly embrace this access as it becomes available? How long is video telephony going to keep us excited? Perhaps not very long, unless you happen to need 384 Kbps mobile access to the Internet.
By the way, as you may have heard, notebook computer makers have begun to integrate 3G capability into their products. For instance, Fujitsu Siemens has a slot for a 3G SIM card in its LifeBook E8210. It is almost a foregone conclusion that you will have 3G connectivity built into your next notebook computer.
What about video phone calls? According to an Ericsson Consumer Lab survey in Indonesia, video telephony -- being able to see the person you are talking with -- ranked only fifth in the list of services that users were interested in. Topping the list was radio entertainment, followed by music downloads and mobile television.
Clearly, if high-speed data access or video telephony is not the reason you want to move up to 3G, then it must be the content. So, now is the time for entrepreneurs and visionaries to pump up their creativity, because so far we have not seen killer content for 3G.
Last week, Ericsson Indonesia, which will celebrate one hundred years of presence in this country next year, held a seminar on content provision to stimulate local creativity. Despite the recent merger between Siemens' and Nokia's equipment businesses, Ericsson remains the worldwide leader in wireless infrastructure. The company offers a broad range of multimedia hosting products and managed services, including personalized music portals, managed multi-player gaming and managed mobile TV and video.
In addition to demonstrating 3G applications such as video telephony, the seminar also featured content services from Ironroad, a leading mobile Internet and Internet application developer based in Stockholm, Sweden.
The seminar, held at Jakarta's Intercontinental Hotel, was attended by managers and directors of operators and content providers, including TV broadcasters, who wanted to see what is now available in Sweden.
Video dating is an exciting application, of course. If you have used dating services on the Internet, you basically know how it works. However, Ironroad goes a step further by offering what it calls Speed Dating.
All you have to do is go to a Website, register, create your own profile and provide your credit card information, since you have to pay in advance. You will get a PIN. Based on the calendar provided on the Website, you will be asked to decide when you want to start meeting people.
Ten minutes before your selected session begins, Ironroad will SMS you and tell you to get ready. Then at the specified time the application automatically connects you to a phone number. You just enter your PIN number and then you get to meet around five people who meet your criteria. You have the opportunity to watch each of them for one minute. After each potential date has finished talking to you, you can rate her or him. Having met all five dates, you can dial another number and see a replay of the video calls in order, based on your ratings.
If you think you have met the right person, you can leave a video message for him or her. The rest is up to you -- and your date. The beauty of dating via 3G phones, as one executive from Sweden's Modern Times Group put it, is ""What you see is what you get! What Mr. Gates did for word-processing we now do for dating!""
The steps may sound complicated, but actually they are not. The quality of the video calls was great, even in the demo area inside the hotel's ballroom. What amazed me too was the speed at which I was able to replay them. According to Kurt Flodin, VP for business development at Ironroad, the server was located in Sweden.
Ironroad has a number of 3G applications besides dating. They include Video Announcer, Video Ad, 3G Chat, 3G Karaoke and 3G Video Blog.
Blogs are hot on the Internet. More and more people choose to read blogs instead of the traditional news media. Now you'll be able to publish your own video blog using the video and mobile broadband capabilities of 3G.
During the seminar, I kept trying to identify content that can be offered over the 3G network. One service that came to my mind was tricks and tips for simple everyday tasks.
For example, how can you fix a scratched CD? Not all of us know that you can use regular, non-gel toothpaste to resurrect it. Wouldn't it be nice to get this tip on your mobile phone?
So, here is another chance for our local content entrepreneurs to be creative and innovative. 3G needs content to be viable, and we want local content on our mobile phones. It is a perfect match that should not be passed up.
