Martin Cooper

Interestingly enough, Dr. Martin Cooper, Executive Chairman and Founder of ArrayComm, is considered the inventor of the mobile device. What’s even more interesting, is his recent keynote address at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston, where he presented his view about the current wireless industry, and its’ main apparent failures.  I would like to focus on 2 of them.

First, mobile phones are still used 70% of the time today to talk and listen. Then for text messages (SMS) and way behind reside the e-mail and other applications which serve relatively tiny world segments. Still, we - as consumers - are constantly surrounded with marketing promotions urging us to purchase expensive high speed data services, which most of us hardly use.

Second, Cooper claims that convergence simply doesn’t make sense. Several highly-optimized devices, focused on specific functions / needs, are far better than cramming all of them into one single do-it-all device.  He himself, by the way, uses a Jitterbug phone – one of the simplest mobile phones today, which is targeted for seniors, offerings big keys, no menus and only incoming & outgoing calls.

Sounds familiar?… J

It seems that the concept of “divide and conquer”, or in other words – identifying different users’ needs, goals and contexts of use, and tailoring the optimal solution & experience to fit them, is starting to sink in.

Nokia N79

In fact, even Nokia, the undisputed ‘all-in-one’ industry leader, seems to start feeling the wind of change.  Their new N79 (AKA- clever chameleon) offers a nice visual feature – Changing the battery cover, automatically changes the display theme accordingly, to match the overall look & feel.  

This chameleon feature is still very far from modu’s vision (as also indicated in the article itself), but it does show first signs of challenging current perceptions.

And just to summarize, I would like to cite Dr. Cooper’s final comment at the conference: “the best technology is invisible”. I couldn’t agree more. Especially when it comes hand-in-hand with putting the spotlight on the users. us.

Hi All.
I was just added to the list of contributors to the modu blog.
In the comings posts, I will try to add more visibility into the technical aspects of the modu echo system.
I will try to post as much information as I can in order to prepare you for the arrival of the modu phone.
I hope to keep the conversation open as much as I can but I do need to keep some cards close to my chest.

My title at modu is Software Expert at the CTO office. I am in-charge of identifying new technologies that would be great to have in the modu phone, jackets and mates.

I will not discuss business issues like dates of deployment, operators or markets but I will entertain you with some insights to the user interface, applications and features.

Feel free to comment or email me directly at ran.margalit@modumobile.com

Earlier this week, on the hills of Tel Aviv University campus, a distinguished group of international and local executives gathered to discuss current issues in the mobile media arena.

Cellcom Media conference was organized and sponsored by Cellcom - Israel’s largest cellular operator and modu’s partner for the launch in Israel. Speakers from AT&T, MTV, FOX as well as leading CEOs of local companies were excited about the opportunities stemming from the mobile media revolution. Giora Offer, President of Israel Discount Bank - Israel’s third largest bank predicted that in less than five years, the mobile media will revolutionize the way people interact with and manage their financial accounts. Tal Raban, General manager of Coca-Cola Israel said that Coca-Cola’s mobile advertising campaigns achieved up to 50 times higher click rates than the Internet ones among the youth crowd.

Adi Cohen, VP Marketing at Cellcom, presented results from a recent research conducted among teenagers in Israel showing that the youth lives in an “always connected” world, managing to do multitask communication. That will have to drive the way advertisers and consumer goods companies approach them. Adi also said that the mobile phone, being the main networking tool, is the right path to reach youngsters. The conference showed again the huge interest that exists in the “real” world to understand and exploit the cellular revolution.

At the heart of the Tel Aviv clubbing scene, in a fashionable restaurant bar, took place yesterday’s MoMoTLV. This time the Mobile Monday event attracted many mobile visionaries to discus mobile UI trends. The passionate  speakers stressed the mobile UI has to be simple but cool, and to maintain branding uniformity and continuity from the web to the mobile device. Many of the participants had the opportunity to check out modu and to have their say on the fresh concept.

In an effort to constantly improve the modu blog as well as to offer the latest updates happening within modu, there will be new authors joining in so that we can keep you informed on a much quicker basis as well as from many different aspects and functions within modu.

So without further adu, I’d like to introduce the latest addition to the modu blog…

Meir Deutsch, Director - Market Research & Knowledge. Meir brings extensive knowledge and immense passion for the mobile industry, and that’s just the beginning, believe me! Lots of surprises ahead and as always…Your comments are the greatest fuel we can get, so keep them coming!

As you may have stumbled on by now, modu has many web presences online, including our Youtube page, Facebook Group and Fan Page, Flickr and Twitter profiles. These will also be expanding and evolving in the coming weeks.

I’m always curious to see how other companies are taking advantage of the blog / social – Sphere. Many of the examples I’ve been running into have offered an amazing source of inspiration for what we’ve got coming ahead.

One of the most complete lists comes from Peter Kim over at beingpeterkim.com (High 5 to you good sir) Note to Brands, consumers understand and want social media. To support this case, read a post written over at Phantom CTO.

How is your company utilizing social media? What’s been most effective for you? Let us know in the comments!

Back in March I wrote a post about modu being awarded the world’s record by the Guinness book of records for being the lightest mobile phone.  Now it’s time we show you the 1st look from the Guinness Book (2009 edition) which is now available in stores.

Just a quick reminder that modu weighs just 40.1 gr.

The holiday season is upon us here in Israel, starting with Rosh Ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year. On that note, I’d like to wish you and your family… A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

I wanted to share with you all something I just read, in which the context holds a high relevancy to modu. The content comes from a presentation by Young & Rubican´s entitled: My Brain Hurts. It can be found in its entirety here.

The section I want to share with you comes from slide 32 –

Today, analysts, consultants and engineers have convinced themselves that consumers want ‘convergence’. By which they mean any device that has aspects of television, computing and telephony built into it. But do consumers want convergence? Convergence devices usually offer a range of benefits. And consumers gravitate not to those that offer a range of benefits, but those who promise just one good one: • Most business executives choose to carry both a mobile phone and a mobile email device – when each device can both make voice calls and send email. • Most people also continue to wear a wristwatch, when their phone tells the time perfectly well. • They also continue to buy separate VCR players, DVD players and TVs, when combination devices are widely available and cheap. Convergence isn’t good marketing Indeed the history of marketing is the opposite of convergence. With converged cameras and camcorders, you either get a good camera or you get a good camcorder. Rarely both.

When scientists invented synthetic detergent in the 1940s, they saw it as an amazing product that would clean clothes, hair, floors and cars. But smart marketers recognized that consumers want different products for different needs, and launched separate shampoos, laundry detergents, floor cleaners and automotive foams based on synthetic detergent. Still think convergence is a good idea? Try washing your hair in laundry detergent.

Convergence failed in the past it’s an idea that has been with us for a very long time. In the 1920s, manufacturers put optional small nozzles and a reverse switch on to their vacuum cleaners so that you could also use them as a hair dryer too. The basic principle of convergence wasn’t attractive to consumers then, and it is no more attractive now. Where consumers are buying videophones and portable email devices, they are buying them because they offer them real, tangible benefits, not because they offer convergence. So So tech companies beware. You need to ensure your convergence concepts are driven by consumer need, not technological dreaming: • Do consumers really want a converged digital hub in their living room? Parents may like the idea of controlling all digital feeds in their home from the living room – but the last thing most sons want is In the late 1990s, mobile service providers invested upwards of $100 billion dollars in 3G phone licenses. The research said that everyone wanted to see the person they were talking to. But the research forgot to ask whether they wanted the other person to see them?

TheMarker / IBM hosted a conference yesterday called In-Novation 2008 at Airport City Tel-Aviv whose morning guest speaker was Founder and CEO of modu Dov Moran.

Dov spoke about modu saying “The advantage modu has isn’t in its size. If you create a tiny phone, it’s a matter of time until a smaller phone gets produced, the advantage is in its modularity and it’s eco-system we are creating around it.” He had this to say about Innovation, “Innovation isn’t a solution to a users’ needs. It is a solution to a problem that users have not yet noticed they have or something that others thought was impossible to achieve..”

“I realized I needed to carry 2 phones with me, one large phone so that I can have all the features and functions I needed during the day and another slim phone for the evenings, while out jogging.” said Dov about how the idea of modu was born. 

More images of the event can be found on the modu Flickr page. If you were present at the event, post your thoughts on Dov’s speech in the comments!