True convergence will be in place so that the consumer will not be able to differentiate between computing and communications companies. Instead, they will only see information companies. Following these keynotes, we met with Perry Lee from Microsoft to discuss Microsoft's Mobile Devices strategies and their Mobile Explorer product, in particular. Microsoft is clearly interested in this space as it offers the potential to allow their existing customers to access Microsoft back-end services via a mobile device. As they learned several years back when Netscape began to make inroads on the client, losing the client interface offers the possibility of slowly but surely losing back-office infrastructure as well.
Handsets are essentially closed systems with limited functionality.
Whatever software is on the device when you buy it is what you've got. Software manufacturers are also faced with building specific implementations for each device and relying on vendor deals to get their code out to the public. Now owned by Qualcomm, SnapTrack has developed a very sophisticated location determination system. This system is built around GPS but, as opposed to time delays inherent with GPS, SnapTrack can deliver three-dimensional locations to a device within seconds. SnapTrack has applied for more than 30 patents on their technology and have already been granted 14.