Mobile Pearls Vol V

Continuing from my mobile pearls vol 4, I will be highlighting innovative or interesting mobile serivces/applications that I have come across.

GlucoboyWhat is it: The Glucoboy is the first blood glucose meter that has been designed specially for kids, adolescents and the young at heart. When used with the Nintendo Game Boy® Advance System or the GRiP incentive-based web community, Glucoboy becomes part of an entire network that rewards testing compliance and good health management.

Why it is cool: Combining gaming, mobile and health into a complete package is not only smart, but has real tangible benefits to the users.


New health monitoring phones
What is it: With the F884iES, users can place their fingers over the camera lens, which can determine their heart rate simply by scanning minute movements. This information, along with that from the built-in pedometer, can be input into a personal “health diary”.


PePiCo - instant personalized mobile content creation
What is it: a platform developed by Cybermedia Japan that allows users to take photos and create personalized content. Visitors to PePiCo can make e-cards, wallpapers, and games that feature the subject of the uploaded photo in a funny story/scene that can then be passed along to friends.

Why is it cool: Taking full advantage that phones are very personalized devices, this service enables users to fully express themselves and have fun at the same time. What a clever and simple service.


12Pixels - Mobile Social Drawing
What is it: 12Pixels, an application created by Karl D.D. Willis and Dr. Ivan Poupyrev of the Sony Computer Science Lab, is a mobile drawing application entering the emerging market of “social drawing”. Instead of relying on touch screens which are still rare for most mobile users, the application utilizes the standard keypad to draw.


Nokia's Shoot to Translate Service
What is it: After you have the photo of the text you want to translate, your mobile identifies the text in the photo and translates it for you.

Why is it cool: Nice example of a different paradigm for information retrival on the mobile. For more examples, check out my previous post.


Shufoo! Digital Coupons for Housewives
Members (registration free) can sign up to receive such notices from their favorite stores or brands delivered directly to their inboxes. Alternatively, one can browse by neighborhood or by category to check for (and compare) special promotional campaigns.

Why is it cool: Mobile advertising at its very best. Relevant and personalised. A very cool example of advertisements as content.


New mobile blogging platform that reads users' emotions
What is it: NEC is working on a new “smart” blogging system called the “Listen, Look, Fun Blog” that will be able to “read” the mood of writers. Based on the words entered onto the screen, the system is able to judge the writer’s feelings and then insert appropriate text decorations or voice expressions into the post. Text decorations include font styles/size,color, and inserting icons such as emoticons.

Why is it cool: One of the mobile's unique benefit is its availability at the point of creative impulse. This service makes it more fun for the user to create stuff when he is in a creative mood. Imagine Zemanta being applied to mobile and in a fun way.


FrenClub: Mobile social network success in Malaysia
What is it: A mobile social network here in Asia (that) work on.... basic SMS. They have over 2 million subscribers and they are earning over 8 milllion Malaysian Ringgit in revenues this year (about 2.3 million USD).

Why is it cool: More examples that mobile social networks have valid business models. Not only that, FrenClub is one of the rare data points for SouthEast Asia that show mobile social networks do work here!


Tourism and mobile services fuse in Vietnam, with SIM card aimed at visitors
What is it: Vietnamese mobile operator Viettel Telecom announced a SIM card that is targeted directly at tourists. The pre-paid Tourist Sim service combines decent prices with a heavy focus on information search services. The aim of this service is to provide tourists with all the information they need via SMS.

Why is it cool: A very simple and clever idea that recognises that information retrieval works very differently on mobile than on the Web. Bonus points for creating a valid business model around this idea. Anybody in the mobile travel space should just copy it in your city and/or country.


Selling music with 2D Barcodes, old school - yes as in rap music
What is it: Rhymelibrary which is an old school rap service, has now introduced Hip Hop QR Codes to help promote old school rap songs that are sold via iTunes. You don't have to do any typing of a web address, you just point your cameraphone at the 2D barcode, and within a second, the long web address appears on your phone screen, as if by magic.

Why is it cool: Using 2D barcode as an information retrial and commerce mechanism. Very unique to mobile and why it is likely to succeed.

Related
You can read more Mobile Pearls here

Posted in: mobile,mobile pearls,startup business ideas