Phil Northam: Samsung's Mobile InnovatorSamsung Mobile Innovator is the latest developer support program from a Symbian OS licensee. Richard Bloor caught up with Phil Northam, the program's Global Marketing Manager and one of its founding members, to find out more.
A note from Nokia reps this week informs us that the Nokia viNe application will be rolled out of Beta soon... possibly even this week. viNe is a web service that enables users of the application to share their journeys, along with media collected along the way. As a long-time Sports Tracker user, N95 enthusiasts, and evangelist of all things mobile and geospatial, I was provided with a pre-release version of viNe - details and a complete "How To" install and use the application are provided... enjoy! Enter Nokia viNe 101
It was back in June 2008 that the E71 was officially released to the public - the selling points for the E71 were a sleek, stylish do-it-all device that came with Mail for Exchange mobile email client - pre-loaded with the Nokia E71. Actually, the device boasted much much more than these attributes as you'll see below in my findings after having the pleasure of making the E71 my main device for 3 weeks... enjoy the recap, the images and the videos!
Former Microsoft, Google, and Nextel Executives Back Series A For Multi-Modal Firm - TravellingWave
Written by TravellingWave
Monday, 13 August 2007
Mobile Speech Technology Firm TravellingWave Launches
SEATTLE, WA – TravellingWave, an early-stage mobile speech technology firm that
has developed breakthrough technology for speech-to-text input for mobile devices,
today announced that the company has formally launched, and has received investment
from prominent Seattle investors. The Series A round for TravellingWave was led by Jim Judson, a partner at Seattle
law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and who has had prior associations with McCaw
Cellular, Nextel International and China Unicom. Other participating investors include Geoff Entress, a principal with Seattle-based
venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group; Bill Miller, formerly with OVP Ventures
and a former general manager of Microsoft’s Advertising Business Unit, and Colin
Wong, founder of investment firm Prosperati and formerly with Google. The amount of the investment was undisclosed.
TravellingWave has recently concluded early trials of its system, and is poised
to deploy with mobile carriers and handset manufacturers in the coming year. The
company has twice been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation SBIR
grant, and has built an international research, development, and sales team.
TravellingWave was founded by Dr. Ashwin Rao, an international expert in speech
recognition who has held research positions at leading companies, including AT&T
Bell-Labs and Dragon Systems (now Nuance). The company has developed patent-pending technology dubbed “predictive speech-to-text.”
TravellingWave’s product suite currently includes VoicePredict™ a solution that
allows users to quickly input text using a “multi-mode” system that combines both
voice recognition and predictive text. Once the software is installed, the user simply speaks the word while depressing
the left soft key (VoicePredict TM button), types in a letter or two of that word,
and the word automatically appears on the screen.
“The mobile marketing industry is finding its voice, and now mobile text input
is answering this clarion call with more user-friendly technologies,” said Rao. “TravellingWave was founded on the premise of revolutionizing the way people
interface with their handsets. Our investors represent some of the most experienced individuals in the mobile
industry, and they have seized the opportunity to forge a new direction for the
third screen.”
The use of mobile devices for data applications that include text messaging,
e-mail, and mobile search is growing rapidly worldwide, and device manufacturers,
mobile operators, and technology firms are seeking ways to improve the mobile
data experience. Several companies continue to improve hand/finger-based Inputs by making advances
in keypad designs and text-based prediction technologies. At the other end of
the spectrum, companies and research organizations worldwide continue efforts
to replace the keypad altogether, using pure speech-to-text technology.
“The attraction to TravellingWave is as clear as its input technology: it is
one of the most fundamentally disruptive technology firms operating today,” said
Jim Judson. “Enhancing the mobile user experience is key to the growth of mobile commerce,
and the TravellingWave technology is an essential catalyst in launching the next
phase of the mobile content industry.”
The market in which TravellingWave participates is growing rapidly. Worldwide SMS (short-message service) traffic was up year-on-year by around
50% to more than 620 billion messages in the first quarter of 2007, according
to analyst firm Informa’s Worldwide Cellular Data Metrics (WCDM). In the same time, SMS revenues rose 23%, vaulting total data revenues to $34.3
billion, the highest ever. As mobile marketing and advertising gain greater traction in the market, improved
mobile device input will enable more fluid communication and response. According to analyst firm eMarketer, mobile advertising is projected to grow
from $1.5 billion in 2006 to $13.9 billion by 2011.
“The combination of the right technology at the right time is critical to a venture’s
early success, and there is no substitute for innovative execution. TravellingWave combines all the right elements for what is a massive industry
opportunity,” said Geoff Entress. “The TravellingWave proposition is fundamental to the future of the wireless
industry, namely: how do you input text into the ever-shrinking mobile device?”
In addition to Dr. Rao, TravellingWave features company co-founders and renowned
software developers Gregory Aronov and Marat Garafutdinov (formerly with Conversay
and Microsoft) and noted mobile industry business development executive Joseph
O’Neill (formerly with Motorola).
About TravellingWave
TravellingWave is an early-stage company that develops software, using speech
recognition technology, for entering text into mobile devices. The predictive
speech-to-text technology combines traditional predictive text input with speech
recognition. The result is an extremely simple, fast, and enhanced interface for
mobile users. Founded in Seattle in 2004, TravellingWave is based in Seattle, Washington.
The company has been privately funded by the company founder, Dr. Ashwin Rao,
and prominent Seattle-based angel investors. TravellingWave has also been partially
supported by grant-awards from the National Science Foundation. For more information,
please visit the company Web site at www.travellingwave.com.
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Samsung Mobile Innovator is the latest developer support program from a Symbian OS licensee. Richard Bloor caught up with Phil Northam, the program's Global Marketing Manager and one of its founding members, to find out more.
A note from Nokia reps this week informs us that the Nokia viNe application will be rolled out of Beta soon... possibly even this week. viNe is a web service that enables users of the application to share their journeys, along with media collected along the way. As a long-time Sports Tracker user, N95 enthusiasts, and evangelist of all things mobile and geospatial, I was provided with a pre-release version of viNe - details and a complete "How To" install and use the application are provided... enjoy! Enter Nokia viNe 101 
It was back in 
I’ve been a long-time fan and user of Nokia Sports Tracker. In fact, I’ve considered it to be one of the best location-aware mobile apps anywhere… hands-down! Now it's even more fun, more useful, and easier to share with others... 
It was almost a year ago at 
