Nokia bares vision for next-gen mobile technologies

Nokia Corp. recently unveiled its vision for technologies that will shape the future of mobile devices at its research center in Oulu, Finland.

The handset maker demonstrated several new technologies, including a one-to-many distribution platform called mosh, a mobile Internet service called WidSets, and advanced visual capabilities on mobile devices.

Mosh is a channel where developers can publish mobile applications and other mobile content for global users. WidSets is a mobile Internet service that already has more than 3 million users and offers more than 2,000 widgets. Using the service, users can share Internet content, as well as create and publish their own widgets using Web 2.0 tools.

Nokia also demonstrated "point and find" technology that lets people discover their surroundings using a mobile phone's built-in camera. The technology turns a mobile phone into an intelligent device that can display information related to a location by fetching it from the Internet.

Another technology, called "shoot to translate," can take written characters captured with a camera on a multimedia device, which Nokia offers as part of its Nseries, and translate them into another language instantly.

As part of its effort to improve the user's visual experience on mobile devices, Nokia also showed how to implement 3D virtual environments on them, which may be inspired by the growing popularity of virtual worlds like Second Life.

The Finnish company also disclosed that there is a large community developing around its Beta Labs Web site, where users help shape future development of mobile technologies. One such Beta Lab application is Nokia's Mobile Web Server, which is running on S60 smart phones. The application makes a smart phone function as an Internet server, allowing people to access content remotely from a Web browser on another mobile device.

"The world of mobile communications is changing at an ever-increasing pace," said Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's CTO, in a statement. "To continue to stay ahead in this environment and to develop innovative new products and services that excite consumers, companies need to embrace openness on many levels. Innovation can come from anywhere, and we need to have the tools and flexibility to respond to that challenge."

- Elena Malykhina
InformationWeek