How green are these new mobile enterprise inventions?

Company: Apical Limited -
Sector: Mobile device hardware
Overview: Assertive Display technology works like a human eye, using digital imaging processing and adaptive screen brightness control to deliver high-quality multimedia experiences in high levels of ambient light while reducing power consumption on tablets by as much as 50 per cent.
Gut reaction: Brilliant! I love the sound of this one. I’m dismayed by how much of my eye sight has been diminished because I spend so much time gawking at a glowing screen.
And they’re good for the environment too
But…. How on earth are they going to make money?

Company: Blippar
Sector:  Mobile marketing / application
Overview:  An augmented reality based app for iPhone and Android which transforms advertising and physical branding into a digitally interactive experience. Using the smartphone camera in blippar mode the user receives a ‘pushed’ web link, video coupon or an AR game.
Gut reaction: The three phrases that are guaranteed to make most mobile users’ hearts sink: mobile marketing, advertising, branding. Hang on, I forgot Coupon.
Coupons turn every shopping transaction into a fiddle arsed, soul destroying, grim experience.
I hope I’m wrong. I’m looking forward to seeing Blippar mode. I hope they’re nice people and they understand my concerns about how in your face mobile marketing is ruining our lives.

Company: Carbon Hero Ltd 
Sector:  Environmental application
Overview: CarbonDiem is an app for BlackBerry and Android that automatically detects journeys and calculates the carbon footprint, plus it optimises processing and battery power. By aggregating data across groups of users, individuals, companies and event organisers can monitor emissions.
Gut reaction: Like the sound of this. How do they detect the carbon footprint of the journey? Some people drive at 20 mph the entire journey, while constantly hitting the brakes, while some drive economically.
I wish there was an app that disabled the car if the driver did any of the following:
Poodled along in the middle lane refusing to pull over
Constantly hit the brakes for no apparent reason
Failed to use their indicators
I’ve got some questions for Carbon Hero!

Company: Datawind 
Sector:  Mobile device
Overview: Tackling the global digital divide, the Ubislate is the world’s cheapest tablet PC at just $35 each. This 7inch low cost mobile internet device targets developing markets, providing phone functionality and fast internet, increasing speed of content delivery by a factor of 30.
Gut reaction: It’s fast and its cheap! I’ve got to have one of these. Never mind developing markets, give me one. At $35 that’s cheaper than it cost me to watch Palace Versus Leicester on Boxing day.
I can see event organizers giving these away as freebies. (They’d come loaded with adverts, which you can only eliminate by answering questions or winning a game, or some activity that would embed the memory of that brand deep within your conscious and subconscious minds.
Hang on, that sounds like a good marketing plan. I should keep that quiet. Don’t steal my idea!)

Company: Guardian24 
Sector: Business application
Overview: Guardian24 is lone worker safety application for Blackberry which tracks and provides emergency response service for lone workers. Used by more than 32,000 workers already, they can log their whereabouts, send GPS locations and, importantly, raise an alert in times of need.
Gut reaction: Aren’t there quite a few lone worker apps out there? What’s different about this one?

Company: Hailo
Sector: Business and consumer application
Overview: Free iPhone and Android mobile app that brings together a network of independent licensed taxi drivers. The app can take smartphone bookings from Hailo customers, provides a social communication channel between drivers and user-generated traffic alerts.
Gut reaction: I could swear there are a couple of these services already in use. Kabbee, Uber, and tweeting Taxis for one.
I like the traffic alerts idea though.

Company: Mediaburst 
Sector: Healthcare
Overview: Florence is a simple SMS based healthcare system used to record and deliver patients vital signs to a service that records and plots the information, and issues reminders to patients. Information is accessible to doctors from smartphones or via the web.
Gut Reaction: Sounds fairly neat. The hard bit will be selling it to the doctor’s surgeries.
How are they doing to do that?
 
Company: Mobilize 
Sector: Marketing & retail
Overview: Mobile operators and retailers can now operate a rewards programme entirely through the mobile phone, including vouchering and customer relationship management. Rewards are redeemable through either a scanned barcode or via Near Field Communications (NFC).
Gut Reaction: Oh god, here we go again. Vouchering. I hate vouchers. You do more work keeping track of them than you could just paying the price. Having said that, maybe this is more economical. Perhaps they'll explain why.
 
Company: P2i
Sector: Consumer devices
Overview: Aridion™ technology provides protection from water damage with a liquid repellent nano-coating technology which invisibly protects devices without impacting the look, feel or functionality of a mobile device.
Gut feeling: Yes yes yes! Anyone can understand this. No brainer. I’m sure I remember them from last year.
How are they going to grab people’s attention at Mobile World Congress? Are they going to drop an iPhone in a bucket of water, then pull it out and show it’s still working?

Company: ParcelPoke  
Sector: Consumer
Overview: An instant gift messaging service which enables a real gift, such as a bar of chocolate or a badge personalised with a phonebook photo, to be sent to a friend using a mobile number or posted via Facebook. The gift is delivered wrapped, with a personal message.
Gut feeling: I like the idea of something real being dispatched. Personally I’m fed up with virtual crap. Not sure how it works. Does it rely on the honesty of the sorting officers in the Post Office? Oh dear.

Company: PowerOasis
Sector: Operator services
Overview: PowerOasis provides power management software to Mobile Network Operators in emerging markets which struggle with maintaining on grid, off-grid and unreliable grid base stations. PowerOasis actively reduces diesel consumption and the costs of generator powered base stations.
Gut reaction: Sounds brilliant. But how does it work? Is there a market for it in the UK?
Have they sold any yet? Who to? 

Company: Pyreos
Sector: Device manufacture
Overview: Developer of a highly accurate gesture recognition sensor for touchless control of mobile devices. It works using an infra-red sensor technology that detects the heat of the user’s hands, calculating direction and speed while drawing less power than mobile camera sensors.
Gut Reaction: This is brilliant engineering and whoever worked out how to do this is a genius. Possibly a slightly flawed genius, because I’m not sure how this could be turned into gold.
(Do you, like me, hate the word monetise?)
I’d love this to work. And maybe the technology could be applied to loads of other devices. Like information kiosks.
I wonder if it needs loads of fiddling around with and configuration before it works for each individual. I can never get Dragon Voice Dictation to work for me, and that’s n its tenth revision!

Company: QRpedia 
Sector: Consumer service
Overview: QRpedia is a language detecting QR code that connects worldwide museum exhibitions to Wikipedia. Using a phone’s camera, a visitor can scan a QR code and be taken directly to a relevant mobile friendly Wikipedia page in the user’s preferred language.
Gut Reation: Love the idea. But how many of today’s mobile users visit museums? What if, instead of a Wikipedia page, the QR code took you to a Podcast? And you paid for that podcast, with the money being added to your mobile phone bill?
 
 
Company: Revector
Sector: Network fraud prevention
Overview: Locate & Eliminate enables mobile network operators to pinpoint a specific building or a location from where SIM Box/GSM Gateway fraud originates. This criminal activity currently constitutes revenue losses of $4.6 billion across mobile networks worldwide.
Gut Reaction: I knew machine to machine fraud was a big growth industry (in fact, I’ve been looking at trying to get into it) but I didn’t realize that the operators were losing so much to mobile fraud?
How much does, say, Vodafone UK lose to this fraud? Would it be worth their while installing this?
What exactly do you install and where?

Company: Sequoia
Sector: Healthcare
Overview: Sequoia’s GPRS printer and gateway system enables central labs to transmit HIV test results of newborn babies, using any mobile phone, to rural-based clinics in sub-Saharan Africa with a GSM network coverage for printing. This system speeds up patient care and saves lives.
Gut Reaction: Superb idea. Maybe we should publish a number, for people to text their donations, so they can buy equipment for a specific clinic.
Then we can see exactly where out charity donations are going to. I hate it when I found out that 50 per cent of my donation pays the salary of Oxfam’s marketing director 
 
Company: Stream Communications
Sector: Machine-to-machine
Overview: ‘StreamFreeFlow’ 3G service is the fastest SIM based data service for tablets in the UK today. Consistently 80% quicker downloading websites than any other UK 3G service, StreamFreeFlow truly enhances the iPad and Smart Tablet user experience.
Gut Reaction: So, it speeds up downloads by 80 per cent? I can see the immediate appeal of that. Especially if I’m paying a fortune for my data.
How do I get this service?
How are you going to bring it to people’s attention?
How about an advert, where two people are bidding for an item. (We don’t see what)
One has an unfashionable brand of Android tablet. Such as my Disgo Tablet 6000. The other has a top of the range Pad.
But, the uncool one keeps outfoxing the cool one, in everything they compete for online.
Why? Because Streamflow makes your tablet a lot cooler.

Company: Sub10 Systems 
Sector: Network infrastructure
Overview: The Liberator MMW is point-to-point MilliMetre Waveband hardware for mobile networks to increase data capacity and backhaul in city centres. Small enough to be fixed to a lamppost, it negates the need for submitting planning applications and digging up roads.
Gut Reaction: Love it. But would local councils allow you to fix the devices to lamp posts? They’re not the most progressive people in the world are they? They move like glaciers. They only seem to invest in technology if they can catch people for minor motoring infringements.
What if businesses could be persuaded to host these devices? What would be in it for them though?

Company: VisionIPTV 
Sector: Mobile TV
Overview: Through adaptive http streaming support, Vision IPTV’s white label video app allows broadcasters or content owners to highly customise and stream TV-quality video to Android and iOS devices. Its complete backend system supports all current payment and subs models
Gut Reaction: Why? Who needs it? How does it work?
How will people make money from this?
 
Company: Wood & Douglas 
Sector: Public safety
Overview: PAWS (Portable All-terrain Wireless System) is an advanced long range wireless voice, video and data transmission system to be placed on search and rescue dogs. The dog’s view is transmitted back, via Wi-Fi, to a safely ensconced human operator using a smartphone or tablet.
Gut Reaction: This is superb. Where do they use it? Are the pictures open to the public? If we could all watch someone getting rescued, then it would make great news footage. And the publicity might persuade more people to donate money to buy the system for whichever branch of the rescue services needs the system.
 
Company: TheAlloy 
Sector: Industrial design / handsets / applications
Overview: Futurologists focused on user driven design innovation for mobile devices and operator services. TheAlloy is working with UKTI and will be attending as an independent commentator on British innovation in mobile.  The company will work with the finalist to support product or service development.
Gut Reaction: What are the biggest problems facing UK innovators? Do they get enough support from government? Does government support actually slow them down? Is it true that BusinessLink makes you jump through so many hoops, and attend so many meetings with dead eyed jobsworths, that you’re better off alone?
Futurulogists eh? That man Cochrane from BT predicted we’d be time travelling by 2021. He actually named the date! Can you top that level of Soothsaying?