Although mobile phones are perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the wireless industry, they are by no means the only aspect of the business. Indeed, wireless technology today inhabits everything from gas monitors to vending machines to laptop computers.
The market has evolved to the point where even ordinary, seemingly benign objects are now connected to a network. Clocks, watches, paperweights, pinwheels and other items are among the newest players in the sweeping world of wireless. Such gadgets fall under the “glanceable” class of wireless devices.
Startup Ambient Devices and software giant Microsoft Corp. are two of the most notable players in the new glanceable objects market. And although their devices in many cases offer the same sort of information, their strategies are very different.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Ambient Devices launched its first glanceable device, the Ambient Orb, in May 2002. The orb changes colors depending on the status of the stock market, among other things. The company now offers a range of such devices, each featuring various services including updated weather and financial information. And under a new deal Ambient has signed with Internet aggregator Yodlee, the company will be able to offer glanceable information from personal e-mail accounts, receive flight information and view other Internet sources.
Ambient’s service breathes new life into one of wireless’ forgotten areas: paging. Ambient uses ReFLEX paging networks to broadcast Internet information to its line of glanceable objects. Ambient said paging networks ensure its broadcasts cover more than 90 percent of the U.S. population and enjoy solid in-building coverage.
Further, Ambient users can configure their devices to display a variety of Internet information, as Ambient has opened its broadcast network up to Internet content providers. The company freely offers up its open-source application programming interfaces and this, Ambient proclaims, is one of its main strengths.
“The Internet taught us it’s hard to anticipate the content people will want,” said David Rose, Ambient’s president. “On our network, people track their auction prices on eBay, their company sales or even visits to their Web site.”
Microsoft, on the other hand, has taken a different approach. Under the company’s SPOT program, users can purchase wristwatches and other objects that can be updated with Internet content, including information from Microsoft’s MSN Messenger and Outlook programs.
Microsoft uses its new MSN Direct network to broadcast its Internet information. The network runs over FM radio subcarrier networks and is part of the company’s pervasive computing mantra. Microsoft has taken a closed approach to its SPOT service, allowing only a select number of content providers into the program.
Despite their strategic differences, it’s unclear whether Microsoft or Ambient Devices will prevail in the market for glanceable wireless objects. Michael King, a senior industry analyst with the mobile communications business for research and consulting firm Gartner, said such devices likely will enjoy only limited success. King said previous attempts at Dick Tracy-style watches and other objects generally have met with failure.
“There will always be a place for them,” King said of such gadgets. “But I just don’t ever see them becoming mainstream devices.”
