Hanover, 3 March 2008. If Thomas Edison had opted for candlelight, we'd still be in the dark today. There is no future without investments in research and development. Vodafone is presenting "Mobile Innovations" - concepts and projects relating to the future world of communications - at CeBIT 2008.
eCall
Every minute counts when it comes to saving the lives of motorists who have been in-volved in collisions. That's why the European Commission has initiated a project called eCall (eCall = emergency call), whose objective is to get faster help to accident victims. Vodafone is a supporter of the European Commission's project, and it will be giving an impressive demonstration of how mobile communications technology can deliver more effective help to accident victims. In future, all cars will have a SIM card that automatically makes an emergency call stating the vehicle's precise location to a PSAP (Public Service Answering Point). The information transmitted to the PSAP includes GPS data that pin-points the vehicle's location and a call-back number for the emergency services to call. The emergency services can use this number to contact the driver and passengers of the car over the speakerphone system. This provides the emergency services with all the essential information that they need to rescue and treat the people at the accident site. In two years' time, all new vehicles in Europe will have "eCall" on board as a standard feature.
Otello – image-based search
Is the new CD by your favourite artist available to download from Vodafone yet? When was Cologne cathedral built? What do other people say about this red wine? Why should I have to go through the painstaking process of typing in words? Simply make a photo with your mobile phone, send it to Otello and you'll have the answer in no time. Otello simply com-pares the image that you send with the images in its database and sends the appropriate response back. If Otello doesn't recognise a photo, you can add it to the database. The Otello Clubs expand the knowledge base. Wine gourmets meet in Hanover and tourism guides in Berlin to swap information and know-how.
Mobile payments
You don't always have small change with you, but you nearly always have a mobile phone. That's how the idea was born to use mobile phones for "small change" payments when you buy all kinds of items of daily use such as bus tickets, the newspaper, bread and car park tickets. Mobile phones can also be used in place of plastic credit cards or direct debit cards for larger payments. The technology that makes this possible is called NFC (Near-Field Communication). It enables data exchange between mobile phones and readers within a near field range of up to 4 cm.
eNewspaper
The eNewspaper project was initiated when someone came up with the idea of a digital newspaper that can be read like its "black & white" counterpart and has pages that "turn", but is always up to the minute. It is based on the new electronic paper, which can portray texts and photos as if they were on real paper without power consumption and even in strong sunlight. The newspaper's content can also be transmitted via mobile networks at any time of the day or night and to any location.
InsideOut
Vodafone InsideOut is all about communication between the virtual and real world. If you want to be available at all times, just in case your special buddy in Second Life wants to contact you, but you don't want to stay online all the time, you can get your buddy to call you on your "real" phone. This is how it works: there's a Vodafone phone machine in Second Life where you can get a free mobile phone. This virtual mobile phone enables you to communicate with an Avatar - a digital representation of a person in the virtual world - when you are offline. The advantage is that the virtual mobile phone number only enables two Avatars to contact each other, so their real identity is protected.
Clipgenerator
The Vodafone Clipgenerator will give mobile phone users the opportunity to combine per-sonal photos and texts with music into a professional-looking video clip. The advantage is that the Clipgenerator can use copyrighted music chart songs and video clips. The Vodafone Clipgenerator supports all standard formats and it has already won numerous innovation awards, such as the Popkomm IMEA (Innovations in Music and Entertainment) Award 2007, and it was runner-up at the Innovator’s Award CEBIT 2007. The Clipgenerator is unique because the user can create legal content which is patented for mobile devices (the patent is registered in Germany and pending in all other European countries).
Vodafone MyFriends
Vodafone's MyFriends service study involves a new text messaging service that funda-mentally improves group communication with friends and relatives. Simply send a text message to several friends and Vodafone will automatically set up a group number. And that's not all - every text message reply sent via the group number is also sent to everyone in the group. The group members can also make conference calls using the MyFriends number. One person calls the number and all of the friends' phones ring simultaneously. It's easy to administer and set up different groups online for an innovative and simple way of staying in contact with friends, relatives, work colleagues or members of your club.
Betavine
The Vodafone Betavine Laboratory (www.betavine.net) is a public online community plat-form that is open to everyone - from professional mobile application developers to aspiring mobile application developers and people who simply want to find out about new applica-tions and try out good ideas. Anyone can register to be a member and download the appli-cations, join in discussions, comment in blogs or create their own. Developers can upload their own applications and present their work to get useful feedback from other members. The Betavine platform has a diverse and original range of software applications on it. There's a sunset software, a guitar course and a Linux version of the Vodafone Mobile Connect Card software, which has already been downloaded by over 45,000 people all over the world.
If you have any queries, please contact:
Marion Stolzenwald, External Communications, T: +49 211 533-6653
Press hotline: +49 211 533-5500
Vodafone Germany is one of the largest and most modern telecommunications providers in Europe. It serves almost 34 million customers, realises turnover of more than EUR 8 billion and has 9,000 employees. Vodafone Germany is an innovative technology and service enterprise, offering a comprehensive range of mobile communication services from one provider. The portfolio includes mobile communications and fixed network telephony, as well as data services for business and private customers. Continuous development, numerous patents and investments in new products, services and the modern network have made Vodafone an innovation leader in the German telecommunications market. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf. Eight branch offices and a chain of 1600 Vodafone shops keep us close to our customers. The Vodafone Germany group of companies also includes a majority shareholding in the Arcor telecommunications group, which is headquartered in Eschborn, Germany. Vodafone Germany is committed to CSR and it additionally supports numerous projects through the German Vodafone Foundation.
The company is part of the Vodafone Group. Visit the website at www.vodafone.de for further information.