you can run but you can't hide
Can't even run any more. Sheesh. Wonder if the FBI picks up the cost of its surveillance, or if we pay an extra fee for them to keep tabs on us.
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New wireless service to make mobile phones useful for more than calling
RELATED SYMBOLS: (QCOM)(GTE)
SAN JOSE, Calif. _ If you're craving a cup of coffee but don't know
where to go, soon you'll be able to just ask your mobile phone to find
you the closest cafe.
A Palo Alto, Calif., company and GTE Telecommunication Services Inc.
plan to unveil next week the newest spin on directory assistance. The
new technology automatically detects a wireless telephone user's
location and uses voice recognition software as well as a database of
businesses to help callers find everything from that cup of coffee to
the nearest ATM.
It is all part of a trend that companies say will make wireless
telephones useful for more than just calling.
''Over the long term it's going to be the wave of the future,'' said
Herschel Shosteck of Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd., a
Maryland-based wireless market analyst. But he cautioned, like any new
technology it will be a few years before it is perfected.
''The initial implementation will fall short. We see this taking
several years to make it work to be user-friendly,'' he said.
GTE Telecommunication is pitching the new service to wireless companies at a convention next week in New Orleans.
Here is how the company says it will work if you are trying to find a
restaurant:
When a caller dials a special number _ INFO, for example _ the caller's location would be traced automatically, based on their proximity to the closest cell towers that carry their calls. The caller then asks for the nearest restaurant or, if a carrier picks an alternative, follows an automated menu that asks the caller to dial 1 if they want the closest restaurant.
In either case, the request would be routed to a database owned by Palo Alto-based Vicinity Corp., which contains information about companies, services and their locations. An automated voice would list nearby restaurants and their addresses.
Callers with a specific preference could narrow their search by asking
for an Italian restaurant, for example.
As a final step, the caller could be connected to the restaurant to
check if any tables were available.
GTE says pricing for the service would be up to the wireless companies
that buy it. Some may provide it for free to attract customers. Others
may choose to charge the price of a directory assistance call _ 75
cents for most Bay Area carriers _ or to levy a monthly charge for the
service.
In another variation, callers could dial a specific number tied to the
name of a company, such as BUCKS for Starbucks coffee, to ask for the
closest location.
In this example, the cost of the service probably would be picked up by the company marketing the service.
''This is data that already exists on the Internet,'' said Eric
Winkler, vice president of marketing for Vicinity. ''What's new is that you no longer need the Internet or the PC to get to this data. This is a way of doing this from the phone.''
Vicinity's database contains information about companies from the
Yellow Pages as well as from more than 200 clients. The company
specializes in using the Internet to guide people to stores and other
businesses. It creates a feature on Web sites for companies such as
Marriott, Starbucks and Taco Bell that allows customers to enter their
address and find the closest location.
With the wireless service, GTE Telecommunication acts as the middleman, using its network to carry the call from the carrier's network to the database and back again. As the network service provider, GTE will sell the service to wireless carriers.
Bob Bruce, manager of marketing services for GTE Telecommunication,
said the service will be attractive to wireless companies because it
makes use of systems the companies are putting in place to meet federal requirements that they be able to help emergency officials pinpoint the location of people who make 911 calls from mobile phones.
''Instead of just spending that money, and that infrastructure just
sitting there doing nothing in your network, you can leverage that same infrastructure and make some money on it,'' he said.
In the future, the same technology could also be used for a variety of
other services, such as providing driving directions to callers. People could receive the directions over the telephone, store them in voice mail, or eventually, display them on a laptop or navigation screen in their car.
At least one phone manufacturer is working on its own locator system.
For example, Qualcomm Inc.'s next generation of chips, which will start appearing in phones early next year, will include some elements of global positioning system technology, a satellite tracking network
built by the U.S. government. That will enable them to process the
location signals from the GPS satellites.
With this feature, the telephones will be able not only to reveal a
caller's location on 911 calls, but also to perform mapping and
directory functions that require location information.
GTE's Bruce said location technology would also help wireless companies battle telephone fraud by locating thieves.
And wireless carriers who want to compete with traditional local
telephone companies could also use it for location-sensitive billing so that calls made from a customer's home would be charged at a cheaper rate that could rival that of the established local telephone company, he said.
(c) 1999, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.). |
