Cell Phones, GPS and Wi-Fi Take Center Stage at DemoMobile.

Publication: eWeek

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc.

LA JOLLA, Calif.--DemoMobile producer Chris Shipley opened up the annual show Thursday by backtracking on last year's pronouncement of the age of "device computing," instead saying that it is time to focus on the services and software architectures that enable the mobile platform. The show is full of services, yes, most lacking distribution and many requiring that consumers adopt a bevy of monthly fees to take advantage of them.

And even with Shipley putting services front and center, in the end it was the devices that got the most attention, including RIM's new Blackberry 7100t phone and a range of other devices.

Here's a look at what caught my eye, as examples of how mobility is changing business:

*Xora GPS Time Track: Many phones today include GPS, but very few applications actually use them. That's because GPS is mostly passive, available only for 911 calls. Only Nextel really makes use of the GPS hardware in its cell phones. That functionality has allowed service provider Xora to roll out some interesting functionality for field-based service organizations--an ability...

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