Location API 2.0 for J2ME – A new standard in location for Java-enabled mobile phones (291.24 KB)
Key aspects in realizing the maximum potential of advanced Location-Based Services (LBS) are the standardization and cross-platform availability of an Application Programming Interface (API) for mobile phones that allows access to real-time location information. To shorten the development time of advanced LBS, such an API should also provide essential features such as map user interfaces, geocoding, and navigation to be used as building blocks in the context of larger mobile applications. Using these available services, application developers can focus on building innovative location-aware applications rather than re-creating existing services. This article’s main goals are to emphasize the importance of such an API and to describe the Location API for Java 2 Micro Edition (
J2ME). This description includes the main features of the current “
JSR179-Location API v1.0” as well as the significant enhancements and new services included in the development of “
JSR293-Location API v2.0.” These new features, illustrated using coding examples, will help software developers create next-generation location-aware
J2ME applications.
The emerging value network in the mobile phone industry (315.46 KB)
This paper considers how the mobile phone industry is changing from a value chain to a value network using the Japanese market as an example. Value networks involve a larger number of firms, a more complex set of relationships between them, and agreements on a greater number of interface standards than do value chains. Building from this concept of a value network, the paper shows how: (1) agreements on many of these interface standards are enabling connections to be made between the mobile phone and other industries; (2) the resulting products and services often reflect the technological capability of phones and the existing products and services in these “other” industries; (3) each new interface standard requires a new critical mass of users; and (4) a critical mass of users for a new interface standard partly builds from previously created critical masses of users. On a practical level, this paper's analysis adds to a growing list of evidence that the growth in Western mobile Internet markets is nowhere near its potential and that the change from a value chain to a value network requires a different form of standard setting, policy making, and management than are currently used in the mobile phone industry.
Rendezvousing with location-aware devices: Enhancing social coordination (414.1 KB)
Emerging technologies such as location-awareness devices have the potential to significantly impact users' social coordination, particularly while rendezvousing. It is important that we explore how new technologies influence social behaviours and communication in order to realize their full potential. This paper presents a field study investigating the use of mobile location-aware devices for rendezvous activities. Participants took part in one of three mobile device conditions (a mobile phone, a location-aware handheld, or both a mobile phone and a location-aware handheld) and completed three rendezvousing scenarios. The results reveal key differences in communication patterns between the mediums, as well as the potential strengths and limitations of location-aware devices for social coordination. The paper concludes with a discussion of relevant design issues drawn from observations gathered during the field study.
Cell broadcast trials in The Netherlands: Using mobile phone technology for citizens’ alarming (366.31 KB)
The Internet mobile phone and space-time constraints (238.41 KB)
While the implications of information and communication technologies (
ICTs) for daily travel and activities have been studied extensively, there is only scant attention paid to the relations between
ICTs and space-time constraints. This study therefore explores the extent to which the Internet and mobile phone increase the spatial and temporal flexibility of everyday activities through a review of the literature and empirical research with data from Columbus (Ohio, USA) and Utrecht (The Netherlands). The analysis suggests that the implications of the Internet and mobile phone are complex and dependent on the type of activity, persons involved, technologies and socio-physical context in which they are embedded. Various regularities can, however, be detected. For the study participants, the Internet and mobile phone relax temporal constraints to a stronger degree than they enhance spatial flexibility. There are also space-time constraints that seem to persist or have come about because of ICT adoption. Finally, it appears that the Internet and mobile phone at best consolidate differences between men and women in the space-time constraints associated with everyday activities.