T05 3-4 2 PDF

Contents
Telektronikk Future Mobile Phones

Volume 101 No. 3/4 – 2005
1 Guest editorial – Future Mobile Phones;
ISSN 0085-7130
Do Van Thanh
Editor:
3 The mobile phone: Its evolution from a communication device to a universal
Per Hjalmar Lehne
companion; Do Van Thanh and Ivar Jørstad
(+47) 916 94 909
[email protected] 22 Mobile telephone history; Tom Farley
Editorial assistant: 35 Mobile phones and fashion in post-modernity;
Gunhild Luke Leopoldina Fortunati
(+47) 415 14 125
[email protected] 49 Interest in future net-based services for a sample of Norwegian interviewees;
Rich Ling
Editorial office:
Telenor R&D 60 Mobile multimedia and users: On the domestication of mobile multimedia;
NO-1331 Fornebu Ilpo Koskinen and Esko Kurvinen
Norway 69 Infrastructure for a mobile workforce;
(+47) 810 77 000 Ole Tom Seierstad
[email protected]
www.telektronikk.com 78 Flexible service integration with BREW;
Richard Savage
Editorial board:
Berit Svendsen, Vice President Telenor 85 What’s next in mobile telephony and will it succeed?
Nordic Nigel Wilcox
Ole P. Håkonsen, Professor NTNU
96 OMTP – Open Mobile Terminal Platform;
Oddvar Hesjedal, CTO Kyivstar GSM Lars Wendt and Do Van Thanh
Bjørn Løken, Director Telenor Nordic
100 Reading emails on mobile phones;
Graphic design:
Do Van Thanh, Ivar Jørstad and Tore Jønvik
Design Consult AS (Odd Andersen), Oslo
123 Fetching home music – Sending photos home;
Layout and illustrations:
Do Van Thanh, Ivar Jørstad and Do Van Thuan
Gunhild Luke and Åse Aardal,
Telenor R&D 131 The role of RFID in the mobile phone;
Juan Carlos Lopez Calvet
Prepress and printing:
Rolf Ottesen Grafisk Produksjon, Oslo 143 Future management of mobile phones; Do Van Thanh, Anne Marte Hjemås,
Anders Bjurgård and Øystein Christian Løken
Circulation:
3,600 155 From personal mobility to mobile personality; Matthias Wagner, Marko Luther,
Robert Hirschfeld, Wolfgang Kellerer and Anthony Tarlano
165 The Virtual Device – The future mobile phone?

Do Van Thanh and Ivar Jørstad
Networks on networks
Connecting entities through networks – in Special
technological, societal and personal terms –
enables telecommunication. Networks occur on 175 IP-based resource discovery in fixed and mobile networks;
different levels, form parts of larger networks, Paal E. Engelstad and Geir Egeland
and exist in numerous varieties. The artist Odd
Andersen visualises the networks on networks
by drawing interconnected lines with different 195 Terms and acronyms in Future Mobile Phones
widths. Curved connections disturb the order
and show that networks are not regular but are
adapted to the communication needs.
Per H. Lehne, Editor in Chief
Guest editorial – Future mobile phones
DO VAN THANH
In technology, things are quite often turned upside phone chipsets which are smaller in size and consume
down and become the opposite of what they were less power. These chipsets contribute to the standard-
originally meant to be. Hardware components of isation of the mobile phone’s hardware. Parallel to
computers are becoming “softer” and more replace- this is the emergence of open and “de-facto” standard
able than software components. Telephones go wire- operating systems based on Linux for mobile phones
less while televisions get “wired” through cable. The like Monte Vista, Trolltech, BlueCat, etc. Even native
Do Van Thanh mobile terminal, which was originally meant as a Java operating systems like Savaje have appeared.
is Senior
peripheral device, has become very central in the This forces the established mobile phone operating
Research
Scientist at mobile telecommunication world. Indeed, from a systems like Symbian, Windows Smartphone, Pal-
Telenor R&D rather heavy and unpractical mobile station, the mOS to provide open and standardised APIs. The
mobile terminal has evolved to becoming a handy fundaments for open and computer-oriented phones
device that has found its way to the heart of more are hence laid, but it may not be desirable that mobile
and more people. The mobile phone is getting more phones become pure computers which are vulnerable
advanced every day in terms of functionality and to virus attacks. Indeed, the minimum requirement is
offers; in addition to telephony, valuable services that no matter what happens, a phone should, at least,
like messaging, contact, calendar, mobile commerce, function as a phone, i.e. be able to make and receive
gaming, etc. are available The mobile phone is incor- calls. This calls for a new architecture where security
porating more and more gadgets like digital camera, is seriously taken into account.
MP3 player, memory stick, remote control, etc. It is
becoming more visible to the user and offering greater This is one of the activities of the OMTP (Open
user experience with higher resolution screen, better Mobile Terminal Platform), an operator initiative to
sound quality, easier navigation facility, etc. It is no open and standardise mobile phones. Another major
longer considered as a communication device, but goal of the OMTP is the operator’s customisation
more as a jewel that one is expressing oneself with. across heterogeneous mobile phones, i.e. to define
a uniform user experience across different mobile
The battle in the mobile telecommunication world is phones. But, the mobile operators are not the only
nowadays very much more over the mobile phone players that want to have something to say on the
than on the mobile network. The competition is no mobile phones. The first and most obvious player is
longer between telecom manufacturers like Nokia, the user who wants to personalise his mobile phone
SonyEricsson, Motorola, Samsung, etc., but the tele- according to his preferences. Next is the third party
com operators are also starting to show interest in service provider that delivers its services on the
influencing both the functionality and appearance of mobile phone and may want to customise to differen-
the mobile phones. Some major telecom operators tiate with other service providers. Last, but definitely
such as Vodafone, Orange, T-mobile, etc. view cus- not least, is the enterprise that is the employer of the
tomisation of mobile phones as a decisive differentia- user, the payer of the mobile subscription and most
tion since the mobile phones are what the customers often the owner of the mobile terminal. The enter-
see and want to pay for. Another motivation for join- prise may or may not want to have company logo
ing the battle of mobile terminals is the dissatisfac- or colour on the mobile display. However, they will
tion on the fragmentation of the hardware compo- probably want to have the right to approve the appli-
nents and the incompatibility of the operating system cations running on the mobile phone in the same way
and software platforms. These constitute one of the that they select and grant the installation of the clients
major hindrances to the promotion and acceptance of running on the employee’s laptop that communicate
advanced data services. Indeed, the mobile operators remotely with the servers on the company’s intranet
tend to be in favour of the evolution of the mobile ter- and behind the firewalls.
minal from a black box to an open and standard com-
puter where software applications can be installed or Will the mobile phones continue to be distributed in
removed on demand. the market in the same way as today with most of the
functionalities and features decided by the mobile
Another factor that favours the “opening” of the phone manufacturer? Will the user have the possibil-
mobile phone is the advance in micro technology that ity to buy separately the hardware and software com-
has enabled the production of high-integration mobile ponents and tailor their own mobile phone as in the
Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2006 1

case of the PC? Will the operator or the enterprise The paper about OMTP – Open Mobile Terminal
do the assemblage and customisation of the mobile Platform – summarizes international activities that for
phones? Actually, nobody can predict what will hap- the first time ever focus solely on the mobile phone.
pen in the future. The most reasonable solution may As the mobile phone evolves to be more than a tele-
be a “multi ownership” scheme where each player phone, more interesting data services are emerging.
owns one part of the mobile phone. But for this to While one paper describes how emails can be made
happen, the future mobile must have a new and sound available on the mobile phone, the other explains how
architecture that provides autonomy, adequate secu- the user can fetch music from his home PC to his
rity and privacy to each owner at the same time as the mobile phone and send home the photos from his
scarce resources of the mobile phone are shared in an mobile phone. The usage and role of RFID on mobile
optimal way. There are surely many technology chal- phones are also covered in one paper.
lenges but the major obstacles seem to be political
and economical making the future scenery in the This issue concludes with a view on the future with
mobile phone arena quite unclear. three articles. The first one presents a future device
management system that is capable of providing
The objective of this issue of Telektronikk is to shed dynamic and complex management operations on
light on the state-of the art of the mobile phone but heterogeneous mobile phones. Another predicts that
also its history and future. The issue will provide mobile personality will replace personal mobility that
views on technologies, user’s requirements, social allows the mobile user to develop her own online per-
consequences and economic aspects of the mobile sonality in terms of personal preference, usage and
phone. This Telektronikk issue on future mobile service profiles over time, as well as the offered ser-
phones opens with a recapitulation of the mobile vices to acquire a unique proactive behaviour. The
phone’s evolution from its birth to the present day last paper presents a futuristic mobile phone, “the
with a prospect to the future. Since the history of the virtual device”, which consists of all the autonomous
mobile terminal cannot be understood separately the devices around the user as one big “Virtual Device”
history of mobile telephony is organised to be the having multiple input and output units and providing
second overview paper. a coherent and surround interface to the user.
The next three papers focus on the human and social Finally, I would like to thank Richard Seyler Ling,
aspects of the mobile phones. The first one talks Anders Spilling, Birgitte Yttri and Marianne Jensen
about mobile phones and fashion while the second for their precious support, advice and contributions to
investigates the interest in future net based services. the elaborations of this Telektronikk issue.
The third one studies how people use their mobile
multimedia devices. I hope that you will find this issue both entertaining
and informative no matter whether you want to jump
The mobile phone arena is currently led by the tele- into the mobile phone arena or not.
com vendors and their views have great influence in
the evolution of the mobile phones. The next three Have an enjoyable read.
papers reflect the vision of the vendors. The paper
from Microsoft expresses the importance of deploy-
ing services across heterogeneous devices. The Qual-
comm’s paper focuses on the flexible selection and
installation of applications on the mobile phone. The
Philip’s paper attempts to predict the gadgets that can
be added to the mobile phones.
Prof. Dr. Do Van Thanh obtained his MSc in Electronic and Computer Sciences from the Norwegian Univer-
sity of Science and Technology (NTNU) and his PhD in Informatics from the University of Oslo. In 1991 he
joined Ericsson R&D Department in Oslo after seven years of R&D at Norsk Data, a minicomputer manu-
facturer in Oslo. In 2000 he joined Telenor R&D and is now in charge of two Eureka Celtic projects, ADPO
and Fidelity, which focus on personalization of mobile services and Identity Management. He also holds a
professorship at the Department of Telematics at NTNU in Trondheim. He is the author of over 100 publica-
tions in international conferences and journals and the inventor of 14 patents and a dozen of pending ones.
email: [email protected]
2 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2006 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

The mobile phone: Its evolution from a communication
device to a universal companion
DO VAN THANH AND IVAR JØRSTAD
Nowadays, most people know what a mobile phone is but not so many know all the functions this little
device has and how many metamorphoses it has encountered before becoming what it is today. This
paper attempts to provide a comprehensive description of the mobile phone and a presentation of its
evolution in terms of architecture, functionality, bandwidth, wireless access technologies, etc. from a
simple communication device to becoming a universal companion of the user. The paper also gives an
overview of development trends of the mobile phone.
Do Van Thanh
is Senior
Research
Scientist at 1 Introduction mobile phone will look like in the future. It could be
Telenor R&D At the time (80s) when fixed telephones became a the combination of everything one can think of from
commodity present in every household and lost its a watch, a camera, a camcorder, and an MP3 player
preponderant economic position in the telecommuni- to document storage, a universal security token or a
cation, the mobile phone emerged as the main source remote control. It may become “invisible” with all the
of revenues for telecom equipment manufacturers and components taken apart and discretely mounted into
mobile telecommunication rose as the biggest success the user’s clothes.
ever in the telecommunication history. Indeed, most
of the telecom manufacturers were about to close In this paper, we are going to re-discover the mobile
their production of terminals and concentrate on the phone from the day of its invention. Its functions and
Ivar Jørstad is a
network equipment since the business was not lucra- capabilities will be revisited and elucidated. At the
PhD student at
Norwegian tive anymore. The general belief was that the compe- end of the paper, we will attempt to depict a picture
University of tition should be on the network side rather than on of the future mobile phone.
Science and the terminal side. One company did have a visionary
Technology view on the role and potential of the mobile phones
and put considerably resources and efforts on the 2 The basic functionality of the
construction of the mobile handsets to make them mobile phone
the most used electronic device in the world. Today,
everybody knows that this company is Nokia, which 2.1 The mobile phone is a terminal
has grown from a modest telecom vendor to be a tele- The mobile phone is quite often referred to as a
com giant. This is just to depict the important role of mobile terminal in telecommunication terminology.
this little handy device, which is the mobile phone. A terminal is an apparatus that terminates or is at the
A mobile phone is now a very familiar device to terminating endpoint of the telecommunication net-
most people but not everyone really knows about the work. A terminal is a peripheral device which is
advanced functions and capabilities incorporated in rather simple and completely dependent on the net-
the mobile phone. Not many people are aware of all work, i.e. it cannot function when disconnected from
the metamorphoses the mobile phone has undergone the network. Typically, a PSTN terminal, also called
before becoming what it is today. However, the Plain-Old Telephone (POT) is terminating the Public
changes will not stop there but will continue at an Switched Telephone Network. It is a rather simple
even faster pace. Indeed, nobody can predict what the device that enables the user to make or receive phone
calls and consists basically of four components:
• A receiver to accept signals

• A transmitter to send signals
• A microphone to capture the voice of the user
• A loudspeaker to generate sounds to the user.
Microphone Loudspeaker
To operate, the PSTN terminal is alimented by an
electric current generated by the local exchange on
the local loop, i.e. the circuit between the local
Transmitter Receiver
exchange and the terminal. When disconnected from
the line, the PSTN terminal is completely inoperative.
Figure 1 A Plain Old Telephone
Telektronikk 3.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 3

Photos courtesy of Thomas Farley, www.privateline.com
The phone does not have any identity on itself but the A handheld station was only one of the five alterna-
identification is based on the line between the local tives. It was also considered to be the least realistic
exchange and the household. Any phone hooked up since it was difficult to incorporate so much function-
to the line will be viewed in the same way by the local ality in a small and portable device.
exchange and will operate without any difference.
2.3 The mobile phone is a cellular phone
2.2 The mobile phone is a station Quite obviously, a mobile phone must be equipped
The mobile phone is a terminal and has similar capa- with radio transmission and reception capabilities.
bilities to making and receiving calls as the fixed However, a mobile phone does not communicate
phone. However, contrary to the fixed phone, the directly with another mobile phone as in the case of
mobile phone is an advanced and quite complex the walkie-talkie. It communicates via a cellular net-
device. In the specifications of the Groupe Special work. A mobile phone is also called cellular phone
Mobile (GSM), which was later renamed Global Sys- because it is connected to a cellular network.
tem for Mobile communication, the mobile terminal
is called mobile station that denotes a bunch of equip- A cellular network is a radio network made up of a
ment necessary for transmitting and receiving while number of radio cells (or just cells), each served by
moving. Indeed at the time, it was anticipated that the a fixed transceiver, normally known as a base station.
mobile terminal would be quite big and heavy. It is The reason for having cells is to extend both the cov-
transportable but not very portable. According to the erage area and the number of simultaneous calls.
specifications [1], a GSM Mobile Station can be:
According to the laws of physics, a radio frequency
• A vehicle mounted station; can be used at a location by one and only one radio
• A transportable station; transmission. Since the usable frequency spectrum is
• A handheld station; limited, the number of simultaneous transmissions is
• A vehicle mounted/transportable station; also limited.
• A vehicle mounted/handheld station.
A genius solution to the problem invented at the end
of the 1940s was to divide the area into small cells
and to reuse the same frequencies in these cells. It is
F worth noting that although a cell is shown in most
books as a hexagonal, a cell is amorphous and there is
A
quite often overlapping between neighbour cells. Due
E C to signal leakage that can cause interference and dete-
rioration of the signal quality, the same frequencies
G D
cannot be used in neighbour cells. In Figure 2, the
F B cells denoted with different letters get allocated dif-
ferent frequencies. In order to avoid interference,
A cells of same type are placed away from each other.
E C
The usage of multiple cells means that when the
D mobile phone moves from one cell to another, it will
communicate with different base stations and change
channels. If there is an ongoing call then it should not
Figure 2 Frequency reuse in cellular networks

Home location register
Visitor location
Visitor location register register XX
XX
Location area XXN

Location area XXN
Paging
Visitor location register

YY
Location area
Cell
XXNi
Figure 3 Registration of location in GSM
be interrupted. To prevent interrupt, it is necessary to of its own, independent of the network access point
carry out handover, also called handoff. identity for the network to use to communicate with
it. In GSM [7], every mobile phone has a unique
Handover requires naturally coordination between identity called International Mobile Equipment Iden-
the mobile phone and the base stations. But first of tity (IMEI) and stolen mobile phones can be interna-
all, the mobile phone must be “intelligent” enough to tionally barred based on this identity.
know which base station it is currently served by and
which will take over. In GSM (Global system for Since the mobile phone is constantly changing posi-
mobile communications)[7], the mobile phone will tion, when there is a call addressed to it, the mobile
detect that it is about to leave one cell and enter network must locate and deliver the call to the mobile
another. It will ask to get a channel reserved with the phone. It can do this by broadcasting over the net-
new base station while still maintaining the current work a message “Mobile phone ID XX, please report
channel. The signal from the former base station con- yourself”. When receiving the message, the addressed
tinues to deteriorate and when it falls below a thresh- mobile phone ID XX will respond and a call can be
old, the mobile phone will order the switching to the set up. This procedure is called Paging. The paging
new channel and terminate the old channel. This is may be time consuming when the mobile network is
called hard handover. geographically large. Flooding the network with pag-
ing message is also a waste of bandwidth. The regis-
In American system IS-95 and WCDMA the same tration of location is hence introduced.
frequency handovers, i.e. the mobile phone changes
cell but uses the same frequency, both channels will Two stages of registration are used in GSM to reduce
actually be in use at the same time. This is called a the updating frequency. The Home Location Register
soft handover. Handover is carried out not only when (HLR) registers which Visitor Location Register
the mobile phone moves to another cell but also in (VLR) the mobile phone is currently visiting. The
load balancing or when signal deterioration occurs to VLR registers which Location Area the mobile phone
avoid interrupt. is located in. A Location Area (LA) or Routing Area
(RA) in GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) [9]
In addition to the wireless transmission and reception groups a number of cells and constitutes the smallest
capabilities, the mobile phone must also be equipped registration unit. An LA is used instead of a cell to
with advanced functions to perform the management reduce the number of location updates since the cov-
of the radio link. erage area of an LA is larger than a cell. In addition,
if the mobile phone is moving in high speed the regis-
2.4 The mobile phone is an intelligent tration on cell basis may contain obsolete informa-
device tion. Within an LA, paging is used to pinpoint which
As a mobile phone moves and changes cells or points cell the mobile phone is located in at the current time.
of attachment to the network, it must have an identity So in addition to the radio link management function,

resistant device which is used to store the secret key
allocated to the subscriber and to perform the authen-
Mobile Equipement tication, encryption and decryption functions.
•Radio receiver
•Radio transmitter
The mobile phone is hence a composite device con-
•Loudspeaker
•Keypad
sisting of the mobile phone itself, also called Mobile
•Display Equipment, and the SIM.
•Radio link management
•Mobility management Description of the SIM
•Encryption and decryption Smart cards have had a long history for telecommuni-
cation network operators with the pre-paid phone
card development. However, the most extensive
usage started with the introduction of the SIM card, a
specialised form of smart card in GSM.
SIM A SIM card contains the subscriber identity module.

It is normally removable from the mobile phone and
•Authentication comes in two sizes. Each SIM card has a unique identi-
•Storage of secret key
fication number called IMSI (international mobile sub-
•Encryption and decryption
scriber identity). However, SIM cards continue to
evolve and host new applications with the increasing
demand for convergent mobile data (Internet) and
voice telephony. New applications exceeding the origi-
Figure 4 The mobile phone with its components and nal purpose of user identification include on-line bank-
functions ing, m- or e-commerce, bill payment and trading, and
further personalised usage of value-added services.
Authentication normally takes place when the MS is

the mobile phone needs to be equipped with the turned on and with each incoming call and outgoing
mobility management function. This again proves call. A verification that the ‘Ki’ (secret key) stored
that wireless does not necessarily mean mobile. in the authentication center (AuC) matches the ‘Ki’
stored in the SIM card of the MS completes this process.
2.5 The mobile phone is a composite device
As a mobile and wireless device the mobile phone is The AuC is a protected database that holds a copy of
more exposed to fraud and abuse. It is hence neces- the secret key stored in each subscriber’s SIM card,
sary to have adequate protection. Strong symmetric which is used for authentication and encryption over
authentication is used to authenticate the mobile the radio channel. The AuC provides additional security
phone and in 3G systems, network authentication is against fraud. It is normally located close to each HLR
also carried out by the mobile phone to avoid com- (Home Location Register) within a GSM core network.
municating and delivering confidential information to
the unauthorised network. Encryption of the commu- The user must enter a PIN (Personal Identification
nication channel is used to preserve the confidential- Number) code on the handset in order to activate the
ity and integrity. Most mobile phones are also SIM before this automatic procedure can start.
equipped with locking and PIN code mechanisms for
protection against unauthorised use of the phones. Two physical types of SIM are specified by ETSI/
SMG and 3GPP. These are the “ID-1 SIM” and the
In NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone) and some Ameri- “Plug-in SIM”.
can systems, the identity of the subscriber is assimi-
lated to the identity of the mobile phone. With GSM The corresponding Telecommunication Standards
the identity of the subscriber, the International Mobile (GSM 11.11 “Specification of the Subscriber Identity
Subscriber Identity (IMSI) is separated from the ter- Module – Mobile Equipment (SIM – ME) interface”
minal identity, International Mobile Equipment Iden- or 3GPP TS 11.11 [2]) define the interface between
tity (IMEI). In order to provide personal mobility, the the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and the Mobile
identity of the subscriber is moved from the mobile Equipment (ME) for use during the network opera-
phone to a special component, called the Subscriber tion phase of GSM as well as those aspects of the
Identity Module (SIM). The SIM is actually a smart internal organisation of the SIM which are related to
card having both processor and memory. It is a tamper the network operation phase. This is to ensure inter-

operability between a SIM and an ME independently provision of a list of items the user is expected to
of the respective manufacturers and operators. choose one from, sending a short message or an SS
to the network, setting up a call, and incorporation
The specification TS 11.11 defines of new features into the ME’s menu structure.
• The requirements for the physical characteristics of
the SIM, the electrical signals and the transmission SIM toolkit features can be classified into the follow-
protocols; ing categories:
• The model which shall be used as a basis for the
design of the logical structure of the SIM; • Control of the man-machine interface;
• The security features; • Communication services;
• The interface functions; • Menu management and application control;
• The commands; • Accessory management;
• The contents of the files required for the GSM • Miscellaneous.
application;
• The application protocol. Standard GSM 11.14 “Specification of the SIM appli-
cation toolkit for the Subscriber Identity Module –
Unless otherwise stated, references to GSM also apply Mobile Equipment (SIM – ME) interface” or 3GPP
to DCS 1800 (GSM at 1800 MHz) and PCS 1900 TS 11.14 [3] define the interface between SIM and
(GSM at 1900 MHz as usually operated in USA). ME and mandatory ME procedure specifically for the
“SIM Application Toolkit”.
The physical characteristics of both types of SIM
shall be in accordance with ISO 7816-1,2 (“Identifi- SIM Application Toolkit (SAT) is a set of commands
cation cards – Integrated circuit(s) cards with con- and procedures for use during the network operation
tacts, Part 1: Physical characteristics”, Part 2: phase of GSM, in addition to those defined in GSM
“Dimensions and locations of the contacts”) unless 11.11.
otherwise specified. Format and layout of the ID-1
SIM shall be in accordance with ISO 7816-1,2, Specifying the interface is to ensure interoperability
whereas Annexes A.1 and A.2 of ISO 7816-1 do not between a SIM and an ME independently of the
apply to the Plug-in SIM which has a width of 25 respective manufacturers and operators.
mm, a height of 15 mm, a thickness the same as an
ID-1 SIM and a feature for orientation. GSM 11.14 defines the commands, the application
protocol, and the requirements on SIM and ME for
SIM Application toolkit each of the SAT mechanisms like
GSM 11.11 defines that the ME communicates to the
SIM using a protocol specified in ISO/IEC 7816-3 • Profile Download;
(“Identification cards – Integrated circuit(s) cards • Proactive SIM;
with contacts, Part 3: Electronic signals and transmis- • Data download to SIM;
sion protocols”). The ME is always the “master” and • Menu selection;
initiates commands to the SIM, and therefore there is • Call control by SIM;
no mechanism for the SIM to initiate a communica- • MO (Mobile Originated) Short Message control by
tion with the ME. This limits the possibility of intro- SIM;
ducing new SIM features requiring the support of the • Event download;
ME, as the ME needs to know in advance what • Security;
actions it should take. • Multiple card.
A new interface was thus defined which allows the SIM applications
SIM to act as master and the ME as a slave. The ME In general, SIM services require a strong level of
can transfer control to an application on the SIM security (authentication and/or encryption) like
device, and the SIM can issue a variety of commands
through this mechanism, which cover text display on • Payment services;
screen, operation of a dialogue between the SIM and • Banking services;
the user, requiring either a single character or a more • Network access (WLAN-SIM);
detailed user response, playing a tone on the ME, • Any other information like sports updates, news
polling the ‘idle’ activity of status information ex- etc. that require subscriptions;
change between ME and SIM, the exchange of local • Typically operator controlled services; provided
information between ME and SIM, a SIM initialisa- access to through an “operator button” on the
tion and restart of a card session by resetting the SIM, handset.

SIM is originally an operator-controlled service en- and Dynamic SIM Toolkit [4]. The SIM has been
vironment in the mobile phone. SIM suppliers have transformed into a powerful platform to host multiple
custom built the SIM applications based on require- applications and enabled complete application life-
ments from operators. However, lately the SIM has cycle management. SIM applications can now be pro-
been opened up for application providers by adding visioned by using an Over-The-Air (OTA) approach
open development environments based on Java Card combined with Java technologies. Although the oper-
ators still control which applications reside on the
SIM, they can now focus on picking applications
from a vast list of services and easily provision these
to all their customers.
USIM-Card
The document 3GPP TS 21.111: “USIM and IC Card
Requirements” defines the requirements of the USIM
(Universal Subscriber Identity Module [5]) and the
IC card for 3G (UICC: Universal Integrated Circuit
Card) [6]. These are derived from the general service
and security requirements for 3G systems. The USIM
is a 3G application on an IC card. It inter-operates
with a 3G terminal and provides access to 3G services.
3 The mobile phone form factors

Mobile phones come in several different form factors,
i.e. physical styles. While manufacturers are continu-
ally coming up with new types of designs, there are
several common categories used on this site to
describe form factors:
Figure 5 A candy bar mobile
phone • Bar: (AKA candy-bar or block) This mobile phone
type is the most basic style. The entire phone is one
solid monolith, with no moving parts aside from
the buttons and possibly antenna. To prevent keys
from being pressed accidentally while the phone is
Figure 6 A clamshell phone in a pocket, etc., a “key guard” feature is usually
provided, requiring a special key combination to
“unlock” the keys.
• Clamshell: (AKA folder) This mobile phone type

consists of two halves, connected by a hinge. The
phone folds up when not in use. The top half usually
contains the speaker and the display or battery, with
the bottom half containing the remaining components.
Most clamshell phones have a feature called Active

Flip, which means that calls can be answered and
ended by simply opening and closing the phone.
• Flip: This mobile phone type is a cross between the

Bar and Clamshell types. Most of the components
of the phone are in one part, but a thin “flip” part
covers the keypad and/or display when not in use.
The flip may be all-plastic, or it may contain one
or two minor components such as a speaker or sec-
ondary keys. Most flip phones also feature Active
Flip, as described above.
Figure 7 A flip phone Figure 8 A slide phone

• Slide: This mobile phone type is usually designed exploits the safe storage capability of smart cards
similarly to a clamshell, with a large main display to save the user ‘s preferences and settings for
and speaker in one half, and the keypad and battery other applications and offers interfaces to retrieve,
in the other half. But the two halves slide open modify and store them.
instead of using a hinge. Slide designs allow the
main display to be seen when closed, and are gen- • Financial transaction: This application allows car-
erally easier to open and close one-handed. rying out financial transactions, e.g. transferring
money from one account to another. Thanks to the
strong authentication available on the smart card,
4 Evolution of the mobile phone this application enables the user to log on to finan-
4.1 Evolution of the SIM

With the technology progress, the smart card has
Mobile Commerce
evolved from a single application card hosting a
unique application to becoming a multi-application Briefly, Mobile Commerce can be defined as commerce done using mobile
devices, especially mobile phones. As in traditional commerce, mobile com-
one. Multi-application smart cards are cards that can
merce consists of the following phases:
be used for more than one application at the same
• goods examination
time. They may be seen as multiple cards jointly put
• selection
into one. Multi-application smart cards have shown • payment
that they can deliver highly secure transactions and • delivery.
enforce true protection between applications held
An example of a total solution for mobile commerce is Telenor’s SmartPay.
within the card itself. Their powerful encryption and The commerce phases, i.e. goods examination, selection, payment and deliv-
digital signature capabilities are ideal for the emerg- ery, can be carried out separately to increase flexibility. The user can search
ing new technology sectors. Smart cards have built-in information and goods independently of payment. They may use any channel
tamper resistant qualities, and PKI (public key infras- for goods searching, e.g. WAP, SMS, Web, fax, phone calls, etc. The purchase is
tructure) incorporating digital signatures functionality carried out on the mobile phone using either SIM Application Toolkit or SMS
depending on the security level that the user has chosen.
embedded in their chip. These fundamental features
contribute to creating a totally secure environment for As shown in Figure 9 the purchase process is initiated by the shop after the
applications owned by different parties. user has selected the goods. The purchase transaction involves the shop,
the Payment server connected to the financial institutions (bank, credit card
companies) and the secured access control to the mobile phone.
As a smart card, the SIM card can evolve from a
The SIM card is a multi-application smartcard, which besides the Subscriber
device containing the Subscriber Identity and the
Identity contains the SIM Application Toolkit and the PKI (Public Key Infra-
cryptographic functions necessary for the authentica-
structure) necessary for the authentication and authorisation of the user
tion to being a universal tamper resistant device that and digital signing.
can host other applications such as:
SHOP
• Identification: This application contains user

personal information such as name, date of birth, WAP Browse
SMS access
home address, telephone number, etc. It may also Web
contain photos of the user or fingerprints. It has the Content

provider
capability to display these contents upon eligible back end
C
request. S
PKI eCommerce
platform A
M
• Authentication and Authorisation: This application
makes use of the cryptographic functions of the ZS
smart card to offer authentication and authorisation Payment

server ZS
of the user for other applications. These applica-
tions can be located on the SIM card, the mobile
phone or even in other devices such as a laptop. Visa
Mobile Bank account
There exist currently several authentication appli-
cations such as SIM authentication, One-time pass- Figure 9 The SmartPay System architecture
word authentication.
To use SmartPay the user has to activate the PKI application on the SIM card
• Personalisation: This application enables the user and download a SIM toolkit application over the air (OTA) by sending an SMS
to a number such as 2500. The registration of the user data, e.g. bank account
personalisation of services and applications, i.e. to
numbers can be entered on the phone, via the Internet for customers with net
allow the user to customise his services regarding bank accounts, or at the bank or post office.
both functionality and presentation. Basically, it

Bit-rate (x10 000)
250 When mobile data services were introduced through
Evolution in bit-rate
Circuit Switched Data (CSD) (i.e. for dial-up ser-
200
vices), the maximum theoretical network throughput
achievable by a handset was 14,400 b/s. This was due
to the underlying mechanisms for sharing the radio
150 spectrum (FDMA and TDMA in GSM) and the algo-
rithms for encoding/decoding information on the
100 wireless bearer.
High-Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) in-

50 creased the theoretical maximum throughput for each
user to 115.2 kb/s by combining up to 8 timeslots for
0
a user (where each timeslot provides 14,400 b/s).
GSM/CSD HSCSD/GPRS EDGE UMTS
Network Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) is
an update to the air-interface in GSM networks, and
Figure 10 Evolution in transfer rate by using other schemas for modulation onto the wire-
less carrier, the efficiency of the radio spectrum is
increased. This can offer up to 69.2 kb/s per timeslot,
cial institutions to perform financial transactions for a total theoretical rate of 473.6 kb/s. The actual
using a digital signature. rate depends among other things on the error-correc-
tion schema employed.
• Payment: This application, thanks to the digital
signing functions on the smart card, allows the user UMTS brings along promises for further increased
to carry out payment functions towards banks or throughput rates. For UMTS, a completely new radio
credit card companies. It may offer both micro pay- interface is introduced, and the theoretical maximum
ment (e.g. less than 100 Euros) or macro payment throughput rate at high mobility is 384 kb/s, the max-
(e.g. over 100 Euros). imum rate in stationary situations is 2 Mb/s.
• Loyalty: This application can be owned and admin- 4.2.1 Multiple Air Interfaces
istered by a third party. It registers the bonus points In parallell to the development of the mobile telecom-
that the user has accumulated through his service munication standards, other short range wireless stan-
usage. It may be equipped with the ability to dis- dards are also steadily being improved. The future
play the balance of points to the user. mobile terminals will include not only one wireless
interface, but at least three; cellular network interface
• Health care: This application holds the health infor- (e.g. UMTS), medium range wireless interface (e.g.
mation of the user. As a tamper resistant device the WLAN, Bluetooth) and short range wireless interface
smart card is a secure storage for confidential per- (e.g. RFID). Another option is to include medium
sonal information. This is only possible thanks to the range low rate interfaces like the ones specified by
tamper resistant characteristics of the smart card. ZigBee.
Since the mobile user is carrying the mobile phone
with him most of the time, his health information 4.2.2 Bluephone
will always be available when he needs them. The Bluephone project by British Telecom (BT)
allows a normal cellular phone to connect, place and
• M-commerce: This application enables performing receive calls through a Bluetooth basestation when
M-commerce and it will be described more thor- inside a house or in the office. Since the project was
oughly in the box below. announced, the WiFi1) standards have evolved, and
BT is now aiming at using WiFi instead of Bluetooth
4.2 Evolution in bandwidth and bit rate in upcoming versions of Bluephone. However, Blue-
For service platforms on mobile phones to be of great phone does not provide Voice over IP service, so it is
value, the mobile phones must allow services to not part of the ongoing convergence. Calls are still
access adequate levels of resources both on the de- transferred over the GSM network.
vice, e.g. in terms of processing power and storage,
but also in terms of network bandwidth.
1) WiFi (sometimes written Wi-fi, Wi-Fi, Wifi, wifi; and an acronym for “wireless fidelity”) is a trademark for sets of product
compatibility standards for wireless local area networks (WLANs). WiFi is quite often used interchangeably with WLAN.

It is highly likely that many of the future cellular Voice and Personal Premium Standalone Distributed
supplementary SMS SMS Java Java ?
phones will include a WiFi interface, and due to the
services messaging services services services
increased processing and memory capabilities of
these phones it is likely that Voice-over-IP will be- 1993 1995 1998 2002 2005 2010
come a common way of placing voice calls from cel-
lular phones when within range of WiFi base stations. Figure 12 Timeline displaying development of the major service enablers
4.2.3 WLAN and UMA phone

With the rising popularity of WLAN and the increas- (NMT). Initially, the goal was to provide mobile tele-
ing number of WLAN hotspots, it is not surprising phony with roaming opportunities across the borders
to see the appearance of mobile phones with WLAN. of the Nordic countries.
The biggest hindrance of WLAN until now has been
the high power consumption which is due to the fact A timeline approximately illustrating the development
that with WLAN scanning is done continuously over and emergence of new services and service enablers
the whole channel. This issue is partly solved by the for mobile phones in GSM is shown in Figure 12.
introduction of Ultra low power WLAN chip that has
higher integration, less component and most impor- With the introduction of GSM, supplementary ser-
tantly can have sleep operation mode. vices were added. Examples of these services are
call-forwarding, call-barring, caller-id, voice-mail
The WLAN equipped with a SIP client becomes etc. The Short Message Service (SMS), as well as the
hence a wireless IP phone that can operate within the parallell development of the Internet, helped spawn
coverage of an access point or a hotspot. Figure 11 the work with support for more advanced data ser-
shows a wireless IP phone, WIP 5000 from Unidata, vices on cellular phones.
a Korean vendor. Soon the IMS phones, i.e. phones
equipped with the 3GPP IP multimedia system API, The first generation of data services on cellular
will appear and offer VoIP, push-to-talk, instant mes- phones (disregarding services used through dial-up
saging services over the cellular network. Internet with CSD) were based on SMS, and this cat-
egory of services is still the most successful.
Philips went a step further to promote UMA (Unli-
censed Mobile Access) into mobile phones. UMA The second generation of data services were intro-
Technology provides an alternative access to GSM duced with the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
and GPRS core network services via IP-based broad- WAP was branded the Internet/WWW for mobile,
band connections. In order to deliver a seamless user handheld devices. However, and probably due to its
experience, the specifications define a new network overexposure as the Internet-equivalent for mobile,
element and associated protocols that provide for the WAP has not been as great a success as SMS. There
secure transport of GSM/GPRS signaling and user can be several reasons for this:
traffic over IP. The caller can automatically switch
from GSM to IP-based networks and back again • From a developer and service provider viewpoint:
without interruptions. UMA In the beginning, Web-pages had to be completely
also helps to make better use re-designed to fit WAP and with the form-factor of
of the scarce GSM spec- WAP-enabled devices the technology was not in
trum: as soon as a phone is place to ease this process;
in reach of an UMA access
point, it will leave the GSM • From a user viewpoint: Browsing complex Internet
spectrum and continue its pages is too cumbersome on small devices. Devices
call over WiFi, leaving the have just recently got displays that can render visu-
GSM spectrum for those ally good pages;
callers that really need it.
• A lot of services provided by WAP are more easily
4.3 Evolution in func- provided and consumed by SMS; e.g. simple look-
tionality and services up and directory services (e.g. a public phone
There has been a continuous directory); easier to use and easier to develop.
evolution in the functional-
ity and services provided by The third generation of data services has in the last
cellular phones and net- years been emerging, and these are enabled by Java 2
Figure 11 A wireless works since the introduction Micro Edition (J2ME). This generation of services
IP phone of Nordic Mobile Telephony are mostly realised by standalone software on the

handsets, e.g. games, calendars, Personal Information versions (6.0 and later) are called Symbian OS or Sym-
Managers (PIM) and similar. However, as the specifi- bian platform, but EPOC is still a widely used name.
cations of the J2ME platforms are maturing, support
for more advanced functionality is being added to the The first public release was made by Psion in April
devices. For example, some new cellular phones 1997, when it emerged in the Psion Series 5. Psion
allow J2ME applications to take control over camera Software was de-merged from the Psion Group and
functionality, Bluetooth functionality and the file became Symbian Ltd, formed as a joint initiative
system on the device. In addition, some devices now between Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Psion.
include support for higher-layer communication pro- Lately, Nokia holds the majority of the shares and
tocols like SOAP and SIP. The former will propel this makes Symbian less attractive to other manufac-
the development of services realised by distributed turers.
systems, as opposed to the early services that were
realised by standalone applications. As the 3rd Gen- • BREW
eration (3G) mobile telecommunication system has BREW (Binary Run-
been launched, the feasibility of providing highly time Environment for
distributed data services has been further increased. Wireless) is a wireless-
application-development platform for phones that use
In addition to the three generations of data services the Qualcomm-developed code-division multiple
described above, cellular phones increasingly include access (CDMA) cellular technology. In the future,
advanced functionality like mp3-players, video play- BREW may run on PDAs and also work on other
back and productive applications like Office applica- popular cellular technologies, including time-division
tions. multiple access (TDMA) and the global system for
mobile communication (GSM).
4.4 Evolution from black box to open device
As a terminal, the mobile phone is originally a black Developers can create games
box, i.e. its functionality is defined at fabrication time and other applications that work
and only the manufacturer fully knows about its inter- on any BREW-enabled phone,
nal structure. As a telephone, the mobile phone regardless of the device’s operat-
should be able to support telephony service. All other ing system.
services and application are considered as extra
offered by the terminal manufacturers. A black box On the phone itself, BREW is a thin client (about
device is usually tested carefully and is both simple 150 K) that sits between a software application and
and reliable. the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
level software. Thus, developers can write to BREW
The biggest drawback is the lack of flexibility com- without knowing or caring about the device’s chipset
pared to a computer where the user can purchase sep- or air interface. The second major component of
arately the hardware and software components. One BREW is the BREW Distribution System (BDS). The
can argue whether the mobile phone needs to be an BDS is a wireless data services delivery and billing
open computer, but there is obviously a demand for environment. Leveraging an open and extensible
functionality upgrading and customisation after fabri- technology, the BDS enables network operators to
cation. Indeed, although still being in minority, the rapidly deploy wireless data services to subscribers
smartphones, i.e. mobile phones with an operating network-wide via mobile devices.
system and supporting the installation of applications
by the operator or the user, are increasing rapidly in • Microsoft Windows Mobile
number. Let us have a brief overview on operating Microsoft has developed
systems of smartphones. its own operating system
named Windows CE for
4.4.1 Mobile phone operating systems the mobile devices, which has a look and feel of tra-
ditional windows GUI (Graphical User Interface).
• Symbian The usage of Windows CE covers a broad range of
Symbian OS is an Oper- devices like handheld PCs, high-speed data acquisi-
ating system designed tion devices, Internet access devices, web terminals,
for wireless information industrial automation, retail and point of sale devices.
devices such as communicators, smartphones and
handheld computers. It is developed, licensed and sup- While both Pocket PC 2000/2002 (Phone Edition)
ported by Symbian Ltd. (www.symbian.com). Newer and SmartPhone 2002 are based on Windows CE 3.0,
which is a modular, embedded real time operating

system for mobile 32-bit devices, they address Per- Embedded Linux versions are also mostly stripped
sonal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and smart phones, of the overhead of a graphical interface, embedded
respectively. However, the latest version released in Linux boots in just a few seconds and fits into a few
April 2005, called Windows Mobile 5.0, supports megabytes of FLASH memory. In addition, Linux is
both smart phones and PDAs. known to be stable and reliable, and it is based on
open-source. This has had the result that several dif-
• SavaJe OS ferent vendors have developed their own embedded
SavaJe OS developed by operating system based on Linux. As an attempt to
SavaJe Technologies, is a standardize an embedded Linux platform, the Embed-
richly-featured, high perfor- ded Linux Consortium (ELC) released a specification
mance, Java-based operat- of such a platform in December 2002.
ing system for mobile multimedia handsets, delivered
with a complete set of easy-to-use applications, and a. MontaVista
a fully-customizable user experience layer. It uses MontaVista is a developer of embedded Linux. Until
J2ME CDC (Connected Device Configuration) now the most used version is called the Linux Con-
instead of CLDC (Connection Limited Device Con- sumer Electronics Edition (CEE) 3.02). It is the first
figuration). SavaJe OS is available pre-ported to a Linux operating system and cross-development envi-
number of common wireless chipsets. The first refer- ronment specifically designed for consumer electron-
ence implementations are available on TI OMAP and ics applications such as mobile phones, digital televi-
Intel processor families, but any ARM9-based CPU sions, set-top boxes and automotive telematics. CEE
can also be supported. 3.0 is based on the 2.4.20 Linux kernel. The most
recent embedded Linux version from MontaVista
• Palm OS is called MontaVista Linux for Mobile Devices
The Palm operating system is a propri- (MOBILINUX). This version is based on the Linux
etary operating system from Palm Inc 2.6 kernel, and it includes X Windows support
(in fact a subsidiary of 3Com Corp). through Tiny X (an Xfree86 implementation), graphi-
The Palm Inc provided the Palm OS cal widgets through GTK (Gimp Toolkit) and two
for its handhelds and licensed it to different WindowManagers.
other manufacturers. Recent models of Palm and
compatible devices include a colour display and an b. Trolltech Qt/Embedded
interface for accessories, which range from a fold-in Trolltech provides the Qt/Embedded which is an
keyboard to a mobile phone. Palm devices are func- application development framework targeted at
tionally simple devices that concentrate on the user embedded devices. It is currently used to develop
interface and experience. The available memory on numerous types of products and devices on the mar-
them is usually severely limited, so there is a strong ket, ranging from consumer electronics (mobile
trend of minimalism in Palm applications. Palm phones, web pads and set top boxes) to industrial
Computing provides a software development kit, but controls (medical imaging devices, kiosks, mobile
it requires a separate C compiler or an integrated information systems and others).
development environment, such as Metrowerk’s
CodeWarrior. This section will introduce the main Qtopia Phone Edition builds on Qt/Embedded and is
features of PalmOS, the platform availability, the spe- an application platform and user interface specifically
cific platform capabilities and the existing develop- targeted at PDAs and mobile phones. This means that
ment environments. existing Qt/Embedded applications easily can be
plugged into Qtopia-based devices with minimal
• Embedded Linux effort. This has resulted in the availability of an
Embedded Linux is a feature-rich subset of Linux, unlimited number of applications for Qtopia-based
stripped down to include only those elements of devices.
Linux that are useful on an embedded system. For
example, embedded systems typically use FLASH c. OpenWave
memory in place of a hard drive to store the file sys- OpenWave is the provider of different content deliv-
tem. Embedded Linux systems transparently support ery solutions for mobile phones. The solutions can be
the Linux file system. Linux applications do not delivered integrated in what is called the OpenWave
know that FLASH memory is in use and your prod- Phone Suite Version 7, or they can be delivered as
ucts have the added benefits of intelligent FLASH standalone components (instant messaging client,
memory management. mobile browser, SMS/EMS/MMS messaging clients,
2) http://www.mvista.com/cee/index.html

mobile e-mail etc.). All these products are compatible system. For a computer with different hardware a
with any third party Java Virtual Machine (JVM), recompilation of the application is required. For a
which means that it can be integrated with Embedded computer with different operating system, code modi-
Linux distributions like MontaVista. fication is necessary before recompilation. For exam-
ple, an application written in C/C++ on Symbian v6.0
d. LynuxWorks BlueCat may need some modifications to run on Symbian
LynuxWorks provides an embedded v7.0. Recompilation is required to move and run a
Linux distribution called BlueCat, C++ application from one phone to another.
which is based on the Linux kernel
version 2.6. This distribution also In order to make the applications portable, a middle-
supports Qtopia and Qt/Embedded ware is introduced between the applications and the
from Trolltech. operating system. Distributed Computing middleware
such as CORBA removes the application binding to
4.4.2 Distributed Computing middleware the operating system but recompilation is still needed.
To pave the way for innovative applications on the By Interpretation middleware in Figure 13b we refer
mobile terminal, portability must be ensured. Indeed, to middleware that also offers interpretation and con-
both the cost and the time-to-market will be consider- version of the intermediate code to machine code at
ably reduced if applications are written once and run execution. At compilation time the program code is
on every phone. Seen from the user, it is also desir- compiled onto intermediate code and not onto
able to have access to the same applications on differ- machine code. An example of such interpretation
ent mobile phones. middleware is the JAVA Virtual Machine (JVM). In
fact, the application code is executing on a virtual
Figure 13a shows the original architecture of a com- machine and is not aware of the hardware machine
puter with three layers: Hardware, Operating System underneath. It is worth noting that the API offered by
and Applications. The computer is a general-purpose such an Integration Middleware must be open and
machine in the sense that its functionality is deter- standardised to ensure portability. The telecom and
mined by the applications installed on it. The applica- security APIs must also be standardised.
tions running on a computer are bound to this com-
puter in two ways: It is desirable to have Interpretation Middleware in
the mobile phone in order to ensure Application
• The source code is bound to the operating system Portability. It is also crucial that APIs for telecom
through the usage of the operating system API. functionalities are provided for this Interpretation
Middleware layer.
• The executable code is bound to the hardware,
especially the processor and the display. 4.4.3 XML Web Services support
In Figure 13c an additional layer called Web Service
An application (executable code) is hence not Framework has been added on top of the Interpreta-
portable, i.e. it cannot be moved and run in another tion layer. This layer will enable the execution of
computer having different hardware and operating XML Web Services.
A Web service is application logic that is made avail-

able on the Internet using the following standards:
XML for data description, SOAP for message wrap-
Application ping, WSDL for service description and UDDI for
Generic
service discovery.
API
Application Web service
Generic framework This layer is particularly important for mobile devices
API
Interpretation Interpretation
that can only host thin XML Web Service clients due
Application
middleware middleware to the limitations in processing, storage and battery
OpSys
life. The thin clients can collaborate with thicker
API
Operating system Operating system Operating system XML Web Services on the network to offer valuable
services to the user. Furthermore, a Web Service run
P M K D P M K D P M K D on a Web server can be accessed by various clients
Hardware Hardware Hardware installed in different mobile devices as shown in Fig-
a c
ure 14. The Web services exposed legacy applica-
b
tions that can be implemented in proprietary tech-
Figure 13 Evolution in the computer architecture nologies.

It is desirable that XML Web Service Framework is
supported in the mobile phone.
4.4.4 Web services layer

As mentioned earlier, data services for mobile phones
will increasingly be realised by distributed systems.
In the early days of J2ME, proprietary protocols had
to be devised on top of HTTP when building dis-
tributed services. This is no longer necessary to create
this type of services. The introduction of XML Web
Services support for mobile phones, first by kSOAP
and then more recently by standardization through the
Java Community Process (JCP) as Java Specification
Request (JSR) 172, allows developers to more easily
implement communication between the client side
software and server side software. JSR172 defines a Web service clients Web services Application logic
subset of the standard XML Web Services protocols.
Some functionality, like support for binary attach- Figure 14 Ubiquitous access to applications via
ments, is not supported, but the standard simplifies heterogeneous devices
developing distributed systems where a mobile termi-
nal should act like a client. Much like CORBA, it is
possible to generate client stubs (as well as skeletons
for the server side) based on a description of the ser- service that should be provided to the user whilst
vice interfaces. These interfaces are specified using leaving protocol details to the system.
the Web Services Description Language (WSDL),
and should include all information necessary to inter- The major drawbacks of XML Web Services for
act with a Web Service. Although JSR172 is an handheld devices are:
optional package to the J2ME platform, some recent
mobile phones come fully equipped with this library • Overhead in the communication. Using XML for
from the manufacturer (e.g. Nokia N91). For testing it encoding data yields some overhead in the commu-
is also possible to use the wireless toolkit provided by nication, which is problematic with today’s limited
Sun which includes a reference implementation of the capacity on the wireless bearer.
JSR172 specification.
• Overhead in the processing. Parsing and process-
Server side components can be developed with stan- ing XML also yields some overhead, which can be
dard Java or .NET tools and deployed in standard crucial for limited capacity handheld devices.
application servers like the Jakarta Tomcat with Axis
for handling the XML Web Service layer. • Currently no support for attachments. The mobile
equivalent to XML Web Services, i.e. JSR172,
The major benefits of XML Web Services for hand- does not currently support attachments. This can be
held devices are: a limitation for certain services requiring transport
of binary data. The solution is to encode the binary
• Standardized and open interfaces. This can allow data with the base64-algorithm before transferring
a multitude of developers to develop their own it.
clients that communicate with the same server side
components. Services are exposed using the Web 4.4.5 Operator’s customisation
Services Description Language, which is a com- The current situation where the mobile phone’s func-
plete description of the service interface in XML. tions and presentation are decided by the manufactur-
ers is not very satisfactory to the operators, who want
• Ease of implementation. Tools exist that ease the to be able to differentiate in their service offering at
development efforts of the client-server communi- the same time as the number of service platforms is
cation mechanisms. Stubs can easily be generated low. There are currently so many different mobile ter-
for clients, and for a developer, remote method minal platforms which are completely different and
calls can look exactly like local calls (similar to they pose big problems to the wireless operators.
RMI and CORBA). This allows the developer to
focus on higher-layer tasks, like the value-added Further, operators wish to be able to offer customisa-
tion of handset in order to differentiate in their ser-

is a black box that the
customer has to buy as
a whole.
4.4.6 User’s personalisation

Parallel with the operator’s demand for customisa-
tion, there is a user demand for personalisation of
their handset. Indeed, the mobile phone is no more
only a communication terminal bit but a personal
accessory that the owner uses to express himself. The
personalisation of a handset can include the following
adaptation:
• Ringtones
Figure 15 Telenor Nordic Mobile customisation • Logos
with Entry • Wallpapers
• Celebrity Voice-mail Messages
• Handset facias
vice offering to reduce customer churn and to im- • Personalised Location Based Services (e.g. targeted
prove loyalty. Figure 15 shows an example of opera- navigational and advertising services)
tor’s customisation. • Themes that include icons, wallpapers, back-
grounds, colors, etc.
The Open Mobile Terminal Platform, OMTP Ltd.
(“OMTP”) has been established to gather the needs of There are also websites like MyFoneThemes.com that
the mobile operator community for mobile terminal offer a service for converting any image or photo of
platforms and to define and agree on those require- the user (examples: own photo, a loved one’s photo,
ments necessary to deliver openly available standard- own artwork, a favorite celebrity’s picture) into a
ised application interfaces to provide customers with phone theme for his mobile phone. They produce per-
an improved user experience across different devices. sonalised phone themes on demand according to the
This will also enable individual operators and manu- submitted photos and specifications.
facturers to more easily customise and differentiate
their products and services. At first glance, the user’s personalisation may appear
to be in conflict with the operator’s customisation but
The founding members of OMTP are mmO2, NTT it does not have to be. In fact, a balanced combination
DoCoMo, Orange, SMART Communications, Tele- of operator’s customisation and user’s personalisation
fónica Móviles, TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), T- will be the best for both parties. An example of such
Mobile and Vodafone. The goal of the Open Mobile combination is the FT (Financial Times) personalised
Terminal Platform (OMTP) is to achieve the open- mobile phone [10], which allows the user to select
ness of the mobile terminal in the same way as the “My industry News”, “My Share Quotes”, etc. from
computer experienced in the 70s, where the computer the Financial Times content source.
Figure 16 Example of mobile phone’s theme

a b 3rd party c
service
Operator Operator provider Operator
Manufacturer
Enterprise
Manufacturer
User
User
Figure 17 The ownership models
4.5 Evolution in ownership model services work well, they are also interested in getting
In the early NMT system and also now in the Ameri- some control of the mobile phone.
can and Japanese mobile telecommunication systems,
the subscription includes the mobile phone which is Last but not least, the enterprise, i.e. employer of the
the property of the operator lent to the subscriber dur- user that pays for both the mobile phone and the
ing the subscription time. The operator in this case mobile subscription, naturally wants to be able to
(see Figure 17a) has the total control of the mobile control the functionality and presentation of the
phone and can, in principle, decide both the function- mobile phone. Indeed, when the mobile phone is get-
ality and the presentation of the mobile phone. ting advanced and allows the users to access emails,
documents, information, etc, that are located within
In the GSM system, with the introduction of the SIM the enterprise’s intranet, it is crucial that the enter-
card, the ownership of the mobile phone is transferred prise has the right to control.
to the user. The manufacturers then had the freedom
to decide and compete on the functionality, form fac- One way to solve this conflict situation is to design
tor, look and feel of mobile phones. a mobile phone with five discrete execution environ-
The evolution does not stop there, because the mobile

Storage Area
phone is not a stand-alone device but rather a com-
municating one. First, there is the emergence of the
User
operator’s services located on the operator’s domain
and accessed through a thin client, which could be a
browser, on the mobile phone. In order to function Enterprise
properly, these services might require proper configu-
ration and customisation from the operator. This leads
3rd party SP
to the operator’s claim to control the mobile phone.
Second, there are more and more services that are Operator
offered by third party service providers such as
banks, credit card companies, online game, web-
Manufacturer
shops, etc. that may or may not have an agreement or
alliance with the mobile operator. To ensure that their
Figure 18 Separate storage area for each player

ments for the five parties or at least, five separate 5 Mobile phone trends
storage areas (EEPROM, Flash memory or memory With the advance in microelectronics, the mobile
card) as shown in Figure 18. phone had the opportunity to evolve from a commu-
nication device, i.e. a mobile terminal to be a mobile
This solution does not, however, prescribe any hier- computing device, e.g. a handheld computer or a
archy telling what actor should have higher priority Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). In fact, the smart-
than the others. In fact, such a hierarchy should be phones have invaded and conquered the market of
changed according to the different situations as fol- PDAs. The evolution of mobile phones will not stop
lows: there and will continue to expand and threaten other
devices that we are going to discuss successively.
• The mobile phone is purchased and totally paid
for by the user: It is then reasonable that the user 5.1 Mobile phone as low end camera
should have the highest right to decide whatever he Mobile phones with digital cameras appear in the
wants. However, it might be necessary for funda- market both in large numbers and in varied quality.
mental functions such as making and receiving Quite affordable mobile phones of the middle seg-
calls, sending and receiving SMS, etc. to be locked ment use CMOS matrixes and the quality of photos
such that the mobile phone can still operate as a is quite good under conditions of a sunny day, yet
phone even when being attacked. indoors a noise appears as photosensitivity of the
matrixes is slender. Siemens S65 is an example of
• The mobile phone is purchased by the user but such photos.
subsidized by the operator: In this case the operator
will have the right to customise the mobile phone Currently, telecom manufacturers strive to produce
as it wants. However, a balanced combination matrixes of a higher quality and position these prod-
between operator’s customisation and user’s per- ucts as a partial substitute for digital cameras. One
sonalisation will be the best solution. can dispute whether the quality of matrixes is good,
but production of hybrid devices is in full swing. The
• The mobile phone is purchased and totally paid for main task for such devices is just providing an
by the enterprise: In this case, the enterprise might acceptable quality of photos. It will not be long, prob-
want to have branding on the wallpaper, logos, etc. ably beginning of the autumn 2006, before the quality
and to install clients for communication with enter- of cameras will be comparable to current low-end
prise applications. Here again, some level of user digital cameras. This will be attractive to many users
personalisation can be a good thing to have. since they will not need a separate digital camera and
can still take pictures of acceptable quality.
The main improvements of cameras mounted in

mobile phones are as follows:
• Introduction of the macromode that allows a digital

camera to photograph close-up pictures of small
objects like flowers, insects, coins, etc. Macro mode
potentiality varies from camera to camera but al-
most all digital cameras offer this exclusive feature
to enable the users to widen up their imagination
and their weirdest fantasies in creating art.
• Appearance of autofocus,
• Offering resolution of 2 megapixels or higher,
• Unifying the camera interface to make them as

similar as possible to the digital camera.
Figure 19 Mobile phone with camera
3) Flash memory (sometimes called “flash RAM”) is a type of constantly-powered nonvolatile memory that can be erased and repro-
grammed in units of memory called blocks. It is a variation of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)
which, unlike flash memory, is erased and rewritten at the byte level, which is slower than flash memory updating.

Figure 20 A memory stick
5.2 Mobile phone as portable storage

Mobile phones contain more and more memory.
On the advanced ones, there is from 4 Mbytes up to
80 Mbytes Flash memory3). In addition, memory
cards can also be installed in the mobile phone to con-
siderably increase the storage capacity up to Gigabyte
level. There are many card types such as MS Duo
promoted by Sony Ericsson, RS-MMC by Nokia,
MMC/SD by Japanese manufacturers. The mobile
phone will then be an ideal portable storage device.
The mobile phone will of course not threaten the

USB flash drive also called USB drive, flash drive,
keychain drive, or disk-on-key since, with their quite
affordable prices they have become consumables like Figure 21 A mobile phone as MP3 player
diskettes that are used in documents and data transfer
between people. However, a mobile phone equipped
with a USB cable to connect to a computer will For authentication, the SIM card can offer three
become the user’s private and portable information authentication methods:
container that always stays with him.
• Using the GSM network authentication
5.3 Mobile phone as MP3 player - A3/A8 algorithms and radius server
Equipped with Flash memory, the mobile phone can
easily be turned into an MP3 player. Quite soon, the • Using the Short Message Service (SMS) security
quality of the players in the mobile phones will be com- 3GPP TS23.048
parable to the standalone MP3 player. At this early
phase the prices are still high but they will soon be
competitive and the mobile phone will really become
a threat to the MP3 player. The typical example of Web Site
mobile phone in this class is the Sony Ericsson W800
that is promoted with the trademark of Walkman which
is famous in the market of portable audio equipment. EAP - SIM-radius
Gateway
5.4 Universal security token Internet
IP networks WEB/WAP server
The mobile phone consisting of the phone itself and
the SIM card constitutes both a smard card and a GSM/MAP/
smart card reader that can be exploited to provide Stationary PC SS7GW
security services like authentication, encryption/
decryption and digital signing to all the user’s appli-
SS7
cations. These applications can also be located on
other computers or devices that communicate with
the mobile phone via infrared or Bluetooth.
Radius server
radiator +
The SIM card on the mobile phone will perform the EAP - SIM
database+
security function and return the result to the mobile GSM HLR/ AUC
phone that in turn passes it to the application using
either infrared or Bluetooth. Figure 22 Using SIM in application authentication

6 Conclusion
Although originally intended to be a modest commu-
nication terminal, the mobile phone has unexpectedly
evolved to become an inseparable companion of
every people from businessmen, housewives to
youngsters or retirees. It has shown precious and irre-
placeable qualities like few other devices. It is useful
and enables the user to keep in touch with whomever
they want. It is loyal and follows its master wherever
they go. It is small, light and easy to use at the same
time as it is quite robust and endurable. It is also very
personal and allows its master to express himself as
jewellery. The mobile phones will continue to in-
Figure 23 A remote control for mobile phone crease in numbers. More people will have mobile
phones and each individual will have more mobile
phones. The mobile phone will have more functions
and play more roles such as personal data storage,
- Encryption and Signature/Checksum/Redun- Personal Information Manager (PIM), MP3 player,
dancy keys camera, portable storage, etc. The evolution of the
- Over The Air (OTA) server mobile phone will continue in terms of both function-
ality and form and probably also at a quicker pace. It
• Using SIM Toolkit One-time password applets is quite difficult if not totally impossible to predict
- Dedicated symmetric key and HOTP applet what the mobile phone will look like in the future,
- HOTP authentication server but it will surely come in numerous variants from the
attiring one to the invisible phone that is entirely inte-
5.5 Universal remote control grated in the surroundings.
A mobile phone may act as remote control for almost
everything from TV, stereo music system, door, elec-
tricity switch, etc. since it is equipped with short- References
range wireless communication capabilities such as 1 ETSI. Mobile Station Conformity Specifications,
infrared, Bluetooth, etc. and a keypad for issuing Version 3.4.0. Sophia Antipolis, European
command or eventually entering the required pin Telecommunications Standards Institute, March
code. 1991. ETSI Technical Specification GSM 11.10.
There are currently numerous remote control applica- 2 ETSI. Digital cellular telecommunications system
tions that can be downloaded and installed in the (Phase 2+) (GSM); Specification of the Sub-
mobile phone. An example of such applications is for scriber Identity Module – Mobile Equipment
example the Psiloc that can be used in a range of ter- (SIM – ME) interface. Sophia Antipolis, Euro-
minals like Sony Ericsson P900. pean Telecommunications Standards Institute,
1996. ETSI Technical Specification GSM 11.11.
5.6 Payment device
As mentioned earlier, the mobile phone can be a quite 3 ETSI. Digital cellular telecommunications system
valuable payment device allowing both micro- and (Phase 2+) (GSM); Specification of the SIM
macro payment thanks to the strong security func- application toolkit for the Subscriber Identity
tions offered by the SIM card. However, it is worth Module – Mobile Equipment (SIM – ME) inter-
noting that the mobile phone is used to pay only for face. Sophia Antipolis, European Telecommuni-
goods purchase electronically and not for merchan- cations Standards Institute, 1996. ETSI Technical
dise in the shop. With the emergence of Near Field Specification GSM 11.14.
Communication (NFC) technology that equips the
mobile phone with the possibility to interact with its 4 Gemplus. Applications – The Benefits for wireless
surroundings by simply “touching” them, the mobile applications providers, operators, and users. A
phone can become a payment device for the mobile Gemplus paper. Gemplus, October 2004. online:
user. The SIM card can store credit cards, tickets, ID http://www.3gamericas.org/pdfs/gemplus_sim_
cards and e-money that can be transferred by the applications_oct2004.pdf
mobile phone using NFC to the point-of-sale (POS)
terminals.

5 ETSI. Universal Mobile Telecommunications Sys- 8 Mouly, M, Pautet, M-B. The GSM System for
tem (UMTS); USIM and IC Card Requirements. Mobile Communications. France, Palaiseau, 1992.
Sophia Antipolis, European Telecommunications (ISBN 2-9507180-0-7)
Standards Institute, 1999. 3G TS 21.111 version
3.0.1, Release 1999. 9 ETSI. TS 44.064 Mobile Station – Serving GPRS
Support Node (MS-SGSN) Logical Link Control
6 ETSI. Universal Mobile Telecommunications Sys- (LLC) Layer Specification. Sophia Antipolis,
tem (UMTS); UICC-Terminal Interface; Physical European Telecommunications Standards Insti-
and Logical Characteristics. Sophia Antipolis, tute, 2002.
European Telecommunications Standards Insti-
tute, 1999. 3G TS 31.101 version 3.0.0 Release 10 FT Mobile (Financial Times). Personalise your
1999. FT mobile phone. 22 Nov 2005 [online] – URL:
http://globalelements.ft.com/Mobile/Specials/
7 ETSI. Universal Mobile Telecommunications Sys- personalise.html
tem (UMTS); Characteristics of the USIM Appli-
cation. Sophia Antipolis, European Telecommu-
nications Standards Institute, 1999. 3G TS 31.102
version 3.0.0 Release 1999.
For a presentation of Do Van Thanh, please turn to page 2.
Ivar Jørstad (29) received his CandScient degree in informatics (communication systems) from the Depart-
ment of Informatics, University of Oslo, in December 2002. He is currently pursuing a PhD degree at the
Department of Telematics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim (NTNU), where
the work is focused around the requirements of future service platforms for mobile services with particular
focus on personalisation. His major fields of interest include service architectures and platforms for mobile
services and applications, mobile distributed computing, Service-Oriented Architectures and Web Services,
mobile terminal platforms and the personalisation of mobile services. Visit http://ongx.org for more infor-
mation.

Mobile telephone history
TOM FARLEY
This article describes how mobile telephones, for decades a near dormant technology, became the
dynamic and perhaps most important communication tool of our lives. Commercial mobile telephony
began in 1946. The cellular radio concept was published in 1947. But only since 1995 have mobiles
become low cost, rich in features, and used world wide. We first examine mobile telephony’s early
and bulky beginnings. Next, the long journey to analog cellular. Finally, full digital working, exemplified
by GSM and now CDMA, providing services and features that make the mobile indispensable and
Tom Farley is ubiquitous. We’ll see how early mobile telephony battled the same problems of today: government
a freelance
regulation, scarce spectrum, and hardware limitations. How Scandinavian, Japanese, and United States
telecom writer
groups independently crafted their own radio-telephone solutions. At 58, the relatively recent,
spectacular success of today’s mobile telephone could hardly be guessed by its age. But its history
reveals why this technology took so long to mature. And the present shows us that it was worth the wait.
Introduction companies concentrated on providing landline tele-

Public mobile telephone history begins in the 1940s phones and services first, but some mobile radio
after World War II. Although primitive mobile tele- research and development still went on. Americans
phones existed before the War, these were specially lead this low priority movement for three reasons.
converted two way radios used by government or The United States was physically intact after the
industry, with calls patched manually into the land- war, Bell Telephone Laboratories had a large group
line telephone network. Many New York City fire- of radio engineers and scientists to use, and the
boats and tugboats had such radiotelephones in the Motorola corporation had grown significantly during
1930s. These were private services. For this article, World War II. Consumer demand, research facilities,
though, a mobile telephone is a wireless device which and manufacturing capability all existed for US
connects to the public switched telephone network mobile telephony. But was that enough? And what
and is offered to the general public by a common kind of mobile system would be created?
carrier or public utility. Further, mobile history is not
just a study of the telephone, the handset itself, but a On July 28, 1945 a cellular radio or small zone
look at the wireless system it is connected to. system was first described in print. The head of the
United State’s Federal Communications Commission,
After World War II badly neglected civilian commu- the FCC, outlined a two way radio service in the
nication needs could finally be addressed. Many 460 MHz band to the Saturday Evening Post. Com-
cities lay in ruin; their infrastructures need years missioner J.K. Jett had just been briefed by AT&T
of reconstruction. Post, Telephone and Telegraph personnel. They had speculated about American wire-
administrations, the PTTs, and private telephone less communications after World War II. Deceptively
titled “Phone Me by Air”, Jett’s Post interview didn’t
suggest connecting mobile radios to the landline tele-
phone system. But he did describe frequency reuse
within a small area, the main element of cellular
radio. Millions of users, he said, could use the same
channels across the country. Low powered transmit-
ters using high band radio frequencies would keep
signals in nearby cities from interfering with each
other. Despite Jett’s initial enthusiasm, the FCC never
allocated the spectrum needed for this service. Still,
radio engineers were thinking of cellular, even if they
couldn’t build such a scheme just yet.
A year after that landmark article, the first American

Already in 1924, Bell Labs tested mobile radio tele- commercial mobile radio-telephone service began.
phony (from http://www.bell-labs.com/history/75/ On June 17, 1946 in Saint Louis, Missouri, AT&T
gallery.html) and one of its regional telephone companies, South-

western Bell, began operating MTS, or Mobile Tele- further and faster than AT&T. As proof of their com-
phone Service.1) Motorola built the radios and the petitiveness, the RCCs serviced 80,000 mobile units
Bell System installed them. MTS was modeled after by 1978, twice as many as AT&T. This growth began
conventional dispatch radio. A centrally located with an excellent start, the introduction of automatic
antenna transmitted to mobiles moving across a wide dialing in 1948.
area. The mobiles, all of them car based radio-tele-
phones, transmitted to several receivers situated On March 1, 1948 the first fully automatic radiotele-
around the city. The traffic from the receivers and phone service began operating in Richmond, Indiana,
to the transmitter were connected by an operator at a eliminating the operator to place most calls.4) AT&T
central telephone office. MTS used six channels in by comparison didn’t provide automatic dialing until
the 150 MHz band with 60 kHz wide channel spac- 1964. Most systems, though, RCCs included, still
ing. Unexpected interference between channels soon operated manually until the late1960s. While these
forced the Bell System to use only three channels. small, independent wireless companies could provide
Waiting lists developed immediately in every one of service to a few dozen customers at a time, they did
the twenty five cities MTS was introduced. not have the money or the resources to research,
design, and then build a high capacity mobile tele-
phone system.
Cellular telephone systems first
discussed On July 1, 1948 the Bell System unveiled the transis-
In December, 1947 Bell Laboratories’ D.H. Ring, tor, a joint invention of Bell Laboratories scientists
with help from W.R. Young, articulated a true cellu- William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter
lar radio system for mobile telephony in an internal Brattain. It would revolutionize every aspect of the
company memorandum.2) Young said later that all telephone industry and all of communications. Fragile
the cellular radio elements were known: a network of and bulky vacuum tubes would eventually be re-
small geographical areas called cells, a base station placed by transistors. Compact, low cost, rugged
transmitter in each, cell traffic controlled by a central radios could now be speculated about. Vacuum tubes,
switch, frequencies reused by different cells and so though, would dominate the radio and telephone
on. He stated from1947 Bell teams “had faith that industry for another twenty years.
the means for administering and connecting to many
small cells would evolve by the time they were Outside of the United States mobile telephony devel-
needed.”3) But more mobile telephones were always opments came slowly. Most governments or PTTs
needed. Then, in 1947, and for decades after. Better did not allow the public radiotelephones. There were
technology would help, but more spectrum, more exceptions. In 1949 the Dutch National radiotele-
channels, were essential to developing a high capac- phone network inaugurated the world’s first nation-
ity mobile telephone service. wide public radiotelephone system. And in 1951
the Swedish Telecommunications Administration’s
Sture Lauhrén and Ragnar Berglund designed a novel
Conventional mobile telephony automatic mobile telephone system called the MTA.
In 1947 the Bell System asked the FCC for more This scheme began with a Stockholm trial and soon
frequencies. The Commission allocated a few more encompassed the city and its surrounding area.
channels in 1949, but they also did something unex- A similar system was soon set up in Gothenburg,
pected. They gave half of those frequency allocations although both networks did not become fully opera-
to other companies wanting to sell mobile telephone tional until 1956. As with all car mounted radio tele-
service. These firms were called Radio Common phones, the equipment was huge and required much
Carriers or RCCs. The FCC thus created wireless power. The transmitter and receiver were mounted
competition for the Bell System while allowing in the boot or trunk, while the dial and handset went
capacity to increase only slightly. These small busi- inside the cab. A car’s headlights dimmed while a
nessmen, however, advanced early mobile telephony
1) Peterson, A C, Jr. Vehicle Radiotelephony Becomes a Bell System Practice. Bell Laboratories Record, 137, April, 1947.
2) Roessner, D et al. The Role of NSF’s Support of Engineering in Enabling Technological Innovation: Phase II, Chapter 4: The Cell
Phone. Final report to the National Science Foundation. Arlington, Virginia: SRI International, 89, 1998. citing Ring, D H, “Mobile
Telephony – Wide Area Coverage,” Bell Laboratories Technical Memorandum, December 11, 1947. Online: http://www.sri.com/
policy/stp/techin2/chp4.html
3) Young, W R. Advanced Mobile Phone Service: Introduction, Background, and Objectives. Bell System Technical Journal, 7 January,
1979.
4) McDonald, R. Dial Direct: Automatic Radiotelephone System. IRE Transactions on Vehicle Communications, 80, July, 1958.

customer transmitted. On the other side of the planet, telephone companies and Radio Common Carriers
an electronics giant was gaining life. made similar, incremental advances to mobile tele-
phony throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In this same
In 1952 Japan regained its independence, seven years year the Bell System petitioned the FCC to grant
after World War II ended. Nippon Telephone and 75 MHz of spectrum to radio-telephones in the
Telegraph became privatized, its research division 800 MHz band. Despite the Bell System’s forward
strengthened, and various government sponsored thinking proposal, the FCC ignored their request for
laboratories escalated radio and telephone studies. ten years.
Although private radiotelephones were not allowed,
consumer demand for commercial radio and televi- During the late 1950s little cellular radio research
sion broadcasting sets would come about quickly, and and development was accomplished. Without enough
the Japanese soon looked to making this equipment spectrum to make it economically feasible, a high
for export. Quality control pioneer Edwards Deming capacity cellular system could not be built in the
had been lecturing Japanese industry leaders since United States. Still, two important papers by Bell
1950. He stressed quality first, something American System employees were published in 1960. They
manufacturers were not receptive to. But the Japanese appeared in the Institute of Radio Engineers Transac-
took Deming’s advice quite seriously. Japanese cam- tions on Vehicle Communications. The articles dis-
eras, cars, and electronics became so good over the cussed handoffs, that process of transferring a call
next thirty years that other countries were forced to from one cell to the next, with different frequencies
rethink and often retool entire industries. used in adjacent cells.6) This was the first time the
entire cellular system concept was outlined in print to
In 1953 the Bell System’s Kenneth Bullington wrote a worldwide readership.
“Frequency Economy in Mobile Radio Bands.”5)
This dull sounding paper appeared in the Bell System In 1961 Ericsson subsidiary Svenska Radio Aktie-
Technical Journal, circulated around the world. For bolaget, or SRA, reorganized to concentrate on build-
perhaps the first time in a publicly distributed paper, ing radio systems. This forerunner of Ericsson Radio
the 21 page article hinted at, although obliquely, cel- Systems was already selling paging and land mobile
lular radio principles. Three years later the Bell Sys- or dispatch radio equipment throughout Europe. SRA
tem began providing a manual radio-telephone ser- would go on to become a central part of Ericsson,
vice at 450 MHz, a new frequency band assigned to helping create their wireless consumer business.
relieve overcrowding on their lower frequency band.
This system also filled to capacity wherever it was In 1964 the Bell System introduced Improved Mobile
introduced. Telephone Service or IMTS, a replacement to their
badly aging Mobile Telephone System.7) With IMTS
In July, 1958 Jack Kilby invented the integrated cir- people didn’t have to press a button to talk. Conver-
cuit at Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas. A tooth- sations went back and forth just like a regular tele-
pick size piece of germanium contained his complete phone. IMTS finally permitted direct dialing, auto-
electrical circuit or IC. It used no soldered connec- matic channel selection, and reduced bandwidth from
tions and consequently was reliable and stable. He between 25 and 30 kHz. Some regional telephone
also showed how resistors, capacitors, diodes, and companies like Pacific Bell, owned by AT&T, took
transistors could co-exist on a single block of semi- nearly twenty years to replace their old MTS systems.
conductor and that they could all be made of this Again, although demand was great, there were not
same material. As Texas Instruments itself puts it, enough channels to accommodate more users.
“The roots of almost every electronic device we take
for granted today can be traced back to Dallas more Other countries in the mid 1960s were also replacing
than 40 years ago.” their first mobile telephone systems. The Swedish
Telecommunication Administration began replacing
In 1958 the innovative Richmond Radiotelephone their MTA system with MTB. Ragnar Berglund
Company improved their automatic dialing system. developed this new system and, thanks to the transis-
They added new features to it, including direct tor, made possible smaller phones which required less
mobile to mobile communications. Other independent power and were therefore less expensive. MTB was
5) Bullington, K. Frequency Economy in Mobile Radio Bands. Bell System Technical Journal, 32 (42) et. seq. January,1953.
6) Lewis, W D. Coordinated Broadband Mobile Telephone System. IRE Transactions, 43, May, 1960; and Schulte, H J Jr. and W A
Cornell. Multi-area Mobile Telephone System. IRE Transactions, 49, May, 1960.
7) Douglas, V A. The MJ Mobile Radio Telephone System. Bell Laboratories Record, 383, December, 1964.

available to the public from 1965. Like MTA, the AT&T to comment, and received the system’s tech-
MTB soon ran out of capacity with 660 customers nical response in December, 1971. The Bell System
served.8)9) submitted a frequency-reuse cellular radio scheme.
Their proposal was based on the patent Amos E. Joel,
In 1967 Nokia was formed by consolidating two Jr. and Bell Telephone Laboratories filed on Decem-
companies: the Finnish Rubber Works and the ber 21, 1970 for a mobile communication system. Six
Finnish Cable Works. Nokia expanded Finnish Cable long years passed before the FCC allowed AT&T to
Works electronics division to include semi-conductor start a trial.
research. These early 1970s studies helped Nokia
develop digital landline telephone switches. Also Besides bureaucratic sloth, this delay was also caused
helping the Finns was a free market for telecom by lawsuits and objections from radio common carri-
equipment, an open economic climate which pro- ers, independent telephone companies, and their sup-
moted creativity and competitiveness. Unlike most pliers. All three groups feared the Bell System would
European countries, Finland’s PT&T was not dominate cellular radio if private companies weren’t
required to buy equipment from a Finnish company. allowed to compete equally. They wanted the FCC to
And other telephone companies existed in the coun- design open market rules, and they fought constantly
try, any of whom could decide on their own which in court and in administrative hearings to make sure
supplier they would buy from. Nokia’s later cellular they had equal access. And although its rollout was
development was greatly enhanced by this free mar- delayed, the Bell System was already working with
ket background and their early research. cellular radio, in a small but ingenious way.
In 1967 Televerket, now Telenor, began operating a

public mobile telephone system known as the OLT. The first commercial cellular radio
It was a manual system using the 160 MHz band. It, system
too, ran out of capacity soon after introduction. A few In January, 1969 the Bell System made commercial
years later an additional system was introduced in the cellular radio operational for the first time by
450 MHz band in southern Norway. employing frequency reuse in a small zone system.
Using public payphones. Passengers on what was
By the late 1960s it is certain that every major called the Metroliner train service running between
telecommunications company and manufacturer New York City and Washington, DC found they
knew about the cellular radio idea. In 1967, for exam- could make telephone calls while moving at more
ple, NT&T may have begun research for a nationwide than 160 kilometers per hour. Six channels in the
cellular system at 900 MHz for Japan.10) But how to 450 MHz band were used again and again in nine
make it work technically and economically? There zones along the 225 mile route. A computerized
was no way to evolve the existing radiotelephone control center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, man-
infrastructure to cellular. New base station radio aged the system. Thus, the first cell phone was a pay-
equipment and new customer mobiles were needed. phone! As Paul described it in the Bell Laboratories’
Instead of a single, central antenna site with one Record article on the project, “[T]he system is
fairly simple transceiver, several to dozens of cell unique. It is the first practical integrated system to
sites would be required, each needing its own use the radio-zone concept within the Bell System in
transceiver, all of them interconnected to each other, order to achieve optimum use of a limited number of
with a network switch to manage the traffic, and soft- radio-frequency channels.”11)12)
ware to make everything work. The cost would be
enormous. Around 1969 the first all transistor mobile telephones
appeared from a large manufacturer. The tube era for
The Federal Communications Commission in the radio telephones was ending. Motorola’s ‘Mark 12’
United States in 1968 reconsidered the Bell System’s was an IMTS telephone designed to work in the
ten year old request for more frequencies. They made 450 Mhz band. This transistor rig was still big and
a tentative decision in 1970 to grant them, asked bulky and mounted in a vehicle. The first commercial
8) Online: http://www.tekniskamuseet.se/mobilen/engelska/1960_70.shtml
9) Olle Gerdes, citing Dædalus 1991, The Yearbook of the National Museum of Science and Technology. Stockholm.
10) Ikegami, F. Mobile Radio Communications in Japan. IEEE Transactions On Communications, 744, Vol. Com-20 No. 4, August,
1972.
11) Paul, C.E. Telephones Aboard the ‘Metroliner’. Bell Laboratories Record, 77, March, 1969
12) For many more details on the Metroliner or “High Speed Train Project”, please see http://www.privateline.com/PCS/metroliner.htm

During the late 1960s and early 1970s the Nordic
Mobile Telephone group was planning a Scandina-
vian wide mobile telephone network. Their 1970
report concluded that the microelectronics needed to
build an analog cellular network would not be avail-
able until 1980. The group decided therefore that
instead of using new technology, they’d design a con-
ventional, manual mobile telephone system. It started
in Örebro, Sweden in 1971. It required 400 operators
to serve just 19,800 subscribers. MTD shut down in
1987, eclipsed, of course, by an automated cellular
radio system made possible by microprocessor tech-
nology.14)
On October 17, 1973, Motorola filed a patent for its

own cellular radio system.15) Although Motorola had
supplied the Bell System with radiotelephones for
decades, AT&T was now considered a threat, not a
friend. Motorola’s main business was dispatch radio
systems for taxi companies, utility fleets, police
departments, and so on. If cellular was successful
In the early 1970s Bell System tested the cellular concept, which had then dispatch customers might move in whole or in
already been used in a commercial system since 1969. (Photo supplied part to the new service. So Motorola needed a cellular
by John Winward) offering to compete with AT&T. A rivalry developed
between the two companies to field working equip-
ment. In 1973, after completing Motorola’s first
prototype cellular telephone and its base station, Dr.
Martin Cooper called his competitors at Bell Labs.
portable radiotelephones in the United States also Ferranti says “Cooper couldn’t resist demonstrating
appeared at this time. In 1969 or 1970 SCM Melabs, in a very practical manner who had won.”16) What
owned by Smith Corona, produced an attaché phone, Cooper’s team invented was the first handheld cell
a complete MTS telephone built into a briefcase. phone. But not the cell phone itself. That had already
Almost immediately Canyon Communications and been done on the Metroliner train. Motorola’s suc-
Livermore Data came out with their attaché phones. cessful field work caused the American magazine
These were all MTS even though IMTS had been Popular Science in July, 1973 to picture the portable
introduced in 1964. Only small firms made these phone on their cover. The accompanying article said
units. Harris, Motorola, and GE never did. All these that with FCC approval New York city could have a
phones were essentially made by hand.13) Motorola cellular system operating by 1976. No
approval came.
In November, 1971 Intel introduced the first commer-
cial microprocessor, the 4004, a miniature computer On May 1, 1974 the FCC approved an additional 115
on a silicon chip. The original contained 2,300 tran- megahertz of spectrum for future mobile telephone
sistors and did 60,000 operations a second. Today’s use. Cellular loomed ahead, although no one knew
microprocessors can contain 5.5 million transistors, when FCC approval would permit its commercial
performing hundreds of millions of calculations each rollout. American business radio and radio-telephone
second. Intel’s 4004 was designed originally for a manufacturers begin planning for the future. The
desktop calculator, but microprocessors were soon demand was certainly there. In 1976 only 545 cus-
improved on and eventually put into all kinds of elec- tomers in New York City had Bell System mobiles,
tronics, including telephone switches and cell phones. with 3,700 customers on the waiting list. In the
That integration could have come sooner for one tele- United States overall, 44,000 Bell subscribers had
com group. AT&T mobiles but 20,000 people were on five to
13) Geoff Fors. Personal correspondence.

14) Online: http://www.tekniskamuseet.se/mobilen/engelska/1970_80.shtml
15) US Patent Number 3,906,166, granted September16, 1975.
16) Ferranti, M. Father of Cell Phone Eyes a Revolution. IDG News Service, New York Bureau, 14 (31), October 12, 1999.

ten year waiting lists. Demand always existed but was quality competition from the Japanese. He asked
licensed spectrum to accommodate them did not. his bosses, “Do we have a quality organizational
Until now. structure that could meet this Japanese competition
and achieve zero defects?” As if to highlight the
In1975 the FCC let the Bell System begin a trial. It issue, the next week Affruniti found factory workers
wasn’t until March, 1977, though, that the FCC beating on warped metal housings with a board and
approved AT&T’s request to actually operate their mallet to make them true, and, to make a deadline,
cellular system. A new wireless industry was devel- radios deliberately shipped with a missing part.
oping in America and the FCC sought to control Motorola immediately began institutional changes
every aspect. They’d decide the number of wireless toward quality control.19)
carriers in each market, the companies allowed to
operate, standards for the equipment, frequency
assignments, channel spacing, and on and on.17) Suf- Analog cellular systems begin
fering less bureaucratic trouble, Japanese and Scandi- In May, 1978 The Bahrain Telephone Company
navian manufacturers diligently worked on trialing (Batelco) began operating the first commercial cellu-
first commercial analog cellular systems. The NMT lar telephone system. The simple two cell scheme
group ran a satisfactory trial in Stockholm in late had 250 subscribers, operated on 20 channels in the
1977 through early 1978. Nippon Telephone and 400 Mhz band, and used all Matsushita (Panasonic)
Telegraph probably started field tests in Tokyo as equipment.20) Cable and Wireless, now Global
early as 1975.18) Crossing, installed the equipment for Batelco.
NTT produced the first cellular systems for Japan, In July, 1978 Advanced Mobile Phone Service or
using all Japanese equipment. The Japanese also AMPS began operating near two American cities.
contributed important studies to cellular research. Y. The first area was around AT&T Labs in Newark,
Okumura’s 1968 “Field Strength and its Variability New Jersey, and the second place was near Chicago,
in VHF and UHF Land Mobile Service,” is an often Illinois. Ten cells covering 21,000 square miles made
cited, pioneering work. But Japan’s greatest contribu- up the Chicago system. Oki Electric provided the
tion to cellular radio was quality control. American mobile terminals. This equipment test started with 90
industry and those who emulated its practices, in the Bell System employees acting as customers. After six
final analysis, favored quantity over quality. The months, on December 20, 1978, a market trial began
Japanese insisted on both. with paying subscribers who leased the car mounted
telephones. This was called the service test. The sys-
In the mid to late 1970s, Japan’s goal to produce elec- tem used the newly allocated 800 MHz band.21)
tronic goods without defects forced manufacturers Although the Bell System bought an additional 1,000
around the globe to ask themselves if they could mobile phones from Oki for the lease phase, it placed
compete. Self-examination was a wrenching but nec- orders from Motorola and E.F. Johnson for the
essary process that for many companies would go on remainder of the 2,100 radios.22) This early network,
for years. Before completing the turn to better quality using large scale integrated circuits throughout, a
shipping dates would be missed, production quotas dedicated computer and switching system, custom
lost, profits reduced. It was all very necessary; assem- made mobile telephones and antennas, proved a large
bly line production of mobiles by the millions could cellular system could work.
not have happened with the one at a time techniques
of producing conventional mobile telephones. In 1979 INMARSAT was born, an international
group fostering and coordinating satellite telephony.
In January, 1978 Andy Affrunti Sr. warned Motorola Originally developed for ships at sea, INMARSAT’s
management that the biggest threat to their company charter later extended to telephone calls made on land
17) Online: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OGC/Reports/cellr.txt

18) Ito, Sadao and Yasushi Matsuzaka. 800 MHz Band Land Mobile Telephone System – Overall View. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular
Technology, 205, Volume VT-27, No. 4, November 1978, as reprinted from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone’s The Review of the
Electrical Communication Laboratories, Vol. 25, nos 11–12, November-December, 1977. (English and Japanese)
19) Affrunti, Andy. A Personal Journey: 50 Years at Motorola. 132–133. Motorola University Press, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, 1994.
20) Gibson, Stephen W. Cellular Mobile Radiotelephones. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 141, 1987. See also online:
http://www.privateline.com/PCS/Bahrain.htm
21) Blecher, F. Advanced Mobile Phone Service. IEEE Transactions on Vehicle Communications, Vol. VT-29, No. 2, May, 1980.
22) Fewer busy signals for mobile phones. Business Week, Industrial Edition, Number 2546: 60B, August 7, 1978.

New regulations and AT&T’s impending breakup
caused American cellular to be delayed once again.
The Federal Communication Commission in 1981
required the Bell System regional operating compa-
nies, such as Bell Atlantic, to have competition in
every cellular market. The FCC thought this would
provide better service and keep rates low. In reality
prices between the wireline and non-wireline carriers
were always about the same, and service no better
between the two. Rules governing this state imposed
duopoly were many: Applications to operate in each
city were required and a lengthy licensing award pro-
1984. The first portable units were really big and cess needed to be followed.
heavy. Called transportables or luggables, few were
as glamorous as this one made by Spectrum Cellular On March 25, 1980, Richard Anderson, general man-
Corporation ager for Hewlett-Packard’s Data Division, shocked
American chip producers by saying that his company
would henceforth buy most of its chips from Japan.
After inspecting 300,000 standard memory chips,
and from aircraft. MARISAT or Marine Satellite was what we now call RAM, HP discovered the American
the first mobile communications satellite service, chips had a failure rate six times greater than the
beginning in 1976. Both satellite groups sought to worst Japanese manufacturer. American firms were
make more dependable radio-telephone traffic which not alone in needing to retool. Ericsson admits it took
had previously gone over High Frequency or short- years for them to compete in producing mobile phones.
wave radio links. Shipboard satellite customers first Let’s skip ahead five years to make this point.
talked with an international operator who then manu-
ally patched their call into the landline telephone sys- In 1987 Panasonic took over an Ericsson plant in
tem. Echo and reverberation problems were common Kumla, Sweden, 120 miles west of Stockholm to
in those days, an operator might need 6 to 9 call produce a handset for the Nordic Mobile Telephone
setups for 1 call.23) Let’s return now to terrestrial network. Meurling and Jeans explain: “Panasonic
radio-telephony. brought in altogether new standards of quality. They
sent their inspection engineers over, who took out
Worldwide commercial cellular deployment blos- their little magnifying glasses and studied, say dis-
somed in the late 1970s and then continued into the plays. And when they saw some dust, they asked that
early 1980s. An 88 cell system in the challenging the unit should be dismantled and that dust-free ele-
cityscape of Tokyo began in December, 1979, using ments should be used instead. Einar Dahlin, one of
Matsushita and NEC equipment. The first North the original small development team in Lund, had to
American commercial system began in August, 1981 reach a specific agreement on how many specks of
in Mexico City. It was a one cell system. The world’s dust were permitted.”24) Let’s go back now to the
first Nordic Mobile Telephone network started on early 1980s, when telecom changed forever.
September 1, 1981 in Saudi Arabia. It used 20 cells
and operated at 450 MHz. The next month, starting On August 24, 1982, after seven years of wrangling
on October 1, 1981, and opening in stages until with the American federal Justice Department, Amer-
March, 1982, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Fin- ican Telephone and Telegraph was split apart, suc-
land, began operating a Scandinavian wide NMT net- cumbing to government pressure from without and a
work. It also operated at 450 MHz, and used three carefully thought up plan from within. The Bell Sys-
Ericsson switches. The first multi-national cellular tem, serving 80 % of the American population, and
system, the NMT450 had 600 cells and offered roam- custodian of Bell Laboratories, was broken apart.
ing, an important first. As the Scandinavians operated Complete divestiture took place on January 1, 1984.
the most advanced cellular system in the world, roll- After the breakup new companies, products, and ser-
out of cellular radio in America was stopped again by vices appeared immediately in all fields of American
government bureaucracy. telecom, as a fresh, competitive spirit swept the coun-
23) Online: http://www.privateline.com/Snyder/TSPS_history_recollections.htm

24) Meurling, John and Richard Jeans. The Ugly Duckling: Mobile phones from Ericsson. Stockholm, Ericsson Radio Systems AB, 46, 1997.

try. The AT&T divestiture caused nations around the TAC, first introduced commercially in Baltimore and
world to reconsider their state owned and operated Washington DC. AMPS or Dyna-Tac, often both,
telephone companies, with a view toward fostering were soon installed and operating within three years
competition in their own countries. in each of the ninety largest markets in America.25)
Cellular’s popularity in the United States was unex-

European analog systems pectedly strong. Estimates say there were 340,213
Europe saw cellular service introduced in 1981, when customers in 1985; 681,825 by 1986, and 1,300,855
the Nordic Mobile Telephone System or NMT450 by 1987.26) Conventional mobile telephones by com-
began operating in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and parison served less than 100,000 subscribers before
Norway in the 450 MHz range. It was the first multi- cellular began. This 100 % growth each year attracted
national cellular system. In 1985 Great Britain started overseas equipment makers. Ericsson supplied
using the Total Access Communications System or switches and eventually base station equipment,
TACS at 900 MHz. Later, the West German C-Netz, while companies like Nokia sold handsets. AMPS
the French Radiocom 2000, and the Italian RTMI/ systems were sold throughout the world. One country
RTMS helped make up Europe’s nine incompatible was especially interested in the technology, not just
analog radio telephone systems. All services used to use but also to develop as an industry.
analog for sending voice, signaling was done with a
variety of tones and data bursts. Handoffs were based In March, 1984 the government KMT or Korea
on measuring signal strength except C-Netz, which Mobile Telecommunications Company was formed.
measured the round trip delay. Early C-Netz phones, On May 1, 1984 KMT began AMPS service in South
most made by Korea. They had some experience with mobile tele-
Nokia, also used phony; a Motorola IMTS system had been operating
magnetic stripe in Korea since the late 1960s. But cellular was new
cards to access a and something the Koreans thought they could partic-
customer’s infor- ipate in. They started with manufacturing. In 1984
mation, a Nokia and Tandy formed Tandy Mobira Corporation
predecessor to the in Korea. The Finns wanted to sell AMPS phones
SIM cards of in America. The Tandy corporation had electronics
GSM/PCS phones. stores across the United States which could distribute
All of these those phones. By 1992, 824,000 handsets had been
mobiles were car sold under the Tandy label and 885,000 under the
phones. Nokia brand.27) South Korea thus entered the mobile
telephone business, taking the first step toward
On October 12, becoming a leader in cellular radio.
1983 the regional
Bell operating Analog cellular was also booming in Europe by the
company mid-1980s. The main problem was that systems
Ameritech began worked well by themselves but they wouldn’t work
the first United together. A German customer, for example, couldn’t
States commercial operate their mobile in Italy. Planning began during
cellular service in the early 1980s to create a single European wide digi-
Chicago, Illinois. tal mobile service with advanced features and easy
This was AMPS, roaming. While North American groups concentrated
or Advanced on building out their robust but increasingly fraud
Mobile Phone Ser- plagued and featureless analog network, Europe
vice. United States planned for a digital future.
The Motorola Dyna-TAC from cellular developed
1983 was the first handheld from this AT&T Why didn’t America build a fully digital system ear-
cellular phone (from: model, along with lier? The United States suffered no variety of incom-
http://www.motorola.com/ Motorola’s system patible technologies as in Europe. Only AMPS or an
mediacenter/graphics/) known as Dyna- AMPS compatible system existed in America. Roam-
25) Gibson, Stephen W. Cellular Mobile Radiotelephones. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 19–22, 1987.
26) Online: http://ctia.org/research_statistics/index.cfm/AID/10030
27) Haikio, M. Nokia: The Inside Story. Prentice Hall, London, 160, 2001.

ing agreements schemes. Two choices
between operators and quickly emerged, one
a common networking digital, one analog, but
standard, IS-41, neither came close to
allowed customers to the capacity goal.
make calls from what-
ever city or state they In December 1988
were in. Little desire Japan’s Ministry of
existed to design an all Posts and Telecommu-
digital system when the nications ended NTT’s
present one was popu- monopoly on mobile In 1990, cellular tele-
lar and working well. phone service. phones were typically
To keep the current Although technically like this “Bag phone”
phones working (and adept, NTT was also from Motorola
producing money for monolithic and bureau-
The size and weight their carriers) any new cratic; it developed a
of cellular telephones system would have to good cellular system but charged too much to use it.
shrank considerably accommodate them. Growth was slow. They also required customers to
between 1990 and 2000 Chances lessened for lease phones, not to buy them. After 1989 competi-
an all digital future tion and new networks increased cellular sales. But
with each analog phone not until 1994, when telecom was completely deregu-
sold. lated, did cellular prosper. In the late 1980s Japan
was also studying the next generation of cellular.
Their first generation systems were modeled after
The Rise of GSM AMPS but it was unclear if their second systems
Europeans saw things differently. No existing tele- would be analog or digital.
phone system could accommodate their different cel-
lular systems. They decided instead to create a new In 1989 The European Telecommunication Standards
technology in a new radio band. Cellular radio but Institute or ETSI took responsibility for further devel-
fully digital, the new service would incorporate the oping GSM. In 1990 the first recommendations were
best thinking of the time. No backward compatibility published. The specifications were published in 1991.
with existing systems. They patterned their new wire- The United States cellular industry knew time based
less standard after landline requirements for ISDN, systems would work well but wanted a digital system
hoping to make a wireless counterpart to it. The new of their own, a dual mode technology that could keep
service was called GSM. existing analog phones working.
GSM first stood for Groupe Speciale Mobile, after In January, 1989 the Telecommunication Industry
the study group that created the standard. It’s now Association (TIA) selected a time based or TDMA
known as Global System for Mobile Communica- approach to North American digital cellular radio.
tions, although the “C” isn’t included in the abbrevia- The Cellular Telecommunication Industry Associa-
tion. In 1982 twenty-six European national phone tion (CTIA) also endorsed the TIA’s pick, although
companies began developing GSM. This Conference it did not contain the 10 time capacity gain it asked
of European Postal and Telecommunications Admin- for the year before. The CTIA hoped that eventually
istrations or CEPT, planned a uniform, European capacity gains would increase. The TIA next wrote a
wide cellular system around 900 MHz. A rare tri- standard for this new digital system, soon to be called
umph of European unity, GSM achievements became IS-54. It was unofficially called D-AMPS or Digital
“one of the most convincing demonstrations of what AMPS. After publishing the standard manufacturers
cooperation throughout European industry can achieve would know how to build for the system. Few sus-
on the global market.” Planning began in earnest and pected the technology to get the most gain was
continued for several years. already being developed.
By the late 1980s the American wireless industry On November 3, 1989 in San Diego, California,
began searching for a higher capacity system. In Qualcomm successfully demonstrated a prototype
September, 1988 the Cellular Telecommunication CDMA cellular system to a group of 250 network
Industry Association published a set of User Perfor- operators and suppliers from around the world. Three
mance Requirements, urging a new digital technology months later they repeated this demonstration in New
be built with 10 times the capacity of existing analog York City. Code Division Multiple Access had come

to mobile telephony. It appeared too late to be consid- didn’t have the equipment yet to build a network;
ered as the digital choice for new North American they needed money to finance production and for
cellular networks. Over the next few years, however, research and development. Besides funding them,
it would come into the American market and show PacTel advised Qualcomm throughout the standards
the wireless industry that CDMA, in one form or an- making process. They also gave them vital consulting
other, would eventually replace time division systems. and contacts in Korea, where the government was
deciding on what digital system should replace their
analog cellular network. The Koreans were eager to
North America goes digital: IS-54 use a scheme they played a role in. They were reluc-
In March, 1990 the North American cellular network tant to buy more equipment from Japan, Scandinavia,
formally adopted a digital standard: IS-54. It worked or the United States. Manufacturing chips and hand-
with existing AMPS systems. This choice won over sets for Qualcomm and sharing in their research and
Motorola’s Narrowband AMPS or NAMPS, an ana- development efforts would strengthen Korea’s wire-
log scheme that increased capacity by reducing chan- less industry.28)
nel size. IS-54 by comparison increased capacity by
digital means: sampling, digitizing, and then multi- In July 1992 Nippon Telephone and Telegraph cre-
plexing conversations, using a technique called ated a wireless division called NTT DoCoMo, offi-
TDMA or time division multiple access. It tripled cially known as NTT Mobile Communications Net-
call capacity. GSM also uses time division. work, Inc. It took over NTT’s mobile operations and
customers. And as noted before, in April 1994 the
An operator had great flexibility with IS-54. It could Japanese market became completely deregulated.
convert any of its analog voice channels to digital. Japanese cellular took off.
Customers got digital service where available and
analog where it wasn’t. Existing customers weren’t By 1993 American cellular was again running out
left without service; they simply couldn’t access IS- of capacity, despite a wide movement to IS-54 or D-
54’s new features. CANTEL started IS-54 in Canada AMPS. Subscribers grew from one and a half million
in 1992. Many other AMPS countries also adopted customers in 1988 to more than thirteen million sub-
TDMA as a digital choice, like Japan in 1994 with scribers in 1993. Demand now existed for other tech-
their Personal Digital Cellular or PDC system. nologies, like GSM, and spread spectrum, to handle
the growing number of customers. Qualcomm contin-
Commercial GSM networks started operating in mid- ued working to get their CDMA system approved as
1991 in Europe. On July 1, 1991 Finland’s Radiolinja another American interim standard. If sanctioned,
launched the first commercial GSM network. Radio- manufacturers and carriers would have confidence to
linja was the wireless consortium of privately owned build for and use Qualcomm’s system. GSM specifi-
regional telephone companies. Nokia provided the cations were already published and their technology
equipment. The all digital GSM increased capacity was continuing to spread around the globe. But GSM
three times over analog. Every mobile contained or hadn’t come to America. Yet.
accessed encryption to prevent eavesdropping,
authentication to prevent fraud, short messaging ser- In July 1993 the Telecommunication Industry Associ-
vices or SMS, and a SIM card to easily add accounts ation approved Qualcomm’s CDMA scheme as an
to a handset. GSM would go on to be installed around alternative digital standard for the United States. It
the world and become the most popular cellular radio was called IS-95 and it was a two mode system. As
service. In February 2004 it was announced that GSM with D-AMPS, IS-95 defaulted to the analog AMPS
had one billion customers. protocol where the primary signal, in this case
CDMA, was not present. A mobile could thus work
In the summer of 1991 Pacific Telephone, a former throughout most of North America where there was
regional Bell System telephone company, decided to cellular coverage, even in places where IS-95 hadn’t
invest in Qualcomm. This was an unusual and contro- been installed yet. Qualcomm’s system traded greater
versial decision for a regulated telephone company. capacity for complexity in the network and in the
Pacific Bell’s Los Angeles wireless customers were mobile. Also known as narrowband CDMA, each
growing by 200 % a year. A CDMA solution seemed channel’s bandwidth is 1.25 MHz. IS-95A later
the only way to handle that growth. But Qualcomm gained the trade name cdmaOne.
28) Mock, D. The Qualcomm Equation. New York, Amacon, 82, 2005.
29) Meurling, J. and R. Jeans. The Mobile Phone Book: The Invention of The Mobile Phone Industry. London, Communications Week
International, Ericsson Radio Systems, 78–179, 1994.

In August, 1993 new services. AT&T Wireless was its chief propo-
the carrier Nex- nent. It is still used in America and other countries but
tel Communica- its use is declining. In the places it remains it is slowly
tions began being cleared out for GSM systems.
operating a new,
proprietary wire- On July 1, 1995 the NTT Personal Communications
The Nokia 9000 Communicator less network in Network Group and DDI Pocket Telephone Group
was introduced in 1996. It was Los Angeles. introduced the Personal Handyphone System or PHS to
the first mobile phone and hand- They used Japan. Also operating at 1900 MHz, sometimes referred
held computer, a PDA (from Motorola phones to as 1.9 GHz, PHS is an extremely clever system,
http://www.nokia.com) which combined allowing the same phone used at home to also roam
a dispatch radio across a city. A cordless phone acting like a mobile.
with a cellular
telephone. Even though Nextel established a nation- In September, 1995, Hong Kong’s Hutchison
wide network, their iDEN technology proved unpop- Telecom turned on the world’s first commercial
ular within the wireless industry. iDEN’s chief legacy CDMA/IS-95 system. A year later in San Diego,
is the push to talk button (PTT), something emulated California, the operator NextWave PCS launched
on many of today’s mobiles. the first American IS-95 system on August 16. The
next ten years might well be called the Triumph of
As mentioned before, Japan in 1994 began operating CDMA.
their own digital standard called PDC in the 800 MHz
and 1.5 GHz frequency bands. Ericsson, Motorola,
AT&T and Japanese suppliers all furnished different The mid-1990s:
equipment for PDC to different wireless carriers. Fundamental change
Modeled after IS-54, PDC was a D-AMPS system, it On August 15, 1996, Nokia introduced the Commu-
accommodated existing analog customers. Based on nicator, a GSM mobile phone and handheld com-
TDMA, carriers hoped to eventually replace their puter. It had a QWERTY keyboard and built in word
three analog cellular systems with digital working processing and calendar programs. Besides sending
and thereby increase capacity.29) and receiving faxes, the 9000 could check e-mail and
access the internet in a limited way. But its effective-
ness was limited since cellular networks were opti-
A new cellular band and systems in mized for voice, not data.
America
In the mid-1990s more wireless channels and carriers To be a telephone an instrument must convey speech.
were allowed in America. The FCC auctioned off By the mid-1990s, however, delivering quality
new blocks of frequencies at 1900 MHz starting on speech was assured with every cellular radio scheme.
December 5, 1994 and ending on January 14, 1997. Voice, with adjustments, was as good as it needed to
A new, lucrative market opened for GSM and CDMA. be. With the speech requirement settled, data became
Several carriers were licensed in each metropolitan the first interest of system designers. Voice remained
area. CDMA, TDMA, and GSM proponents spread
out across the United States, urging license holders
to use their systems.
GSM vendors quickly tailored a system for the Amer-

ican 1900 MHz band. In November, 1995 American
Personal Communications, eventually an affiliate of
Sprint Spectrum, launched the first commercial GSM
service in the US. This network operated in the
Washington-Baltimore area. After just six months
there were 15 more GSM 1900 networks in the
United States. In perhaps a hint of things to come,
Sprint PCS in 2000 replaced APC’s GSM network
with a CDMA system.
In the mid-1990s, the Blackberry, essentially a two-
IS-136 started shortly after these new spectrum blocks way pager only capable of sending and receiving
were opened. This was the successor or evolution of e-mail or SMS, forced us to rethink what a cellular
IS-54. It again used TDMA and offered a number of phone was (http://www.blackberry.com)

the essential service for the large majority of mobile tions System, was developed in the early 1990s
phones, but developing better and faster data net- through several European Union funded research pro-
works over cellular radio became the priority. jects. In 1991, ETSI established a new group, SMG5,
to be responsible for standardizing the system. From
To best conduct voice cellular had always used cir- 1999, the standardization of UMTS has been done
cuit switching, just as the landline telephone network by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project – 3GPP.
did. But data isn’t efficiently conducted by circuit UMTS is a wideband CDMA standard. A 5 MHz
switching. An example is the GSM service called channel spacing is used with data rates up to 2 Mb/s.
High Speed Circuit Switched Data or HSCSD. It ETSI and 3GPP provided more than just a European
needs four GSM channels to achieve, in theory, response to Qualcomm’s narrowband CDMA tech-
speeds between 28.8 kbits and 43.2 kbits a second. nology. While acknowledging that future capacity
Actual speeds are lower. A fundamental change was gains could only be achieved by using CDMA, a step
needed, therefore, from circuit switching to packet by step migration plan to WCDMA for GSM, PDC,
switching. And the kind of packet switching needed TDMA and IS-95 operators was provided. This evo-
was obvious from the start. lution plan was carefully planned to use most of
GSM’s core components.
The internet became commercial in the mid-1990s
with the advent of graphical browsers like Mosaic On December 1, 2001 Telenor Mobil trialed a UMTS
and then Netscape. Internet user growth rivaled cellu- system in Oslo. Commercial UMTS systems fol-
lar telephony between 1995 and 2000. The internet lowed, with the technology now installed in different
runs on the aptly titled Internet Protocol or IP, a parts of the world. Rollout of UMTS tends to be slow
packet switching technique cellular data network and expensive, since the change from time division to
operators quickly chose to adopt. Today’s General code division requires more than software updates.
Packet Radio Service (GPRS), its improvement, Hardware changes are needed, especially at the cell
EDGE, and short range wireless networks like Blue- site. One can’t, for example, reuse existing antennas
tooth all employ IP. All 3G systems use IP as all of without severe performance problems. The radio
us head toward “an all IP world.” spectrum is an inherently fragile, vexing medium,
of course, and operators are struggling to bring data
By the mid 1990s the mobile became as small as rates close to those promised. While the UMTS
practically possible. The keypad and display limited Forum assures us that 384 kbps is a minimum for
any more reduction in size. Cell phone circuitry UMTS, and only then in “high mobility situations”,
started getting built into laptops and PDAs and instru- 300 kbps may be the working, upper limit for this
ments like the Blackberry, forcing us to rethink what technology.
a cellular telephone was. Is an SMS only device a
mobile telephone or a two way pager? Handsets In November, 1998 the greatest mobile telephone dis-
evolve to provide a variety of services, mostly non- aster began when the Iridium project was launched.
voice, such as ring tones, image capturing, text mes- Using 66 satellites, and costing almost 5 billion US
saging, gaming, and so on. While cell phone services dollars, the service went bankrupt after only 16
seem limited only by the imagination, the systems months. The lead design firm and largest investor
they run over become fewer. was Motorola. Hoping to make satellite phone service
a mass market item, planning for the system began
GSM and CDMA systems would continue to be before cellular became widespread and reduced
installed around the world but by 2005 no new cellu- demand. Iridium gathered only 10,000 customers
lar radio scheme would emerge. Flarion’s technology before it folded. Due to the high cost of handsets and
was tested extensively by the American carrier Nextel services, and an inability to work indoors, satellite
but the system was not adopted. The lone exception telephone service remains a niche market to this day.
was China. To keep its market closed they choose a
hybrid technology called TD-SCDMA, a cross In October 2000 Sharp produced the first integrated
between TDMA and CDMA. The history of cellular camera phone. It supplied them to the Japanese Oper-
telephones from the mid-1990s, therefore, is mostly ator J-Phone. The J-SH04 mobile phone let users
a chronicle of improvements to existing systems. take, send, and receive images by email.30) (The
Nokia 9110 Communicator in 1998 was the first
In Europe, the idea of a 3rd generation mobile system mobile to enable image transfers but the device relied
called UMTS or Universal Mobile Telecommunica- on a camera supplied by each user.) At the end of
30) Online: http://sharp-world.com/corporate/info/his/h_company/2000/

2004 it was estimated that 75 % of the mobiles sold achieved a peak data rate of 3.09 Mbps. In a San
in Japan were camera phones. Diego, California laboratory. CDMA2000 1xEV-DV
combines data and voice, something UMTS does
The CDG or CDMA Development Group promotes already. The CDG claims speeds up to 3.09 Mbps.
narrowband CDMA. They are the equivalent to the Perhaps. Both DO and DV are backward compatible
wideband CDMA oriented UMTS Forum. During the with CDMA2000 1X and cdmaOne.
late 1990s and early 2000s, the CDG outlined coming
improvements to IS-95. They gave these system In April 2004 Cingular became the first carrier in
changes, unfortunately, names which look and seem North America to offer UMTS. They now cover six
alike. They even changed the name of IS-95. markets in the United States. Acceptance is slow due
cdmaOne is now the marketing term for IS-95A, the to limited coverage, bulky handsets, and the high cost
original CDMA scheme. cdmaOne includes IS-95B of service. UMTS and CDMA upgrades are very
which is little implemented. We can look at these expensive for the carriers. Operators around the
evolutions by the dates they debuted. world are now spending billions for networks that
won’t pay for themselves for quite some time. The
CDMA2000 1X was first launched by SK Telecom potential demand for service is certainly there, as cell
in Korea in October, 2000. Building on an existing phone subscriber levels attest.
IS-95 network, CDMA2000 1X, doubles the voice
capacity of cdmaOne networks. It delivers packet In January, 2005 industry analysts Deloitte & Touche
data speeds of, supposedly, 307 kbps in mobile envi- predicted mobile phone users will top 2 billion by the
ronments. But it’s doubtful this rate is maintained end of 2005. They say mobiles currently number over
while the mobile is at speed or while conducting 1.5 billion. Many countries have over 100 % penetra-
handoffs from one cell to another. tion, as people have second phones or multiple SIM
cards, one for business, another for personal use. As
In May, 2002 SK Telecom again made another first, throughout its history, regulatory, technical, and com-
introducing CDMA2000 1xEV-DO service in May, petitive problems remain for mobile telephony. But
2002.31) This is a high speed data only service and an the desire for people to communicate, and for busi-
odd one at that. It’s actually a CDMA/TDMA hybrid, ness to cater to that need, insures an imaginative and
and uses various modulation techniques, depending successful future for the mobile. What will the future
on the data rate. look like? I’ll leave that for the other authors in this
issue to answer.
On August 27, 2003, Nokia announced it completed
a call using CDMA2000 1xEV-DV, and that they
Tom Farley is a freelance telecom writer living in West Sacramento, California. Since 1995 he has produced
the website privateline.com, an educational resource devoted to the telephone. Formerly publisher of the
magazine private line, Farley writes mostly on wireless and telephone history. Edwin Grosvenor, biographer
of Alexander Graham Bell and the great grandson of same, has called Tom a telephone historian. Tom
welcomes your comments and corrections.
31) Personal correspondence, Hanjoo Kim of the IITA (Korean Institute of Information Technology Assessment) July 13, 2004.

Mobile phones and fashion in post-modernity
LEOPOLDINA FORTUNATI
The aim of this article is to explore the relation between mobile phones and fashion and how this has
developed in the course of the last decade. It is important to reconstruct this path not only on the
historical but also on the sociological plane, as it will enable us to ask certain questions and also
reflect on modernity. After a careful reconstruction of the works that have appeared on this topic,
we will dedicate the second part of this article to discussing the role and meaning of fashion and the
mobile phone. We will deal with the relation that the mobile phone has at present with clothing and
Leopoldina appearance (Floch, 1995; Tambini, 1997) and above all the human body (Fortunati, Katz, Riccini,
Fortunati is
2003), by examining how this device is at the center of a vast spectrum of social processes, much
Professor of
Sociology at vaster than any other technology. It is a fact that people tend to always carry a mobile phone on them
the University that makes the difference in respect to other technologies. In the second section, we shall see how in
of Udine, Italy the interaction between the mobile phone and fashion it is fashion that is the stronger element. It is
fashion that domesticates technology, and especially the mobile phone, and not vice versa. In the
third part of the article we will analyze the basic reasons for buying and using mobiles in order to see if
these correspond to those of any other object of fashion. In the fourth section we will analyze the most
important theories on fashion and try to see if the advent of the mobile phone as an object of fashion
can be interpreted as being part of them or if it is necessary to produce a specific theory to explain its
widespread use. Finally, in the fifth and last part of the article, the relation between mobile phones and
fashion is seen as a lens through which to explore the concept of fashion itself, and the motivations
that lie at the base of fashion as reflecting certain processes of modernity. This exploration will be
guided by the idea that the mobile phone is the ICT that best represents and incarnates post-moder-
nity (Lipovesky, 1987), an idea that will be verified here (Fortunati, 2005c). In the course of the article
I will support the analysis with results that have emerged in two Italian research projects that explored
how the new generations perceive and experience the encroachment of fashion on the world of the
mobile phone.1)
A short review of the literature on The following year, 1997, the paper “Wearing Tech-
the mobile phone and fashion nologies” was presented at the Lyon Study meeting
In 1996 in a research project on the social representa- “Confluences: Fashioning Intercultural Perspectives”,
tion of telecommunications there emerged a signifi- analyzing the statute of the mobile phone as part of
cant association between fashion and the mobile physical appearance or the “look” of individuals. This
phone (Fortunati, Manganelli, in press). In that same paper, which was later published in the French jour-
year fashion, mobile technologies and the body began nal Réseaux (Fortunati, 1998), is where scientific
to come under scrutiny, ending up in the book “Mass attention to this issue really starts. “Wearing Tech-
Moda” written by Calefato (1996), which looked into nologies”, which was received with great interest
the co-penetration of the language of clothing and in Europe, started from this significant association
that of telecommunications. between fashion and the mobile phone and began to
1) They are research projects at a quantitative level conducted in Italy by my students and myself on the mobile and fashion, which
overall involved more than a thousand respondents. The first was administered in the spring of 2003 in north-eastern Italy in two
secondary schools in two little towns, a classical lycée and a scientific one (Cianchi, D’Alessi, Fortunati, Manganelli, 2003). The
data collected consist of 716 questionnaires with open and closed questions, which all the young people, between the ages of 14 and
21, answered (questionnaires valid: 714). The second was administered in two rural villages, again in north-eastern Italy, in an
elementary school of Pasiano, in the secondary schools of Pasiano and Fiume and with a group of adolescents attending the high-
schools of the provinces of Pordenone and Udine or already working (Danelon, 2005). The data collected consist this time of 371
questionnaires, again with open and closed questions, which all the young people of these schools answered. In this research were
involved 153 children between the ages of 8 and 11, 174 boys and girls between the age of 12 and 14, and 40 adolescents from 15
years of age upwards. The data were analysed by means of descriptive techniques (frequency analysis) and the construction of con-
tingency tables created by intersecting observed variables with socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, education, activity,
status, geographical area, size of home town. Inferential analysis was conducted by means of χ2 test, and when the statistics of χ2
were significant, the analysis was developed by means of an examination of bi-varied log-linear models. The purpose was to discover
the associations between variable modalities that are at the root of the significance of the relation shown by the χ2. In some cases,
t-test and models of one-way variance analysis were employed.

look into the mobile’s relation to the body and so to Riccini, 2002; Am. Tr. 2003). These themes were
the development of the body’s artificialization which especially brought out in Rich Ling’s contribution
this implied. In the same article it was prophesied that (2003) on the fashion and vulgarity dynamics in the
the mobile phone persisting on the surface of the use of the mobile phone by Norwegian adolescents,
body would necessarily fall under the dominion of and Patrizia Calefato’s contribution on the concept of
fashion and as an object of fashion it would be “wearing communication” (2003). Other research on
obliged to match the individual’s “look” (Floch, the social representations of ICTs and the human
1995). If this was the prophecy as to what was going body, where fashion was used as a cue word, signaled
to happen, the present was speaking in different the persistence of the fashion–mobile association
terms. The first mobiles had caused such a break in (Contarello & Fortunati, in press). In the same year
social norms that they had triggered off strong hostil- (2002), James Katz and Satomi Sugiyama presented
ity of the have-nots, who had ended up by immedi- – at the ICA conference in Seoul, Korea and at the
ately conferring on users a reputation for vulgarity. conference entitled “Front stage/ Back stage. Mobile
Communication and the Renegotiation of the Social
In 1999 the entry “Technological clothing” in the Sphere,” in Grimstad, Norway – two papers on a
Italian Encyclopedia “The Universe of the Body” research project conducted on a group of students
appeared (Fortunati, 1999). In this entry, the mobile in the US and Japan on mobile phones seen as state-
phone was analyzed as a cultural object that formed ments of fashion (Katz & Sugiyama, 2005).
part of the shift from the artificial – make-up, tattoos,
piercing, fleshing, etc. (Duflos-Priot, 1987; Borel, In 2003 I began a research project with two students
1992) – to artificiality in the body – prostheses, thera- on fashion and mobile phones in two Italian high
peutic machines, etc. (Verni, 2002; Chiapponi, 2003). schools. I presented the first data from this research at
The mobile phone was seen as the most widespread the international conference held in Erfurt (7–9 Octo-
of the worn technologies and the one that had opened ber 2003) “Mobile Communication – Current Trends
the way to other electronic clothing technologies: in Research”. These data are set out in the paper Der
luminous or sound accessories or details, both of a menschliche Körper. Mode und Mobiltelefone [On
play-aesthetic nature – flashing brooches and brace- the Human Body, Fashion and Mobile Phones] (For-
lets, shoes that lit up – and of a sporting nature, such tunati, 2005b). In this paper the analysis of the rela-
as step or speed gauges, and watches with multiple tion between mobile and fashion has been taken for-
measuring parameters. At the same time, the mobile ward considerably. After a critical review of the most
had, according to this approach, created a symbiosis important theories on fashion (Balzac, 1830; Som-
between technology and clothing, which was inspired bart, 1913; Simmel, 1919), I proposed to assume as
by poor art and the punk movement, and which had an approach the co-construction of fashion and soci-
come up with various “technological” garments, such ety. The mobile phone was now already seen as form-
as for instance the Etro jacket with an attachment for ing part of clothing, which is at the center of physical
charging a mobile phone, as well as the use of tech- appearance, of “look”. Following Flugel (1930), I
nological fabrics, such as metallic organdie, silk also analyzed how the mobile phone forms part of the
latex, and reflecting fabrics (Tortora, Eubank, 1998). problematic of “transport of essential objects”, which
The techno and robot style (Polhemus, 1994: 23) then remains one of the most serious problems of fashion.
led, still under the influence of the mobile phone and Within this conceptual framework, I showed how the
other ICT technologies, to the cyberpunk style, which diffusion of the mobile phone might be analyzed also
was a mixture of space, technological and cyber in terms of an overturning of the usual logic of fash-
styles, created with bits and pieces of industrial ion. And lastly I analyzed the three main tendencies
residue and high-tech materials, such as electronic that the mobile phone as a fashion object is develop-
circuits, holograms, and metal insertions. ing: 1) becoming more and more an object of fashion;
2) disappearing in the various items of clothing; and
In the workshop “Perpetual Contact: Mobile Commu- 3) becoming a soft machine.
nication, Private Talk, Public Performance” (Katz &
Aakhus, 2002) at Rutgers University, this debate was In the same year the paper “Fashion and Mobile
taken further. The paper Italy. Stereotypes: true or Phones between Criteria of Purchase and Practices of
false illustrated the growing role of the mobile phone Use” was presented in Milan at the conference orga-
as jewelry and/or a fashion accessory (Fortunati, nized by the Catholic University – Italian Association
2002). In 2001 there was a study meeting in Milan of Sociology “Fashion: Work of the Future” (13–14
entitled “The Human Body and Technologies, Com- November), where we discussed further data from
munication and Fashion”, which contained a more this research conducted in Italy in two high schools
detailed discussion of the relation between commu- (Cianchi, D’Alessi, Fortunati, Manganelli, 2003).
nicative technologies and fashion (Fortunati, Katz,

In short, from the work produced in the last decade its being an “object of fashion”, placed upon the
the mobile phone seems to have gradually acquired human body.
the status of an object of fashion, considered as an
accessory, and increasingly forming an integral part As an all-important social phenomenon, fashion is
of an individual’s look. That is, it is a part of that very complex, because it is made up of many ele-
absolutely unnatural territory that encloses the mate- ments and processes (Flugel, 1930). On the social
rial nature of the body and the cultural modernity of plane fashion is born as a filter between the natural
fashion (Troy, 2003). Not only is possessing a mobile state of the body and its “civilization” (Amster-
phone a fashion, but it also appears as an object of damski, 1980) and socialization. The naked body is
fashion, ever more subject to the stylemes of fashion an undifferentiated body, which speaks just the basic
(Calefato, 1996; Fortunati, 1998; Fortunati, Katz, language of gender, generation and ethnic group,
Riccini, 2003; Fortunati, 2005b). However, while for while the social body is a clothed body, that is, a
fixed technologies the problem of making them aes- body that can give other information: from society
thetically attractive has been generally resolved by a of appurtenance to social class, from geographical
good designer – for the mobile phone, which is an provenance to profession, from the kind of hobby or
individual and mobile technology, the situation is sport practiced to personality and state of mind, etc.
more complex (Grenon, 1998). It is the very specific (Solomon, 1985; Kaiser, 1997). Bodies that speak
complexity of the mobile phone that makes its iden- abundantly facilitate social organization, in that they
tity in respect to the fashion system still incomplete. are more reassuring. They allow members of society
The integration of the mobile phone in the look of an greater mutual control and if this information then
individual remains vague (it is often brought about by follows precise norms and ritualizations and keeps to
changing covers), because it is its original integration socially shared rules, these bodies become even more
in the world of fashion that is bumpy and rough. Both reassuring. The clothed body is a historicised and
because of mobile manufacturers’ incapacity to social body, in that it has introjected the various nor-
understand the system of fashion and because of the mative regulations through which repression and
indifference to the mobile phone on the part of fash- regulation of sexuality have been elaborated and
ion houses. Even its status as an accessory is uncer- imposed (Foucault, 1976-84). The body clothed with
tain. First of all because the mobile phone has not yet a mobile phone is a body that articulates its distance
found its precise spatial collocation inside clothing from nature even more and which is set even more
(it can be kept in a pocket, in a bag, on a belt, in an precisely in a particular social and communicative
inner pocket, in a rucksack or round the neck). Sec- network. It is a body that is even more reassuring
ond, there is still an uncertainty as to whether it is because it is a body that offers a large amount of
an accessory and/or an ornament. To conclude, the direct and indirect information as to who is using it,
mobile phone, while being a machine which has and it is a political body, which shows a right to citi-
developed furthest from the form of a black box zenship in respect to communication and can cope
and while it has come closest to the world of fashion, with the rules and communicative and informational
is still an obscure object of scientific analysis. Our requirements of post-modern society. It is also a body
impression is that the re-semanticization of the that is reassured, as when needed it can use the mobile
mobile phone from technological device to fashion phone as a security blanket (Wearing, 2002).
object is a process that has only just begun, while it
has already brought about modifications in the acces- Fashion is a system of signs that is negotiated collec-
sories that contain it, such as bags and rucksacks. tively and individually on the terrain of self-presenta-
tion. In addition, it gives a great contribution to self-
presentation as by expressing itself over a wide
What is fashion? expanse of body it offers one of the most important
What is the mobile phone? communicative codes. Fashion is one of the premises
Discussing the meaning of the phenomenon of fash- that enable us to form part of society, to be recog-
ion will enable us to better understand the meaning of nized and accepted. It is the terrain that is the neces-
the mobile phone as well. To say that it is a technol- sary condition for very rapid mechanisms of recogni-
ogy of information and communication means to stay tion and social acceptance, and hence socialization, to
at the level of pure description, as Donner underlines take place. There cannot be coexistence and social
(2005). For a more complete analysis of the mobile cohesion without fashion. It is obvious, writes Sim-
phone it is necessary to understand its social signifi- mel (1919: 34), that people who dress in the same
cance. Elsewhere we have claimed that the mobile way behave in a relatively homogenous way. Fash-
phone is a work instrument of reproduction (Fortu- ion, furthermore, is a social practice that also takes on
nati, forthcoming). Here we wish to analyze recent a political significance, as it not only bears witness to,
developments of another aspect of its significance: but can support processes of social democratization

or strengthen class division and generational segrega- The motivations for fashion and the
tion. A powerful aid to fashion in self-presentation is mobile phone
the mobile phone, which supplies a very precious If the mobile phone is a fashion object, are the basic
possibility of ritualization, given that the cigarette has motivations behind its purchase and use the same as
lost much of its fascination in that sense (in the light for any other fashion object, or are they more because
of the damage that it has definitely done to the health it is, above all, a technology? To see how far the
of those who smoke actively and passively) (Stewart, motivations that are generally attributed to fashion
2003; Fortunati, 2005, in press). are valid also for the mobile phone, we shall discuss
them starting from the results of the two research pro-
On the structural plane, fashion is one of the commu- jects mentioned above.
nicative systems that pass through the portal of the
“human body”. We use this reductive but effective According to numerous scholars, the motivations for
metaphor launched by Barry Wellman (2001) to sig- fashion are variously magical, functional, protective,
nal how the body becomes a unit of localization of a aesthetic, to do with play, discipline, identity, expres-
complex network of communicative systems that go sive, connected with modesty and the softening of
from the physical body itself (height, weight and so social conflicts (Flugel, 1930; Veblen, 1899; König,
on), to verbal and non-verbal language (facial expres- 1971; Marchetti, 2004; Segre, 2005). To examine
sions, body relaxation, etc.), from paralinguistics, these, it is posited that fashion has a magical function,
gestures and movement (kinaesthetics) to the spatial which was very strong in archaic societies and today
position and posture of the body (prozemics), from is more subdued (Squicciarino, 1986). A trace of this
information to consumption, from advertising to tech- magical aspect remains, for instance, in the percep-
nology, etc. (Fortunati, 2005a). Moreover, given that tion of the mobile phone as a totem or talisman,
the body is the vehicle of consumption and use of the which is to be found in the first mobile users (Fortu-
fashion system, it is further enriched by the vestimen- nati, 1995a). Looking at survey material we asked
tary structure. Obviously, these communicative sys- children the criteria they would use when selecting
tems that come to form part of the portal/human body a mobile phone. The material shows that “magic” is
have in some way to converge with the general logic apparent, even if only in a few cases among our ado-
that supports it and integrates inside it. In this frame- lescents (2.3 %) and children (4.6 %). The functional
work, fashion acquires a specific importance within meaning is also moderately important in clothing, but
the human body because this general logic can only not dominant, as is mistakenly believed. Similarly,
pass through the language of fashion, since clothing – functionality is a minor element of the mobile phone,
as we said – is the communicative system that is most even if, being a young technology, it has only been
extended over the human body. At a structural level, under the dominion of fashion for the last few years.
the mobile phone is a crucial part of the language of Fewer than half the children and adolescents (43.1 %
fashion: even if it occupies a minimal part of the and 48.2 %) give functionality as the reason that they
space of clothing, it is a nomad on the body, which would choose a particular model of mobile. Signifi-
means that for example in the movement that goes cantly, the ornamental/aesthetic dimension is more
from the pocket to the ear it crosses a long distance important for fashion objects (Rudofsky, 1972; De
over the body and its clothing. Apart from this Carolis, 2003).
dynamicity of movement and direction, the mobile
phone has put fashion’s system of meanings into Aesthetics is an element which weighs much more
crisis. For example it has definitely disturbed the in- than functionality when we look at a dress. This is the
animate order of objects on the body, and produced reason for which many elements of fashion (as the
important effects of disturbance in self-presentation high heels, for example) have a perverse logic. They
(people who seem off their heads talking to them- are elegant but they oblige the body to unnatural pos-
selves in the street). It has furthermore overturned the tures.
order of the intimate by stripping words of their pri-
vacy. We may say that on the one hand, fashion has Specifically for the mobile phone, the importance of
made the mobile phone one of its objects but on the this dimension is given by 44.5 % of the children and
other, the mobile phone has created a great deal of by more than half of the adolescents (58.6 %). Thus
disturbance in the world of fashion, obliging it for we can see that in order of relevance, style has
better or worse to come to terms with technology. already overtaken functionality and “handiness” as a
Its specific statute as fashion object is based on its criterion of purchase for the mobile phone. Continu-
mediation between strength of style and power of ing the analysis of the dimensions of fashion, while
technology. for fashion objects the play dimension is generally
considered quite a relevant element, for the mobile
phone it is unexpectedly not very important. In fact

only 28 % of the children and 8.5 % of the adoles- confirmed also by our research. We find that 58 % of
cents mention it. the children and as many as 66.2 % of the adolescents
retain that the make of mobile is a very relevant ele-
Another strategic dimension of fashion is connected ment.
to modesty, in that as the various social regulations
have imposed the repression and regulation of sexual- Social control must also be added to these dimensions
ity, the construction and imposition of modesty have of fashion. The mobile phone has as a part of its des-
made it increasingly more necessary, at least in west- tiny to integrate with the possibilities of identifica-
ern countries, to cover the genital organs by means tion, surveillance and security. As we found in our
of clothing. This has obviously led to a very special analysis, 39 % of the children and 39.2 % of the ado-
dynamic in covering and uncovering, of the clothed lescents declare that parents use the mobile phone to
and the naked, which has gone to form part of social attempt to control them, while only17.4 % of the for-
negotiations (Guindon, 1998). The actions of cover- mer and 13.5 % of the latter state that this control is
ing and uncovering, which are connected with a well effective. Fashion, the philosophers of jurisprudence
known children’s game (Fortunati, 1995b), crops up teach us, has always been a “hypothetical norm.” It
again in the mobile phone at a dialogic level, and sup- is a norm with a compulsory force that is rather con-
ports Lurie (1981), who drew a parallel between the tained in respect for instance to categorical norms, in
structure of language and that of clothing. With the establishing “which formalities are necessary to carry
mobile phone at the verbal, and not the visual, level out a certain act or task” (Bobbio, 1980: 888). But it
the fact of saying and not saying, or half-saying, ends is not because of this that it is less powerful. In con-
up by challenging modesty and discreetness. It sum- crete terms, fashion clothes the processes of indiffer-
mons an exhibition of the intimate sphere at an im- entiation of individuals and imposes on everyone the
material level. But the mobile phone has managed to same social discipline and standardized self-presenta-
strip words of their discreetness. In a visual parallel tion. A citizen who follows fashion is a citizen who
in the fashion world, in the 90s there was the appear- recognizes the need for a social pact in its many
ance of the nude look and the confusion of over and expressions and forms. What is more, the power of
under in clothing. These operations re-semantizised control and discipline of social action on the part of
underwear (the under) as items of clothing (clothes fashion has been all the stronger the less rigid it has
under, bra and panties on show, etc.), and created the been as a norm. This was so at least until the 70s,
premises also for the public exhibition of private when the power of fashion as “a hypothetical norm”,
communication. able to guarantee a certain continuity of the social
order by disciplining the masses, and inside them
A further dimension that is generally attributed to strongly disciplining some sections rather than others
fashion is its being a powerful vehicle in the con- began to weaken considerably. Up to then, fashion
struction of identity (Davis, 1992). In the past, fash- had been an ideal form of control and discipline of
ion has assumed the strategic function of continually the public sphere in democratic societies, both at the
redesigning the structure of social identities. This is social and political levels. The mobile phone, in a
opposed to the continual devaluation of objects pro- certain sense, took its place in this role, carrying out a
duced by fashion that are destined to rapidly becom- new kind of mass control, exercised this time at the
ing passé. In post-modernity however, this role of level of communicative production. The millions of
fashion as a producer of identity has been greatly words that every day are uttered over mobile phones,
modified. It is no accident that we speak in various the vast numbers of text messages and the growing
places of the insufficiency of identity that distin- number of MMSs, may be seen also as a quite sophis-
guishes the contemporary individual. On the other ticated form of social control. Aren’t those individu-
hand, the drift of individual identity had in a certain als, so intent on continually communicating among
sense already been foreseen before: by Hegel (1807), themselves – hindered by the restrictions of the spa-
who called it an “empty tautology”, and then Marx, tialization of the word both oral and written in the
who observed that individuals were forced to leave mobile phone – perhaps involved in a terrible devalu-
their singularity underdeveloped, because of the pow- ation of the word itself and its meanings? Aren’t they
erful processes of homogeneization, uniformity and for this reason perhaps more easily controllable at a
standardization to which they were subjected, and social level, distracted as they are by the communica-
finally by Baudrillard (1999: 58), who has recently tive congestion that they create and with which they
defined identity as actually a “make of existence have to endure? Finally, don’t these individuals trans-
without qualities.” Not by chance, adolescents, in the pose to their intense communicative activity the
words of Lobet-Maris (2003), tend to use mobiles for necessities of social action and the concrete manage-
creating specific tribes. Resorting to the commercial ment of class tensions and conflicts, gender, genera-
make of a phone as an instrument of definition is also tion, ethnic group, and so on?

Instead, what at the level of research has so far been powerful mechanisms in its role as a social safety
focused less on, and which is however also important, valve. It is indeed capable of appropriating cultural
is the fact that fashion imposes above all a basic and products elaborated by those social movements that
widespread discipline on the body, movement and invent new differences and languages and to redesign
attitude to space (Flugel, 1930). Clothing influences them and re-propose them within its collections and
the gait of the individual (high heels and tight skirts, proposals. Fashion is the social system that, more
for instance, certainly do not make for fast walking), than any other, is able to absorb and neutralize rebel-
the tempo and rhythm of gestures (narrow shoulders, lions, contestations and movements, dismantling
for instance, slow down the movements of the arms), them from within their symbolic meanings, because
in other words it disciplines all the movement of the it has made change and continual renewal its mission.
body. As a consequence, it conditions the psychologi- The anti-fashion of today often becomes the fashion
cal attitude of individuals in relation to the space that of tomorrow. Self-presentation and fashion are the
surrounds them and their capacity to act while they terrains of continuous redefinition of power relations
are in movement. The mobile telephone obviously between the classes. It was not by chance that in the
forms part of this picture. It imposes its own specific last decade, after the advent of the mobile phone,
discipline of the body, movement and attitude in rela- there was a de-emphasis on the public display of
tion to space (Nyiri, 2005) while also suggesting the wealth. This has had the result that these classes find
necessity to extend the study of ergonomy to fashion themselves, in a certain sense, pointlessly wealthy.
as well. While in fact this discipline has developed That is, they possess a wealth that they cannot show
greatly in the individual–machine interaction, it has off but rather they are forced to shelter themselves in
not developed so far in the individual–clothing inter- separate zones, the famous VIP reserves.
action.
In conclusion, this analysis has shown how the basic
Lastly, among the various dimensions of fashion we reasons for purchase and use of mobiles are more
must not forget its role of social pacification. Fashion similar to those of a fashion object than to those of a
makes it possible to work off our impatience against purely technological device. This explains why the
social uniformity, to sublimate social tensions and to mobile phone is able to camouflage itself perfectly in
calm and elaborate class conflicts. What is there more the fashion system, in which it presents itself as the
suitable than fashion to guarantee a certain “singular- technological element, and why its identity as a fash-
ity” (diversification) in a situation of basic “confor- ion object prevails over its being a technological
mity”? Fashion enables us to set up a small-scale object. Its functionality is a necessary premise, but
defense against serialization, which continually not sufficient: if beauty and style are not there too,
deprives us of our identity (Calefato, 1996). Certainly even “handiness” moves to second place. This fact is
what fashion offers us is a slight margin of maneuver destined to grow in importance also in the future, and
in constructing a personalized self-presentation, even become a central element in its diffusion and use.
if it does resort to serial products. The margin of
maneuver is provided by the ars combinatoria; that
is, how we compose and put together the various Beyond trickle-down and trickle-up:
items of clothing, or how we individualize them. Also or the theory of inversion
the mobile phone, as a fashion object, is subject to a In this section I shall analyze the most important
certain degree of individualization: 40.1 % of the theories on fashion, trying to understand if the advent
adolescents interviewed individualize it with a ring of the mobile phone as a fashion object can be inter-
tone, 27.8 % with a cover, 15.2 % with inscriptions preted within them, or if it is necessary to produce a
and 37.3% with a logo. Regarding the last three items specific theory to explain its diffusion. I shall also
we find that girls do this more often than boys. Chil- analyze three important points of the present dynamic
dren are even more taken with individualization: of fashion – its relations with gender, the advent of
almost all of them declare that they do it in one way casual clothes and the shift from clothing to skin – to
or another; 51 % with a ring tone, 39 % with a cover, try to see what can be the implications for a fashion
36 % with a logo, and 35 % with inscriptions and strategy of the mobile phone.
adhesives.
From a sociological point of view, where is the phe-
Ever since the 19th century, hardships and social nomenon of fashion situated in the social structure?
conflicts have been exported on the terrain of fashion We might answer by remembering that for Balzac
(Borrelli, 2000), entrusting to it the strategic function (1830) “clothing is the expression of society”, while
of managing them. This function of social mediation for Simmel (1919) fashion is able to make society:
on the part of fashion developed further in post- in fact clothes, as we said, mark gait, tempo and the
Fordist society, when fashion became one of the most rhythm of gestures; that is, they discipline movement.

We may maintain that if we combine the considera- create their own originality and to express their own
tions of Balzac and Simmel, we arrive at the most style, to the point of taking in hand the production of
pertinent way of describing the dynamics of the phe- new fashion ideas completely. Today in fact we speak
nomenon, which is that there is a co-construction of of trickle-up, by which we mean the complete over-
fashion and society (Fortunati, 2005b). At times, or turning of this dynamics. Ted Polhemus (1994) has
on certain occasions, it can be one or other that coined the term “street fashion”, and highlighted the
swings the needle of the balance in one direction or new creative role assumed by the lower classes as
another, but substantially there is a dynamic between regards fashion. Even the public space and the media
them that is explicated in their mutual influence and space are dominated by the middle-lower classes,
conditioning. This perspective of co-construction in seeing that the system looks to large numbers in that
fashion and society however, if it is correct as a theo- they amplify the possibility of profit.
retical perspective, must be developed by considera-
tions of various order and degree. Especially in a Inside this evolution of fashion, the mobile phone has
moment in which traditional, “historical” interpreta- come to represent a specific dynamic that we propose
tions of the phenomenon are flagging. to call “theory of inversion.” In fact it has been a typ-
ical case of trickle-down, as its adoption and public
Let us remember Simmel’s two most important ideas use started from the affluent classes, but was stigma-
on the social mechanisms at the basis of fashion. The tized as vulgar. The higher classes, who had shown
first idea is that which singles out fashion as the with clothes that they were no longer the driving
result of two opposing tendencies: on the one hand, force of style, in the precocious adoption of the
the aspiration to fusion with one’s own group (I dress mobile phone were considered actually the bearers of
in the same way as others) and on the other, individ- vulgarity, as illustrated by Ling in a study on Norwe-
ual distinction in respect to others (I dress differently gian adolescents (2003). Only after it spread among
from everybody else to express my individuality). the masses did the mobile phone come to be consid-
From our research projects on the mobile phone it ered a trendy and fashionable object (Fortunati,
emerges that in the choice of this or that model of 2005b). The advent of the mobile phone and its rate
mobile the strongest motivation is “being different of diffusion therefore was a sort of explosive short-
from others” in 33.7 % of cases for the adolescents circuit which marked a phase of trickle-down charac-
and in 36 % for the children, while the motivation “to terized however by the stigmatization of vulgarity, of
be like others” is weaker (22.8 % for the adolescents demodé behavior, with a phase of trickle-up, in which
and 25 % for the children).2) This means that Sim- only the massification of the spread of the mobile
mel’s theory is able to account for only little more phone marked the possibility of grafting it on to fash-
than half of the responses. But this result is not sur- ion. It was this accident that was one of the reasons
prising because the social movements from the 60s that in my opinion contributed greatly to pushing the
onwards have undermined from inside this mecha- higher classes towards a form of social self-segrega-
nism, and broken the rigidity of the separation tion.
between the classes in self-presentation. The figures
given above suggest that if today there remains a cer- Let us pass now to analyze three topics that may have
tain fusion, it is rather in social indistinctness, where very important implications for a fashion strategy as
what varies is a determined individual or group regards the mobile phone: gender, casual clothes, and
expression that, if anything, is revitalized in post- the new role of the skin. Let us start from gender. It
modern society. Also Simmel’s other idea (shared by must be said first of all that there has been an epochal
Flugel, 1930 and Bourdieu, 1979) on the dynamics overturn in the interest of men and women as regards
of fashion that filters from the higher classes to the fashion. Women, who historically were most in-
lower, the famous trickle-down, does not work any volved in fashion, have taken their distance from it,
longer (Segre, 2005). Again from the 60s, the lower while men have progressively come closer. This
and middle classes have stopped recognizing in the change of direction by women took place on the wave
higher classes the capacity to construct taste and style of the mass refusal of domestic work connected with
for the whole of society. Because of this they have creation, production and upkeep of clothing, which
stopped imitating them. Rather, they have started to ended up by causing tertiarization (Fortunati, 1994).
2) It must however be added that in the case of adolescents there are also 16.1 % of them who respond “because I like it”, while one
fifth of respondents give answers that are lost because they are all different. So, on the whole, around one half of adolescents choose
their model of mobile conditioned by their peer group, whereas a little short of one fifth choose a mobile centering their motivations
on themselves. In the case of children, there are 14 % of answers that are lost because they are all different, but there are also 25 %
of children who don’t know which answer to give. It is also significant that it is girls more than boys who lead in this centering the
choice of mobile on themselves and their own tastes rather than on others.

This change of direction regards the mobile phone the vestimentary level because it represents the casual
very closely, seeing that it is the intersection between style at a communicative level.
two opposing tendencies: the masculinization of fash-
ion and the femininization of technology, and that Lastly, there has been in the past a tendency in fash-
therefore it is one of the places where the social con- ion to transfer the meaning of symbols and meanings
struction of masculinity and femininity is modified. It from the skin to the garment. Today the direction has
must however be specified that the changes registered begun to go from the garment to the skin (Borel,
in relation to the mobile phone are still somewhat 1992). It is on the skin that the motives and designs
contradictory. On the one hand, the research on ado- of fabrics go; it is again on the skin that jewels and
lescents that we have used to present some figures is various ornaments penetrate. Today it is the body that
the first research in which girls tend in Italy to have makes fashion and which is fashion. Clothes are no
more mobiles than boys (96.5 % vs 93.4 %). On the longer packaged, but it is bodies that are “touched
other, these changes are slow: in fact, when they up”, if not re-done, according to the kind of body that
choose a mobile, it is today the girl adolescents as is in fashion at the time. The body is exhibited and
opposed to their fellow male adolescents who are sig- becomes a mass theatrical costume (Fortunati, 2003).
nificantly more interested in the aesthetic appearance The social construction of the body from being a
of the mobile phone (54.5 % vs 40.6 %), in wanting mediatic, publicity and political strategy with its
a mobile phone model because it is attractive (41.1 % myths and models becomes a mass practice, continu-
vs. 32.6 %) or considering the appearance of the ing with a large number of techniques and technolo-
mobile phone as important (62.6 % vs. 52.4 %). The gies: from plastic surgery to hormonal therapies, etc.
difference however, even if it is significant in respect In this construction of the body the mobile phone has
to male adolescents, is not huge. Obviously a fashion for now limited itself to staying on the surface. How-
strategy as regards the mobile phone must absolutely ever, some are experimenting with the use of sub-
keep account of these processes and their continuous cutaneous microchips to put the body on line. While
internal dynamics, otherwise they risk being impover- jewelry is increasingly used for piercing the body and
ished and will re-propose old stereotypes. tattooing is incorporating the patterns of fabric by
being imprinted permanently, the mobile phone, how-
Another very important change in the field of fashion ever, remains on the surface of the body.
has been the diffusion at a mass level of casual
clothes, which is made up of items of clothing that
communicate at a very low level. They provide an Fashion, modernity and the
advantage to those who wear them, because they mobile phone
respect their privacy and support their resistance to In this last section I wish to verify the hypothesis that
speaking of themselves. The meaning of the sign the mobile phone is the technology that best repre-
shifts from the information plane to the expressive or sents post-modernity. Post-modernity – we can say –
chance one, all to the detriment of those who have to is based among other things on the hypertrophy of
decodify them. It is as if there had been set up a new two social phenomena: fashion and information. The
social pact, in the sense that we renounce knowing mobile phone, as we shall see below, actually in-
about others in exchange for our own and others’ cludes them and carries them both. Let us begin from
freedom to not say anything about our/themselves. Simmel’s famous hypothesis (1900: 41), according to
We accept having very little information about those which fashion is a result of modernity. “The lack of
who walk by our side. Fashion, from a means of reg- something defined in the core of the soul,” he writes,
ulating a social relationship, thus becomes a kind of “leads us to search for temporary satisfaction in ever
interlocution with the inanimate, is a relationship that newer stimuli, emotions, external activities; and we
is set up between oneself and the fashion object, the are thus enveloped in that confusion, instability, per-
item of clothing. There is therefore a stronger ten- manent anxiety which manifests itself sometimes in
dency to de-communicate and therefore to the under- the bustle of the big towns, sometimes as an urge to
development of sociability in favor of a strong the- get away from it all, sometimes as the uncontrolled
atricalization of the body. The mobile phone has fury of competition, sometimes as that typically mod-
rooted itself perfectly in this picture, expanding these ern phenomenon which is inconstancy in the field of
tendencies at the verbal level (Katz, 2003): beside an tastes, styles, conventions and personal relations.”
overabundance of purely phatic or instrumental calls, I agree with Simmel that fashion is a dimension of
there are short calls, which are therefore less commu- modernity, but in my opinion it is in the post-modern
nicative, and SMS and MMS messages, which are world in particular that it finds its greatest triumph.
also “poor” communicatively (Fortunati, 2002). The Post-modernity takes the importance of fashion fur-
mobile phone welds perfectly with the casual style at ther, making it the motor that drives the dynamics of
life style (Fortunati, 2003) and bringing more and

more spheres under its dominion. Fashion, which a pair of trousers to her taste. The same can be said
until a few decades ago was all about clothing and for the mobile phone: even if someone wanted to buy
furnishing, has extended its tentacles today over the a primitive mobile (as were the first Tacs) they can
whole of society, over the whole social body (Veblen, no longer do so, because they no longer exist on the
1899). The same attitude of “inconstancy in the field market. Individuals under the regime of fashion are
of tastes, styles and conventions” of which Simmel obliged to modulate and adapt their personal tastes to
speaks, has extended transversally to many other the supply that the industrial clothing sector proposes.
spheres of society, including that of scientific dis-
course. Here, too, there are themes or topics that in a In the re-invention of the consumer, fashion acts as a
given period are in fashion and then go out of fashion pathfinder also in relation to sectors with a stronger
and are no longer given any attention. So fashion has industrial pedigree. Let us take the example of house-
taken control of unsuspected sectors and imposes its hold appliances. While immediately after the war
logic everywhere. The continuous need/desire of they were made to have certain duration, today they
change imposed by fashion requires of course a are conceived and proposed as technological objects
higher level of work. Think, for example, of a certain of half the duration or reduced to one third, for the
modality of fashion (ephemeral) in the scientific precise reason that purchasers/users are used to hav-
debate. The very speed in the change of topics, meth- ing a relation of use that is much shorter with objects.
ods, or authors cited etc. pushes scholars to work In general, the ever shorter life cycle of goods reflects
more intensively in order to be able to catch up. So, a relation with progressively more oblique values of
the result is that there is more productivity in the use. It is as if objects presented a core of usability of
quantity of the work done, but perhaps the results short duration, surrounded by structures and periph-
have content that is not as seriously developed. eral parts that are made superfluous by a programmed
limited life. The tendency of the post-modern individ-
But the unarrestable advance of fashion in society ual to hurriedly consume the core of usability of
has always obviously had its hard core in clothing. objects seems to indicate a sort of vampire-like rela-
However, fashion has not limited itself to governing tionship with them. In the relationship with objects
the clothing sector, but has modified the very concept consumers behave as if they were sucking the vital
of consumption of clothing and relative practices lymph and then throwing away the carcass. The pop-
(König, 1971). The purchaser/consumer has been ulations of industrialized countries manage to use 80
completely reinvented, in that from a certain point % of world resources, only because they have this
he/she has no longer been considered a bearer of sort of relation with use values. General consumption,
needs or desires, but as a possible purchaser, for organized in this way also thanks to fashion, inevit-
whom it was necessary to create needs surreptitiously ably leads to the exploitation, increasingly short, of
and continually (Baudrillard, 1970). He/she has there- the core of objects. It is interesting to observe that
fore been trained to a nervous and transitory con- faced by the evanescent duration of objects, our aver-
sumption of objects destined to being discarded well age life span is becoming longer and longer. In gen-
before they are really worn out. The subjection of the eral, the lower durability of the exchange values that
consumer takes place however also by intervening at are bought, deriving from a lowering of the quality of
the level of supply, in the sense that up to then the the materials used to produce them, is acceptable to
consumer has been placed in a situation in which the eyes of a consumer accustomed to the seductive
he/she cannot but be subjected to fashion. For the handling of novelty on the part of fashion. So fashion
consumer it becomes difficult if not impossible to grafts and imposes on to the sphere of the everyday a
purchase items of clothing that are not fashionable. different philosophy of consumption and a relation of
Even the so-called “classic” item, which by definition a perverse kind with objects. It finds in this a power-
is that destined to pass over the continual changes of ful ally in consumers themselves, whose psychologi-
fashion, because it refers to the basic linear structures cal center is increasingly fragile, with the result that
of a certain historical period, is even so subject to they produce changing attitudes and behaviors. This
corrections and variations that bring it up to date. spasmodic tendency for a “use without consumption”
In this context, the personal taste of an individual is and thus to an irrational use involving enormous
completely neutralized: if he or she loves yellow and waste, also ends up by limiting affective and sym-
in a given season black and fuchsia are in fashion, bolic investment in objects. Far from being dear trav-
rarely will he/she manage to dress in his or her elling companions to look after with love and atten-
favorite color. He or she will have to choose among tion in the course of their existence, objects come to
the colors that are fashionable at the time. The same play a role of sacrificial victims hurriedly sacrificed
is true also for the typology of forms: if a woman on the altar of continual change imposed by fashion.
loves drainpipe trousers in a period in which wide
trousers are in, very likely she will not be able to find

Consumption of the mobile phone is reflected per- both the implementation of the continual adaptation
fectly in this picture (Gaglio, 2004). We consume and to changes in age and the march of life, and the
rapidly get rid of our mobiles to pass to a more attrac- capacity of rapidly connecting with social changes.
tive model or with new functions and services. The For its part, information imposes the cadenced and in
advance of fashion in the world of mobile phone a certain sense obligatory consumption of a particular
manufacture as a material object, by means of the form of knowledge: news. Those who see fashion and
implementation both of an ever more sophisticated information as two secondary elements of social life
design (an adjective that not accidentally fashion are mistaken. On the contrary, they are bulwarks
shares with technology) and new software, functions, inside the forces that build – as said before – social
services and contents, actually has the underlying aim cohesion. Social cohesion begins in fact from the
of progressively shortening the mobile’s life span. recognition of the other as an individual “conform-
The elaboration and implementation of the Siemens’s ing” to certain dictates, above all, to those of clothing
Xelibri collection, for instance, had the declared aim launched by fashion. In a recent research project on
of reducing the average life span of the mobile phone social representations of the human body and of tech-
from 18 months to 12 months. Just to give an idea of nologies of information and communication (Con-
how often the mobile phone is replaced in practice, in tarello, Fortunati, in press), from an exercise of free
the already cited research we find that 29.9 % of the association it emerged that fashion, apart from being
children have already had more than one mobile in perceived as closely connected with the human body,
their short lives. The other important objective of the is experienced by the 280 respondents (a convenience
advance of fashion and the ever-richer technological sample composed of university students of various
supply is to lead to pluri-purchasing. Among the ado- faculties) on the whole more as constriction and con-
lescents interviewed 9 % declare they have had more formity than as freedom and difference.3)
than one mobile, while among the children 6 %
declare they have more than one. Social cohesion presupposes, at the same time,
knowledge of the topical as of that flow of informa-
There is another more general discourse that regards tion that becomes a minimal, and “obligatory”, up-
fashion and as a consequence also the mobile phone dating, of the “contemporary history” of the world.
as a fashion object, and it is that relative to fashion’s Fashion and information become strategic territories
function of topicalization. In post-modernity, fashion, inside which social cohesion is played out, because
together with information, manages the topical, giv- they create a new that is old, an originality that is
ing a rhythm to social life and marking, also exteri- conformism, a difference that is sameness. They are
orly, the passing of time, with the introduction of the ideal spheres for creating artifacts that give the
continuous changes. That is, fashion and information illusion of a possible identity. In this context, the
give individuals the illusion of following the move- mobile phone is the object of fashion that is also able
ment of the world. As life is movement, the continual to produce and deliver information, newscasts, break-
change produced by fashion and information gives ing news, and photograph important events. The
post-modern individuals the sensation of being alive. object that at a maximum level incarnates the fusion
It makes them feel connected to life, especially in a between fashion and information is the mobile phone,
period in which on the one hand, the increase of the which couples to elegance of design technological
inorganic in the human body is causing a lowering of capacities that make rapidity of information possible.
its vitality, and on the other hand, the re-semanticiza- But where exactly does this need of the post-modern
tion of the categories of space and time, conducted by individuals to “actualise” themselves spring from?
the doubling of the real on the part of the media and Certainly from this a-spirituality that leads to a de-
technologies of communication and information, con- centering of the ego, as underlined by Simmel, for
founds perception of what is a direct relationship and which reason, alienated to ourselves and our lives, we
what is virtual (Virilio, 1993; Maldonado, 1998; For- have a continual and obsessive need to have the
tunati, in press). Fashion and information, in other world narrated to us, the context in which we live.
words, are the two priestesses that officiate at the How central and fundamental to the social politics of
altar of the continual conquest of historicity, which post-modernity fashion and information are, emerges
Hegel (1807) called Zeitgeist. clearly from the fact that to allow both to carry out
their function of marking the progress of time, society
Fashion gives rhythm to the constant updating of self- is willing to waste a large amount of energy and
presentation, made compulsory by the need to show resources. Nietzsche (1967), who well understood the
3) And to be precise it is lived in terms of organisational structure (stylists, catwalks, models, trends), or consumption (store, shopping,
élite and money), positive values (imagination, beauty and elegance), but even more negative (appearance, uselessness, stupidity,
conformism, anorexia).

great amount of resources that individually and to live on the surface of the human body. To under-
socially we are prepared to use in order to actualize stand the spread of the mobile phone traditional
ourselves, invited everyone to become unactualized; theories as to fashion are worth little, so we have
that is, to learn to live in a meta-historical condition. proposed the “theory of inversion”.
The capacity for actualization that fashion shares with Lastly, the mobile phone, as a technological symbol
information is especially important in this historical of prestige, the place of evaporation of meanings,
moment, marked by the development of the informa- object of fashion and source of information and enter-
tion society. Actualization is a social process and a tainment, has emerged as the emblem of post-moder-
crucial point of reference, because it is the sole ele- nity. In 1911 Sombart (p.141) underlined how the
ment that is able to continually reconstruct a specific special “spirit” of a technology corresponds to gen-
shared temporality. Any site, for instance, can show eral principles on which the technology is based. Of
that it is up to date, by giving the day’s news, and its the various technologies, the mobile telephone is def-
date shows that it is live. In the same way as anyone initely the device that allows the individual to better
can show that they can live their times by simply qualify his/her self-presentation as a hybrid element,
wearing a fashionable garment. Fashion and informa- fusional, a revealer of unknown places (where are
tion are strategic elements in the social management you?), which has catalyzed technology, fashion and
of the spatialization of time. They work as a foil to information. As such, it is the technology that most
the virtual world that is developing with fixed and contributes to forming that atmosphere determining
mobile networks. In this context, it is the topical that the fundamental orientations of our age. In other
gives the virtual its connection with reality, because words, to use an expression of Hegel’s, it represents
it gives it proof of its existence (Fortunati, 2005d). the spirit of the age, and more precisely, the spirit of
In other words, the need to topicalize is born from the post-modernity.
dematerialization of the real, thanks to the creation of
the double of the world (Baudrillard, 1999), as well
as the geometric increase in immaterial work and References
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Leopoldina Fortunati is Professor of Sociology of Communication and Sociology of Cultural Processes at the
University of Udine. She is the author of many books and articles and associate editor of the journal The
Information Society, she is on the advisory board of the journal New Media and Society, and serves as
referee for the journal Communication, Information, Society and Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour.
She represents Italy in the COST Technical Committee for Social Sciences and Humanities. She was part of
the European research project SIGIS – “Strategies of Inclusion: Gender and the Information Society” and of
several COST Actions. She is the co-chair of the International Association “The Society for the Social Study
of Mobile Communication” (SSSMC). Her works have been published in nine languages: Chinese, English,
French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish.

Interest in future net-based services for a sample of
Norwegian interviewees
RICH LING
This paper examines interest in advanced mobile services among Norwegians. It is based on a survey
of 1000 randomly selected Norwegians that was carried out in June of 2004. The survey examined
Norwegians’ interest in services such as mobile instant messaging, access to time and place relevant
information, use of the device to identify the user in various situations, use of the mobile phone as a
type of electronic wallet, and the possibility to remotely control equipment in the home. The analysis
shows that there is a split between those services that facilitate social interaction and those that are
Rich Ling is a more oriented around facilitating person-machine interaction. The analysis here indicates that there
sociologist at
is interest in the more person-machine oriented services.
Telenor R&D
Introduction and method for the • Be able to use your mobile like a walkie-talkie
survey (push a button and talk) to talk with several family/
In this article I will describe the findings from a sur- friends at the same time;
vey of a random sample of Norwegians with regard
to their expressed interest in network-based mobile • The mobile telephone automatically knows where
services. Net-based services are those wherein a user you are and can give you information that is rele-
profile of some type is stored in the net and is avail- vant for that time and place, for example traffic
able to the user in different situations. This analysis is information;
based on a sample of 1000 randomly selected Norwe-
gians1) over the age of 12. The survey was carried out • Use the mobile telephone to identify yourself (for
via the telephone in June of 2004. example as a key to the house or a ticket at the
movies or a concert);
The material examined here constituted a single bat-
tery of eight questions that focused on future services • Use the mobile telephone like you use your bank
that are generally net-based. In addition to this battery card; that is to pay for goods and services by send-
of questions the questionnaire covered 1) access and ing a PIN code with your telephone;
payment, 2) use of voice, SMS and MMS, 3) use of
WAP services, 4) characteristics of the handset, 5) • The possibility to remotely control electronic
use of some PC-based services and the respondent’s equipment in the home, for example heating,
socio-demographic status. The analysis of the mate- lighting and things like that;
rial points in the direction of a difference between
the more socially focused services and those that are • The possibility to get information from your home
more based on interaction with third-party informa- PC regardless of where you are.
tion such as data retrieval.
As will be developed below, the first cluster is the more
The clustering was developed through the use of “social” of the two groupings and the second is more
factor analysis as will be described below. The spe- “data” oriented. These clusterings arise from an analy-
cific items in the “future net-based services” battery, sis of how the respondents reacted to the material.
arranged respectively into what the analysis indicates There is perhaps some curious juxtaposition, most
are more “social” and “data” based clusters include: pointedly the “time/place” item in the social cluster.
While this is perhaps an odd placement, it is nonethe-
• The possibility to chat with the mobile telephone less grounded in the empirical results from the material.
in the same way that you chat with the PC with,
for example MSN or Yahoo chat;
Findings
• Have a list of friends where I can see if my nearest This section of the deliverable will first look rather
friends and family are available; carefully at the specific items in the battery of future
net-based services. This will be followed by a so-
1) Approximately 6870 persons were contacted in order to complete 1000 interviews.

called factor analysis wherein the battery of items will psychological gyrations that need to be worked out
be clustered into groups of items that covary with each before a service is accepted or not. Thus, it is difficult
other.2) Following this there is a discussion of a regres- to really “hang our hat” on any of these estimations.
sion analysis wherein other items in the questionnaire
were examined in the context of the “future net-based This said, the findings here do point to people’s
services” battery of items. This analysis shows how, in understanding of various services. They provide a
particular, interest in handset features, use of existing reading of how people understand the future of
services such as SMS and gender play into the res- mobile communication and the types of things that
pondents’ interest in future net-based services. are potentially of interest. Thus, while the analysis
digs deep into the details of the data, we always need
The findings here can be criticized in that they are to remember that the broader view is perhaps the
“hypothetical.” Basically people were asked to com- most appropriate here, namely that there is a distinc-
ment on services with which they had little direct tion between “social” oriented and “data” oriented
experience. This means that they were often using services and that these two realms have captured our
only their imagination in order to understand how, minds in distinct ways.
and to what degree such services might fit into their
lives. Experience has shown that there is often vari-
ance with actual adoption when compared to such General interest in the services
hypothetical assessments. There are many cases Figure 1 shows the level of interest in the various
wherein services that receive low initial estimations future net-based services. As the reader can see from
actually become highly integrated in social life the figure, Instant Messaging (IM) is the least inter-
(SMS) while others that have received high estima- esting and the items describing remote control of the
tions never really take off (video telephony?). In all home, time/place sensitive information and access to
likelihood there are complex social network and information from the home PC are the most popular
Percent
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
IM Identify Bank card Others' Walkie-talkie Remote Time/place Info from PC
yourself availability control info
Age group
Very uninterested Interested
Uninterested Very interested
Neutral
Figure 1 Interest in future net-based services: Norway 2004
2) In this case, the best solution is a single factor solution. However, a slightly revised threshold allowed us to tease out two factors or
clusters in the material, the aforementioned social and data clusters or factors.

new services. In general the data here indicates that Instant messaging
those in the extreme categories drive the results. It is IM that received the worst reception among the
About 15 % of the respondents are neutral in all the respondents (see Figure 2). While this is not necessar-
items. In addition, the “uninterested” category con- ily a net-based service it is a service that may possi-
tains about 10 – 12 % of the cases. The exception bly follow up today’s SMS as a way of mediating
here is those who were “uninterested” in IM (19 %) text-based messages.
and those who were “uninterested” in the ability to
retrieve information from a home PC via the mobile The specific item in the questionnaire was “The pos-
telephone (8 %). When looking at the “interested” sibility to chat with the mobile telephone in the same
group, there are roughly three groups of items. The way that you chat with the PC via, for example, MSN
first is the IM item (8 %). The second (about 15 % of or Yahoo chat.” For every person who was very inter-
the respondents) included the items describing using ested in this type of service, there were six who were
the mobile to “identify yourself,” using it as a bank very uninterested. It is teens and to some degree teen
card, the ability to check on others’ availability and boys who are most interested in this type of service.
using the mobile phone as a walkie-talkie. Finally, In spite of a seemingly large gap between genders in
there were three items wherein slightly more than this age group, the difference is not statistically sig-
20 % of the respondents were “interested”. These nificant.3) Indeed there are no real gendered differ-
were using the mobile to remotely control items in ences in the responses to this item when considering
the home, to get time/ place sensitive information and all age groups. There is, however, a significant differ-
to get information from the home PC. ence in interest when comparing the age groups, the
teens and young adults being significantly more inter-
This means that there were relatively many respon- ested in this type of service than the older groups.4)
dents who were in the extreme categories. Indeed, the
extreme categories accounted for about half of all the This is probability the result of several issues. First of
respondents. This leads to the conclusion that people all, IM has only a marginal foothold in the PC world
consider these items in either an extremely positive or in Norway. Only 28 % of males and 17 % of females
a negative light. The respondents were the most criti- use IM on a daily basis in Norway. In step with the
cal towards IM where there were six respondents who general use of IM, the users are clustered among the
were “very uninterested” for each one who was “very teens where about 55 % of the males and 40 % of the
interested.” There was a group of four items where females in the 13 – 24 year age group use this form
the ratio was about two “very uninterested” to one of interaction on a daily basis.5) Perhaps more to the
“very interested”. This group included 1) using the point, IM is not often seen as a part of the mobile
mobile to “identify yourself”, 2) use as a bankcard, world where texting is associated with SMS. Finally,
3) the ability to check on others’ availability, and 4) there are asymmetries associated with the use of PC
to use it as a walkie-talkie. Finally there was the and mobile-based IM when considering text entry. In
group of three items where there was roughly a one-
to-one relationship. This group included the questions
Percent who are interested or very interested
describing 1) remote control of things in the home, 100

2) to get time/place sensitive information, and 3) to Males
get information from the home PC. Females
80
60
Evaluation of the individual items
I will now look through the individual items and
examine how they have been distributed across age 40
groups and gender. For the sake of simplicity, the
“Interested” and “Very interested” items have been
20
collapsed into a single variable. In general, as will be
discussed at several points below, there are obvious
age based differences. The nearly universal rule here 0
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
is that younger persons were more positive than the Age group
older groups. In addition it is often the case that males
were more interested in an item than were females. Figure 2 IM via the mobile by age and gender, Norway June 2004
3) f (1 51 ) = 1.806, sig. = 0.185

4) chi2 (28) = 148.9, sig. < 0.001
5) These statistics come from the same database, as do the general results reported here.

the best case, text entry on the mobile is much slower Using the mobile telephone to identify
than via a keyboard. Thus, interaction between a PC yourself
and a mobile based user would mean that the PC user Now the analysis moves to the “middle” group of
perhaps expected responses at a higher tempo than items. These include the responses to the following
the mobile user is able to produce. four items in ascending order of interest:
All of this is not to say that IM will not become a part • Use the mobile telephone to identify yourself (for
of the mobile world. Indeed, the tariff structure, the example as a key to the house or a ticket at the
more open format (longer messages) and the potential movies or a concert);
to include more persons in a “conversation” mean that
this type of text messaging may well gain popularity. • Use the mobile telephone like you use your bank
card that is to pay for goods and services;
• Have a list of friends where I can see if my nearest

friends and family are available;
100
Males • Be able to use your mobile like a walkie-talkie
Females (push a button and talk) to talk with several family/
80
friends at the same time.
60 The first two are more data oriented and the last two
seem to fit better into a “social” constellation. That is,
40 this type of service does not necessarily imply inter-
action with other persons via the mobile phone, but is
an interaction with net-based functions. In the case of
20
using the mobile to identify yourself in various situa-
tions, men were generally, but not significantly more
0 interested in this type of service (see Figure 3). The
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
material also shows that there were significant age
Age group
based differences.6) Interestingly while there are clear
Figure 3 Identify yourself via the mobile by age and gender, Norway age based differences for men by age group, the same
June 2004 cannot be said as strongly for women. Thus, the atti-
tude toward this is largely stable across age groups
while with men, the younger respondents were signif-
icantly more positive than the older ones.7)
100
Males
Females The mobile phone as a bank card
80
The material shown in Figure 4 is that which most
directly deals with monetary issues. While the use of
60 the mobile telephone as a type of key to the home or
ticket to a concert/film has some of the same sensitiv-
40
ity, it is this question on the use of the mobile tele-
phone as a bank card that is most directly focused on
monetary issues.
20
Along with the item on remotely controlling the

0 home, the use of a mobile telephone as a credit card
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
is not as popular among teens as it is among middle-
Age group
aged respondents. The analysis of the bank card item
Figure 4 Bank card via the mobile by age and gender, Norway June 2004 shows that there are significant age8) and gender
6) chi2 (28) = 76.75, sig. < 0.001

7) chi2 for men across age groups was (35) = 74.751, sig. < 0.001 while the same statistic for women across age groups was chi2 (35)
= 49.139, sig. < 0.057.
8) chi2 (28) = 84.895, sig. < 0.001

100
based differences.9) Interestingly it is women who
Males
account for the age based differences in the results of
Females
this item. Indeed, it is the only item in which the dif- 80
ferences across the age groups are significant for one
gender while they are insignificant for the other. In
60
spite of the lower estimation of the item by women,
the item does not show significant age based differ-
ences for men across the age groups.10) By contrast, 40
there are significant age based differences across age
groups for the women.11) Thus, it is the skepticism 20
of the older women (and partially the younger teens)
that accounts for the general age based differences
0
on this item. 13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
Age group
A partial reason that this, as well as the previous item Figure 5 Others’ availability via the mobile by age and gender, Norway
on the use of the mobile phone as a bank card score June 2004
low in terms of respondent interest is that they are
items that deal (at least in part) with monetary and
security issues.
100
Males
Determining others’ availability
Females
Moving on to two more socially oriented items – the 80
ability to determine the availability of friends and
family and the walkie-talkie function. These two 60
items showed the more usual pattern of being popular
among teens and less popular among the older
respondents. Looking first at the item on having the 40
ability to determine the availability of family and

friends (see Figure 5), there is a clear age difference 20
in this item age.12) There is also a marginal gender
difference.13) It is interesting to consider this item in
0
connection with the “IM” item described above. 13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
There was generally a negative attitude towards that Age group
item. However, when extracting only the “presence” Figure 6 Walkie-talkie via the mobile by age and gender, Norway June
aspect of IM and placing it into a mobile context, 2004
there was an increase in interest.
The message here seems to be that there is an interest Walkie-talkie (push to talk) via the
among teens and young adults in having some insight mobile phone
into the availability of their friends/family. However, Another socially directed service is that of using the
the additional PC-based function of interactive mes- mobile telephone as a type of walkie-talkie (see Fig-
saging is less interesting. It may well be that the ure 6). This item is a description of the function that
insight into others’ availability is seen as an indica- is somewhat popular in the US, namely push-to-talk.
tion of whether one should initiate mobile-based It is an interesting service in that it is not a duplex
interaction (voice or SMS). However, the additional form of communication. The participants must speak
functions associated with PC-based IM were judged sequentially and indicate turn taking more explicitly
to be less interesting. than in traditional telephony. There is not the ability
to interrupt another person in the middle of their
utterances. In this respect it is perhaps more akin to
radio interaction than to telephony. It enjoys some
9) chi2 (4) = 11.831, sig. = 0.019

10) chi2 (35) = 45.988, sig. = 0.101
11) chi2 (25) = 72.651, sig. < 0.001
12) chi2 (35) =126.458 , sig. < 0.001
13) chi2 (5) = 10.004, sig. = 0.075

100
positive to this type of service than are women,15)
Males
particularly in the 16 – 19 year old group16) and in
Females
80 the 25 – 34 year age group.17) The data here is some-
what unstable, but it shows the standard youth orien-
tation that one also sees in the IM, friends’ availabil-
60
ity, and the time/place information items.
40 Remotely control the home via the

mobile phone
20 The final three items were those that received the
greatest level of interest among the respondents.
They included:
0
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
Age group • The possibility to remotely control electronic
Figure 7 Remotely control home via the mobile by age and gender, equipment in the home, for example heating,
Norway June 2004 lighting and things like that;
• The mobile telephone automatically knows where

popularity in the US and it also is a rather “light you are and can give you information that is rele-
weight” service in that it is IP-based and does not vant for that time and place, for example traffic
have the same latency requirements as does tradi- information;
tional telephony.
• The possibility to get information from your home
The analysis shows that younger persons are signifi- PC regardless of where you are.
cantly more interested in this type of service than are
older respondents.14) Men are also marginally more The first of these was a typical “middle aged” item,
namely remotely controlling various items in the
home via the mobile telephone (see Figure 7) and was
most popular among those in the middle of the age
100
spectrum. The youngest and the oldest respondents
Males
Females
were the most skeptical to this type of service. Aside
80 from the somewhat erratic data from the 16 – 19 year
old males,18) it was the middle-aged people who
60 reported the most interest. Indeed there are significant
age-based differences in the data.19) The data also
shows that there are loosely significant gender-based
40
differences.20)
20 Time and place relevant information

The next item was that describing the use of the
0
mobile telephone in order to retrieve time- and place
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67 relevant information. There was also a slight ten-
Age group dency for the younger users to prefer this type of ser-
Figure 8 Time/place info. via the mobile by age and gender, Norway vice.21) In general there are significant age-based dif-
June 2004
14) chi2 (35) = 101.204, sig. < 0.001

15) chi2 (5) = 10.518, sig. = 0.062
16) chi2 (4) = 17.616, sig. < 0.001
17) chi2 (5) = 12.142, sig. = 0.033
18) There was a significant difference between genders in this group (chi2 (4) = 8.843, sig. = 0.065). This is the only age group in which
there was a gendered difference.
19) chi2 (35) = 107.977, sig. < 0.001
20) chi2 (5) = 10.193, sig. = 0.070
21) This is particularly true if one overlooks the findings from the youngest females.

ferences for the whole population here.22) Somewhat 100
interestingly, this fits generally into the more socially Males
oriented items (see Figure 8). That is, as we will dis- Females
80
cuss below, responses to this item covaried in a loose
way with the items on IM, others’ availability, and
60
the push-to-talk function.
Retrieving data from a home PC 40

The final individual item is that covering the ability
to retrieve information from your home PC via the 20
mobile telephone regardless of where you are (Figure
9). This is one of the more “data” oriented items in
the battery. As with many of the other items there is 0
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
a significant age-based difference in the material.23) Age group
While the data shown in Figure 9 shows that in some
cases males are more inclined for this type of service Figure 9 Info. from home PC via the mobile by age and gender,
and in other age groups it is the females, when all age Norway June 2004
groups are considered together there are no gendered
differences. Further, the differences by gender shown
in the figure, while seemingly dramatic, are not statis- socio-demographic, psychological or behavioral dimen-
tically significant. sions that might covary with the particular factor.
As noted, the eight items describing future net-based

Factor analysis of the material mobile services all fell into the same factor. The
A way to generally summarize the interest in the material in Figure 10 shows how this collective vari-
items described above is to collect them into coherent able is distributed in terms of age groups and gender.
groups and then to look at levels of interest in a col- As with many of the other items that constitute the
lective manner. Factor analysis is one approach to variable, this complex variable has significant age24)
this. Factor analysis in effect draws together items and gender25) based differences. That is, the material
in a battery of questions that covary with each other. shows that younger persons and males were more
In many cases, there are a number of clusters. In the
case of the items discussed here, there is basically
one cluster (called a factor). As will become clear 0,8
Factor index scale
below, it is possible to tease out more factors from Males

0,6
the material by adjusting the criteria for sorting the Females
material. In the case of this material, the general anal- 0,4
ysis revealed one factor while the adjusted analysis 0,2
provided the insight into the difference between the
social and the data related items. 0
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
-0,2
The advantage of using factor analysis (as opposed to
-0,4
simply summing up the factors) is that first; it alerts
one to the various items that fall into different cate- -0,6
gories. Second, it provides a weight for each item
-0,8
indicating the degree to which that item contributes Age group
to the total factor. Thus factor analysis allows one to
construct a variable that is available for further analy- Figure 10 Interest in future net-based services (1 factor solution) by
sis. The researcher can, for example, look into the age and gender, Norway 2004
22) chi2 (35) = , sig. < 0.001. The analysis shows that there is a gendered difference for those in the 45 – 54 year age group. The reader
needs to remember that the material in the chart shows only the people who were interested. The material on those who were not
interested indicates that it is women in the 45 – 54 age group who are particularly uninterested in this type of technology chi2 (4) =
13.00, sig. < 0.011.
23) chi2 (35) = 142.356, sig. < 0.001
24) f (7 807 ) = 15.754, sig. < 0.001
25) f (1 814 ) = 6.357, sig. = 0.012

60
40
20
IM Identify Bank card Others' Walkie-talkie Remotely Time/place Get info from
yourself availability control info home PC
the home
Figure 11 Interest in future net-based services (with two-factor solution marking), Norway 2004
interested in the services described in the material An examination of these two factors shows that the
than were women and older people. When looking first factor generally describes social interaction.28)
at the specific age groups there is only one case in With the exception of the item describing interesting
which the results approach a significant gender differ- time/place information, the items describe forms of
ence; that being the 45 – 54 year age group.26) interpersonal interaction. They describe services that
either help the individual judge the accessibility of
A theme that has gone through the discussion is the others that they know, or they describe services for
suggestion that the individual items, if pressed to a the actual mediation of information between individ-
certain degree, fall into two factors (see Figure uals.29)
11).27) In this two factor solution the items describing
1) IM, 2) others’ availability, 3) the walkie-talkie By way of contrast, the second item focuses on vari-
function, and 4) the time/place information fall into ous types of interaction with inanimate objects in the
one factor while the other factor includes using the network. These include payment, the management of
mobile 1) to identify oneself (i.e. as a key or a ticket), accessibility (which in the case of ticketing can also
2) as a bank card, 3) to remotely control the home, include payment issues), and the remote control of
and 4) to remotely retrieve information from the PC. either a PC or different items in the home.
0,8
It is perhaps not surprising that these two factors
Factor index scale
showed different distributions in terms of age group-

Social
0,6 ing (see Figure 12). The social dimension was partic-
Data
0,4 ularly popular among the younger respondents. There
was nearly uniformly high interest among those who
0,2
were under 25 years of age. For the age groups over
0 25 there was a declining interest in the social services
13 - 15 16 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 67 over 67
described here. The oldest group had the least interest.
-0,2
-0,4 The data related items had a different profile. In a

-0,6 similar way it was the oldest persons who were the
least interested. However, the youngest respondents
-0,8
Age group were basically neutral to these items. The greatest
interest was among those in the 35 – 44 year age
Figure 12 Interest in future net-based services (2 factor solution) by group. The persons in the age groups 25 – 34 and
age and gender, Norway 2004 45 – 54 were also somewhat more interested in these
26) f (1 142) = 3.358, sig. = 0.069

27) The two-factor solution first arises if one reduces the eigenvalue to 0.89 as opposed to the traditional eigenvalue of 1.
28) This factor is the best at clarifying the data. It has an eigenvalue of 4.193 and clarifies 52.409 % of the variance in the data while the
second factor has an eigenvalue of 0.89 and clarifies 11.147 % of the variance.
29) Interestingly if one does a factor analysis by age group, the social and the data factors fall out with eigenvalues of greater than 1 in
the case of the youngest groups.

I want it all***
Cheap and small**
Adjusted SMS use per day**
Advanced WAP
Adjusted MMS use per week
Mobile competance
Age of handset
Adjusted voice use per day
Age of handset
Female***
-0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
Figure 13 Regression analysis
items than the normal user. There were no major The material from the regression analysis indicates
gender-based differences in the interest in these two that those respondents who were quite interested in
factors. the future net-based type services were, perhaps not
surprisingly, interested in advanced features on their
terminals. These features include many “business”
Regression analysis features such as for example GPRS, the ability to
The final analysis here is a regression analysis using synchronize with a PC, “the newest on the market”,
other items in the questionnaire to try and clarify the and the ability to surf on the Internet via the mobile
interactions between them and the future services fac- telephone. They also have more typically teen fea-
tor that has been described above.30) The regression tures such as color screens, MMS, “flip” covers etc.
analysis results in a model of interactions between the It is this variable which is the strongest and along
“explanatory” variables and the target variable which with the gendering variable, the most significant of
in this case is the “interest in future net-based ser- the variables in the regression model.
vices” variable described above. It is perhaps tempt-
ing to say that the “explanatory” variables cause The second strongest variable in the regression analy-
changes in the target variable. That is, however, to sis is one of the two variables describing the gendered
overstate the case. The best that one can do with these interest in the items. The analysis shows that women
data is to assert that there is an interaction between were adverse to the future net-based like services
them and not that there is causality. The results of this when considered as a whole. In other words, some
analysis are shown in Figure 13. men were positive to the services described while
others were less positive. This is also of interest here.
The results in the figure show those elements that
have either a direct or an inverse relationship to the There were two other variables that made a signifi-
future net-based services factor. Those going to the cant contribution to the regression model. These were
right have a direct relationship to the interest in future interest in small and inexpensive terminals (the size
net-based services (the more one increases the vari- dimension is perhaps the most important issue here)
able, the more the other increases) and those lying to and the number of SMS messages that a person
the left have an inverse relationship. It needs to be reported sending per day. Both of these items made
noted that there is not the assertion of causality here. a positive, if somewhat weaker contribution to the
The longer the line is, the greater the interaction. In model. It is interesting to consider the SMS use. In
addition, there is a collection of items in the middle Norway, this form of interaction is tightly connected
of the chart that make little contribution to the general to teens and young adults. Thus, the fact that it makes
model. a contribution to the model here seems to verify the
material that is shown in Figure 10, that it is generally
30) Adjusted r2 = 0.245

younger persons who express strong interest in the vices might be carrying in the minds of the respon-
future net-based services. The caveat here is that dents. The items covering remote control of the
there are some “middle aged” services (specifically home, retrieving information from a PC and time/
the bank card and the remotely controlling items in place information are all relatively abstract items.
the home). The respondents would not have had any real experi-
ence with these items and thus they are left free to
muse as to the interesting potentials of their eventual
Discussion development. By contrast, the other items in the bat-
The material here has outlined a tendency towards tery are often weighted down with the respondent’s
a split in the types of net-based services that are out- prejudices and worries as to their eventual misuse.
lined. On the one hand there seems to be a clustering The items on monetary exchange (the bank card and
around what can be called social oriented services, the ticket/ID items) can be interesting from a techni-
i.e. services that facilitate direct interaction between cal perspective but in order to be accepted by the
individuals. In addition, the data points to a clustering public they will need to prove themselves reliable
of interest around more “data” related services. That and tamper-resistant since they play in an area of life
is, there is a divide between interpersonal services where the public is cautious. The items remaining
and person-machine services. items that describe social interactions (IM, others’
availability and the walkie-talkie) also operate in an
Currently, mobile telephony is tilted dramatically area in which the respondents have a relatively well-
towards the social type of services. From the perspec- developed understanding. These items play into the
tive of the operators, the preponderant source of way in which people develop and maintain their
income comes from mediation of interpersonal mes- social networks. People have a sense of how a
sages, predominantly in the form of voice and SMS. walkie-talkie connection to their friends or family
Indeed when looking at daily use, there are more peo- might (or might not) be of use. They can imagine
ple who use SMS than use traditional landline tele- how useful or perhaps how intrusive it might be. It
phony. Only a small portion of income comes from may be that the two “monetary” items and the social
data related services. In a slightly different way, the items – aside from the somewhat oddly sorted “time/
same can be said of the Internet, namely that the ser- place info.” item – all operate within the respondents’
vice that is used most often is e-mail. Indeed Oldyzko range of experience. This means that they can have a
traces the history of mediated communication from sense of how these might operate in real situations.
letters and newspapers sent via the post through the By contrast, those items in which there is the greatest
telegraph to the modern Internet and mobile commu- interest hang more loosely in the imagination of the
nication and finds that there has traditionally been a respondents.
greater willingness to pay for interpersonal communi-
cations than there has been to pay for information Looking into the seemingly misplaced item on
from third parties such as news, entertainment etc. time/place information this may illustrate another
(2000). Thus, the findings from this analysis, how- division in mobile inter-personal communication,
ever vaguely, point to a traditional divide between namely the difference between instrumental and
mediation of social interaction and mediation of what expressive interactions. On the one hand, many inter-
can be called third-party information. These results actions are expressive (a love letter, a get-well call
can be seen through the filter of other mediation. etc). At the same time there are also many instrumen-
When considering them from this perspective it seems tal interactions (e.g. “where are you?” or “when are
that the obvious direction with which to develop ser- you coming?”). The item on time/place information
vices is to better support various forms of social inter- clearly fits into the notion of instrumental communi-
action. cation. Indeed, much of mobile communication is
concerned with this theme (Ling and Yttri 2002). It is
It is somewhat ironic, however, that respondents ex- not surprising, then, that an item describing a service
pressed the greatest levels of interest in data related in which the individual interacts with a machine is
services (remote control and interacting with a remote sorted into the same factor as those that describe
PC). The respondents gave a relatively positive rating more direct social interaction.
to these two items. Nonetheless, the factor analysis
indicated that there is a far greater consensus around It is also interesting to examine the attitudes of the
the social variables, particularly when a two-factor respondents in terms of the other information in the
solution is used. questionnaire. In general, it is the younger persons
who are the most interested in the new possibilities.
Part of this paradox can perhaps be resolved by con- A further nuance of this is that the younger persons
sidering the additional baggage that the various ser- are perhaps more interested in the social potentials of

the technology where middle aged persons often see sages (read: social networking) (Ling forthcoming).
the possibilities associated with remotely dealing The same tendencies were seen in the system devel-
with their homes, monetary issues and the transmis- oped in the “Youngster” trial (Ling and Sollund
sion of data from one place to another. 2002). This was a location-based service that allowed
one to see the approximate location of friends as they
The people who were most interested in advanced moved about the small town of Grimstad. In that case
services were also the most interested in advanced the teen boys seemed to adopt the use of the service,
handsets. They were active SMS users and women but the teen girls basically ignored the service during
were somewhat uniformly not in this group. Thus one the short trial period. MMS has seen the same con-
is presented with the image of a portion of the male tours in its adoption (Ling 2004).
respondents, who were also relatively active SMS
users, who were fascinated by the technology. This is not to say, however, that just any service will
be adopted. There has to be a sense the service is
Putting this into a somewhat critical light, this may accessible, easy to understand and useful. If either the
be a technical fascination with mediation technolo- innovators or in turn those who employ it for social
gies such as the mobile telephone that does not fully networking feel that the service is not accessible or
extend the use into the area of social networking, i.e. useful, there is a good chance that the service, regard-
that is using the telephone in social interaction. A less of how well developed or technically advanced,
classic theme in the adoption and use of mobile com- will die on the vine. This is the major barrier con-
munication technologies and services is that males fronting these services. Thus, it is essential that the
are quite often the early adopters based, perhaps, on developers not isolate themselves in the laboratories,
an interest in the technology. They seem to have a but confront the real situations in which eventual use
willingness to put up with the early frustrations of will take place.
configuring the systems, and dealing with the eccen-
tricities of the technology. Various examples show
that they work through the set-up issues and perhaps References
map out the potential areas of inter-personal use. Ling, R. The adoption, use and social consequences
Their fascination with the technology in itself facili- of mobile communication. Telektronikk, 100 (3),
tates the eventual diffusion of the innovation. In these 69–81, 2004.
analyses, females seem to arrive on the scene some-
what later and to approach the technology from a Ling, R. The socio-linguistics of SMS: An analysis of
slightly different perspective. Their contribution SMS use by a random sample of Norwegians. In: Ling,
seems to be more in the direction of making the R, Pedersen, P (eds.). Mobile Communications: Rene-
technology into a social networking tool. Where gotiation of the social sphere. London, Springer, 2005.
the males seem to be carried by a fascination with the
technology and its possibilities, the females seem to Ling, R, Sollund A. Deliverable 13: Planning, opera-
be carried by using the technology in order to interact tion and evaluation of the field trials. EU IST pro-
with friends and family. gram, 2002.
This is the experience of early mobile telephony. In Ling, R, Yttri, B. Hyper-coordination via mobile
the case of teens in Norway, it is well documented phones in Norway. In: Katz, J E, Aakhus, M (eds.).
that males were the first to adopt in the late 1990s but Perpetual contact: Mobile communication, private
by about 2001 female teens were significantly more talk, public performance. Cambridge, Cambridge
likely to have a mobile phone than were same-aged University Press, 2002.
males (Ling 2004). Teen boys are significantly more
likely to have more than one mobile telephone (read: Oldyzko, A. The history of communications and its
fascination with the technology) while teen girls use implications for the Internet. AT&T Labs, 2000.
the device to write significantly longer SMS mes-
Rich Ling is a sociologist at Telenor R&D. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado,
Boulder in his native US. Upon completion of his doctorate, he taught at the University of Wyoming in
Laramie before coming to Norway on a Marshall Foundation grant. Since that time he has worked at the
Resource Study Group and has been a partner in the consulting firm Ressurskonsult. Since starting work at
Telenor he has been active researching issues associated with new ICT and society. He has led projects in
Norway and participated in projects at the European level. Ling has published numerous articles.

Mobile multimedia and users:
On the domestication of mobile multimedia
ILPO KOSKINEN AND ESKO KURVINEN
With camera phones rapidly becoming commonplace, mobile multimedia is spreading fast in the
market. This paper focuses on how people use their mobile multimedia devices. Based on a series of
studies conducted in Helsinki, this paper reviews existing arguments about mobile multimedia, and
then explains why the Helsinki studies have been informed by an interaction-oriented argument based
on ethnomethodology. Data and methods for the paper come from two major studies called Mobile
Image and Radiolinja. The main body of the paper provides three illustrations of the framework. First, it
Ilpo Koskinen is studies how people build their mobile multimedia messages. Secondly, it shows what kinds of methods
Professor of
of response recipients use. Third, it looks at how people learn new methods of action from each other
Industrial Design
at the University in the course of exchanging messages. Discussion compares the Helsinki studies to other research
of Art and perspectives.
Design, Helsinki
Introduction paper explores how mobile multimedia is domesti-

Mobile multimedia is a new, but quickly expanding cated in mobile telephony by reporting the perspec-
addition to mobile telephony. Phones with multime- tive and key observations of design research con-
dia capabilities allow users to compile and send mes- ducted in Helsinki between 1999 and 2003. The
sages including text, still images, sound, and, increas- reason for focusing on human action instead of tech-
ingly, video clips. Message 1 provides an example of nology is the conviction that although technology
Esko Kurvinen is a typical multimedia message. A vacationing friend changes rapidly, user needs and practices do not.
an Industrial
sent it to the first author in Helsinki from Greece. It
Designer at the
Helsinki Institute consists of a snapshot photograph and a written greet-
for Information ing. Although users have been slow to adopt multi- What drives domestication?
Technology media technology, it is spreading fast in handsets. In addition to several descriptive accounts [3], four
This paper asks what this technology adds to mobile theoretical perspectives have been proposed to ex-
telephony. More specifically, it looks for ways in plain drivers for the use of mobile multimedia. The
which people adopt multimedia. What drives its first and simplest argument relates mobile multimedia
“domestication”? The focus of the paper is primarily to user motivations. In brief, what people see as
on MMS, but messages from older applications are worth capturing and sharing is explained by func-
commented on as well. tional needs and affective reactions – ranging from
aesthetic experience to missing loved ones. The best
The metaphor of “domestication” has its origins in example of this line of argumentation is in Kindberg
British media studies of the 1980s and 1990s. et al. [4], who classified multimedia messages sent
Domestication denotes the phases of a product life by the British and Americans into individual, social,
cycle which are not controlled by industry and (here) affective, and functional categories. Out of the 349
mobile carriers. In the most significant articles in this messages they analyzed, 82 % were affective. 58 %
area, Roger Silverstone and his colleagues [1, 2] of the affective messages were social in nature –
argue that this process is directed not just by eco- targeted towards enriching shared experience, or
nomic, but also by moral, affective and aesthetic con- communicating with absent friends – and 42 % indi-
siderations. As a result of these considerations, tech- vidual, intended for personal reflection. Out of 63
nologies find their place in people’s spatial environ- functional messages, 53 % were for social purposes;
ments, practices and communication modes. This they were sent to help other people do some task,
47 % supported tasks not involving sharing – that is,
they helped the senders of messages in their own tasks.
Message 1. Postcard from Greece 02-09-2004 11:47:46
Greetings from Greece. From a more sociological perspective, Scifo [5] has
Imagine ... An old man lives studied the domestication of camera phones in Milan.
at the top of a windmill. Down-
stairs he has a beach café and Unlike mobile phones, mobile multimedia roots
sells small snacks. It’s really experience back in users’ physical and social sur-
relaxing to be out here. roundings. Multimedia messaging is almost exclu-
Remember to work hard while
I’m vacationing ... Best wishes,
sively linked to one’s network of strong relationships,
Junior, Mari and kids where it primarily nourishes sentimental bonds. With

MMS, people give others access to places, individual the genres approach situates the locus of action in
and social situations, and emotions. People share those cultural structures that people use to construe
images of familiar objects and people, private life lines of action. It is not necessary to classify mes-
(like objects, relatives), and social networks. Mobile sages into “affective” and “functional” motives. Still,
multimedia also provides an extension of one’s expe- neither the genres framework, nor the gift-giving
rience and memory – with it, one’s affective world is analogy are sufficient to account for several types
reportable in a visual and shareable form. of interactional patterns in messages.
While Scifo focuses on the meanings of pictures and,

by extension, camera phones, Ling and Julsrud [6] Domestication and
focus on the “genres” of multimedia messaging. The ethnomethodology
argument is that existing media – and other – genres The argument of this paper is based on the notion that
provide people formats for compiling multimedia mobile multimedia is essentially a technology for
messages. For example, Ling and Julsrud studied communication and, accordingly, interaction. The
mobile salespersons of a soft drink company, real argument builds on classical ethnomethodology [9],
estate agents and carpenters for six months in Nor- a perspective followed in the series of studies in
way, finding that the main genres were Helsinki [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]. According to
this perspective, communication is situated action
• documentation of work related objects [17]. Any message is interpreted by a recipient,
• visualization of details and project status who may follow the literal meaning of the message,
• snapshots (developing camaraderie) but need not do so. The recipient’s interpretation
• postcards and greetings becomes evident in his response, which can be a
• chain messages (standardized messages, usually word, turn in talk, a piece of text, or a message that
downloaded from Web sites). contains a digital image. This, in turn, prompts a new
response. Thus, each action is shaped by the context
Soft drink sales persons used MMS most, followed in which the previous action is typically the most
by carpenters. These groups used it for all the pur- prominent element. At the same time, any action
poses mentioned above. Real estate sales persons renews the context, and prepares it for the subsequent
used the technology only for postcards, greetings, action [18]. Because of this situated quality of inter-
and snapshots. Carpenters also used MMS for “clari- action, we do not normally know what is going to
fication”: taking and sending pictures of problems at happen after a few turns. Instead, we have to act here
work to get advice from colleagues. and now.
The fourth perspective builds on the idea that people When composing multimedia messages, people often
interact with each other through mobile multimedia. utilize commonsense cultural resources, including
To this end, they use “age-old practices” familiar to those used in conversation, in professional practice,
anyone from other realms of life: greetings, post- and in media. Thus, despite the fact that the medium
cards, questions, riddles, family portraits, and so is new, messaging as such is largely based on familiar
forth. Building on the initial idea of Licoppe and methods. There are good reasons for such conser-
Heurtin [7], Taylor, Harper and Berg have general- vatism. When incorporated into the new medium,
ized this argument first to SMS and then to MMS [8]. these methods provide intelligibility, coherence, and
Their example of an age-old practice is gift-giving. predictability for communication. The main differ-
People share things to delight recipients, who are ence between multimedia messaging and traditional
obliged to return the gift and show gratitude, or face postcards is transmission speed: the mobile card in
sanctions if they do not reciprocate. Message 1 came from Greece to Helsinki in minutes,
not in days as a traditional postcard.
These perspectives explain the use of mobile multi-
media on a variety of levels, ranging from affective However, mobile multimedia is more than just a pro-
and cognitive processes through small group dynam- cess of using “age-old practices” in a new technologi-
ics to macro-level cultural processes. However, each cal domain. From an ethnomethodological perspec-
perspective has shortcomings. For example, the tive, domestication is also a collective process of dis-
attempt to classify motivations does not account for covering new methods for capturing and sharing. In
messages which serve a number of purposes at once; this process, conventions in media presentation are
as people routinely do several things in any individ- not followed blindly. Pre-existing media formats or
ual message, classifying messages using categories types of content are not just replicated, but reconsti-
created by researchers is risky. The cultural argument tuted to be more useful for the participants, who are
works somewhat better in this respect. For example, thus able to display themselves as knowledgeable,

Messages (frequency)
male, female, and control groups, the pilot and the
1600 Radiolinja control being mixed-gender) for 2–3 months each.
Mobile Image Groups were selected so that their technical expertise,
access to technology, and gender varied. Photograph-
ing became more mundane and ad hoc than in ordi-
1200
nary home mode of photography [cf. 19]. People took
images of their meals, dirty plates in the sink, their
street, and so forth. Messages were collected as
800 e-mail attachments. For ethical reasons, we did not
automatize this procedure, but asked participants to
send or forward all their messages to Esko Kurvinen,
400 who was responsible for the project. The Helsinki-
based mobile carrier Radiolinja provided free phone
service and data connection based on GSM technology.
0
1 2 3 4 3 In Radiolinja, we selected three groups from a larger
week
technology and service pilot. The pilot took place in
Figure 1 The Trajectory of Use in Mobile Image and Radiolinja summer 2002, and lasted about five weeks. Each user
(first 5 weeks)1) was given an MMS phone (either Nokia 7650 with an
integrated camera or SonyEricsson T68i with a plugin
camera). Mixed-gender groups with seven, eleven,
and seven members were studied. Out of the pilot,
considerate, entertaining, witty, and so forth. For we selected groups to take into account gender differ-
example, the members of one research group realized ence, terminal types, and the city-countryside axis.
that they could also use images on their computer to Exact numbers are confidential, but we can report
produce trick effects [10]. This invention took place that users sent over 4000 messages during the pilot.
first without conscious reflection, but gradually led to Over 2000 were unique (the rest being duplicates in
a joking culture in which members of the group con- group messages, or recycled messages). These data
stantly tried to outdo each other. Still, its origins were were produced through the Radiolinja system auto-
modest. One member experimented with an automatically. As in Mobile Image, the service was free
matic signature, but instead of writing his name, of charge.
address and phone number, he downloaded a picture
of the actor Liam Neeson from the Internet and used Figure 1 reports weekly messaging frequencies for
it as a visual signature. Once the idea of image Mobile Image and Radiolinja for a period of five
manipulation was invented, messaging got increas- weeks (data is comparable for that period). It shows
ingly more inventive; it became the group’s second that in both data sets, use follows a downward loga-
nature in a few weeks. For this group, there was no rithmic pattern. In Radiolinja, routine use settled to
going back to the original meaning of the images they 2–3 messages/day/phone for each participant after
had used. five weeks. The difference between these two data
sets probably relates to the ease of use. While taking
a picture and sending it took thirty steps and easily
Data and methods two minutes with the equipment used in Mobile
Data for this paper comes from a series of design Image, the process quickened to less than 30 seconds
studies conducted in Helsinki between 1999 and in Radiolinja. Participants knew that they were stud-
2003. In particular, we focus on two studies, Mobile ied, and were informed about the ethical procedures
Image (1999-2001) and Radiolinja (2002). These two we used. In particular, we told them how our data
studies involved over 5000 multimedia messages. By was produced, promised not to publish pictures with-
now, about 20 scientific papers have been written out their consent, and promised to change details of
from these data; this paper reports some of the main images so that it would not be possible to identify them
findings from this body of research. from our publications. In addition, we have followed
standard academic and legal practice and have changed
In Mobile Image, we gave a Nokia 9110 Communi- all names and details that could identify people.
cator and a Casio digital camera, connected with an
infrared link, to four groups of five people (the pilot,
1) For Mobile Image y = –98,434Ln(x) + 179,45, R2 = 0,9405; for Radiolinja: y = –835,32Ln(x) + 1624,4, R2 = 0,9655

Multimedia elements in messages For these reasons, we believe that to properly
The first question we have focused on is the way in describe what takes place in multimedia messages,
which mobile multimedia messages are constructed. we need to analyze how they are constructed in
Multimedia messages contain three types of media: detail, and understand them in terms of multimedia
images, audio, and text. By far, the most prevalent elements and their specific constellations in that form
media type is text (94 % of messages in Radiolinja in which the recipients find them. Consequently, we
had text), followed by photographs (87 %) and sound have analyzed mobile multimedia as communication
(10 %). People appeared in 56 % of photographs, fol- rather than, say, in terms of motives [4], genres [6],
lowed by animals (11 %), scenes (11 %), various or even gift-giving [8]. For the same reason, our
types of things (10 %), and food (8 %). This list of analysis has focused on methods of action rather than
topics resembles that calculated by Kinberg et al., being built on analogies like the notion of “gift.” An
although in their study “specific things” were more ethnomethdological perspective provides accuracy,
prevalent [4]. As such, this list resembles ordinary but also detail that opens up new insights for design-
snapshot photography [19]: people capture and share ing services. Avoiding glosses like “humor” typical
a selected sample of things with their “hiptop” to content analysis makes analysis more difficult, but
devices. also makes it possible to spot message structures that
can be used as templates in product development.
However, for several reasons, multimedia messaging These structures have the virtue of being grounded
takes messaging beyond what one finds in photo in existing, age-old practices.
albums. First, as Ling and Julsrud [6] have noted,
people routinely borrow media formats from their
environment to construct messages. These include Responding: Mobile multimedia as
postcards, movie-like stories [10: 55-61], travelogues, interaction
posters, TV and newspapers, including tabloid ads. Perhaps the most important observation for our stud-
Second, messages are always compiled for particular ies is that multimedia messages are something people
viewers, which is perhaps best evident in ubiquitous use to interact with each other. This notion is based
hellos, goodbyes, and signatures in the beginnings on ethnomethodological sociology and conversation
and closings of messages. Thus in Message 1, there analysis [10: 32-35, 11, 16, 21]. The point is not new;
was not only a greeting in the beginning of the mes- it has been made by Taylor and Harper [22] in their
sage, but also a “best wishes” element and a signa- study of text messaging and by Berg et al. [8] in a
ture-like list of names that made the message more design study on MMS. However, unlike Berg, Taylor
personal to the first author. Third, people routinely and Harper, the Helsinki studies have specifically
explain why they send messages in the first place. For focused on actual responses to messages, not to
example, in a message that has a picture of a neigh- mutual obligations on theoretical grounds. As this
borhood pond, Laura accounts for sending the mes- line of research is not construed from interviews, but
sage (Message 2), explaining that even though she from actual chains of messages, we have been able
knows that for some, nature photographs are boring, to study in detail forms of interaction mediated by
the scene was so enthralling that she decided to send mobile multimedia.
it anyway. Finally, as we noted above, people rou-
tinely do several things in any one message. Thus, The argument has a solid footing in data. For exam-
while in Message 2 Laura gives this explanation, she ple, we randomly selected 100 messages for closer
also instructs the viewer (Markku) that she is specifi- analysis from the massive Radiolinja data. From
cally sharing her aesthetic experience with him. At these messages, we found 43 messages containing a
the end of the message, she finally asks his advice on textual formulation that seemed to link them to some
how to create animations (Markku responds to her a previous or subsequent message. Of these 43 mes-
few minutes after). The message is “complex” – just sages, we were able to find the other pair for 32 mes-
like many SMS messages [20: 158-160]. sages. For example, if our sample contained a ques-
tion, we were most often able to find the reply from
the following messages. For the remaining eleven
Message 2. Korso 07-15-2002 16:08 Laura to Markku messages, although it first appeared that there was for
Oh what a wonderful and lovable example a question in the message, it was not treated
scene. I know that many people think as such by the recipients – or the answer was deliv-
that nature photos are boring, but I
can’t but rejoice when beautiful things ered by other means. Thus, there is strong evidence
can be found even in Korso. Another that roughly every third message was part of a longer
thing: can you make animations with sequence. In addition, messages can link to each
this phone, and if you can, how?
other implicitly, by e.g. addressing the same theme
as the previous one(s). For example, photos of boy-

Messages 5-6. Engagement News Turns into a
friends were sometimes replied to with similar pho- Teasing Series
tos, without saying in the text that the message should Jani to Thomas
be seen as a reply to the previous one. 07-17-2002 17:12
Screw your ring. Nobody
MMS is not just a technology for interaction; inter- snatches me, except Miss
action is an essential phenomenon to be studied if Universe.
we want to understand mobile multimedia.
Thomas to Jani
Some interaction formats in Radiolinja are familiar to
07-17-2002 19:25
anyone from ordinary life. For example, people rou-
Well screw you! Just think that
tinely reply to greetings and hellos, answer questions,
I’ve had more mornings with
and either accept or turn down invitations [10]. Not my woman than you with both
responding would be considered rude. However, in of your hands! Hah hah heh hee
some cases, the response is optional. For example, a
typical postcard contains meaningless, unnecessary
details. It is up to the recipient to pick these up and
continue messaging, but he may as well choose not In Message 5, Jani teases Thomas by suggesting that
to do so. he has lost his freedom. To strengthen his point, Jani
takes a picture of his hand, which does not have a
Sometimes these beginnings lead to longer sequences ring. However, Thomas does not accept this tease as
of interaction. For example, teases have minimally a such, but turns it into counter-tease by hinting about
three-part structure: an opening message which is the solitary nature of Jani’s sex life (Message 6).
somehow laughable, a tease which formulates the By closing his reply with a series of textual laughter
message as laughable, and a response from the teased tokens “Hah hah heh hee”, he shows that his message
person to the teaser [23]. The following example has is a tease – and a gleeful one.
been analyzed by Kurvinen [13]. Message 3 is from
Thomas, who informs six friends that he got engaged The importance of interaction for understanding
to his girlfriend by showing two hands with rings, mobile multimedia is that it explains a good deal of
reporting in the text that it had taken 15 years to get variation in the frequency of messaging [21]. Some
to this point. As Kurvinen notes, announcements of messages prompt several responses that are seen in
important family events, especially milestones such statistics as peaks of activity. For instance, Thomas
as marriages, babies born, graduations and funerals sent the news of his engagement to “all”, that is, to
effectively call for replies. Not just any kind of reply the six people in the group. In response, he first got a
will do: appropriate replies must be in line with the series of congratulations from other members. How-
announcement; joyful events call for congratulations ever, as we have seen, Jani’s response was untypical,
and tragic events invite empathy. The first messages as was Thomas’ reply. Jani did not respond to
of these pairs set a preference against which subse- Thomas anymore, but the important thing to pay
quent messages can orient to. The reply from Jarkko, attention to is that in all, this exchange consisted of
one day after the announcement, draws from the 13 messages within two days. This episode explains
visual material of the original to make a teasing com- 14 % of the group’s messaging activity in those two
ment on rings and engagements (Message 4). days when it took place (N = 91 messages). Thomas’
announcement was not a self-standing message, but
situated in social action; messaging does not result
solely from independent acts of expression, but from
Messages 3-4. Engagement News
sequences in which preceding and subsequent actions
Thomas to 6 people / relate meaningfully to each other.
07-16 2002 16:42
It took 15 years! But good
things come to those who wait.
Discovering methods of action
from others
The final observation to be reported here is that as
Jarkko to Thomas / people use their multimedia devices, their messaging
07-16-2002 21:27 develops with experience. Experience is essentially
Congratulations! Jarkko, Leo a social process: different “trajectories” develop
and Topi depending on what kinds of messages people are
exposed to. Precedents are to be found in studies of
how SMS use has evolved into innovative user cul-

Messages 7-8. The Giant Green Sociologist
obvious reply; what initially seemed evident in the
Subject: On the Esplanade /
08-13-1999 15:35 photograph became questionable after reading the
“I’m on the Esplanade! Cool!” text. Finally, a fourth and less prevalent set of meth-
ods bordered on satirizing the riddle form. Several
messages turned obvious objects – like pizzas and
friends – into “riddles” of sorts. If one takes a picture
of a glass of red wine, and asks others to guess what’s
Subject: The Giant Green Soci- in the mug, the fact that the answer is obvious shows
ologist / 08-13-1999 16:36 that the riddle is to be taken as a joke.
“STOMP!”
“What was that?” The first riddles followed the traditional three-part
“STOMP!” format. However, in the course of Radiolinja, the
“Run for your lives ... it’s ... it’s ... structure of riddles became increasingly more varied.
the Giant Green Sociologist!”
People learned to use:
“STOMP!”
• Tips. As already noted above, the sender may also

give tips to recipients.
tures [24, 25]. In the course of messaging, people
learn new ways to construct messages, i.e. they learn • Rewards. When starting the riddle, a bonus of some
new ethnomethods. Initially, they have a limited kind can be offered. For example in one message a
stock of methods at their disposal; at a later stage, bottle of beer was promised to whoever was able to
this stock of methods is larger. give the right answer.
An illustrative case of this development comes from • Side sequences. Other things that make this struc-
the pilot group of Mobile Image, which developed a ture more complex are side sequences in which the
habit of image manipulation. Message 7 is a typical recipient may, for example, ask for a reward if the
postcard-like city scene, but the response in Message guess proved to be right. Such inquiries are typi-
8 was far from typical. The response had a Godzilla- cally responded to either by promising a reward,
sized colleague in the horizon, and it captures the or by denying it.
horror felt by the crowd who sees the monster
approaching. Also, the picture was digitally shaken • Closing suggestions. Recipients may show the
to show how pedestrians feel the giant’s footsteps. sender that the riddle is getting boring by asking
the joker to send the right answer and by making
Of course, this is an extreme case; most inventions disapproving remarks or gestures about the quality
are far less conspicuous. As an example of how users of the riddle.
discover more ordinary ethnomethods in the course of
making messages, we may look at how one group • Visual responses. Recipients’ remarks may be
developed a lively riddle culture consisting of 70 visual and lead to visual commentary that takes
messages during the first week of the study. The place aside from the actual textual exchange.
interesting point is that riddles are always based on
images; not a single riddle was done with text alone. More generally, people learn methods of action and
In fact, every part of a riddle could be visual, not just uses of technology from other people. Consequently,
the opening message of the riddle. their sensitivities for observation change: with new
methods at their disposal, new things are considered
In the group in focus, riddles can be classified into relevant, funny, and reportable. At certain times, peo-
four main groups. The simplest riddles started with a ple use technology in certain ways. Later, they use it
picture of an obscure or an ambiguous object, and the differently, even when the situation is more or less
text asked what it was. An example was a picture of similar: they simply have different methods at their
a baby’s toes shot from the front so that the shape of disposal. The history of use shapes future uses in the
the foot disappeared. The second typical method was domestication of mobile multimedia.
to show a detail so that the whole disappears. Parts of
the body, parts of animals, and objects such as carpets
worked in this way. In the third method, the image Conclusions and discussion
was obvious, but the text made it problematic. For In a series of studies conducted in the Helsinki
example, in one message, a picture of a sunbathing metropolitan area, we have explored the use of multi-
man was turned into a riddle by asking “Guess what media technology in mobile phones from a classic
Lars is doing?” This text effectively rules out the ethnomethodological perspective informed by its off-

shoot, conversation analysis [9, 26]. The reason for kinds of things with mobile multimedia, including
building our analysis on this perspective rather than many kinds of useful things. Second, we should not
relying on other possible arguments available in liter- be too cynical about mutual entertainment. Is there
ature on mobile phones is that ethnomethodology is something wrong in technology that supports fun and
capable of producing a rich description of what mutual rather than commercial entertainment, if it
people do with new technology. Equipped with this relieves boredom in ordinary life and maintains con-
description, we are able to get an idea of future uses tacts between friends? Third, we have only begun
even though the technology in use might change. As the work of explicating mobile multimedia. As we
we are dealing with “age-old practices” of ordinary see it, using mobile multimedia reproduces old cul-
society [22], these practices do not develop nearly tural forms, but there are more innovative uses as
as quickly as technology. Thus, our descriptions will well. In any case, our perspective shows that mobile
inform designers for years to come. Also, it is on this multimedia gives people an opportunity to transfer
practical ground that larger scale social structures their aesthetic, moral, and humorous experiences into
must be built to be successful – including technolo- a wireless domain in ways that were not possible
gies and services. using SMS or mobile phones. However, these aspects
of life are rooted in ordinary experience rather than in
Most literature on mobile multimedia has tried to the imaginary worlds of computer games or science
explain how it is used: mobile multimedia is treated as fiction – although they may inform users of mobile
a dependent variable to be explained. Our studies in multimedia.
Helsinki have specifically focused on how people
interact with each other through multimedia messages. What kinds of implications do these studies have for
Its basic premise has been that people use ordinary service providers and designers of services? The first
methods of interaction in this new domain. We share level concerns how to “prototype” social action. We
this assumption with Berg et al. [8], but have not fol- have consistently treated our studies as prototypes
lowed their focus on gift-giving as an example of such rather than real data. We have given people an oppor-
an age-old practice. Instead, we have tried to describe tunity to use (then) futuristic technology to see how
methods people use to interact with each other. This they would use it, should it become common one day.
analysis differs from other proposed explanations, in We have monitored messaging using an up-to-date
particular the motivation-centred argument proposed social science framework. Our objective has been to
by Kindberg and his colleagues [4, 27], but less with produce a picture of what people are going to do with
the cultural argument proposed by Ling and Julsrud mobile multimedia in the near future. From a design
[6], which we see as a special case of the more general perspective, a picture like this is immensely valuable:
ethnomethodological perspective. building a technology and service roadmap is easier if
one knows in advance how technology is going to be
What if mobile multimedia is treated as an indepen- used. Of course, we do not know how well the picture
dent variable? What are its consequences? Recently, we have given describes future uses. Hearsay evi-
the French sociologist Carole Anne Rivière has been dence from other countries suggests that we have not
critical of its consequences. She sees multimedia as missed the mark totally; in any case, the analysis we
intimist and sensational communication that turns have proposed seems to describe the phenomenon
real things into spectacle: “Being multimedia tools, better than, say, research that sees digital technology
they increasingly use intimate play context, which as a world-changing technology in mythical terms
have no rational purpose but rather aim at sensations, [30]. Second, at a more practical level, the utility of
and in which the search for immediately shared plea- our analysis is more questionable. We have proposed
sure is more and more visible” [28: 212]. Koskinen several services to our technology partners immedi-
[29] uses less gloomy wording, but still characterizes ately after our studies were done, and built some
multimedia as one that promotes a “banal” vision of specific prototypes to illustrate them as well [31], but
the world. It supports mutual bonding, but turns the we do not know about the possible afterlife of these
shared everyday into a commentary of small, trivial concepts in company memory. We believe that the
things rather than, say, politics or religion. If people approach could be most useful as part of an iterative
reproduce “age-old practices” in the new domain developmental cycle, not as one-off studies as we
through their actions as Berg et al. suggest [8], mobile have done so far. Unfortunately, this has not been
multimedia contributes to person-to-person interac- possible, partially because recently mobile operators
tions rather than to wider institutional structures. (at least in Finland) have focused on price-driven
competition and market shares instead of e.g. on
Our observations in this paper are perhaps less product and service development. In consequence,
pessimistic about how multimedia technology gets multimedia messaging services are still pretty much
domesticated in everyday life. First, people do many the same as they were at their launch.

Finally, we are fully aware of some limitations of 3 Okabe, D, Ito, M. 2004. Camera Phones Chang-
our studies. Perhaps the main problem is that when ing the Definition of Picture-Worthy. Japan
we focus on interaction, we can easily lose sight of Media Review. Annenberg School for Communi-
“larger” social structures. In our analysis, these are cation, USC. www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/
relevant only as local achievements – for example, 1062208524.php. Accessed April 15, 2004.
as race, nationality, or gender labels in messages.
However, in the long run, a more structural analysis 4 Kindberg, T, Spasojevic, M, Fleck, R, Sellen, A.
is necessary for research and product development. 2004. How and Why People Use Camera Phones.
Secondly, we have focused on a sort of visual chat Consumer Applications and Systems Laboratory.
among young city-dwellers. To generalize from this H&P Laboratories Bristol, HPL-2004-216,
group is obviously risky, although we have been able November 26, 2004.
to ground our research on interactional patterns that
exist for people at large and also outside this domain. 5 Scifo, B. 2005. The Domestication of the Camera
Third, institutional context needs to be added, per- Phone and MMS Communications. The Experi-
haps along the lines proposed by Ling and Julsrud ence of Young Italians. In: Nyíri, K (ed.). A Sense
[6], who studied camera phone use at workplaces, or of Place. Vienna, Passagen-Verlag.
along the lines proposed by Katz [32], who has sug-
gested that people use mobile phones to share reli- 6 Ling, R, Julsrud, T. 2005. The Development of
gious information and also images of religious objects Grounded Genres in Multimedia Messaging Sys-
like the Pope. Finally, due to the experimental nature tems (MMS) among Mobile Professionals. In:
of our studies, we cannot evaluate the effects of price Nyíri, K (ed.). A Sense of Place. Vienna, Pas-
on multimedia use. Regardless of these limitations, sagen-Verlag.
we hope to have shown how design research can con-
tribute not just to technology and service develop- 7 Licoppe, C, Heurtin, J-P. 2001. Managing One’s
ment, but also to social scientific understanding. Availability to Telephone Communication
through Mobile Phones. A French Case Study of
the Development Dynamics of Mobile Phone
Acknowledgements Use. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 5,
We wish to thank the Ministry of Trade and Trans- 99–108.
portation for financial support of the Mobile Image
study, and the mobile carrier Radiolinja for inviting 8 Berg, S, Taylor, A S, Harper, R. 2003. Mobile
us to monitor their technology pilot and for funding Phones for the Next Generation: Device Designs
the MMS study. In addition, we wish to thank the for Teenagers. Proceedings of CHI 2003, April
Nokia Research Center, Tampere, several colleagues 5–10, 2003, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, and
numerous others who have commented on our pre- 9 Garfinkel, H. 1967. Studies in Ethnomethodology.
sentations and writings. Finally, we are in debt to the Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall.
people we have studied; they have been generous
enough to let us see their messages. 10 Koskinen, I, Kurvinen, E, Lehtonen, T-K. 2002.
Mobile Image. Helsinki, IT Press.
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Ilpo Koskinen is Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki. Trained in
sociology and in conversation analysis, his present interests lie in studying mobile and ubiquitous communi-
cation technologies. In his opinion, studying these technologies requires that we understand them as human
action, which happens to be mediated by technology. His other interests lie in studying how design changes
cityscapes, and in interpretive design methodology which (he thinks) provides a useful, though under-
developed approach to bridge the gap between design and the social sciences. At present, he is writing a
book on mobile multimedia, hopefully finished in 2006.
Industrial Designer (MA) Esko Kurvinen has worked as designer, researcher and consultant in the process
industry and in the area of mobile communication. His research interests relate to interpersonal communi-
cation and social interaction in technology mediated or technology intensive environments and situations.

Infrastructure for a mobile workforce
OLE TOM SEIERSTAD
Mobile users need more than checking email and voice mail. They need to access important
information, acting on that information to the benefit of the business and to collaborate efficiently
with customers, partners, and colleagues. This paper presents a solution by Microsoft that enables the
mobile users to connect to the corporate network from anywhere, anytime, and by using any device.
Security from intrusion and viruses must pervade every part of this vision, from the mobile devices to
the software they run, to the infrastructure that supports them.
Ole Tom Seier-
stad is Chief
Security Advisor
in Microsoft Introduction users had simple access to files and connections to
Norway Business communication is more than checking email corporate email servers.
and voice mail. For mobile users, it is immediately
accessing important information; acting on that infor- Expectations have increased, however, and the Inter-
mation to the benefit of the business; and collaborating net has enabled a new vision for mobility. To com-
efficiently with customers, partners, and colleagues. In pete, one must take advantage of this new vision in
other words, successful business communications rely order to remain competitive in a world where data
on an efficient exchange between people and data, flows easily, people stay in ready touch, and mobile
which Microsoft’s mobile solutions enable. users are as effective away from the office as they are
in the office. To achieve the goal, mobile users need
In the not too distant past, mobility was merely taking access to their line-of-business (LOB) applications.
laptop computers on the road. Deployment was sim- They need robust access to their email, and they
ply selecting the best laptop computer and setting up require collaboration tools that help them share and
phone lines for dial-up network access. And mobile access information. To complete the vision, mobile
Windows XP Windows Mobile 2003
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

Windows XP Professional
Office Professional Edition 2003
Mobile devices
Tablet PC Office OneNote 2003

Smartphone
Office Professional Edition 2003

Office OneNote 2003
Laptop PC Pocket PC
Wireless Networking
.NET
Internet security and acceleration server
Windows SharePoint
Infrastructure
Exchange Server 2003 Live communications server

services
Windows Server 2003
Figure 1 Microsoft mobile vision

Road Warrior Corridor Warrior Telecommuter Data Collector
Profile • Connects to customers • Spends most time away • Accesses the corporate • Collects and processes
and colleagues from desk network irregularly data
• Collaborates with colleagues • Delivers enhanced
services to clients
Travel • Mostly external • Some external travel • Accesses network from • > 80 % externally
• Meetings all day home or home office
Business • Access to Email, • Access to Email, Calendar • Access to information and • Access to corporate
Require- Calendar and PIM and PIM applications while at home network resources and
ments • Access to corporate net- • Access to information office LOB applications
work resources and line-of- and applications while • Data and access security • Data and access security
business (LOB) applications away from desk
• Data and access security • Data and access security
Form • Laptop PC • Laptop PC • Laptop PC • Pockets PC

Factors • Tablet PC • Tablet PC • Smartphone • Tablet PC
• Pocket PC • Pocket PC
• Smartphone • Smartphone
Mobile • Public wireless • Corporate wireless • Cable, DSL • Public wireless

Access • Dial-up • Remote Desktop • VPN • Dial-up
• Virtual private networking • Remote Desktop Dial-up • VPN
(VPN)
Examples • Executives • Executives • Knowledge workers • Field service employees

• Consultants • Healthcare workers in various industries
• Sales representatives • Students
Table 1 Mobility scenarios
users require the ability to connect to the corporate • Data Collector. Field service employees who travel
network from anywhere, anytime, and by using any fulltime, requiring remote access
device. Security from intrusion and viruses must per-
vade every part of this vision, from the mobile Road Warrior
devices to the software they run to the infrastructure Road warriors are typically professionals who travel
that supports them. frequently, such as sales professionals, spending up
to 80 % of their time out of the office. Whether they
Figure 1 shows how to achieve the new vision for are corporate executives, members of a mobile sales
mobility from Microsoft. force, or field representatives; they require technol-
ogy that enables them to stay connected with cus-
tomers and colleagues and allows them to work any-
Mobility scenarios time from anywhere. Because road warriors are not
Even though mobile features offer higher levels of within easy reach of the help desk, they need robust
productivity to everyone in an organization, different hardware and software on the road. And spending
types of users gain these benefits in different ways. most of their time away from the office does not
Four types of mobile users are identified, who can reduce their need for the same applications that col-
benefit from these features. They are road warriors, leagues at the office use.
corridor warriors, telecommuters, and data collectors.
Table 1 summarizes these users, and the sections Road warriors have a broad choice of mobile devices
following this one provide more detail about each: from which to choose. They can use a traditional laptop
computer, or Tablet PC with wired and wireless net-
• Road Warrior. Professionals who travel frequently working. In any case, road warriors require access to cor-
and require remote access porate network resources and LOB applications through
dial-up connections, VPN, or wireless public access.
• Corridor Warrior. Knowledge workers who spend They tend to use their handheld devices for calendaring,
most of their time away from their desks email, and travel planning, so they can back up their
primary computers with a Pocket PC or Smartphones.
• Telecommuter. Knowledge workers who work Their information is with them regardless of whether
occasionally at home they’re in a taxi, waiting for a flight, or on the go.

Corridor Warrior adjusters are examples of data collectors. To help
Corridor warriors are professionals who work in the them perform their jobs, a plethora of vertical-market
office but spend most of their day away from their applications are available for wireless Pocket PCs.
desks. Examples of corridor warriors include health-
care professionals and managers. They travel less than In addition to using Pocket PCs to collect data, data
20 % of the time and are usually dashing through the collectors can use Smartphones. In any case, they
corridors from one patient or one meeting to the next. require access to LOB applications through wireless
They require access to information and applications networking and 3G/GPRS.
while away from their desks, ad-hoc collaboration
with their colleagues, and a paperless environment.
Wireless networking
The primary form factor for corridor warriors is the Wireless networking has revolutionized mobile com-
Tablet PC. They can also supplement traditional puting for all types of mobile users. They are more
desktop computers with Windows Mobile-based productive, as they can access corporate network
Pocket PCs or Smartphones. Regardless, wireless resources by using any public wireless network and
networking is the key to keeping these professionals can roam the building with their laptop computers
productive, and wireless Tablet PCs or Pocket PCs and still have network access. When public wireless
help them stay on top of their day. As well, OneNote networks (short-ranged, high-speed 802.1x wireless
running on a Tablet PC allows them to take handwrit- networks in places like coffee shops, airports, and so
ten notes which can be organized and reused effi- on) are not available, they can still access their infor-
ciently; and InfoPath plugs them into their company’s mation by using their Smartphones to connect to the
business processes. Adding the collaborative features network using mobile operator data services (long
of Exchange Server 2003 and SharePoint Portal range, low-speed data services such as 3G, GPRS,
Server further increases the productivity of these pro- PCS, and so on). Wireless networking means that
fessionals. For example, Meeting Workspaces help mobile users can squeeze more work time out of their
make meetings more productive by getting informa- day by gaining 8 to 12.5 hours per week in added
tion about them to attendees early. productivity1). The following list shows how wireless
networking makes road warriors, corridor warriors,
Telecommuter and data collectors more productive and improves
Telecommuters work at home at least 1 day a week. their quality of life:
They are a special case for the IT department, often
accessing corporate resources from a home computer • Road warriors. Wireless networking can turn idle
by using a broadband or dial-up connection. With the time into productive time by allowing road war-
Windows XP Professional feature Remote Desktop, riors to connect to corporate network resources that
telecommuters can access their office desktop PCs traditional wired network connections cannot
and corporate resources as though they were sitting in access. For instance, sales professionals waiting for
front of it. Telecommuters who leave the office only a delayed flight can use their laptop computer to
occasionally might take their Windows XP Profes- connect to the corporate network by using a public
sional-based laptop PCs back and forth to the office. hotspot at the airport. Once connected, they can
check email, access product catalogs, collaborate
In any case, telecommuters either have a desktop with colleagues via a SharePoint site, and so on.
computer at home or a laptop computer that they take The result is that mobile sales professionals are
home with them. They require remote access to cor- able to make decisions quicker, since they do not
porate network resources using VPN through dial-up have to delay those decisions until they return to
or broadband Internet connections. They also connect the office or find a wired network connection.
to their primary desktop computer by using Remote
Desktop. • Corridor warriors. By definition, corridor warriors
spend more time away from their desks than they
Data Collector do sitting at them. Healthcare professionals are
Data collectors are field service employees in a vari- great examples of corridor warriors. Wireless net-
ety of vertical industries. They tend to collect and working keeps corridor warriors connected to the
process data, deliver enhanced services to better serve network whether they’re in meetings, consulting
clients, and are out of the office or away from their with patients, or working in the front office. They
desks more than 80% of the time. For example, deliv- can use their Tablet PCs to look up patient records,
ery drivers, warehouse employees, and insurance claim take notes, and send a quick message to a col-
1) Empowering Mobile PC Users: The Financial Benefits of Windows XP Professional and Office XP, Bearing Point, December 2002.

league. And they can use Remote Desktop to con- • Automatic configuration makes wireless network-
nect to their desktop computers, using them as ing more practical for mobile users. All types of
though they were sitting at their desks typing on mobile users can easily configure their wireless
the keyboard. Wireless networking keeps corridor connections. Wireless networking and simplified
warriors connected even when wired network con- network configurations benefit IT professionals,
nections are not available or are not practical. too. Because users are more able to configure their
own network connections, they become more self-
• Data collectors. Wireless networking is almost a sufficient. IT professionals no longer need to plan
necessity for data collectors. The locations where and configure every connection when they deploy
data collectors typically work are not practical the operating system to mobile users.
locations for wired network connections. For ex-
ample, installing wired network connections on a • As users physically move their wireless computers
manufacturing floor or garage is not feasible. Wire- from room to room, Windows XP Professional
less networking used in conjunction with devices automatically remains connected by finding the best
like Pocket PCs and specialized applications not wireless AP with which to communicate. When it
only makes data collection in these places more finds a new wireless access point, it automatically
feasible but also makes it cost effective. Data col- negotiates authentication and authorization with that
lectors in the field, such as delivery drivers, can wireless access point without user intervention,
also rely on wireless networking at public hotspots which provides a great experience for the mobile
to synchronize their data when their mobile opera- user. A user can move anywhere within a given wire-
tor data services connections are not available. less network and remain connected to the network.
For all types of mobile users, wireless networking Windows XP Professional makes wireless network-
allows mobile users to connect to corporate network ing better in ways other than provided by the Wire-
resources where traditional wired network connec- less Zero Configuration service. For example, the
tions are not available. It enables immediate collabo- operating system includes device drivers for most of
ration regardless of whether a wired network connec- the popular wireless adapters. And the device drivers
tion is available. Decisions are made quicker because that come with Windows XP Professional fully sup-
the usual delay of users returning to their desktop port Wireless Zero Configuration. In many cases, IT
computers is eliminated by an instant, wireless con- professionals do not need to deploy third-party device
nection to the corporate network. drivers for their wireless adapters, and mobile users
do not have to download and install device drivers on
Windows XP their phones.
Windows XP Professional has new features and
enhancements that make remote and wireless access Windows Mobile
simple for any wireless user, which in turn provides Windows Mobile software has support for wireless
significant productivity gains for employers. The networking similar to Windows XP Professional.
following list describes the features of Windows XP Like Windows XP Professional, Zero Configuration
Professional and the Wireless Zero Configuration Wi-Fi makes finding and connecting to any 802.1x
service: wireless network easy for Windows Mobile users.
When a Wi-Fi-enabled Pocket PC encounters wire-
• With a wireless network adapter installed, Win- less hotspots, Windows Mobile automatically asks
dows XP Professional searches for available net- users if they want to connect to the network. After-
works to which it can connect. When an available wards, Windows Mobile saves the connection’s set-
network matches a preferred network, Windows tings so that it connects automatically the next time
XP Professional connects to it. If there are no con- the device is in range of the wireless network.
figured preferred networks or no preferred net-
works are found, users can also select a specific Messaging and Security Feature addresses busi-
network to which they want to connect. Users can ness customers’ requests for a faster, more direct mes-
prioritize the list of preferred networks – Windows saging experience, improved security management,
XP Professional stores the list and connects to the and increased cost efficiency and scalability for their
networks in the chosen order. Connection manage- mobile messaging solutions. The Messaging and
ment is possible without user intervention, but user Security Feature Pack enables IT administrators to
interaction is sometimes necessary to choose spe- better manage and protect information on a device,
cific networks or prioritize connection order. and includes direct push technology, which helps
business users keep their Outlook® Mobile informa-
tion current by delivering updates quickly and directly

to a Windows Mobile-based device from Exchange • Certificate-based authentication. Native support
Server 2003 without requiring businesses to pay for for Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
additional and costly servers and middleware. (S/MIME), a leading security request from part-
ners, enables Windows Mobile-based device users
Enhanced Outlook Mobile Experience who are on the go to access their corporate network
The Messaging and Security Feature will offer busi- without using a separate password, and eliminates
nesses the premier mobile messaging solution, going the need to store corporate login credentials on the
beyond a plain text e-mail model to provide a fast and device.
familiar Outlook Mobile experience. End users will
have access to a wide range of business information Scalable, cost-effective mobile solutions
through the following new features: Beyond device management and security, price and
scalability are key concerns for businesses as they
• Windows Mobile direct push technology. Outlook consider mobile device deployments. The Messaging
data – including e-mail messages, calendar and and Security Feature will provide a scalable and easy-
contact information, and new support for Tasks – to-manage mobile messaging solution that gives users
is pushed directly from Exchanger Server 2003 to a broad choice of device designs and eliminates the
a Windows Mobile-based device, providing users need for businesses to outsource their mobile messag-
with immediate access to Outlook information. ing to third parties and purchase additional middle-
There is no need for the additional server infra- ware software or costly servers.
structure required by other solutions on the market.
Wireless infrastructure
• Wireless support for contact information. Support Wireless networking is beneficial to an enterprise’s
for the ability to look up global address list (GAL) infrastructure in the following ways:
information over the air, a top request from part-
ners, enables business users to access full contact • Temporary network connectivity is more practical
details of co-workers on a Windows Mobile-based and less expensive. Wireless networking makes it
device. The feature is broadly integrated through- feasible to set up, use, and take down temporary
out the phone dialer, contacts, calendar and inbox networks as required. For example, a company
applications, providing users with a consistent, pro- configures temporary wireless networks at trade
ductive messaging experience. shows for the benefit of staff and attendees. A more
general example is creating a temporary wireless
Better management and security network for the final crunch of a big project, which
While increasing productivity for end users, the Mes- can be disassembled at the project’s completion.
saging and Security Feature also will improve effi-
ciencies for information technology (IT) organiza- • Wireless networks are quicker to deploy than wired
tions. Building on existing capabilities, IT profession- networks. Wireless networks are more flexible than
als will be able to manage Windows Mobile-based wired networks. They are quicker to deploy be-
devices the same way they manage PCs and servers cause one does not have to run cable throughout
through new features that support the following: the building.
• Remotely enforced IT policy. Via the console, IT • Wireless networking is more feasible in locations
administrators can remotely manage and enforce where wired networks are not practical. Locations
select corporate IT policy over the air. For exam- such as conference rooms and cafeterias are not
ple, an IT administrator can mandate a personal practically wired, and wireless networking makes it
identification number (PIN) password to be set for easy to add a network to those rooms. And tradi-
every device, establish recommended and manda- tional wired networking is not practical outdoors,
tory policies, and draw up lists of users who should but wireless networking is a perfect solution for an
be exempt from these policies. outdoor network. Additionally, older buildings and
some types of construction prohibit pulling wires
• Local and remote device wipes. To better manage for a traditional network. Wireless networking sig-
sensitive information on a misplaced Windows nificantly reduces the cost of networking in those
Mobile-based device, IT administrators can remove scenarios and enables networking in environments
all information over the air and reset the device that were not possible. For that matter, wireless
back to its original state. In addition, the adminis- networking is cheaper to deploy than cabling a
trator can choose to have a device’s local memory building, and it scales more easily.
erased if the correct password is not entered after
a specified number of attempts.

Potential productivity gains
Increased mobility
Figure 2 Mobility usage scenarios
Wireless security • Active Directory. For wireless networking, Active

While Wi-Fi has experienced a rapid growth, the Directory® domains contain the user and computer
industry has raised a number of security issues. The accounts for authentication and the Group Policy
Wi-Fi standard defines authentication and encryption settings to deploy computer certificates.
services based on the Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) algorithm. The problem is that WEP provides • Certificates. 802.1X and related protocols rely on
weak security and does not scale to typical enterprise digital certificates to verify the identity of users and
wireless deployments because key management is computers. For more information about public-key
almost impossible. Windows XP Professional and the cryptography and the Windows 2000 public key
industry’s support for the following technologies infrastructure (PKI).
combine to make wireless networks more secure,
however:
Mobile devices
• 802.1X. 802.1X provides authentication-based This section describes the four basic types of mobile
access control for wireless networks. For more devices:
detailed information about 802.1X and supporting
protocols. Windows XP Professional ships with • Notebook PC
support for 802.1X. All major NIC vendors also • Tablet PC
support 802.1X and most have released Windows • Pocket PC
drivers that support it. Likewise, all major enter- • Smartphone
prise access-point vendors are supporting 802.1X.
Figure 2 relates the type of mobile user to the mobile
• WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). WPA is a replace- devices most suitable for their requirements. Each
ment for WEP that provides more robust methods quadrant in this figure represents a level of productiv-
for encrypting data and authenticating network ity and mobility, with the top-right quadrant repre-
connections. The result is a new level of protection senting the highest level of both. The sections follow-
for mobile users who are taking advantage of the ing this one describe these devices in more detail.
Windows XP Professional wireless features.
Notebook PC
• RADIUS. RADIUS enables centralized authentica- Notebook PCs (such as laptops, portables, etc.) are
tion, authorization, and accounting for network the staple computers for most business travelers.
access. Originally developed for dial-up remote Current models contain in a slim form the processing
access, RADIUS is now supported by wireless power and conveniences that were limited to tradi-
access points. Windows Server 2003 provides tional desktop computers only a few years ago
Internet Authentication Server (Microsoft’s imple-
mentation of RADIUS).

Tablet PC to take comprehensive notes, access crucial informa-
Tablet PCs give mobile workers a powerful, versatile tion, and share notes with team members.
computing experience. The Tablet PC is a fully func-
tional laptop that runs Windows XP Tablet PC Edi- Windows Mobile Pocket PC
tion. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is a superset of Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs give users the
Windows XP Professional designed to add pen com- freedom to manage their work while on the go. They
puting to an already rich feature set, not a stripped- provide users the choice to communicate how they
down version of the operating system. Windows XP choose and stay connected to corporate information
Tablet PC Edition provides new, advanced hand- when they are not in the office. Pocket PCs include
writing and speech recognition, which is surprisingly familiar Microsoft software, including Pocket ver-
accurate, enabling the creation, storage, and trans- sions of Outlook, Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer.
mission of handwritten notes and voice data. And, since Pocket PCs integrate with users’ desktop
computers, users can take their files with them with-
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition adds the following to out having to learn new software.
the features of typical laptop PCs:
Here are some examples of what users can do with
• Tablet PCs run Windows XP Professional with spe- Pocket PCs, using a form factor that fits in their
cific enhancements for tablet computers. Users get pockets:
all the features, reliability, and power of Micro-
soft’s latest operating system, as well as handwrit- • Wirelessly exchange email and browse the Web;
ing and speech recognition in a tablet form factor.
• Wirelessly exchange messages by using MSN®
• Tablet PCs can run any application that is compati- Messenger;
ble with Windows XP Professional. Users have
access to the same tools that they have on their desk- • Open email attachments and edit them by using
top computers in more versatile, tablet computers. Pocket Word, PowerPoint and Excel;
• Tablet PCs are available in two form factors, pure • Access travel information, including local weather,
tablet and convertible, allowing users to choose a flight status, and maps;
model that best suits their needs. Pure tablets do
not have a keyboard and rely on the pen as the pri- • Make travel reservations, such as car, hotel, flight,
mary input device. Convertible tablets have a key- and dinner.
board and mouse but allow users to rotate the
screen to use it like a tablet.
• Tablet PCs support docking stations and a variety

of common accessories. Users can take advantage
of a full complement of peripherals, including a
full-size monitor, keyboard, mouse, printers, and
external drives.
• Tablet PCs enable surprise hot-docking as well as

fast standby and resume. Surprise hot-docking
allows users to grab their Tablet PCs from their
docking stations and get down the corridor in a
hurry. Also, Tablet PCs resume from standby mode
in about five seconds. This functionality allows
users to save power when they are not using their
computers without wasting time when they are
ready to use their computers again.
Last, pen and ink features extend to ink capabilities so

one can use tablets’ pens to handwrite text in Outlook
2003, Word 2003, PowerPoint® 2003, and Excel 2003.
And OneNote™ 2003 and Tablet PCs empower mobile
users to collaborate more effectively by enabling them

Microsoft recently released Windows Mobile™ 5 Internet. ActiveSync synchronizes Smartphones
that adds many features that mobile business users with Windows XP Professional and Exchange Server
need. It includes Zero Configuration wireless, for 2003. The Windows Mobile-based Smartphone gives
example, just like Windows XP Professional. It users a choice to communicate via voice or text along
supports Bluetooth, which makes connecting a with the ability to access information and services so
Pocket PC to other Bluetooth-enabled devices easy. one can stay in touch while on the road.
ActiveSync® technology synchronizes users’ devices
with Windows XP Professional and Exchange Server
2003. Microsoft updated Connection Manager to Mobile collaboration
make managing connections easier for users. And Everything that this paper has presented to this point
Windows Mobile™ 2003 includes better support for has led to collaboration. Providing mobile users tools
messaging, input, contact management, calendaring, for connecting to the corporate network and building
and much more. out the infrastructure to support those connections are
the foundations for collaboration. The following list
Smartphone describes the Windows XP Professional and Office
Windows Mobile-based Smartphones extend mobile Professional Edition 2003 features that enable mobile
phone technology. Smartphones deliver a rich set of users to collaborate more effectively:
applications, highly integrated telephony functional-
ity, and an open development platform. Mobile phones • Office Professional Edition 2003. Office Profes-
built on the Smartphone platform provide both voice sional Edition 2003 allows organization and
and text communication and rich wireless data appli- employees to transform information into impact.
cations in one easy-to-use device, as well as make it It includes new and enhanced functionality to help
a truly personal and powerful mobile phone for work. people take advantage of this information, enabling
them to communicate more effectively, collaborate
With Windows Mobile software, Microsoft is intro- with co-workers, and improve business processes.
ducing a new phone experience. The company is inte-
grating PDA-type functionality that mobile users rely • OneNote 2003. OneNote 2003 enables mobile
on to do their jobs into a voice-centric handset that is users to collaborate effectively. It allows them to
comparable in size to today’s popular cell phones. contribute in an increasingly demanding business
Smartphones are designed for one-handed operation environment by taking more accurate, comprehen-
with keypad access to both voice and data features. sive notes. It helps mobile users to access crucial
They are optimized for voice and text communica- information so they can make better decisions and
tion, wireless access to Outlook information, and take more effective action. Last, OneNote 2003,
secure connections to corporate networks and the shown in Figure 3, gets teams and organizations on
the same page so they can work together faster and
more easily
• Windows Messenger. Windows Messenger is the

way for mobile users to communicate with their
customers, partners, and colleagues. It keeps users
updated with their contacts’ online status. Users
can collaborate with their online contacts, transfer
files, and share applications and whiteboard draw-
ings. Windows Messenger provides users with a
great platform for online conferencing and collabo-
ration and also improves relationships with cus-
tomers and partners, as well as enhances communi-
cation among employees.
• SharePoint technologies. Windows SharePoint Ser-

vices 2.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal
Server 2003 enables mobile users to share informa-
tion whether they are in the office or on the road.
When they use it with Office Professional Edition
2003, SharePoint products and technologies pro-
vide benefits such as a central repository for docu-
ments, an interactive work environment for collab-

Figure 3 OneNote 2003
oration, and an architecture that allows to separate • Productive. To enable mobile business users to
the Web-hosting processes from the site data- work as productively away from the office as in
retrieval processes. the office.
• Dependable. To provide a secure and reliable

Summary infrastructure for supporting mobile business users.
Mobile business users need the ability to work when, Dependability is critical on the road; they can rely
where, how, and with whom they want – effortlessly. on these solutions to help secure their information
They need immediate access to information and peo- and their network connections ensuring perfor-
ple so they can act to benefit the business. Their suc- mance at the highest levels.
cess relies on an effective exchange with their cus-
tomers, partners, and colleagues, as well as on their
data, which the vision that this paper describes Source
enables. This vision has the following attributes: Source for the article: Jerry Honneycutt, Microsoft
Corp.
• Connected. To enable mobile business users to stay
connected. They can communicate easily and col-
laborate with customers, partners, and colleagues
more effectively.
Ole Tom Seierstad has been with Microsoft Norway for 15 years – his current position is Chief Security
Advisor with focus on Microsoft security products and messaging. His previous positions in Microsft include
windows Mobile Evangelist, Technical Support Manager and head of MSN Norway.

Flexible service integration with BREW
RICHARD SAVAGE
One key challenge device manufacturers are facing right now is how to produce feature rich handsets,
at a price level that can be achievable for the mass market. Further, they need to replicate this model
on different handsets and different tiers of handsets, providing the operators the common user
experience they are looking for. This paper presents the Qualcomm’s BREW solution which is open,
globally standardised, hardware-independent and consistently deployable on any network and on
any mobile device. It gives users an easy to use and customisable user interface and includes a
Richard Savage method for discovering, buying, downloading and managing applications on client devices.
is Director
Business
Development This article has been prepared in collaboration with executives from Qualcomm Europe.
at Qualcomm
Europe
Data services is the driving force today’s slow server-side approaches virtually irrele-
Mobile phones have become mini computers in your vant for many new types of applications. Rather than
hand – capable of running a variety of applications. only using the browser on the mobile phone to run
Yet this capability is constrained by market demands and interact with applications, it becomes a true plat-
that require mass-market phones to be small, inex- form for software applications that can offer a
pensive, light weight and consume little power. These startling array of new consumer data services pro-
constraints, in turn, have restricted device processing vided by the network operator.
power and memory (storage).
One key challenge device manufacturers face right
The historic approach to delivering applications to now is how to produce feature rich handsets, at a
phones has been to shift processing power to servers price level that can be achievable for the mass mar-
in the operator’s network or to a third-party company ket. Further, they need to replicate this model on dif-
via the Internet (known as server-side execution). ferent handsets and different tiers of handsets, provid-
Portals and mobile games using WAP browsers ing the operators the common user experience they
exemplify this strategy; content and applications are looking for.
are generated by remote servers, passed through the
network and displayed in the browser on the mobile Recognizing these challenges in handset application
phone. The user then keys in responses to choices execution, and the value of a technology model that
displayed on the device screen, which are sent back permits client-side processing of data applications,
through the network to the server for processing and QUALCOMM unveiled the BREW solution in 2001.
response. The BREW solution was engineered to overcome
challenges relating to application execution and
The weaknesses of the browser-based, server-side specifically address:
approach are clear: high latency and limited inter-
activity on the mobile device. This makes the most • The lack of a unique framework that is easy to
exciting, graphic-rich interactive applications impos- replicate on different vendor handsets;
sible. In effect, with a browser-based solution that
requires server-side processing, the mobile phone • Programming language inconsistency and frag-
becomes an unnecessary performance bottleneck and mentation (Java);
prevents the best applications from being developed
because of its inability to process information locally. • The possibility of offering the same user experi-
ence across different tiers of handsets;
However, decreases in size, power consumption and
cost of silicon chips have enabled a second approach • The pursuance of the user experience independent
– putting more processing power on the mobile of new features or standards coming out when the
device. This opens up a new range of applications handset is commercially available;
based on local, or client-side, processing.
• The possibility to tailor the user experience to the
This is expected to be the predominant growth area demands of the customer.
for new mobile wireless applications – rendering

Ideally, applications should be scaled perfectly with retain their customers, such as those that customise
the various tiers of phone models and make efficient user interfaces and update handset-dependent net-
use of the handset’s resources and provide a consis- work features. New voice-based applications – voice
tent user experience. To succeed at this task requires recognition and push-to-talk capabilities – are emerg-
a complete solution that addresses the needs of all ing as well.
devices – not just the high-end.
As services evolve from voice to data applications,
Essentially, the BREW Client provides a software there is also the wireless value chain to consider, one
connection between the low-level functions of the that is growing longer and more complex. A value
mobile device and the higher-level applications writ- chain that doesn’t offer a viable revenue opportunity
ten by third parties. Because the BREW Client func- for all stakeholders is a chain that will break. There
tions as an abstraction layer in the Flash and RAM, must be profits for application publishers/developers,
BREW software developers do not need to intimately network operators, device manufacturers and others,
understand embedded systems programming. It pro- in order for new services and useful, relevant applica-
vides consistent Applications Programming Inter- tions to proliferate.
faces (APIs) available to third-party developers
allowing them to focus on the design and creation While it is possible to develop technology to deliver
of the application, not the underlying hardware. value, it is a considerably more complex problem to
ensure a realistic value chain. The Internet provides a
The benefits of this approach are clear: streamlined historical example of this concept: protocols such as
and efficient software development. With BREW, HTTP provided a method for delivering free World
porting applications from device to device becomes Wide Web applications and services to users, but
a straightforward task. Time-to-market is vastly included no mechanism for reimbursing content
reduced, and new applications work consistently providers. The problems of reimbursement and prof-
from one phone to another. itability on the Web had to be worked out over a
period of years, during which thousands of compa-
The BREW Client’s easy software porting makes nies failed and billions of dollars were lost. Over-
BREW functionality readily available to all handset heated publicity and incomplete solutions can stall
manufacturers. The BREW platform is air-interface a market.
independent and has been ported to a host of air inter-
faces including CDMA IS-95A, IS-95B, 1x, 1xEV- For network operators who have to justify expensive
DO, GSM/GPRS and UMTS handsets. The BREW network development and spectrum fees, a slow and
Client has also been ported on a variety of devices uncertain approach is not an option. The same is true
powered by non-QUALCOMM chipsets. Of all avail- for application publishers/developers and for manu-
able options for client-side processing, the BREW facturers of devices and hardware – both have limited
solution is the least expensive and easiest to imple- resources and a broadening range of technologies to
ment, with the lowest requirements for phone design. support. Any approach to providing new data services
must therefore begin with a well-developed plan for
revenue sharing along the entire value chain.
2 Services and application enabling
environment The best way for the wireless industry to deliver these
In terms of mobile application and service distribu- applications, in light of these issues, is a solution that:
tion, the road to profit for mobile network operators
has always included providing services their cus- • Is open, globally standardised, hardware-indepen-
tomers find valuable, and to a certain degree addic- dent and consistently deployable on any network
tive. To date, voice has been the leading application and on any mobile device;
on mobile networks but it is clear that non-voice ser-
vices (data applications) offer an enormous opportu- • Gives users an easy to use and customisable user
nity. interface;
These data applications include instant messaging, • Includes a method for discovering, buying, down-
games, multimedia, news, entertainment and prod- loading and managing applications on client
uctivity enhancement tools, to name a few, which devices.
appeal to both consumers and business professionals.
They also include applications that allow network
operators to more effectively communicate with and

3 Enabling the client side
Instant messenger
Position location
On the client side, the following components are
Group chat
Java applet
Java applet
Java applet
Java applet
interface
Browser
Music
Email
User
included:
• A standard Application Execution Environment.

The BREW Client exposes a common set of appli-
cation programming interfaces (APIs) for standard- Other VM
BREW extension extension
ized development of wireless applications. Figure
1shows where the BREW Client API layer resides ASIC software
on the device. BREW is air-interface independent and can support
GSM/GPRS, UMTS, cdmaOne
& CDMA2000 1x/1xEV
• True real-time processing. With client-side pro-
cessing, a new range of applications (such as 3D
and multi-player games) have been developed and Figure 1 Location of the BREW Client API layer
deployed because of the ability of the BREW plat-
form to download and run applications locally on
the phone. Even on circuit-switched networks,
applications start immediately since they reside on personalise their handset by downloading all busi-
the phone – with no need to wait for a data call to ness productivity applications (a financial calcula-
be initiated. True real-time processing extends this tor, a stock-tracking application or a streamlined
advantage, enabling other applications – especially contact database); while another might download
those that are voice-based applications. entertainment applications and a personalised ring
tone. This can all be done over the air – no cables
• A more personalised mobile experience – over the or PC connection required. Network operators can
air (OTA). End users can literally customise their install, recall and update applications OTA. Even
phone with applications and information that suits in the case of telephony specific applications, there
their lifestyle – and change the applications as is no need to bring the handset into a store or oper-
often as they wish. One customer might decide to ator location for servicing.
BREW-enabled phone User interacts

requests Java application only with application
Phones and server

BDS deliveres JWM extension
“handshake” to define
along with Java application
what phone needs
Phone needs JWM
User Email Photo Position Push Gaming Video

interface sharing location and (levels) player
chat
Other JWM
extension extension
BREW
ASIC software
BREW is air-interface independent and can support
GSM/GPRS, UMTS; cdmaOne
& CDMA2000 1x/1xEV
Figure 2 Extending handset capabilities by adding new functionality OTA

• Minimal hardware and software requirements. The Application Discovery and Verification of Compatibility
BREW Client is thin, efficient and powerful, and
Application Testing at Operator Request
there’s no need for a separate virtual machine
(VM) for each model of phone. Operators that wish Purchasing (M-Commerce) Process
to have both J2ME and BREW on a handset will Downloading
only need one VM. This opens the door to porting
Billing Record Creation
other companies’ VMs as well. Client/server-based
applications are supported, such as multi-player Installation / Execution / Deletion
gaming, as well as client-side applications. New Over The Air Recall and Update
functionality, extensions and virtual machines,
can be dynamically added OTA to the handset to Table 1 General end-to-end solution requirements
extend its capability, as shown in Figure 2.
• Fast interactivity with information. With client-side customer is an ideal prospect. To begin, the customer
execution, customers can download a database of should be able to easily check for new applications
travel information about a specific locale to their from their handset, as well as from their PC, and
devices in just a few seconds, then search the know they are safe and trusted applications. The net-
database or interact with maps quickly and as often work operator’s supporting server software should
as needed. The locally stored information can also verify that the application will run on the customer’s
be used to enhance position information for person- phone (to avoid disappointment) and that memory is
alised location-based services. All customers enjoy available on the phone to download the application.
equally fast application response times regardless
of network bandwidth. The client is tightly inte- Next, the customer must be able buy or try and then
grated with the phone’s basic telephony functions buy the application, which entails several steps for
and enhances client-side execution. An application the underlying software. Firstly, they must be able to
can be automatically suspended and then resumed determine the price and view other information about
in the event of an incoming call or SMS message. the application or content (for example, an expiration
date on the application or free trial offer). Secondly,
they must be presented an advice of charge and then
4 The BREW delivery system empowered to initiate the download. Finally, a billing
It is not enough to have client-side applications run- record must be created that integrates with the opera-
ning on mobile phones. It is also critical to have an tor’s existing billing and customer care systems once
open, flexible model for discovering, buying, down- the download is completed and successful. To the
loading, managing and billing for applications on customer, this process should be easy, self-explana-
client devices. tory and quick – taking just a matter of seconds.
Let us consider a customer with a device that offers Once the application is downloaded, it must be in-
these capabilities, and imagine that a new entertain- stalled. The installation process should be seamless
ment application has been developed for which this and invisible to the user. This includes adding it to
Figure 3 The screen shots describe an easy “four click” shopping experience where the customer discovers an
MMS application, agrees to the price, prompts the OTA download and begins to use the application

the customer’s personal list of available applications The user interface has, until recently, been something
and allowing the customer easy access to use the that is provided on the phone at purchase and is some-
application. thing that cannot be modified.
Furthermore, a good customer experience requires In marketing terms, the mobile screen and the user
certain management capabilities, including the ability interface are intensely valuable real estate. For
to remove the application if needed to regain storage mobile phone operators, mobile phone manufacturers,
space without loss of related application data or usage brand owners and other third parties to make the most
rights. Customers must have access to information of this valuable user interface, they must have ready
regarding that storage space which is being consumed access to the people, tools and technology necessary
by each application. In the event an application needs This can be enabled by the use of XML, which has
to be updated or recalled, the network operator should achieved widespread adoption as the standard lan-
be able to recall and update the application OTA guage for marking up platform-independent content.
without user intervention, if desired. The general end-
to-end solution requirements are summarized in The uiOne Delivery System allows operators to offer
Table 1. UI theme updates, content channel/casting and UI
content update channels to devices with uiOne capa-
The goal is a good customer experience, and a func- bility.
tional model that does not leave gaps. These require-
ments demonstrate a need for a platform that is more Operators can have more control over the design and
than just an execution environment. Testing, provi- update of the user interface, enabling them not only
sioning, purchasing and customer support all con- to accurately represent their brand and connect
tribute to a complete solution. directly to services, but also to keep the user experi-
ence refreshed and up-to-date in the following ways:
5 Customize, personalize and • More control over the branding. Integrating many
realize different aspects of the personality of the brand
Throughout the world, mobile subscribers are spend- including colour, style, graphic language, behav-
ing ever-increasing amounts of time using their iour and imagery into the overall user experience,
mobile phones. As devices, these ‘phones’ continue gives operators the ability to carry their brand iden-
to have more functions that support the mobile life- tity fully onto the handset.
styles of their owners. Navigating this increasing
mobile phone functionality occupies a large part of • More control over updates. Control of the user
the subscriber’s time operating the phone. interface, and the ability to selectively update parts
of the interface as required.
• More control over customer segments. uiOne keeps

track of ‘who has chosen what interface,’ so pro-
motions for that interface will automatically be
pushed to interested users, enabling accurate target-
ing of offers based on clear client preferences with-
out the need for complex data warehouses.
uiOne enables a service store to be provisioned onto a

mobile phone, located in an easily accessible place in
the top menu of a phone. A service store is a selection
of operator service-based products grouped together
in a convenient area within the phone’s user interface
(like stacking products on a shelf). Some services in
the store may have an enduring shelf life; others may
have a short sell-by date. The store provider uses
uiOne to style the service store, showcase the prod-
ucts and refresh the store as and when necessary.
A product in the service store is a link to a mobile

Figure 4 Examples of network service. When a user selects a product, with
customized user interfaces one click they are connected to that service. Services

can be voice, data or messaging based, all made more downloading additional components (applications
accessible to users in the store. With a service store and software libraries) that are bundled with the
on the mobile handset, take-up of a mobile service is theme. Rich multi-component themes can be easily
influenced by retailing expertise such as store design downloaded and installed by the end-user without
and layout, product rotation, promotions and ranging. having to go through the hassles of separate pur-
chases and downloads.
More than any other complex electronic product, the
mobile phone is an integral part of personal styling. The desire for personalisation means that there is a
As has been seen with the astronomical growth of requirement to generate very large numbers of differ-
downloadable ring tones and wallpaper we seek to ent user interfaces to appeal to different market seg-
dress our phone in more ways than ever previously ments, fashions and the latest developments in the
thought possible. entertainment industries.
With uiOne, the user interface can be themed to adopt

a particular style or brand. This themed user interface 6 Future directions
brings together visual designs and interaction models, With smaller chipsets and more exciting user inter-
graphics, animations and sound that replay a theme faces, 3G has the potential to grow into the most used
or brand in a very rich way for users. Ring tone and wireless technology in Europe over the next couple of
image downloads form a profitable business for many years.
organisations today. With uiOne, styling and brand-
ing the user interface will be an equally profitable 3G terminals are now reducing in size and users will
business as users seek to restyle the look and feel of soon be able to personalize their handsets in ways
their mobile phones. unimagined today. We have yet to fully realize the
full potential of 3G and what it can offer. Soon we
uiOne themes are a lot more than shallow UI “skins:” will consider it a must have.
they allow the end-consumer to add and expose new
key functions and applications of the device by
Television
PDA
PD Television
A Camcorder
Camcorder
Walkie-Talkie
Walkie-talkie
Photo album
Photo
Album
Voice
Glucometer
Glucomet
er
Camera
Wallet
Wall
et
FMradio
FM
Radio
BarBar scanner
Scanner
Game Console
Game console
Pager
Pager
P Rolodex
Rolodex
PC
C
MP3
MP3 player GPRS
GPS device
Player Device
Newspaper
Newspaper
Figure 5 Different consumer electronics devices are converging more and more, in the sense that different
functions migrate from one type of device to others

The new air interface extension HSDPA (High Speed band line. If users of home Internet banking could do
Downlink Packet Access) will increase wireless it easily from their mobile phone as well, they will
broadband speeds up to a peak rate of about 10 Mb/s, begin to desire the same experience as they have at
in practice up to 2–3 Mb/s. Such improved data rates home. A technological convergence is also occurring
will allow the user to download data at an incredibly in the terminal world. More and more services can be
fast rate. In theory, the faster the data download rate, jammed into one small compact terminal, which
the cheaper in the end it should be for the operator to gives the subscriber more and more features.
send the data. Such data speeds should improve the
end user experience enormously. A wide array of services can be integrated into one
terminal. Terminals will become smaller and cheaper
What can such fast data rates be used for? With a per- – and less power hungry. Is such an ideal far into the
sonalized user experience, subscribers will continue future or just around the corner? Only time and
to expect more; like data speeds similar to what they Moore’s Law will tell!
are experiencing at home on their ADSL fixed broad-
Richard Savage is Director Business Development at Qualcomm Europe, where he is responsible for
Scandinavia, Baltic States and Holland. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Richard has held similar positions
for the last nine years at Ericsson Telecom AB, and Appload AB. Richard has lived in Sweden since 1996,
prior to moving to Sweden he lived and worked in France with several companies including Microsoft,
MicroWarehouse and Azlan.
e-mail: [email protected]

What’s next in mobile telephony and will it succeed?
NIGEL WILCOX
In the late nineties anyone who suggested that 3G would, in general, still be soft launching in late
2005 and that picture messaging and other new service revenues would be almost insignificant
would have been laughed at. The vast profits predicted for do-everything handsets have simply not
materialised. So what will the next generation of handsets contain and, more importantly, can they
make the networks some money?
Nigel Wilcox
works in the
Business Inno-
Introduction The SMS or text messaging revolution that followed
vation team at Back in the late nineties the whole mobile phone is also interesting: At school children write notes in
Philips’ semi- industry began setting itself up for 3G, investing vast the classroom and pass them to their friends, hope-
conductor amounts into network and handset developments and fully without the teacher noticing. Again, SMS is
division initial services like video telephony. So strong was simply an extension of our natural communicative
the thrust for 3G that no one noticed that some com- behaviour.
panies once generating healthy revenue from GSM
had stopped making money, devoting all their SMS and voice call services go 100% hand in hand.
resources into 3G and its new services whilst forget- Before mobile phones were commonplace, pagers
ting the current market. provided text-messaging functionality. SMS does
everything that a pager can, better than a pager can.
Most manufacturers designed phones that supported Critically, with SMS the phone used to call back a
every service to some extent and the handset market message sender is built into the message device: the
was segmented mainly by how well each unit per- two devices merge seamlessly.
formed these functions and how nice they looked.
Few subscribers used these new features but the
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) subsidised them The mobile develops
in the hope that large new service revenues would The surprise success of converging pagers with mobile
soon appear. phones started everyone thinking what other applica-
tions or services could be combined with a phone.
We’re now at the end of 2005 and the new service There were “clearly” going to be many areas where
revenues are nowhere to be seen. The huge subsidies vast sums of money could be made by this do-every-
required cannot continue indefinitely – so what can thing communication device. Some of these did in-
the next generation of handsets contain to address the deed make a lot of money; others failed. For example:
industry’s problems?
WAP
To help predict the future let’s start by looking at the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was the first
past. new application to be implemented. It was a little like
browsing the Internet but using more efficient trans-
fer schemes for the relatively low bandwidth offered
Birth of the mobile phone by mobile networks.
People have talked to each other since they lived in
caves and always will do. Being able to talk to people At that time the Internet had just become available to
wherever they are is a clear step forward. The success everyone and some mobile networks started to pro-
of the mobile phone is therefore not surprising and mote WAP as “The Mobile Internet”. Whilst this was
the original mobile phone voice functionality is still a nice idea it was far too early – the beauty of the
today the mobile phone’s “killer” application. This Internet is that you can read pages and pages of on-
is unlikely to change. demand information and pictures on a screen. Hand-
sets just didn’t have the display capability and show-
The GSM mobile phone was a communications revo- ing a couple of lines of text that contained less infor-
lution as its single common European standard meant mation than old-fashioned TV teletext was not going
mobile phone technology became cheap enough for to be a hit with consumers.
everyone to own.

WAP was not the mobile Internet but just a mobile Whilst Java solved compatibility problems to an
information service. The content on WAP did not extent, the mobile phone does not come close to
reflect this, which was a major factor in its lack of competing with the PC for programming or gaming.
appeal. Whilst WAP has improved dramatically over
the last few years, so has traditional internet brows- Java-based handsets can compete with dedicated
ing. Web browsing is also very cheap, so on content portable gaming devices like the Nintendo Game
and price WAP simply doesn’t compete. Boy, however: phone gaming has been a success with
a small but dedicated segment of mobile subscribers.
Java
As a phone contains all the elements of a basic com- As the components in handsets improve, the gaming
puter the idea of running applications or games on a experience on handsets will also improve allowing
phone should be appealing to a large number of PC the experience to improve and the market to expand.
and game console owners.
MMS
The real benefit to running software programs on a Multi-Media Messaging (MMS) allows picture,
phone, however, is that it can substantially increase sound and video clips to be attached to traditional
revenue for the MNOs – This could be through SMS/text messages. MMS was considered an obvi-
charged-for software downloads or application-initi- ous extension to an already very successful service
ated communication via the network. but usage has been incredibly poor and although
some MNOs are reporting a small improvement in
Unfortunately different handsets have different uptake, its use is still virtually zero.
screens, microprocessors and hardware architectures.
Program code cannot therefore run directly on every Creation of picture messages requires a camera and
phone. therefore increases Bill of Material (BOM) costs for
handset manufacturers. This translates to significantly
The Java programming language was invented by increased handset subsidies for the MNOs and so
Sun Microsystems with the intention of overcoming MMS is quite a heavy loss-maker.
problems of this nature by being platform indepen-
dent; i.e. Java applications written for one type of Surprisingly MMS service usage contrasts sharply
device can be run on any other Java device. with the use of camera phones themselves: people do
use the cameras for opportunistic photo opportunities
but they simply copy the pictures to their PCs rather

ment of a comprehensive ring tone service very
straightforward.
The success of this service is probably due to every-

one’s desire to be different in some small way and
project a favourable image of themselves – fashion-
able, funny, etc. Importantly, phones are clearly natu-
rally good at playing ring-tones and this feature is a
seamless and cheap addition to the basic phone.
Music player phones

The Music Player Phone is the latest trend, yet it has
not been promoted by the industry anything like as
much as camera phones or the mobile Internet were.
The stand-alone portable music player market has

been consistently successful since the introduction of
the Sony Walkman in the late 1970s. The recoding
technology has moved on but the basic concept of a
good-quality portable music player remains the same.
Although it is relatively easy for a mobile phone to

include playback facilities for digitally stored music
the idea of using phones instead of dedicated music
players is only now taking off.
than send them to their friends or colleagues via the
mobile networks. First attempts at including this functionality only
enjoyed limited success due to storage capacities but
Although usage is low practically all networks are this is changing: Practically all new mobiles can now
still specifying cameras to be provided in all handsets play MP3 and other digital music formats and solid-
on their networks. This additional cost without rev- state memory is becoming cheap enough to include in
enue can’t go on forever but there is perhaps still sufficient quantity to store a large number of tracks.
hope for the success of MMS: The terror attacks on
London in the summer highlighted how useful cam- Most importantly, to make a real success of music
era phones can be to TV broadcasters who published phones from the MNOs’ point of view requires mech-
numbers and web sites for the public to send in their anisms allowing the mobile networks to derive rev-
images. The police force did the same to collect intel- enue from music sales. Copyright and licence issues
ligence and evidence. that have prevented success in this area are now
solved with Digital Rights Management (DRM), and
Encouragement by traditional news and entertainment download trigger technologies such as Near Field
television may be the kick-start MMS needs to be- Communication (NFC) will dramatically help sales.
come a viable service – but so far no such TV pro-
gramming has been developed.
Ring tones and wallpaper

Ring tones are very easy to produce and can easily be
downloaded over the air to handsets from third party
ring tone providers. Billing for this is almost always
handled by the network operators who take a sizable
slice of the revenue.
These services have been relatively simple to set up

and spectacularly successful. Ring tones account for
around 90 % of all network downloads to handsets.
Simple licensing has helped in the success of these
services – in the UK, for example, all fees are col-
lected by one licensing agency making the establish-

With small improvements in storage and a set of Automatic configuration
stereo headphones the mobile phone has all the ingre- If a user purchases a new accessory for his device he
dients included in a portable music player – like all no longer needs to manually configure it (and proba-
other successful mobile applications, merging this bly call customer services in the process) but can sim-
functionality into a phone is easy. The portable music ply bring the two devices together. They will auto-
player also has a track record of being a successful matically share configuration data, pair with each
stand-alone application. Taking all this into account, other and start to work immediately.
music playing is very likely to become the must-have
phone feature in the next couple of years. Automatic music download
A billboard advertising a new music release can include
an NFC “Download Now!” logo. Swiping the phone
New technologies around the corner past the logo in the poster transfers a web address to the
So where does the mobile handset go now? – The handset from where the music track is downloaded.
number of new functions that can be added to a mobile
device is enormous. The following are some of those The user will simply see the message “Download
that are likely to be in handsets in the next few years. [song] now?” and with one click will automatically
load the track into the phone’s music store for playing
NFC later. These NFC readable tags behind the logo
Near Field Communication is a peer-to-peer wireless require no power supply (deriving power from the RF
connectivity system allowing convenient short-range of the nearby device) and are cheap to incorporate
communication between two devices. into printed media.
NFC moves on from traditional contactless RF ID Media licensing

systems as it can operate in two modes: active and A similar scheme can be used for movie license keys.
passive. Active mode allows bidirectional communi- The license would be transferred to the handset and
cation between two intelligent devices. Passive mode billed via the user’s phone subscription. When the
is similar to traditional RF ID where an intelligent handset is placed on a home video centre later that
device controls communication with a passive NFC- night, the movie can be automatically downloaded by
readable tag. the video centre and play authorised using the license
key from the handset.
By simply bringing two NFC-enabled devices to-
gether they can automatically establish communica- Smart keys and ticketing
tion between themselves without user configuration. The potential for access key applications including
transport or sports tickets is vast. The subscriber
Any kind of data can be transferred between devices would be able to have these downloaded to his phone
and so NFC provides a number of profit-enhancing via the MNO when purchasing a ticket or hotel room
opportunities. For example: on-line, saving on customer service costs and provid-
ing high-levels of security against fraud.
Transaction enabling
NFC can also be used as a payment mechanism, wire-
lessly and seamlessly transferring payment details
rather than using traditional cards or cash.
WLAN
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is not a new
concept: Hot spots are now common in big cities and
areas where mobile people tend to congregate, such
as hotels, airports, etc.
WLAN is an excellent technology for connecting PCs

on a network and ideal for allowing PC users who are
static for short periods to download their e-mail or
surf the Internet. However, it does not easily provide
hand-over between cells or have an especially good
range but this doesn’t matter as laptop users will not
usually move when they are using WLAN.

Whilst the charging for use of WLAN hot-spots
has so far been difficult, with many networks each
requiring their own log-in/credit-card charge, roam-
ing agreements are now being established that allow
simple log-in without the need for immediate pay-
ment. This makes the use of hot spots far more attrac-
tive for the average user.
WLAN connectivity could easily be added to mobile

phones. However, a standard mobile phone is not a
PC, and WAP may not offer enough to make most
users want to surf. Mobile phone WLAN connectivity
to the Internet is therefore likely to be only needed in
smart phones and GPRS or 3G modems.
There is, however, a killer application for WLAN on

all mobile phones ...: telephone calls. • Seamless “one phone” convergence of fixed and
mobile handsets in the home/office;
UMA
Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) is a general term • Transfer of subscribers from the GSM/3G air-inter-
for utilisation of licence-free radio for connection of face to WLAN when at home, freeing network
handsets to the MNO core network for voice and data capacity;
traffic.
• Use in aircraft via WLAN (some airlines have
The most common form of UMA utilises WLAN for Internet access already – e.g. Lufthansa on some
connection from the handset to a router in the home of its Atlantic services).
or office. This in turn is connected via an Internet
connection to the mobile network’s switching centre. The key benefit of UMA over standard Voice Over IP
(VoIP) systems is that it allows the MNO to maintain
GSM mobility mechanisms are employed allowing full control of (and therefore bill-for) all calls. Incom-
seamless handover between the GSM access network ing and outgoing calls are still routed through the
and UMA network. A UMA Network Controller MSC. The benefit for the subscriber is that the ser-
(UNC) is installed in the network that appears to the vice is seamless – he can always be contacted on his
Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) as just another set mobile number, does not have to load any special
of base stations. The handset searches for WLAN VoIP software, or need a high-level operating system.
“cells” in the same way it does for neighbour cells He simply initiates and receives calls as normal.
in a GSM network. The availability of these WLAN
cells is reported to the network in the usual way and
the network can select this cell for communication
with the handset just like any other.
GSM Cell
UMA cells can be WLAN hot spots already provided

GSM Cell
by the network for PC access, WLAN routers in sub-
Network Exchange Building
scribers’ homes, or specific UMA WLAN cells. UMA
is therefore cheap: the installation of a new UMA cell GSM Cell Base
station Core
requires primarily just a WLAN router and Internet
controller network
connection. Seamless handover
between GSM and mobile
UMA WLAN I switching
n UMA centre
UMA has numerous advantages for the mobile net- handset
t network
WLAN
works, including: e controller
r
n
• Very low-cost in-fill of small coverage black-spots; e
t
WLAN
• Low-cost capacity enhancement in small high-call-
WLAN
density areas (e.g. airport waiting lounges), freeing
GSM/3G cells;
UMA-GSM network architecture

There are numerous possible extensions to the UMA some years away and standard GSM/3G bearers will
idea to allow, for example, zero-cost routing of roam- be used in the meantime for uplink data.
ing traffic to subscribers connected to a hotel’s
WLAN, etc. UMA is also a stepping-stone to IP- TV on mobile
based core network services, not a competing tech- TV “anywhere” is already available on some net-
nology. works but these services rely on the establishment of
a standard video telephony call to a server. The server
WLAN components are now very small. Philips answers the call with a video of the latest news or
802.11g WLAN system, for example, is available as weather bulletin, for example. These services are con-
System-in-Package (SiP) taking up only 150 mm2. sidered to be TV by the subscriber but they are actu-
The introduction of UMA will therefore have no ally download-on-demand video using dedicated
noticeable impact on physical size. Cost is also very bandwidth for that particular subscriber.
low given the potential up-sides and savings that can
be made. Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds (DVB-H)
is a standard for broadcast TV-on-Mobile that is
UMA offers packet data transfer in addition to voice likely to be adopted in large parts of the world. DVB-
– so high speed download of music triggered by NFC H uses an IP-based mechanism that can be used for
tag is a simple additional step. the broadcast of digital TV and anything else net-
works may want to transmit (e.g. software upgrades).
HSDPA
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is DVB-H technology is based on terrestrial digital TV
an extension to 3G that provides very high downlink standards, works now, and chip-sets will be available in
data rates from the network to the handset. Headline volume from a number of suppliers around the end of
rates are as high as 14 Mbps but in general most 2005. Each country has regulatory issues to overcome
phones will support up to 3.6 Mbps in the 2007/8 but the industry and governments are addressing these.
time frame.
Whilst DVB-H technology is proven its commercial
So far there have been few new services designed success depends entirely on the content and subscrip-
specifically for HSDPA but it will provide a mecha- tion models. Putting traditional TV content onto
nism to firmly move already successful Internet mobile phones is unlikely to work (just as the Mobile
applications into the mobile domain: high-speed con- Internet didn’t work): Most people are not going to sit
tent download to handsets and web-access (on PCs down at night with a beer and watch the football on a
via 3G HSDPA modem), for example. phone! Nor will they watch a drama programme –
traditional TV is great for this and critically most
High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is an people watch this kind of entertainment television in
extension to HSDPA allowing fast data transfer from their free time.
the handset to network. At present this service is

What subscribers will do is check the news headlines
whilst waiting for a train, or catch up on the spectacu-
lar crash they missed in the Formula 1 – i.e. short-
sharp video content subscribers can watch in the
spare moments of the day. Whilst people may also
want to watch extended programmes on a train, wire-
less coverage will have to be ubiquitous to prevent
any dropouts or the service would become unusable.
Whilst varying in the exact numbers quoted, different

recent studies show that with mobile-specific content,
a substantial proportion of mobile subscribers would
be prepared to pay monthly DVB-H service charges
of between three and ten euros. They will also pay
more for “premium” content.
Push-to-talk
Two-way radio is very common in some parts of the
world, particularly in North America. In Europe it has of the handset market. Stand-alone hardware GPS
been less successful probably due to higher popula- receivers need parallel hardware correlators to pro-
tion densities and traditionally higher cost. However, cess the satellite signals, which are unlikely to fall
the inclusion of a two-way Push-To-Talk (PTT) func- dramatically in price. Software-based GPS is far
tionality in a phone, as it already has all the necessary cheaper as it uses simpler receiver hardware and uses
components, is a relatively straightforward addition. software algorithms to determine a fix.
Push-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC) differs from tradi- The processing power needed to determine the loca-
tional two-way radio in that it uses the cellular net- tion in software is high. Time-to-fix is determined by
work to transfer speech to a server which then relays the processing power of the decoder’s microprocessor
it to the receiving subscriber(s). This has advantages – a slower CPU will require much more time to lock-
and disadvantages: It is secure; efficient in its use of on and decode the satellite signals. To shorten fix
bandwidth; requires network control and can there- times, or allow GPS functionality to be provided in
fore be charged-for. On the downside PoC may relatively low power processors, Assisted-GPS (A-
detract from use of SMS and traditional voice calls GPS) can be used. This employs a fixed land-based
and at the same time will not take-off if pricing is server that provides details of satellite location, time
too high. The key to its success therefore lies in the of day, etc., on request from the mobile. Once the
billing. A-GPS system is locked onto a location, tracking is
much easier.
PoC specifications are now complete but, due to
delays, competing systems have been established by For MNOs GPS allows a number of high value ser-
some networks and different PoC clients have already vices to be added including dynamic mapping/route
been included into handsets available now. This is a finding, traffic information and “find my nearest”
problem: until all networks adopt the common OMA applications. These services are already available in
PoC standard and all subscribers from all networks many networks but the lack of accuracy without GPS
can communicate together, PoC will not take off. limits their usefulness.
This was the case for SMS – use exploded once inter-
network messaging was possible. The hardware and software for A-GPS is available
now and should start to be included into many more
There is an education phase to go through too – in handsets over the next year.
America the walkie-talkie is a successful consumer
product; in Europe it is not and many people’s first Single Antenna Interference Cancellation
experience of two-way radio may be via PoC. PoC The spectral efficiency of GSM networks is partly
can also be tricky to set up – the use of NFC to pair limited by frequency re-use in nearby cells and the
devices for communication will help this a great deal. associated co-channel interference.
A-GPS Single Antenna Interference Cancellation (SAIC) is

The costs of full hardware Global Positioning Sys- a technique for improving downlink performance for
tems (GPS) have been prohibitive for a large part all GSM traffic channels by cancelling the largest

each signal by analysing its strength and cancelling
the one causing the most interference.
SAIC cancels co-channel interference and adjacent-

channel interference caused by the spectral overlap
of neighbouring frequency channels. In this way the
carrier-to-interference ratio at the handset can be
improved significantly, leading to:
• Better voice quality

• Higher data throughput
• Fewer call drops
• Increased network capacity
SAIC allows more aggressive frequency re-use sce-

narios that could provide more than 40 % capacity
undesirable interference signal from local base sta- gain for GSM voice. Data services are also dramati-
tions, while processing the signal from the serving cally improved.
base station.
SAIC was recently standardised in GSM as Downlink
Users of GPRS, for example, often see their bit-rate Advanced Receiver Performance (DARP).
fluctuate between low and high throughput. This is
a symptom of interference from other base stations in Philips’ work on Mono Interference Cancellation
the area that are operating on different frequencies. (MIC) paved the way for SAIC and the company
In order to eliminate this interference SAIC passes continues to invest in research in the area: Many
the received signal through a filter that recognises advancements are in the pipeline.
Remove noise
from the received Gets the best out
speech of your speaker
Far-end noise
reduction • Auto voice clarity improvement
• Speaker equalization
• Noise controlled compressor
Received Reproduced far-end speech

far-end
speech
Improving Speaker
Speaker
Improving reproduction
High quality reproduction
far-end
far-end
acoustic echo improvement
improvement
canceller
Full duplex AEC for Acoustic
Acoustic
echo Echo
speakerphone Echo
cancellation
Cancellation noise
-
Improving
Improving Microphone
Microphone +
near-end
near-end improvement
Transmitted
near-end
Remove all types of
speech
noise from the
Near-end speaker
transmitted speech Microphone equalization
Noise reduction 1-mic dereverberation
• 1-mic stationary
• 2-mic (non-)stationary
Optimize microphone
operation and allow for usage
in all kind of rooms
Voice quality enhancement

Since SAIC is implemented as software in the hand- Much improved audio will help drive sales of audio
set no network infrastructure modifications are and game downloads into handsets and other portable
required. devices.
Audio enhancements Enhancements to Hands Free

Given that the killer mobile application is still voice, Hands Free algorithms that provide the echo cancel-
a number of new software mechanisms that can lation needed for hands free systems have been im-
improve the sound quality of a call should improve proved to allow the use of full-duplex speech. Tradi-
network revenues significantly: tional systems use single-duplex that prevents the
callers interrupting each other.
Noise Void
The Noise Void algorithm removes the background Rollable displays
noise from the outgoing audio signal when calls are One of the biggest problems in introducing multi-
made in noisy environments such as bars or on public media services has been the limitation of the display.
transport. Calls that would otherwise be unintelligible This is not a traditional technology problem – better
can now be easily understood as noise is reduced by displays are available – the problem is that the dis-
more than 20 dB. play has to be small for hand-held devices yet needs
to be large in order to view multimedia content: A
Voice Clarity new approach is needed.
Voice Clarity algorithms work in the opposite way,
improving the incoming speech audio intelligibility. As a leader in display technologies, Philips has
The algorithm does much more than simply boosting invested heavily in this area and one solution is the
the volume of speech, as this would just introduce rollable display. This can be “hidden” inside a hand-
distortion. Voice Clarity also removes the need to set that is rolled-out when larger multimedia content
change volume levels to suit the environment. is to be displayed.
Both Noise Void and Voice Clarity encourage more, Prototypes exist now for this and allow reasonably
and longer, voice calls in noisy environments and do large displays to be incorporated in mobile devices.
not require any changes in the network. Within 2006 four-level grey-scale 5” diagonal dis-
plays of QVGA (320 x 240) resolution will be avail-
Concert Sound able in production volumes. Contrast on these devices
Mobile phone speakers and earphones are small and is better than most newspapers. Colour devices are
cannot provide concert-like reproduction on their also on the way but still require significant develop-
own. However, use of audio signal processing tech- ment and investment.
niques can dramatically improve the sound quality
perceived by the listener, without increasing the cost Aside from rollability and daylight readability,
of the headphone hardware. another key feature of rollable display technology
is its power consumption: Power is consumed only
Concert Sound systems use 3D surround sound pro- when the display image changes – once it is set it can
cessing algorithms that give a natural sound that feels be completely disconnected from a power supply.
as if it is coming from around the listener rather than
between the ears. Coupled with dynamic bass boost ULC
techniques that avoid clipping allows small head- It is estimated that approaching 80 % of the world’s
phones and built-in stereo speakers to produce excep- population live within range of a mobile network yet
tionally full and life-like sound. only around a quarter of the population subscribe to a
mobile phone service. There is therefore a vast num-
ber of the world’s population that could become
mobile phone subscribers – some 3.25 billion people.
These segments of the world population have earn-
ings that are only a small fraction of those in devel-
oped economies: for them to be able to subscribe to a
mobile service requires extremely cheap handsets and
call tariffs. The challenge is in making low cost hand-
sets and avoiding subsidies that cannot be repaid
through call charges.

makers can expect to be able to build phones with
a Bill of Materials (BoM) around $20 in this time
frame. Looking forward this should reduce to $15
by 2008.
Is the subscriber tech’d-out?

The technologies listed above are the hot-topics at the
time of writing and there are many more around the
corner. But will subscribers use them?
At present people are not using multimedia services

partly because they are just too difficult to use and
also partly because consumers are overwhelmed by
the technologies available on their phones.
The GSM Association initiated work in this Ultra Whilst the industry needs to do all it can to make ser-
Low Cost (ULC) area last year by running a tender vices simple there is also an education and familiarity
for low cost handsets. A second round was also com- period which subscribers need to go through before
pleted earlier this year. mass adoption will occur.
In order to get costs down ULC handsets must pro- In general the mobile phone industry can move far
vide all functionality that is required and nothing that faster than consumers can keep up. Transparent fea-
is not. In a market that is driven by voice-calls and tures that improve the quality and use of existing ser-
SMS messages there is little room for cameras and vices, or help reduce cost should therefore be higher
other expensive additions that will be too costly to on the priority list of the industry as a whole. The
use anyway. Other critical factors in ULC markets are: industry also has to be careful not to release technolo-
gies too early that are then seen as a failure.
• Ruggedness – phone has to work;
• Battery life – easy access to mains power is not Convergence of technology and
available everywhere; features
Convergence is the buzzword of the moment. But
• Easy addition of features – the “must haves” of the what is it? Most consider it to be convergence of
future, e.g. FM radio or NFC; mobile, fixed line and Internet connectivity: Always
connected, to everyone and everything, everywhere.
• Low-cost brand differentiation.
As well as being compelling in its ease of use for the
It should be noted that these simplified handsets are subscriber, this “Connectivity Convergence” is also
not only useful for ULC markets – they also appeal to driven by competition. Many mobile operators, for
the “non-digital generation” in developed economies example, also have fixed-line businesses and face
– e.g. senior citizens and technophobes. These low fierce competition from cable companies for tele-
cost handsets make a compelling case for networks phony and broadband revenue. These operators are
that want to reduce subsidy. therefore looking for ways to offer better packages
that will prevent subscribers from switching to cable:
Different countries and brands have different defini- a combined, simple and seamless service of fixed-
tions of ULC so silicon vendors must have flexible line, mobile and broadband all through one subscrip-
solutions. tion is very attractive.
The long-term winners in these markets will optimize There is a second level of convergence applicable to
hardware partitioning for lowest cost and best perfor- handsets: “Functional Convergence”. This is the com-
mance yet retain design flexibility. bination of the functionality of two or more tradi-
tional devices into one.
Philips’ sub $5 chip set is available in sample form
now and will be ready for mass production in the Many of the services and functionality discussed so
middle of 2006. Together with the other components far will converge – but getting back to the aim of this
required in a phone (battery, display, plastics) handset article, which will be successful?

Flexible, converged devices that
make sense and are simple to use
Connectivity Convergence will happen: Apart from
state monopolies (of which there are now very few),
networks that don’t embrace Connectivity Conver-
gence will lose revenue to their competitors who do
offer converged services.
Functional Convergence is more difficult. The mobile

industry is notoriously bad at predicting which ser-
vices will be a success and which will fail. What is
clear is that to be successful a service or function
must be 100 % suited to inclusion on a mobile device
and be as good or better than the device it replaces.
In addition to helping raise Average Revenue Per

User (ARPU), the handset industry can increase
Average Profit Per User without the subscriber even Due to the long development times of mobile phone
realising it through the use of capacity and quality chip-sets, to keep handset costs down semiconductor
enhancing technologies. As many subscribers are suppliers such as Philips have to provide flexible,
overwhelmed by handset technology at the moment core platforms with high-quality additional function
this may well be an area to concentrate on for the blocks that can be added or left-out as necessary.
next couple of years.
The functionality included in any device must be of
The cost of supplying integrated handsets that do excellent quality, or overall revenues will suffer as
everything is prohibitive. Networks are increasingly subscribers stick to their non-converged devices. If
shying away from high-tech, hard to use, include- great functionality is added well however, the future
everything devices with features that cost a lot but for new high-quality service profit is undoubtedly
are rarely used. very exciting.
Nigel Wilcox is a member of the mobile communications Business Innovation team at Philips’ semiconductor
division. He is principally involved in handset specification work with the mobile networks, ensuring Philips
chip-sets meet the network’s requirements, and therefore those of the handset manufacturers Philips sup-
plies. Prior to joining Philips he worked in engineering and project management roles for a number of com-
panies all involved in the development of mobile communications equipment and services. Nigel is a Char-
tered Engineer and member of the UK’s Institute of Electrical Engineers. He holds B.Eng and M.Sc degrees in
Electronic Engineering from Warwick and Nottingham Universities.

OMTP – Open Mobile Terminal Platform
LARS WENDT AND DO VAN THANH
This paper gives a brief presentation of the Open Mobile Terminal Platform OMTP Ltd. (“OMTP”)
(http://www.omtp.org) that has been established to gather the needs of the mobile operator
community for mobile terminal platforms and to define and agree on those requirements necessary
to deliver openly available standardised application interfaces to provide customers with an improved
user experience across different devices.
Lars Wendt is
Senior Advisor
in Telenor Inter-
Introduction service, that they are able to set up the service and
national Mobile services have reached higher and higher lev- lastly, that waits and delays are limited.
els of popularity, but at the same time, the complexity
of these services has increased tremendosuly. Mobile
operators constantly need to integrate the mobile Operating structure / organisation
services they offer seamlessly with the device that
deliver the service. Experiences from nearly all oper- About the OMTP group
ators show that customisation of terminals drives The OMTP group was established in June 2004 by
both usage and ARPU. eight international mobile operators to collaborate
with industry-leading companies in all sectors of the
Do van Thanh
is Senior The operators have started to develop a seamless mobile space to promote its goals through open stan-
Research customer experience across their device portfolio via dards and different technologies.
Scientist at customised handsets. But the continuously increasing
Telenor R&D fragmentation of mobile devices undermines this The founding members of OMTP are mmO2, NTT
seamless customer experience and might become a DoCoMo, Orange, SMART Communications, Tele-
threat to the mobile services business. fónica Móviles, TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), T-
Mobile and Vodafone. The OMTP group now has
And underlying all this, the security threats on mobile about 40 members and participants.
devices are developing rapidly.
The OMTP group is an open association, with mem-
With this setting a number of leading mobile opera- bership or participation available to organizations
tors came together in 2004 and formed the Open wanting to adopt OMTP requirements, to assist the
Mobile Terminal Platform group. process of achieving the OMTP group’s goals or
simply to follow the latest efforts and results of the
OMTP group. Membership is open to mobile opera-
OMTP mission tors, whereas participation as a sponsor, advisor or
Since the formation, the OMTP group has aimed to associate is open to any entity. Members, sponsors
define platform requirements necessary for mobile and advisors are eligible to be actively involved in
devices to projects formed by OMTP; associates receive infor-
mation on ongoing activities. Mobile operators,
• deliver openly available standardized application mobile device manufacturers, software and hardware
interfaces; suppliers interested in participating in the OMTP
group can find more information on the OMTP
• provide customers with a more consistent and group’s website, www.omtp.org.
improved user experience across different devices;
Who is OMTP open to?
• enable individual operators and manufacturers to As full members, only mobile operators are allowed,
customize and differentiate their offering. whereas sponsors, advisors and associates can come
from software developers, handset vendors and other
The main rationale for OMTP is thus to reduce the interested parties.
number of variants, drive consistency, and take un-
necessary costs out of the industry (without stifling Members & participants
innovation). Furthermore it is important for operators See Table 1.
to let users know that services exist, that they find the

Is OMTP a standardisation body? OMTP Membership overview as of 31 August 2005
It is important to note that OMTP is not a standardis- Members Sponsors Advisors Associates
ation body per se (meaning that they issue specifica-
Amena EMP Analog Devices Hewlett Packard
tions, and subsequently test equipment according to
o2 Nokia Aplix Mobile Innovation
these standards). OMTP has rather opted for an exis-
Orange/FT Philips ARM Pollex
tence where their specifications eventually can evolve
Hutchison 3G SavaJe Axalto ROHM Electronics Ltd.
into standards, but in the first phase the outcome is
KPN Siemens Danger
handled more like requirements.
SK Telekom STM Discretix
Telenor SUN Enea
TEM Esmertec
Deliverables
TIM Freescale
TMO Gemplus
When will the first handset be released?
Vodafone Infineon
It is expected that the first handsets that have been
Microsoft Corp
made according to the OMTP specifications will be
Motorola
released during the second half of 2006.
Palm Source
Qualcomm
What will be different with the first release
Samsung
of OMTP compliant handsets?
Sky
First editions will only support basic customisation.
Skyworks
The first requirements are termed “User Experience”. SmartTrust
In this context this means that an operator should be Sony Ericsson
able to tailor the look and feel of the device menu Spansion
structure to its own needs and requirements. This Sprint
includes setting wallpaper, colour scheme of menus, Surfkitchen
selection of applications accessible from the top Symbian
menu list, and applications accessible from the stand- TAO
by screen. Tegic
Texas Instruments
Furthermore, it also applies to device management TeliaSonera
where an operator can download, configure, and TTPCom
update a client-based (off-line) operator menu struc- TurkCell
ture over the air to a device in a seamless and non-
11 7 30 4
intrusive way for the customer (i.e. no repeated ques-
tions if the customer wants to accept the updates etc.). 52
The menu structure can call operator defined applica-
tions that also can be managed over the air in the Table 1 Current list of OMTP members and participants
same way as the off-line operator menu
In addition, OMTP has defined requirements which

limit variations of displays, and thus classified dis-
plays into three categories. The same goes for video Will the first OMTP phones matter?
codecs and memory levels. In addition to this there For the end user, the differences will most probably
are specifications regarding provisioning and a logi- be fairly insignificant, since the impact is very much
cal application framework concept (which is an XML more on the way of interaction between operator and
representation of a User Interface). In a follow up handset provider. But indirectly there will be an
release from OMTP requirements regarding CDC impact. It can be expected that a number of operators
(Connected Device Configuration) Java Phone was eventually will start enforcing their procurement divi-
also issued. sions to choose OMTP-compliant phones, and there is
no doubt that this will have an impact on the market.
The second edition of specifications from OMTP will
be available in the second half of 2006. Long term goals
The OMTP’s ultimate goal is to give operators more
Further on the roadmap are issues relating to trust control over the device platform and how it can be
environment, application security and performance customised. Operators want customised devices to
benchmarks. help differentiate services and have become com-
plaining loudly that device manufacturers do not go

Direction Implementation Evaluation Influence
Audit
committee
Domain Prioritisation Projects Technical Strategy

experts committee evaluations
Customisation
CLDC SDO
Sec
P5 P3
CDC Certification
UE
TPC Board Security Compliance

Hard Linux
Platform Education
DM Hardware A
Platform others
other B
Operator Technical
requirements requirements
Project definition Deliverables One+ Of:

= SDO clarifications
UC scope/priority Filled certification doc
Candidate Background Compliance compliance
use cases deliverable/times published regs
documents form statement
influence strategy others
Figure 1 Overall OMTP working process
far enough to support this. The big question is, will Impact for mobile industry
the OMTP be able to persuade them to comply? The After one year of operation OMTP can claim to have
answer to that is most probably yes – at least to a cer- achieved the following:
tain degree. The mobile manufacturers are also in a
position where lack of coherent, constructive and • The scope (requirements in the user to terminal
streamlined demands from the mobile operators cost dimension) and governance are well established;
them more resources than they are willing to pay for.
This means that if mobile operators get more stan- • Seven deliverables published, project machinery in
dardised in their demands, it is also a net gain for the good shape;
manufacturers.
CURRENT SITUATION OMTP VISION
Operators Manufacturers
Operators Manufacturers
L&F config. L&F config.

Operator Op A reqs Manual (xHTML, dB, (xHTML, dB,
Operator Op A reqs
A Op A format processing plain text...) plain text...)
A OMTP format
Handset 1 Handset 1
Operator Op B reqs Manual

Operator Op B reqs
B Op B format processing
B OMTP format
Platform
adaptation 1
...
...
Operator Op X reqs
Manual
Semi
Operator Op X reqs
X Op X format processing automatic
X OMTP format
processing
Figure 2 View of OMTP impact

• Stable situation with members and participants – Summary
Full value chain represented (operators, terminal There is a strong belief in the mobile industry that
vendors, hardware vendors and software develop- operators as well as handset manufacturers need to
ers); take a stronger grip on some of the problems which
the end users face when using mobile services, and to
• Good support and momentum; make the services more intuitive. OMTP is the main
vehicle to streamline this, and working together
• Methodology from business rationale and use cases brings out experiences from operators and other
to verifiable platform requirements established. industry players alike, which most probably will con-
tribute to a better user experience in the future.
Telenor’s role
Telenor is taking a lead role in the OMTP organisa-
tion, and utilizes experiences made in its different
operations. Some of the first customisation examples
like Entry are brought into the set of experiences and
are being used to streamline some of the processes we
face when interacting with terminal manufacturers.
Working together with other mobile giants, like
Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, NTT DoCoMo and
Telefonica, it is recognized that the challenges are
very similar.
Lars Wendt holds an MSc in Industrial Economics & Technology Management from the Norwegian Univer-
sity of Science and Technology in Trondheim. He is Senior Advisor in Telenor Mobile International in Norway,
and has worked internationally for Telenor in both Germany and Hungary.
For a presentation of Do van Thanh, please turn to page 2.

Reading emails on mobile phones
DO VAN THANH, IVAR JØRSTAD AND TORE JØNVIK
The success of the Internet is basically due to two applications, namely the world wide web and the
email. Although being a newcomer compared to email, the world wide web has gained more attention
due to its ubiquity and its content abundance. The telecom community has put quite a lot of effort in
providing access to the world wide web from the mobile phone with the Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP) and its successors. This does not necessarily mean that mobile access to email is less com-
pelling. Indeed, the increasing popularity of the Blackberry, which allows the users to send and receive
Do van Thanh emails on their mobile phones demonstrates the urgent demand for a secure and usable mobile
is Senior
access to email. In this paper, a mobile email solution based on XML Web Services is presented. A brief
Research
Scientist at overview of the email system, followed by a presentation of the challenges in enabling mobile access
Telenor R&D to email, are first given. The main part of the paper is dedicated to the design of the proposed mobile
mail access solution. The overall architecture, the components and interfaces of Email XML Web Ser-
vice are explained thoroughly. Last but not least, the Mail Web Service Client residing in the mobile
phone is presented in detail.
1 Introduction ity, unsatisfactory user interface and low degree of

There is no doubt that mobile users, especially mobile configurability and efficiency. However, most of the
workers, need to communicate with other people, col- issues are the limitations of the mobile phones. As the
Ivar Jørstad is a
PhD student at
leagues, partners, customers, etc. The mobile phone, name indicates, mobile phones are meant for voice
Norwegian by meeting this real demand has become a highly communication and not for data applications. Small
University of appreciated device for the users. This is reflected in displays and limited navigation capability are not
Science and the increase in number of mobile phones and sub- suitable for displaying large numbers of emails;
Technology scriptions. But, communication in real time or talking emails which individually also may be large in size
directly to people is not sufficient because people due to excessive presentation formats and large
may not be available, i.e. busy at a meeting, sleeping, attachments. Mobile phones also have limited pro-
eating, etc. Communication must also include asyn- cessing capability, storage space and battery life. Last
chronous exchange of messages. Indeed, the success but not least is the plurality and heterogeneity of
of SMS (Short Message Service) has affirmed this mobile terminal types that make the standardisation
need. In the Internet, there is another application for of the user interface difficult.
Tore Jønvik message exchange, called email, which is even more
is Associate popular than SMS. Email is much more powerful In this paper we present a mobile email solution
Professor at than SMS since the content is not limited to 160 char- based on XML Web Services technologies, which
Oslo University acters and can carry attachments of very rich format. takes into account the limitations of the mobile
College
For professional users, it is really important to be able phones. The paper starts with a brief overview of the
to read mails while travelling. This is highly appreci- email system followed by a presentation of the chal-
ated especially in spare time such as waiting at air- lenges in enabling mobile access to email. It will then
ports, sitting on trains, etc. since it alleviates the work continue with the examination of relevant solutions
pressure and contributes to the improvement of the for mobile access to email. The main part of the paper
quality of life of mobile workers. will be dedicated to the design of our proposed
mobile mail access. The path leading to our solution
Unfortunately, so far there is no satisfactory solution will be presented. The overall architecture of the
providing emails on the mobile phone because of Mobile Email Access is also described. The compo-
many issues. First is the problem of firewalls. The nents and interfaces of Email XML Web Service are
mail servers usually reside inside the domain of an explained thoroughly. Last but not least, the Mail
enterprise behind firewalls. Due to strict firewall con- Web Service Client residing in the mobile phone will
figurations denying direct access from outside the be described in detail.
corporate network, email traffic from remote net-
works is rejected. To overcome this problem, “web-
mail services” based on e.g. Web (HTTP) and WAP 2 Overview of the email system
are in use today, as well as VPN (Virtual Private Net- As shown in Figure 1, the current email communica-
work) solutions but they all suffer from little flexibil- tion systems consist of two main components, email

SMTP
MTA MTA
SMTP
MUA MSA
Internet
UI Intranet LDA
User Delivery
IMAP/POP IMAP Access Mailbox

client agent
Mailbox
POP
eMail client Mailbox
Message
IMAP/POP store
server
Figure 1 Current mail system architecture1) Email server
Server and email Client. They are both compositions The SMTP content is sent in the SMTP DATA proto-
of several elements that are making use of several col unit and has two parts: the headers and the body.
communication protocols, as well as internal service If the content conforms to other contemporary stan-
elements. Examples of protocols are SMTP (Simple dards, the headers form a collection of field/value
Mail Transfer Protocol) [1], IMAP (Internet Message pairs structured according to the Internet Message
Access Protocol) [2] and POP (Post Office Protocol) Format; the body, if structured, is defined according
[3]. to MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).
To send a mail, the user interacts with the UI (User The mail will then be sent from MTA to MTA and
Interface), which allows her to compose an email. will finally arrive at the final delivery MTA that
When the user chooses to send the email, the UI will deposits the mail in the Message Store through an
hand over the message to the MUA (Mail User LDA. This concludes the SMTP transfer of the mes-
Agent) that will establish an SMTP session with the sage.
remote MSA (Mail Submission Agent) to expedite
the mail. The MSA can do pre-specified adaptations
to the message to comply with the SMTP-IMF stan-
dards. Next it delivers the mail either to a local user
through an LDA (Local Delivery Agent), or passes it SMTP Envelope
MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
on to an MTA (Message Transfer Agent) which RCPT TO:<@hosta.int,@jkl.org:[email protected]>
relays the mail to its final recipient(s). SMTP Content
An SMTP mail object contains an envelope and con- Internet Msg Format
tent. The SMTP envelope is sent as a series of SMTP
From: John Doe <[email protected]>
protocol units. It consists of an originator address (to To: Mary Smith <[email protected]>
which error reports should be directed); one or more Subject: Saying Hello Header field
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:55:06 -0600
recipient addresses and optional protocol extension Message-ID: <[email protected]>
material. Historically, variations on the recipient
address specification command (RCPT TO) could Text like This is a message just to say hello.
OR according to MIME Body
be used to specify alternate delivery modes, such as (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
immediate display; those variations have now been
deprecated.
Figure 2 Relationship between SMTP mail object and an Internet
Message Format message
1) The current mail server architecture is somewhat simplified to make the reading easier.

Box 1 SMTP Envelope – excessive message transfers
220 dus12.nta.no ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Fri, 09 Apr 2004 This is an example of a typical “SMTP Envelope” for
15:57:01 +0200 sending a normal email to two recipients. It is worth
EHLO dus12.nta.no noting the excessive message transfers, see Box 1.
250-dus12.nta.no Hello jonfinng at localhost
[127.0.0.1]
250-SIZE As seen in Figure 3 a minimum of 11 message trans-
250-PIPELINING fers are needed between the client and server in order
250 HELP
MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
to send a single mail. Two extra transfers are intro-
250 <[email protected]> is syntactically correct duced for every additional recipient. When sending
RCPT TO:<[email protected]> multiple mails using the same connection to the mail
250 <[email protected]> verified
server, a minimum of nine message transfers are
RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
250 <[email protected]> verified needed. This is undesirable; it should be a goal to
RCPT TO:<[email protected]> keep the number of message transfers to an absolute
250 <[email protected]> verified minimum. Since message exchanges introduce extra
DATA
354 Enter message, ending with “.” on a line by itself overhead and delay, it is especially important to keep
X-header: Testmessage this number at a minimum when using a wireless link
Headers (header part of the message) goes here… with low bandwidth.
content (body part of the message) goes here…
attachments goes here…
. IMF and MIME – Unnecessary headers and
250 OK id=1BBwZ4-0000nZ-00 complex body structures
QUIT
IMF (Internet Message Format) and MIME (Multi-
221 dus12.nta.no closing connection
purpose Internet Mail Extensions) [4] are standards
used for representing the actual content of the email.
IMF defines which headers are mandatory, and how
In order to send and/or relay mail, we must follow the a standard message should be organized. MIME is an
protocol described in RFC2821 (i.e. the SMTP speci- extension to IMF, which defines how complex emails
fication). This sequence of commands is often refer- should be represented. This is typically emails which
enced to as the “SMTP Envelope”. have file-attachments, multiple alternative representa-
tion formats or even enclosed email-messages within
the message itself.
Mobile MSA/
client MTA The IMF representation of an email is quite efficient,
Transport layer session establishment and does not introduce any overhead of significance.
0.
This makes IMF a good starting point when trying to
220 dus12 nta.no ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Fri 09 Apr 2004 15.57.01 +0200
1. represent emails adapted for mobile terminals. The
EHLO dus12.nta.no problem with IMF is not the format itself, but how it
2
is used. An email usually contains a lot of informa-
250.dus12.nta no Hello jonfinng at localhost [127.0.0.1]
3. tion enclosed in headers. Most of this information is
MAIL FROM.<[email protected]> not relevant to the end user. This information may
4.
include a list of mail servers the message has visited
250<<[email protected]> is syntactically correct
5. on its way to its destination, and several so called “X-
RCPT TO.<[email protected]> headers”2). This information is usually not presented
6.
in the user-agents and introduces a significant amount
250 <[email protected]> verified
7. of overhead when sending email headers to mobile
Adding optional recipients agents. For an example of the headers in a typical
email message see Box 2.
DATA
8.
354 Enter message ending with**on a line by itself The headers marked in bold are the headers usually
9.
presented in a user-agent because they contain the
Content of message
10. information most relevant to the end user. When
250 OK id=1BBwZ4.0000nZ.00 stripping out all other headers, the size of the header-
11.
element of this email shrinks from 2351 to 323 bytes;
significantly reducing this email’s total size. Hence,
Figure 3 SMTP envelope for mobile terminals with limited bandwidth and
2) “X-headers” are custom headers for providing extra information about the email. Typically added by user agents, virus and spam-
scanners.

Box 2
From [email protected] Sat Apr 3 15:37:46 2004
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
X-Original-To: [email protected]
Delivered-To: [email protected]
Received: from merke.itea.ntnu.no (merke.itea.ntnu.no [129.241.7.61])
by bison.stud.ntnu.no (Postfix) with ESMTP id 214FE321
for <[email protected]>; Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:37:46 +0200 (MEST)
Received: by merke.itea.ntnu.no (Postfix)
id 1151913DA83; Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:37:46 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by merke.itea.ntnu.no (Postfix) with ESMTP id DABD013DCAB
for <[email protected]>; Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:37:45 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from virus-out-st.online.no (virus-out.ttyl.com [193.212.240.200])
by merke.itea.ntnu.no (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5B43C13DB64
for <[email protected]>; Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:37:43 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from tns-fbu-22-209.corp.telenor.no ([134.47.162.190] [134.47.162.190]) by
scan.telenor.net with ESMTP for
[email protected]; Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:36:55 +0200
Received: from tns-fbu-22-212.corp.telenor.no ([134.47.162.91]) by tns-fbu-22-209.corp.telenor.no
with Microsoft
SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);
Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:36:54 +0200
Received: from tns-fbu-2e-004.corp.telenor.no ([134.47.163.148]) by tns-fbu-22-212.corp.telenor.no
with Microsoft
SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);
Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:36:54 +0200
Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.6487.1
Subject: RE: Paper MWCN 2004 final version
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:36:53 +0200
Message-Id: <375BFFDA619DBC4AA93996BF1F1D23969CD6BB@TNS-FBU-2E-004.corp.telenor.no>
X-MS-Has-Attach: yes
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
Thread-Topic: Paper MWCN 2004 final version
thread-index: AcQXAvMvvLDODbn9SeSq5/2eImqLIQCfUkcw
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 03 Apr 2004 13:36:54.0486 (UTC) FILETIME=[BA45C760:01C41980]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary=”——_=_NextPart_001_01C41980.B9E57E06”
X-Content-Scanned: with sophos and spamassassin at mailgw.ntnu.no.
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, hits=1.0 required=3.0 tests=__ORIG_MESSAGE_LINE version=2.20
X-Spam-Level: *
Content-Length: 140839
Lines: 1859
Status: RO
X-Status: A
X-Keywords:
X-UID: 5466
client-functionality, only a minimal set of headers message are separated by custom defined “bound-
should be transferred. aries”. When a boundary appears in the message, it
marks the beginning of a new part. Every part must
A MIME email’s content is organized in two dis- be identified by a “Content-type” parameter, telling
positions: INLINE and ATTACHMENT. The parts what MIME-type the current part is (e.g applica-
marked as INLINE will usually be shown in the tion/msword to designate that the part is a Microsoft
mail client when opening the email for reading. The Word document). Other parameters to a body part
INLINE content parts are encoded as text. The parts may be the encoding and file name of the attachment.
marked as ATTACHMENT consist of binary data,
and must be opened in an external application or A cut from an email containing a normal text part as
through a plug-in in the mail reader able to interpret INLINE and an attached picture as ATTACHMENT
that specific attachment. The different parts of the is shown in Box 3.

Box 3
******* stripped headers ***************
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary=”——=_NextPart_000_2a6d_50c1_182a”
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 02 Mar 2004 11:54:46.0152 (UTC)
FILETIME=[28483880:01C4004D]
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
———=_NextPart_000_2a6d_50c1_182a
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed
____________________________________
MSN Hotmail http://www.hotmail.com
———=_NextPart_000_2a6d_50c1_182a
Content-Type: image/pjpeg; name=”teamaa.jpg”
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=”teamaa.jpg”
/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgAAZABkAAD/7AARRHVja3kAAQAEAAAAUAAA/+IMWElD
Q19QUk9GSUxFAAEBAAAMSExpbm8CEAAAbW50clJHQiBYWVogB84AAgAJAAYA
********* stripped binary data ***********
The first header element included in this cut tells us The first bodypart is of type “text/plain” and
that this is a MIME message, and that the mail reader represents the text in this message. The parameters
must support MIME to understand this message. tell us that the bodypart has characterset iso-8859.
When the message contains parts with different con- The second part of the message is an attached picture
tent-types the base content type is marked as “mul- with content type “image/pjpeg”. In this part, the
tipart/mixed” as in this message. One should as filename and encoding are supplied as parameters.
well pay attention to the boundaries in this message
(——=_NextPart_000_2a6d_50c1_182a), This example of how to organize the contents of an
separating the two parts of this email. email is just one of numerous possible ways a mes-
Email part organization
2) Default MIME
1) Default Multipart/Mixed
no description no description Inline (text/plain, us-ascii)
<filename1> Attachment (image/pjpeg, base64)
<filename2> Attachment (image/gif, base64)
----------
3) Nested MIME 4) Multipart/

Multipart/Mixed Alternative
<root> Inline (multipart/mixed, 7bit) <root> Inline (multipart/alternative)
<content> Inline (text/plain, us-ascii) <alt1> Inline (text/plain, us-ascii)
<filename1> Attachment (image/pjpeg, base64) <alt2> Inline (text/html)
<filename2> Attachment (image/gif, base64) <alt3> Inline (application/x-whatever)
<signature> Inline (application/pgp-

signature, iso-8859-1)
Figure 4 Examples of email structures

sage may be structured. MIME messages also support • Problems related to mobile access, due to strict
nested content, and so-called “multipart/ firewall configurations.
alternative” body parts (among many other con-
tent types). A “multipart/alternative” mes-
sage holds different presentation of the same data in 4 Current solutions and their
different formats, allowing the client or user to limitations
choose which format that is best suited for presenta- Much effort has been put into solving the problem
tion. Figure 4 shows some examples of how email related to firewall configurations, often denying
may be organized in different bodyparts. access to mail operations outside the corporate
intranet. Several more or less successful attempts
MIME is a good and much needed extension to ordi- have emerged. The solutions might work well with
nary mail. But the emails’ representations may laptops and stationary computers, but so far, the solu-
become very complex, and may take time to process tions have severe limitations when being used for
on terminals with limited processing capabilities. providing email to mobile phones.
MIME requires that the end clients have support for
showing or opening the attachments sent. In addition, 3.1 Virtual Private Network
there is no point sending multiple representations of In this solution, shown in Figure 5, a VPN client
the message itself (multipart/alternative) if the client establishes a secured channel from the remote com-
cannot present it to the user. In such cases, MIME puter through the Internet and across the firewall to
body parts will end up as unnecessary overhead. the corporate intranet. The client is hence logically
connected to the intranet and the user can use a nor-
mal email client to access his email using standard
3 The challenges of mobile mail protocols.
access
The access and manipulation of emails stored in the This solution is very suitable for a PC with sufficient
Message Store are enabled by an Access Agent, which processing and storage capabilities and a fairly stable
implements protocols such as IMAP (Internet Message connection with considerable transfer rate. This solu-
Access Protocol) or POP (Post Office Protocol). The tion does not fit mobile phones because of the follow-
client application will contain either an IMAP client or ing issues:
a POP client (or both) for the retrieval of emails and
mailbox operations. In addition, the email client needs • Most mobile phones are not equipped with a VPN
also to be equipped with the functionality required for client.
sending out mail using SMTP. In most cases the
clients and server are on an Intranet protected by a • Mobile phones do not have the sufficient process-
corporate firewall, which prevents access to the email ing capability to equalize the overhead introduced
server from outside this network. This is done to pro- by the encryption and decryption.
tect the server from outside attacks and hacker
attempts, as well as for stopping unwanted relaying • The unstable wireless link may introduce problems
activity, which may include spamming. On the other to the VPN session.
hand, users are getting more and more mobile and
want to access their email accounts also when not • Sporadic mail access by the mobile user is not suit-
being on the corporate intranet. This introduces a able because of long setup time and possible VPN
conflict of interest between security and availability. connection timeout.
The challenges with today’s mail systems when • Mobile phones may not have sufficient storage for
accessed by mobile terminals can be summarized all the mails.
as follows:
• Mobile phones may not have processing and stor-
• Excessive message exchange; age capabilities to host both an SMTP client and
• Unnecessary overhead in different parts of the an IMAP/POP client.
email;
• Too complex representations of the emails; • Mobile phones have much more limited User Inter-
• Unsupported presentation formats; face capabilities, i.e. small display, limited naviga-
• Complex implementation of email clients. Differ- tion facility, and small and limited keypad.
ent protocol implementations are needed for send-
ing and retrieving mail; • Mobile phones come in a variety of types making
the design of user interface difficult.

Internet SMTP
Intranet MTA MTA
Internet
Firewall Delivery
VPN
client
Mailbox
MUA
Mailbox
Mailbox
UI
User Message
POP IMAP store
IMAP/POP
client IMAP/POP
server
eMail client Email server
Figure 5 VPN solution
SMTP
MTA MTA
Internet
SMTP
Internet Delivery
Firewall Intranet
Internet Mailbox
browser MUA Mailbox
Mailbox
Web app
Message
POP store
User
IMAP/POP IMAP
IMAP/POP
client
server
Web/WAP mail server Email server
Figure 6 Web/WAP mail overall architecture
3.2 Web/WAP mail access her email. No additional functionality is

As shown in Figure 6, a Web/WAP mail Server is required on a mobile phone. The mobile phone can
now introduced. It usually resides in the DMZ (De- access the user’s email account on the webmail server
Militarized Zone) between the Internet and the corpo- either directly using an HTML/xHTML browser or
rate intranet. The Web-application server synchro- via WAP using a WML browser. It is worth noting
nizes with the corporate mail server behind the fire- that this alternative applies also for pure web mail
wall for the retrieval and sending of mail. Actually, services like hotmail, yahoo, online, etc.
this server contains a Web application with the same
core elements as an email client. Both implementa- The disadvantages are:
tions use SMTP and IMAP/POP for communication
with the email server. The user can access her mails • The mails are not stored on the mobile phones but
using a WWW-browser. on the Web/WAP Mail server. To read the same
mail twice, the user has to access the Web/WAP
The main advantage of this solution is that a mobile server again. This is due to the relaxed HTML/
user needs nothing more than a WWW-browser to WML-standard for which it is difficult to parse out

the actual information contents from presentation ward solution is to expose the whole SMTP and
wrapping. IMAP/POP as Web Services as shown in Figure 7.
Each SMTP and IMAP/POP command is mapped to
• The reading of mail may be time consuming and a Web Service method. In fact, each SMTP or
less flexible since the web/WAP pages are gener- IMAP/POP command is encapsulated in a SOAP
ated dynamically on the fly for each access. message and transported to the WS client.
Caching on the mobile device is difficult and
requires much storage capacity, again due to the An advantage in this solution compared to Web/WAP
excessive amount of presentation data supplied solutions is that there are no overhead data specifying
together with the information content. the appearance of the content. Compared to VPN, this
solution is more robust due to the use of SOAP.
• The mails are not adapted for being rendered in SOAP has a more relaxed way of handling sessions.
small displays. This involves that sessions may survive even if the
link goes down for a period of time.
3.3 Problems with known solutions
As discussed earlier, the existing solutions for provid- The disadvantage is the numerous functional require-
ing mobile access to emails suffer from the fact that ments that are put on the mobile phone. To access
they do not take into account the limitations of the and retrieve mails, the WS client must be capable of
mobile phones, i.e. limited processing and storage understanding the SMTP/IMAP/POP commands and
capabilities, small display, limited navigation capabil- communicating properly with the email server. It
ity, small keypads. Neither the limitations of the must therefore be equipped with a MUA (Mail User
wireless networks, i.e. unstable connections and high Agent) with full SMTP support as well as an IMAP/
latency, nor unpredictable QoS are properly dealt POP client. This functionality is put on top of the
with. SOAP engine.
Other disadvantages are the high number of interac-

4 Designing a mobile mail access tions and also the high amount of downloaded data
using XML web services that are an implication when implementing this solu-
tion. This is definitely not suitable in wireless net-
4.1 Mobile mail access with SMTP and works with limited bandwidth.
IMAP/POP Web Service
To enable the mail access from mobile phones, the IMAP and SMTP are not pure request-response pro-
XML Web Service concept is found most suitable tocols. They also include the possibility of server-
due to the ubiquity of the World Wide Web and the originated messages. If full compliance with SMTP
ability to traverse firewalls using SOAP (Simple and POP/IMAP should be achieved, the clients must
Object Access Protocol) [5]. The most straightfor- be able to listen for method invocations from the
SMTP
MTA MTA
Firewall
Internet
SMTP Delivery
Internet Intranet
Mailbox
SMTP
Mailbox
SMTP Mailbox
Mail WS client
WS
MUA IMAP/POP POP Message
client POP IMAP
store
IMAP
User kSOAP
IMAP/POP
J2ME client IMAP/POP
server
WS client SMTP-IMAP/POP WS Email server
Figure 7 A straightforward SMTP, POP, IMAP mapping to XML Web Service

SMTP
MTA MTA
Firewall Internet
SMTP
Delivery
Internet Intranet
Mailbox
SMTP
Mailbox
SMTP Mailbox
Mail WS client
WS
XMTP MUA
POP Message
POP IMAP
IMAP/POP store
IMAP
User kSOAP
IMAP/POP IMAP/POP
J2ME client server
WS client SMTP-IMAP/POP WS Email server
Figure 8 XML Web Service making use of XMTP
server. In this case server originated method invoca- SMTP and XMTP. An approach using XMTP is
tion implies a full IMAP/POP Web Service imple- therefore turned down as suitable for usage with
mentation on the client. This is infeasible due to lim- mobile terminals.
ited processing and storage capacity on mobile termi-
nals. They do not have a static internet address, and 4.3 Mobile Mail Access with XMMAP
the connection is frequently shut down. In other In this section, a protocol called XMMAP (XML
words, mobile phones were not designed to work as Mobile Email Access Protocol) is introduced. The
servers. goal of this protocol is to solve some of the major
problems related to email access from mobile termi-
4.2 Mobile Mail Access with XMTP nals, and to overcome the limitations and insufficien-
The use of XML Web Services is taken a bit further cies of the previously proposed solutions. A Telenor
by the introduction of XMTP (XML MIME Transfor- patent application3) has been filed to the Norwegian
mation Protocol)[6]. XMTP is a protocol for mapping Patent Authority in 2004.
IMF or MIME messages to an XML representation.
As we could see from the message sequence chart
When using XMTP, we are able to transport the in Figure 3, a minimum of 11 messages is required
entire message in XML (see Figure 8). This makes it between the client and server just in order to send
easier for the client to parse the message. An XSD an email. This is highly undesirable when using a
(XML Schema Definition) can be used to interpret mobile terminal. If the link goes down in the middle
the different fields of the message, making presenta- of a message sequence, the entire procedure has to be
tion of the mail in the client potentially faster. repeated. Additionally, every message transfer intro-
duces unnecessary overhead from underlying proto-
XMTP contains no functionality beyond the IMF cols. On top of this we have the considerations
message mapping. This means that when using regarding overhead in headers and representation as
XMTP, all message exchanges and overhead must discussed in the section on IMF and MIME.
remain as in the previous approach. XMTP may in
itself introduce some amount of overhead due to the By introducing XMMAP we reduce the number of
verbose XML notation. message transfers to two for most IMAP/POP/SMTP
operations. As shown in Figure 9, we are down to one
There is very little gain using XMTP instead of direct message from the mobile client to the web service,
mapping, it even adds more complexity on the server and one message in return.
side by introducing a conversion routine between
3) Telenor patent: A system, method and protocol format for mobile email communication – Inventor: Do van Thanh, Jon-Finngard
Moe & Eivind Sivertsen – Norway application no: NO 2004 2233, filed 28 May 2004.

Mobile client Email WS MSA/MTA LDA Message store
sendmail Minimum 11
messages, see
OK figure 3 - SMTP
envelope
Figure 9 Sending an email using XMMAP
POP and IMAP do not have as many message trans- Like XMTP, XMMAP utilizes the strength of XML
fers as SMTP. Often only one request and response to simplify parsing of the received information. The
is required per invocation. On the other hand, these terminal can use an XML-parser to retrieve the infor-
protocols require that the user authenticate before mation from the XMMAP-message as well as to con-
invoking any operation on the account. This intro- struct new XML documents. This makes implementa-
duces session management and extra delay and over- tion of an XMMAP-compatible mail client a very
head. simple task compared to a full-scale email client sup-
porting SMTP with a wide range of MIME-types, as
The major benefit when using XMMAP is that it both well as the client implementations of POP and IMAP.
combines and simplifies the functionality and infor-
mation given by the MTA (SMTP), Access Agent XMMAP introduces a new concept of messaging.
(IMAP/POP) and the representation format (SMTP- While traditional protocols rely on frequent message
IMF/XMTP). This is achieved by mapping the infor- transfers with well-defined operations, XMMAP is
mation into an XML format and tying different parts more flexible, making it possible to do more opera-
of the format to specific requests and responses to tions in one exchange.
SOAP methods.
Box 4
<Message>
xmlns=’’http://www.finngard.org/ 2004/03/xmmap/’’
xmlns:web=’’http://www.w3.org/ 1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#’’
web:about=’’mid:107840631700 [email protected]’’>
<BoxNumber mailbox=’’INBOX’’>12</ BoxNumber>
<Headers>
<From>John Doe < [email protected]></From>
<To>< [email protected]> </To>
<Subject>XMMAP protocol, suitable for PDA?</Subject>
<Date>Fri, 2 Mar 2004 12:23:12 -0700</Date>
</Headers>
<Flags protocol=’’imap’’>
<Seen>1</Seen>
<Answered>0</Answered>
</Flags>
<Body charset=’’ISO-8859-1’’>
Hi! Do you suggest using the XMMAP format for PDA’s as well as mobile phones?
</Body>
<Attachments>
<Attachment content-type= ’’application/x-ms-word’’
encoding=’’base64’’>
<AttachmentNumber>1</ AttachmentNumber>
<Filename>pda_description. doc</Filename>
<Size>1345</Size>
<Content>/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD//gAcU29mdHdhcmU6IE1pY3
Jvc29mdCBPZmZpY2X/2wBDAAoHBwgHBgoICAgLCgoLDhgQDg
0NDh0VFhEYIx8lJCIfIiEmKzcvJik0KSEiMEExNDk7Pj4+JS
5ESUM8
....
</Content>
</Attachment>
</Attachments>
</Message>

XMMAP is in its basic form a representation of an <Headers> element
entire mail account, spanning everything from login The <Headers> element contains standard RFC 2822-
credentials to flags in a specific message. This makes headers with local names representing the header
it possible to use sub-parts of the XMMAP-format to names. Parameters are represented by child elements.
represent different parts of a mail account for differ-
ent purposes. This is especially useful when utilizing One major point when using XMMAP is to not trans-
XMMAP to invoke methods on the mail server. When fer each and every header contained in the original
invoking a method, only the relevant subparts of the SMTP-IMF-message. Instead it should be aimed at
formats are sent, thus avoiding unnecessary overhead. using only a limited set of headers transferring infor-
mation relevant to the end user; e.g. an SMTP mes-
4.3.1 XMMAP data format sage often contains several “Received” and “X” head-
As mentioned, XMMAP is a representation of an ers. This information might be relevant when back-
entire mail account. This section gives a brief tracking message-paths and for system specific pro-
description of the format including several examples. cessing tasks (such as firewalling and spam filtering).
We begin straight at the point by giving an example But this information is not relevant to the end user.
of how the most important part of an account, a single To save storage space and transmission capacity on
message itself, is represented in XMMAP, see Box 4. the mobile terminal, as many header elements as pos-
sible should be stripped from the message. This is
The format is very much self-explanatory as it con- done by the SMTP->XMMAP gateway before deliv-
tains elements from the mentioned known protocols ering the message to the mobile terminal.
(SMTP, XMTP, POP3 and IMAP). XMMAP maps
perfectly into a standard SMTP-IMF message, with <Flags> element
or without MIME extensions, and vice versa. In addi- The <Flags> element supplies the current flags of an
tion to this, an XMMAP-message supplies the essen- email as child elements. When retrieving previously
tial information given by both POP3 and IMAP mail set flags with XMMAP, the set flags are transmitted
access protocols. and the tag holds the value “1”. When setting flags,
a value of “1” means that the flag should be set, and
The <Message> element is the root of a MIME/ “0” means that the flag should be unset. The flags are
RFC2822 message. A <Message> element contains mapped directly from the IMAP specification.
<BoxNumber>, <Headers>, <Flags>, <Body> and
<Attachments> elements. <Body> element
The body element contains the body of the email mes-
4.3.2 Explanation of elements in XMMAP sage. The current character set is given as a parameter.
If no parameter is given, “us-ascii” is assumed as in
namespaces SMTP-IMF. The content of the <Body> element is
The namespace links to a dated URI, which holds rel- always represented as “text/plain”-MIME type. If the
evant XML Schemas for describing the current usage original message supplies optional ways of represent-
of the XMMAP protocol. ing the message, all but one alternative are stripped
from the message by the SMTP->XMMAP gateway.
web:about attribute If the body is only represented in for example
This attribute is adopted from the XMTP-format, and “text/html”, the HTML-tags are stripped. The results
contains the message identifier URI. after stripping are supplied as “text/plain”. This is
done to reduce the amount of data transmitted, as well
<BoxNumber> element as supplying the data in a format as simple as possible
A <BoxNumber> represents the message’s number in for use with mobile terminals.
a mailbox. The actual mailbox may be given as para-
meter when not implicit from surrounding context. Optionally the representation alternatives can be sup-
plied and the corresponding MIME types given as
parameters to the <Body> element. If the client can-
Box 5
not represent a body part, an error message will be
<Body charset=’’ISO-8859-1’’>
supplied and shown to the user.
MESSAGE COULD NOT BE REPRESENTED IN TEXT/PLAIN!
</Body>
<Body charset=’’ISO-8859-1’’ content- An example of alternative representations of
type=’’text/xml’’>
<Body>-element is found in Box 5.
<xml>
<Element>Data</ Element>
....
</Body>

<Attachments> element SMTP-IMF representation format as well as flag
This is only relevant if the message contains attach- information used in access protocols. But in order to
ments, which are supplied within the Attachments- represent an entire account, some additional elements
element. Each attachment is contained within an are needed. A representation of an entire account
Attachment-element. The MIME type and encoding using XMMAP is shown below.
are given as attributes. Encoding may be omitted,
base64 is then assumed. In addition, an <Attach- Account representation using XMMAP
ment> element contains <Filename>, <Size> and See Box 6.
<Content> elements, containing the filename, size
of the file and binary encoded data, respectively. <Account> element
The Account element represents an entire mail
Attachments may be large, and in many cases the account with all its meta-information as well as con-
user is not interested in downloading these, but only tent. The account contains <Mailboxes>-elements.
in receiving the message-text and attachment-descrip- Account elements can also include login credentials.
tion. In such cases the <Content> element may be left This can be <UserName>, <PassWord>, <Protocol>
empty (<Content/>). Even if the <Content> element and <Port>. The <Account> element is necessary
is empty, the user receives information about the file only when logging on to an account, and when
type, file name and size of the file. From that infor- receiving a list of available mailboxes from the server.
mation the user can decide whether he wants to
download the attachments later or not. <Mailboxes> element
An account may contain one or more mailboxes;
The described elements are sufficient for representing these are listed within the Mailboxes-element-tag
an email message, including elements both from as MailBox-elements.
Box 6
<Account xmlns=’’http://www.finngard.org/xmmap/’’>
<UserName>jonfinng</UserName>
<PassWord>l337s3cr37</PassWord>
<Protocol>IMAPS</Protocol>
<Port>443</Port>
<MailBoxes>
<MailBox>
<BoxName>INBOX</BoxName>
<Unread>12</Unread>
<Total>23</Total>
<Messages />
<MailBoxes>
<MailBox>
<BoxName>INBOX.old </BoxName>
<Unread>0</Unread>
<Total>10</Total>
<Messages />
<MailBoxes />
</MailBox>
</MailBoxes>
</MailBox>
<MailBox>
<BoxName>Work</BoxName>
<Unread>3</Unread>
<Total>34</Total>
<Messages>
<Message xmlns= ’’http://www.finngard.org/2004/04/xmmap/’’
xmlns:web=
‘’http://www.w3. org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#’’
web:about= ’’mid:[email protected]’’>
...
</Message>
</Messages>
<Mailboxes />
</MailBox>
</MailBoxes>
</Account>

SMTP SMTP Total contain the name of the mailbox, the number of
unread messages in it and the total number of mes-
MTA MTA sages respectively.
XMMAP - Mail WS client
kSOAP MSA MTA
<Messages> element
J2ME The Messages-element can contain one or more of
Mobile terminal the messages of this folder. It can also be left as an
MUA LDA
empty tag if this information is not wanted in the cur-
SMTP rent request. A Mailboxes-element within a MailBox-
element contains sub-mailboxes of the current mail-
XMMAP POP Access Message box if such exists.
WS engine
Interface agent store
IMAP
4.3.3 XMMAP defined methods
Email web service Mail server
The XMMAP data format is useful for representing
an account in a minimalist way, and may also be well
Figure 10 Email Web Service Architecture using XMMAP suited for storage purposes. On the other hand, the
data format lacks the coupling to specific methods
related to mobile mail access. This coupling is
achieved by defining SOAP methods using XMMAP
<MailBox> element messages as parameters. The set of methods shown
Information is often wanted on how many messages in Table 1 are implemented so far. More details can
a mailbox contains and how many of them that are be found in Box 7.
new. One way of retrieving this information is to
download all messages in a box and check which one 4.3.4 Architecture overview
of them that has the right flags set. This is not clever Figure 10 shows the overall architecture and its differ-
to do on mobile terminals with limited storage and ent software layers and interfaces. The Web Service
processing capacity. IMAP and POP have functional- Client (WS Client) needs support for SOAP and
ity that offers this information without needing to J2ME as with the other proposed solutions. Also, the
download all messages. client in this solution needs a Mail User Agent (MUA)
capable of XML document creation and parsing, as
The Mailbox-element in the XMMAP-format offers well as for sending and receiving XMMAP messages.
information usually provided by POP and IMAP. The In other words: No support for any other mail proto-
element can also hold full representation of Mail- cols is needed. This makes the client implementation
boxes with content. <BoxName>, <Unread>, much simpler compared to traditional solutions.
<Total>, <Messages> and <Mailboxes> are sub ele-
ments of a Mailbox-element. BoxName, Unread and Every operation on the client requires only one
XMMAP message sent to the web service, and one
message in return. The WS Engine interprets the mes-
sage client request, does the required communication
loginMobileTermXMMAP loginProfileXMMAP with the IMAP/POP/SMTP server, and converts the
getMailboxesXMMAP getHeadersAsXMMAP result into an XMMAP message sent back to the client.
getNewHeadersAsXMMAP getMessagesAsXMMAP
Figure 11 shows the interaction between some of the
setFlagXMMAP deleteXMMAP
components from Figure 10 when a mobile client
sendMailXMMAP logoutXMMAP sends an email using the web service. We see how the
SMTP interaction is stripped down to one message
Table 1 XMMAP methods for the client.
Mobile client Email WS MSA/MTA LDA Message store
sendmail Minimum 11
messages, see
OK figure 3 - SMTP
envelope
Figure 11 Messaging between participating components when sending an email using XMMAP

4.3.5 Internal Web Service Functionality
WS client
As mentioned briefly earlier, the web service will
adapt the mail messages for mobile terminals like SOAP/
mobile phones and PDAs. This is achieved by remov- XMMAP
ing unnecessary email headers. Alternative represen-
SOAP SOAP
tations of the same content (e.g. both plain text and WS X WS Email WS Y
HTML representations of the message body) are
IMAP
reduced to one. Attachments are by default kept back POP SMTP
until the user specifically asks to get them. These TLS
actions keep the amount of data transmitted and the
Mail SMTP
number of message exchanges to a minimum. server server
A summary of the internal functionality offered by

the XML Web Service (see Figure 10): Figure 12 Web service interfaces
• SMTP-IMF to XMMAP gateway and vice versa

• XMMAP to IMAP/POP gateway and vice versa
• Authentication of users 5 The Mobile Mail WS Client
• Holding and managing the user profiles The client side of the email Web Service system is
• Session management for all interfaces and related realised by an application developed for Java 2 Micro
active connections Edition (J2ME) enabled handheld devices. In most
• Content adaptation. This includes everything from cases, this would be a cellular phone. The application
tag and attachment stripping to picture resizing contains all the fundamental functionality of a mail
• Optional: Local caching of messages and attach- client. In addition to the Web Service interface, the
ments client will interface the user through a Graphical User
• Provide necessary interfaces (see section 4.3.6 Interface. Since most of the functionality of the ser-
Interfaces). vice is covered by the earlier sections this section
mostly considers the runtime environment of client,
4.3.6 Interfaces the graphical user interface as well as how access to
The XML Web Service should provide these inter- the Web Service functionality is acquired.
faces:
5.1 Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) overview
• SMTP interface. The XML Web Service will do The email client application for Mobile phones is
the necessary communication with the MSA/MTA implemented in J2ME, Java 2 Platform for Micro
when sending email. In order to make this work, it Edition. J2ME is a Java platform for small consumer
has to do all communication with the MTA using and built-in devices like Mobile Phones and PDAs.
the SMTP protocol. These devices offer limited memory and CPU power,
which makes efficiency an important issue. J2ME is
• POP/IMAP interfaces. Necessary for retrieving a set of standard Java APIs, but it is a scaled-down
mail, and manipulation mail account. Should also version of the Java platform in order to be more effi-
have TLS/SSL support. cient when used on a wireless, handheld, or other
small devices.
• SOAP/XMMAP interface. This interface is used
for communication with the client, and is thorough- The platform offers the benefits of Java technology
ly described in this document. and provides the opportunity to write applications
with standard Java development tools. These applica-
• Optional: SOAP interfaces. One or more interfaces tions will suit a wide range of devices since the J2ME
for communication with other XML Web Services. is deployed in a wide range of Mobile Phones, PDAs
Examples may be special content filtering services and other products supported by Java.
such as spam and virus filters.
The configuration suited for resource constrained
The XML Web Service should have a fast connection devices like cellular phones is the Connected Limited
to all interfaces so there will be minimal delays in Device Configuration (CLDC)[7]. CLDC is further
web service-to-mail server communication. All inter- released in two versions, 1.0 and 1.1. Most mobile
faces should provide support for encrypted communi- phones nowadays support version 1.0, which does
cation using SSL/TLS. not accept the use of floating point numbers.

The CLDC version 1.0, as specified by Java Specifi- The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)[8]
cation Request (JSR) 30, is targeted towards devices combined with CLDC provides a focused platform
with the following capabilities: for mobile information devices, such as mobile
phones and entry-level PDAs. MIDP provides the
• 160 KB to 512 KB of total memory budget avail- vertical integration required to make the Java runtime
able for the Java platform environment applicable to these devices by providing
• 16-bit or 32-bit processor direction for the base environment provided by
• Low power consumption, often operating on bat- CLDC.
tery power
• Intermittent network connection, possibly wireless Currently there are two specialised profiles for
and limited to a bandwidth of 9600 b/s or less. CLDC-based J2ME platforms; the work with a third
one has recently been initialised. They are defined as
The 160 KB memory budget is derived from the min- the Mobile Information Device Profiles (MIDP). The
imum hardware requirements, as follows: profiles are specifications of APIs, which means that
they are collections of functions and functionality. In
• At least 128 KB of non-volatile memory available the first version, MIDP 1.0, all basic elements for a
for the Java Virtual Machine and CLDC libraries; Graphical User Interface are included. However, as
the mobile phones get faster and the displays get
• 32 KB of volatile memory for the Java runtime larger, MIDP 1.0 does not offer enough. The need of
object memory. something better is present. This leads to the “Gam-
ing Profile” MIDP 2.0. This profile gives the devel-
Sun’s original Virtual Machine (VM) for CLDC was oper far more freedom. To make it short you can say
known as the KVM, which stood for Kauai Virtual that MIDP 2.0 is a greatly extended edition of MIDP
Machine, sometimes also known as the Kilo Virtual 1.0, including parts that were missing in the previous
Machine. The CLDC VM is, apart from a few differ- specification like Over-the-Air (OTA) download of
ences, compliant with the Java Virtual Machine Spec- applications.
ification and the Java Language Specification.
By default J2ME does not allow use of the native file
The libraries available are typically split into two system of the handset. To compensate for this J2ME
categories: those defined by CLDC and those defined has a built-in database system called the Record Man-
by a profile and its optional packages such as Mobile agement System (RMS). RMS may be compared with
Multimedia API (MMAPI) and Wireless Messaging a relational database, where each row is identified by
API (WMA). Figure 13 shows how these components a key and can store an array of bytes. Although it is
fit together. very simple, it can be used to improve many applica-
tions where persistent storage of data would be bene-
Networking on CLDC devices has been streamlined so ficial.
that the programmer does not have to fully understand
the underlying device capabilities. The Generic Con- The Java Specification Request (JSR) 172 [9] is
nection Framework (GCF) has been created, streamlin- Java’s Web Service standard for J2ME. Before this
ing the implementation of networking within applica- specification was released developers were forced to
tions. This also helps provide a smaller footprint. make use of third-party packages in order to use Web
Services, or make their own. JSR-172 combines an
XML parser and access to remote Web Services in
Profiles one package. To develop a Web Service client using
JSR-172 is fairly easy. JSR-172 is based on static
stubs. These stubs are generated from a WSDL. A
CLDC Libraries stub consists of all server calls or methods defined in
the WSDL. Request and request classes, or collec-
tions of variables, are generated as well. These capa-
Java Virtual Machine
bilities are provided to the J2ME platform:
• Access to remote SOAP

Host Operating System
• XML-based web services

Figure 13 The high-level software architecture of
a complete J2ME platform based on the CLDC • Subset of JAX-RPC 1.1 functionality
configuration

• Separate deliverable from XML Parsing optional
package. The web services API optional package Over view
should not depend on the XML parsing optional
package.
Mail management
• It MUST be possible to deliver the web services

optional package independent of XML parsing. ?
Contact list
• Provide access to web services from J2ME, no
server capabilities. This JSR will not define web User Email
service endpoints for the target devices. This func- web service
tionality may be addressed in a future version of Configuration
the specification.
• Parsing XML data

- Strict subset wherever possible of JSR-063 JAXP Figure 14 High-level use case diagram displaying
1.2 functionality. the three categories of functionality supported by
the client
The mobile phone that has been used to run the
described test application did not natively support the
JSR-172 specification, but support was added by the
developers by integrating Sun’s reference implemen- Mail management
tation with the application. Cellular phones with
built-in JSR-172 support are currently starting to Download
emerge, and Nokia is even working on a developers’ headers
guide describing how to develop Web Services based
on JSR-172 for Nokia phones. Download
content
5.2 Client architecture
The interface between the client and the server is Folder
entirely specified by the WSDL of the already User information Email
deployed email Web Service. The communication web service
towards this service is done using XML over the Send

message
Web, using SOAP encoding.
5.2.1 Client functionality and components

This section illustrates the functionality of the imple- Figure 15 Functions of the mail management
mented email Web Service client using Use Case dia- component
grams as part of the Unified Modeling Language
(UML). Figure 14 displays a high-level use case dia-
gram for the email client.
Contact list
This high-level diagram puts the functionality into

different categories; mail management, contact list Delete
contact
and configuration. The dashed line indicates a depen-
dency. The dependency illustrates that functions in
“Mail Management” component need to know the Edit
contact
account settings in order to operate properly.
User New
The mail management component
contact
The management of the email in IMAP and POP3 is
carried out in about the same way for the user as a
View
usual mail client. The functions supported can be contacts
seen in Figure 15. The user is provided with the most
common features for management of mail, such as
sending and retrieval of mail.
Figure 16 Functions of the contact list component

Configuration The contact list component
To make the email client user-friendly, it was neces-
sary to implement a contact list. All normal function-
Account & network
settings ality for management of contacts is available for the
user – adding, editing and deleting, as illustrated in
Figure 16. The list supports immediate creation of
Appearance
mail by clicking on a contact. In addition, it is also
possible to select multiple contacts simultaneously,
User Local in order to send the same email to several recipients.
settings
The configuration component
The configuration component provides persistent
Figure 17 Functions of the configuration component storage of all settings (see Figure 17), e.g. mail
account settings, network settings, settings regarding
the appearance of the client and other local settings.
The Graphical User Interface

The Graphical User Interface is important; in fact it
might be just as important as the application runs log-
ically correct. Everyone has tried a poorly designed
GUI, and everyone knows that it really does matter
how things look and feel; people quickly stop using
these applications. J2ME lacks a bit when it comes
to design of fancy GUIs, at least when using items.
Using default items such as lists and text fields gives
little flexibility when it comes to colours. In fact,
there is no common way to set the background colour
Figure 18 The main menu of the email client of these items. This may be solved by using licensed
third-party compiler packages, such as J2MEpolish.
By taking advantage of the possibilities the Canvas
class gives, you can make attractive menus and lists.
All menus or lists in this application have basically

the same design. Logically they are equal, but visu-
ally they differ slightly. All lists feature the same
functionality. What makes these lists better or more
appropriate for this application is their ability to
expand the selected item. Figures 18–20 show a few
rendered screenshots of the custom list.
Figure 19 The Inbox of the email client 6 Conclusion

In this paper, we propose to provide email functional-
ity on mobile terminals using XML Web Services,
which has proven to be reasonable. No other solution
offers this combination of standardized protocols,
adaptation and presentation flexibility, low band-
width consumption as well as simple interfaces and
implementation. This makes this solution ideal for the
complex world of heterogeneous mobile terminals.
Email may be accessed from anywhere even outside

the firewall, from any terminal without introducing
complex authentication procedures or IP-tunnels
using VPN solutions. Thanks to SOAP, sessions can
Figure 20 Displaying an overview of new survive temporary connectivity failures and even
incoming messages change of underlying protocols.

As SOAP implementations on different mobile termi- 4 Borenstein, N, Freed, N. 1993. RFC1521: MIME
nals become more mature, new functionality such as (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part
XML-based encryption and PKI-based authentication One: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing
may be added to extend the service. With these exten- the Format of Internet Message Bodies. IETF,
sions the concept of providing email to mobile termi- September 1993. online:
nals with XML Web Services will become an obvi- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1521.txt?number=1521
ous and powerful solution.
5 Gudgin, M et al. (eds.) 2003. SOAP Version 1.2.
The proposed solution was implemented and tested at W3C, June 2003. online:
the Telenor R&D’s laboratory. The email Web Ser- http://www.w3.org/TR/soap/
vice was implemented by two Master students from
the Norwegian University of Science and Technology 6 Borden, J. 2000. XML MIME Transformation
(NTNU). The mobile mail client was implemented on Protocol (XMTP). The OpenHealth Group, 2000.
J2ME by two BS students from the Oslo University online:
College. The prototype is working quite well and http://www.openhealth.org/documents/xmtp.htm
meets our expectations.
7 Sun Microsystems Inc. 2003. JSR139: Connected
Limited Device Configuration. Specification, Ver-
References sion 1.1, Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME).
1 Klensin, J. (ed.) 2001. RFC2821: Simple Mail Java Community Process (JCP), March 2003.
Transfer Protocol. IETF, April 2001. online: online: http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=139
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt
8 Sun Microsystems Inc. 2000. JSR37: Mobile
2 Crispin, M. 1996. RFC2060: Internet Message Information Device Profile. JCP Specification,
Access Protocol – Version 4rev1. IETF, Decem- Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition, 1.0a. Java Com-
ber 1996. online: munity Process (JCP), December 2000. online:
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2060.txt http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=37
3 Myers, J, Rose, M. 1996. RFC1939: Post Office 9 Sun Microsystems Inc. 2004. JSR172: J2ME Web
Protocol – Version 3. IETF, May 1996. online: Services. Java Community Process (JCP), Octo-
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt ber 2003. online:
http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=172
Box 7 – XMMAP methods
loginMobileTermXMMAP and loginProfileXMMAP

These methods are used for authentication and are mandatory for retrieval of mail, since remote IMAP and
POP servers require authentication. It is recommended to use these methods for authentication regardless
of proceeding operation. This is because authentication of users largely prevents misuse of the service, as
well at offering better back tracing possibilities when undesired usage is detected.
When invoking one of these two methods a session is established by the Web Service. It is recommended that
this session is a SOAP session, but it may also be based on underlying protocols such as HTTP. The Web Ser-
vice also manages a connection to the mailserver related to each session. The session fetches a previously
stored profile, or creates a new one. The profile, among other information, holds custom adaptation properties
for the mobile terminal used in this session.
The difference between these two methods is that “loginProfileXMMAP” uses a pre-stored profile, while
“loginMobileTermXMMAP” takes more input parameters which are needed to create a new profile for present
and future use. These parameters are typically related to the mobile terminal as screen size and maximum
number of colours supported. These parameters are not part of the XMMAP-message itself.
The response of an invocation of these methods is a session- and profile ID in addition to the XMMAP-
message (see example below). The XMMAP message is a list of the mailboxes in the requested account.

Request message example
<Account>
<UserName>jonfinng</UserName>
<PassWord>secret</PassWord>
<Host>imap.stud.ntnu.no</Host>
<Protocol>IMAPS</Protocol>
<Port>443</Port>
</Account>
Response message example

<Mailboxes>
<Mailbox>
<Unread>2</Unread>
<Total>23</Total>
</MailBox>
<MailBox>
<BoxName>INBOX.old</BoxName>
<Unread>0</Unread>
<Total>4</Total>
</MailBox>
</Mailboxes>
getMailBoxes
This method retrieves the mailboxes from an account when already logged in. The message exchange is quite
similar to the login-methods. The request can however be stripped down to <Account /> or completely
omitted since the user is already logged in, and the account information is stored within the session.
getHeadersAsXMMAP and getNewHeadersAsXMMAP

These methods are used to fetch headers from messages in a mailbox. It is often desirable to only fetch in-
formation about unread mail to avoid flooding the screen on the mobile terminal with information about old
emails. Therefore, a method called “getNewHeadersAsXMMAP” should be implemented in addition to
“getHeadersAsXMMAP”. Which headers to send and which to strip off must be set as part of the user profile.

<Mailbox>
<BoxName>INBOX.old</BoxName>
</Mailbox>

<Messages>
<Message web:about=’’mid:[email protected]’’>
<Headers>
<To>[email protected]</To>
<From>[email protected]</From>
…
</Headers>
</Message>
<Message>
…
</Message>
</Messages>
getMessagesAsXMMAP
As the name suggests, this is the message for retrieving mail message content. The request message must
provide the name of the mailbox and message number(s). Note that the content of the eventual attachments
are not initially sent; only the information describing them. The user can then choose to download them later
using the “getAttachmentsAsXMMAP” method.

<Mailbox>
<Messages>
<Message>
<BoxNumber>12</BoxNumber>
</Message>
<Message>
</Message>
</Messages>
</Mailbox>

<Messages>
<Message>
<Body>
…
</Body>
<Attachments>
<Attachment
content-type=’’application/x-ms-word’’
<AttachmentNumber>1</AttachmentNumber>
<FileName>pda_spec.doc</FileName>
<Size>1240211</Size>
</Attachment>
<Attachment
content-type=’’application/pgp-signature’’
<FileName>signature</FileName>
<Size>202</Size>
</Attachment>
</Attachments>
</Message>
</Messages>
getAttachmentAsXMMAP
This method can be invoked to get the content of an attachment. The client will have received a description of
the attachment(s) from a call to the getMessagesAsXMMAP method, and uses the attachment number(s) to
identify which attachment(s) within which message(s) it wants. Only the attachment(s) will be returned, the
body content is omitted.

<Mailbox>
<Messages>
<Message>
<Attachments>
<Attachment>
</Attachment>
<Attachment>
</Attachment>
</Attachments>
</Message>
</Messages>
</Mailbox>

<Messages>
<Message>
<Body/>
<Attachments>
<Attachment
content-type=’’application/x-ms-word’’
<FileName>pda_spec.doc</FileName>
<Size>1240211</Size>
<Content>/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD//gAcU29m
dHdhcmU6IE1pY3Jvc29mdCBPZmZpY2X/2wBDAAo
HBwgHBgoICAgLCgoLDhgQDg0NDh0VFhEYIx8lJC
IfIiEmKzcvJik0KSEiMEExNDk7Pj4+JS5ESUM8
...
</Content>
</Attachment>
<Attachment
content-type=’’image/jpeg’’
<AttachmentNumber>4</AttachNumber>
<Content>
…
</Content>
</Attachment>
</Attachments>
</Message>
</Messages>
setFlags
This method can be used to set message flags on the IMAP/POP server. The method returns nothing,
except from error messages if something goes wrong. Note: setting the DELETED flag with setFlags marks
the message as deleted, but keeps it in the mailbox. For permanent deletion, see the delete method.

<Mailbox>
<Messages>
<Message>
<Flags>
<Seen>1</Seen>
<Answered>1</Answered>
</Flags>
</Message>
<Message>
<Flags>
<Deleted>1</Deleted>
</Flags>
</Message>
</Messages>
</Mailbox>
delete
This SOAP method marks a message as deleted, or deletes it permanently (also called expunging) from the
IMAP/POP server. Whether or not to expunge is given as a parameter to the method call. The default is not
to expunge. The method returns nothing, except from error messages if something goes wrong.

<Mailbox>
<Messages>
<Message>
</Message>
<Message>
</Message>
</Messages>
</Mailbox>
sendMail
This is the method to use for sending mail from the mobile client. It is sufficient with one message exchange
compared to SMTP’s minimum of 11 exchanges. If using the IMAP protocol, the Web Service sends the final
message to the user’s “sent” box and marks messages as “Answered” in the current mailbox if the message is
a reply (given by a ‘ReplyNumber’ element together with the headers). Setting several <To>, <Cc> or <Bcc>
headers in the request message adds multiple recipients in XMMAP. These headers are parsed by the Web
Service and converted to SMTP on its outgoing interface. A RFC2822 compliant message is also created by
the Web Service from the information received before it is sent to its final destination by SMTP.

<Message>
<Headers>
<ReplyNumber>12</ReplyNumber>
<From>Mobile Finngard >[email protected]<</From>
<To>Jomar Jalla >[email protected]<</To>
<To>Britt Jalla >[email protected]<</To>
<Subject>Hold yer horses, picture coming up</Subject>
</Headers>
<Body>
Here it is.. :)
</Body>
<Attachments>
<Attachment content-type=’’image/png’’
encoding=’’base64’’>>
<Filename>onthebeach.png</Filename>
<Size>12343</Size>
<Content>
/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD//gAcU29m
dHdhcmU6IE1pY3Jvc29mdCBPZmZpY2X/2wBDAAo
HBwgHBgoICAgLCgoLDhgQDg0NDh0VFhEYIx8lJC
IfIiEmKzcvJik0KSEiMEExNDk7Pj4+JS5ESUM8
...
</Content>
</Attachment>
</Attachments>
</Message>
This message does not need any response if the Web Service could successfully send the mail to its final
destination. A SOAP fault describing the error is returned if the mail for some reason could not be delivered.
logout
To log out, the server needs no more information than the session id. Hence the logout call is a SOAP
message with empty body. This will close any connections to the user’s mail server and delete the session
from the web service server.

Summary
The methods briefly described here are only a limited subset of the most important methods that can be
implemented by coupling SOAP and XMMAP for email access on mobile terminals. There is in principle no
limitation as to what additional methods that may be implemented. The XMMAP format is flexible, and can
be extended by new elements in any part of the format if found convenient. There is no fixed order in how the
current messages are sent after the user has logged in. When defining new methods, this principle should be
followed in order to keep every message independent from both previous and succeeding messages.
For a presentation of Ivar Jørstad, please turn to page 21.
Tore Jønvik is Associate Professor at Oslo University College, Faculty of Engineering. Jønvik holds an MSc in
Physics and a PhD in Informatics from the University of Oslo. He is guest researcher at Telenor R&D and is
working in two Eureka-Celtic projects, ADPO and Fidelity.

Fetching home music – Sending photos home
DO VAN THANH, IVAR JØRSTAD AND DO VAN THUAN
More and more people have mobile phones. More and more people have PCs and broadband connec-
tion to the Internet. It is only a matter of time before they require access to their home computers
from their mobile phones. This paper proposes an architecture based on XML Web Services allowing
remote access to the user’s home network file system. A global system architecture is provided and
details of the mapping between the network file system and an XML Web Service are depicted using
XML Schema Definitions.
Do van Thanh
is Senior
Research
Scientist at 1 Introduction an application on the computer where services reside
Telenor R&D Imagine a passenger waiting at the airport. He may (in the home network), as well as to download and
want to listen to music. His mobile phone can func- install a client on the device in use.
tion as an MP3 player but unfortunately, he forgot to
load the songs that he has selected and saved in his
PC at home. It would be nice if he were able to access 2 The evolving home network
to his home PC and fetch the tunes that he wants.
Imagine an executive travelling on a business trip A. Firewall and routing problems
who experiences some magnificent scenery. She Only a few years ago, most of the home connections
Ivar Jørstad is a takes pictures using a 2 Megapixel digital camera on to the Internet were modem-based. Only when
PhD student at her mobile phone. She may want to keep these pic- needed would the user initiate the dial-in process and
Norwegian tures and send them to her home computer. hook up his PC to the Internet. The situation has
University of changed dramatically with the emergence of broad-
Science and
Indeed, more and more households are acquiring band Internet connection possibilities like cable TV,
Technology
broadband Internet connections to their home. On the xDSL, etc. These technologies do not only offer
home network they may have several computers run- higher access bit rate to the users but also make the
ning various services and hosting private documents user home network “always on”. The users do not
and files. It is hence quite desirable to be able to have to dial up anymore but can just go right away on
access these services and documents from outside the Internet whenever they like. Unfortunately, a coin
their home via stationary computers or mobile always has a reverse side. The home networks are
devices like cellular phones or PDAs. now exposed to attacks in the same way as enterprise
networks and some protection is necessary. Home
Do van Thuan is
Lead Scientist at The permanent connection to the Internet paves the networks, similar to enterprise networks, most often
Linus AS way for a new type of service provisioning where ser- employ a router with embedded firewall to connect
vices are partly located in the home network of the the home LAN to the Internet through e.g. an ADSL
users and accessible from a cellular phone. Potential or cable TV connection. The firewall protects the
services can be content based like browser book- home networks against intruders but at the same time
marks, address books, MS Office documents or prevents all access from outside even by the owners
similar, but it can also be applications rendering themselves.
more dynamic services to the user (giving an output,
provided some input). To allow incoming access to the home network, this
firewall/router must be bypassed and the communica-
Unfortunately, due to the threats from the Internet, tion must be forwarded to the appropriate computer
most home networks need to have firewalls. In addi- on the home network. It might be necessary to open
tion, Network Address Translation (NAT) is also up several TCP ports (e.g. 138, 139 and 445) and
used. Firewalls and NAT make the access to the direct the incoming traffic on these ports to the com-
home system from the outside world difficult. This puter that is sharing resources. This is often a compli-
paper proposes an architecture allowing remote cated task that might be too difficult for the common
access to home file systems from outside devices user.
which can be a PC, PDA or mobile phone. Without
compromising security, the proposed solution is sim- There is a need for a solution that allows legitimate
ple and requires only minimal technical skills to take accesses to the home network but at the same time
into use. All that is needed is to download and install preserves security.

B. Multi computer and user support could decide the destination of the packet based on
Not long ago, most households had only one com- the source address of the request, it would not have
puter and one unique user – usually the head of the been an adequate solution, because the Dynamic Host
family. The situation has changed dramatically and Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is often used. Thus,
nowadays households have often several personal the IP address of the client device will most likely
computers connected together by a LAN. The number change over time. The multi user support could there-
of users is extended to include all the household’s fore only be supported in a higher layer; i.e. the appli-
members. Networked file systems are used to allow cation layer.
users to share computers and disk space. A user on
one computer can also access files stored in a disk It is hence desirable to have a solution that enables
located on another computer. remote accesses to all the home computers and files
by legitimate users from mobile devices.
The most common network file system in existence
today is the Common Internet File System (CIFS) [1]
published by Storage Networking Industry Associa- 3 Existing solutions
tion (SNIA), a non-profit trade association dedicated Currently, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are used
to ensuring that storage networks become complete to allow access to file systems in remote locations
and trusted solutions across the IT community. CIFS from e.g. laptop computers by employees that are
is based on the Server Message Block (SMB) and traveling (often referred to as road warrior configura-
NetBIOS protocols. The first attempt to define the tion) or to access corporate networks from their
NetBIOS was initiated in 1984 [5]. In 1988 this home. VPNs can be a solution to allow home users
protocol had evolved to the Server Message Block to access their home networks.
(SMB) protocol. The history of SMB is long and
complicated, and the standardization has been under- One of the advantages of using this solution is that
taken by several different actors, among them it provides a secure tunnel between two locations,
Microsoft. Eventually, SMB has evolved into CIFS, across the public Internet. This tunnel is realized by
which is the standard network file system used by strong cryptography, both for authentication of users
Microsoft operating systems today. and for encryption of content that travels across the
tunnel. Also, as suggested by the name, when using
For other systems than operating systems developed VPN the networks connected by the tunnel will
by Microsoft, a software suite called Samba has since appear as one network by the user, thereby allowing
1992 been developed to allow for example Linux easy access to well-known features of geographically
clients to access an MS Windows file or print server. separated networks. The technology is often used for
It can also let the Linux computer act as a CIFS file interconnecting branch offices of enterprises. How-
or print server, thus it allows MS Windows clients to ever, this solution has a couple of drawbacks when
access these shared resources. considered in the light of mobility of novice users of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
CIFS could be used directly by a remote terminal (e.g.
a computer) to access resources on the home based VPN solutions are often complex to install and con-
LAN. However, for mobile devices like cellular phone figure, and often requires in-depth knowledge of
or PDA, access to the home network is not possible computer and networking technology. This means
since there is no CIFS client. The implementation of a that ordinary users cannot do this task themselves. It
CIFS client might be challenging due to the physical is therefore not common for home based Local Area
limitations of the mobile devices such as processing Networks (LAN) to employ such solutions, and there-
capabilities, storage, battery life, etc., not to mention fore it is not possible to access resources residing in
that the protocol is complicated with many details that these networks from remote locations.
must be coped with in an implementation.
VPNs are based on strong encryption to allow a
Another major challenge already mentioned is the secure tunnel between devices across the public Inter-
firewall issue. The home network often connects net. For resource constrained devices, this strong
several personal computers to the Internet, computers encryption is often not possible due to the amount
belonging to different users (e.g. family members). of required processing power and memory needed
Access to each of these computers from remote loca- to perform the mathematical calculations. Also, the
tions, by the owner, should be possible. Moreover, strong cryptography used in VPNs might be an un-
the configuration for forwarding packets in an ordi- necessary overhead for the type of users targeted in
nary firewall is static and cannot differentiate be- this paper. Instead, more lightweight cryptography
tween the sources of the request. Even if the firewall can be applied, if found necessary.

User A
Mobile
Router w/ phone
DHCP &
NAT
HomeAccess
WS client
HomeAccess Broadband
local WS operator DHCP
server
Firewall
Multiplekser
Internet
User B
HomeAccess
global WS
Router w/
DHCP &
NAT
HomeAccess
WS client
HomeAccess
local WS
Computer
Firewall
Figure 1 Mobile Home Access architecture
4 Overall architecture • The Native File interface

Mobile Home Access is a solution that will allow • The Web Service File interface
access to any files or services residing on computers • The Administrative interface.
on a LAN behind a firewall, typically a private Local
Area Network (LAN). The solution as shown in Fig- In addition to the file access functionality the Home
ure 1 consists of three components: Access Local Web Service also has the functionality
to periodically query the IP address of the home net-
• A Home Access Local Web Service that is installed work and upload it to the Home Access Global Web
on the PC to provide access to files and services; Service or a defined globally accessible storage area.
• A Home Access Global Web Service addressable

by a global IP address;
• A Home Access Web Service Client that is in- Native file Web service
stalled on the terminal(s) used to access files and interface file interface
services.
Home access Home access
Native networked
4.1 Home Access Local Web Service local web web service
filesystem
service client
The role of the Home Access Local WS is to expose
the relevant operations of the native file system on
the World Wide Web such that mobile client can use
them to access files and services located within the Administrative interface
home network. Home access
administrative
As shown in Figure 2, the Home Access Local Web application
Service has three interfaces:
Figure 2 Interfaces in the Mobile Home Access system

The Native File interface The Web Service File interface
At the Home Network, there could be several users Since the goal is to enable file and service access
sharing several heterogeneous computers and periph- from outside devices, especially mobile phones,
eral devices. It is assumed that the Home Network is which have several limitations, the requirements
equipped with a networked file system that allows the on the Web Service interface are as follows:
users to view and to access remote files located on
other computers from one computer. Examples of • It should support both regular computers and
such a networked file system can be Sun Network limited mobile devices;
File System (NFS) [3][4] or Common Internet File
System (CIFS) [5]. However, only CIFS will be con- • It should be capable of adapting itself to the device
sidered further since it is incorporated in Microsoft type;
Windows which is installed in most private house-
holds. • For mobile phones with physical limitations in
terms of storage, processing, small display, etc. the
CIFS is a file sharing protocol. Client systems use operations/methods should be rich such that only
this protocol to request file access services from few operations are required to accomplish a task.
server systems over a network. It is based on the
Server Message Block (SMB) protocol widely in use To cope with these requirements the Web Service
by personal computers and workstations running a File interface consists of the following sub-interfaces:
wide variety of operating systems. The protocol sup-
ports the following features: • Authentication interface
• Administration interface
• File access • Tunnelling interface
• File and record locking • Reduced Mapping interface.
• Safe caching, read-ahead, and write-behind
• File change notification Before allowing access to home files and services, it is
• Protocol version negotiation important that the identification, authentication and
• Extended attributes authorisation are carried out properly. The Web Service
• Distributed replicated virtual volumes File interface must have an Authentication Interface.
• Server name resolution independence
• Batched requests The Tunnelling interface is more suitable for access
• Unicode file names. from a remote personal computer which has a CIFS
client installed. The Reduced Mapping interface is
Although CIFS is independent of the transport layer, intended for mobile devices with limited capabilities.
the common transport today across this interface is
through NBT (NetBIOS over TCP) or across raw Authentication interface
TCP connections. This interface controls identification, authentication
and authorization to shared resources.
Raw TCP transport
This mode of operation is the simplest, where SMB IAUTHMustAuthenticate(Challenge) – This method
messages can be sent immediately to port 445 on the is used to notify the client that it is required to
server. Based on the response to a TCP connection authenticate itself prior to accessing any resources
request to this port, and possibly a reply to the SMB through the service access point. This method can be
message, either RAW transport can be used further or used as a response to any type of request from an
an NBT session can be initiated as described below. unauthenticated client.
NBT transport IAUTHAuthenticateRequest(Credentials) – This

In this mode, additional messages must be sent to method is used by the client to request authentication
gain access to the file server and to initiate a session. by providing proper credentials.
Also, a valid NetBIOS name of the file server is
needed in the message that requests a new session. IAUTHAuthenticateResponse() – This method is used
The need for NBT support completely relies on the by the service access point to notify the client about
servers that should be supported and whether these the outcome of the authentication process.
are expecting correct NBT semantics.
The Administrative interface
Access to administration methods requires successful
authentication through the interface described earlier.

The administrative interface can be used from remote Tunnelling interface
clients as well as from clients on the home network, In tunnelling mode, a complete CIFS message is
which could be an administration application. encapsulated in a Simple Object Access Protocol
(SOAP) message by the Home Access Local Web
The Administrative Interface allows a user to specify: Service using binary attachments. At the Web Service
• What directories on the home computer(s) should client side (on the terminal), the CIFS content is
be made accessible to remote devices. extracted from the SOAP message and exposed
through a CIFS server. This way, an ordinary CIFS
In addition it allows a System Administrator to con- enabled browser (e.g. Windows Explorer) can be
figure: used to access the remote file system.
• User accounts.
There are basically two approaches to embedding
IADMListHosts() – Lists all hosts on the home net- binary data into SOAP messages:
work
The first approach is to embed binary data as Base64-
IADMListUsers() – Lists all registered users encoded data. The most appropriate way of doing this
is to embed the data within an <xsd:base64> ele-
IADMListDirectoriesOnHost(String host) – Lists all ment. However, with current JSR-172 implementa-
accessible directories on the specified host tions, the <xsd:base64> element is not properly sup-
ported. The solution is to embed the data within an
IADMSetAccessRights(URI resource, Int accessrights) <xsd:string> element. Using base64 encoding results
– Sets the specified access rights on the specified file in an increase in size of 1/3 of the original size. For
or directory SMB messages containing only signalling informa-
tion, this might not be a problem, but for the mes-
IADMGetUserConfiguration(String user_id) – sages containing file contents it is. By using compres-
Retrieves the specified user’s configuration sion before base64-encoding, it is possible to avoid
too much overhead for some types of content.
IADMSetUserConfiguration(String user_id, Configu-
ration c) – Sets the specified user’s configuration The other approach is to use SOAP with Attachments
(SwA) [6], but this is not yet supported by all SOAP
Each user’s access rights to resources and preferences platforms. It is however supported with JAX-RPC [7]
are controlled through two methods (IADMGetUser- through SAAJ [8]. Utilising one of the referenced
Configuration and IADMSetUserConfiguration). By specifications, SwA will be supported by all SOAP
defining a generic method which passes the configu- platforms in the near future.
ration as a parameter to the Home Access Local Web
Service, maximum flexibility is achieved, and new Also, the client application exposing the file system
features can easily be added later on. is required to authenticate itself towards the service
access point before access to the remote file system
A configuration contains at least the following defini- is granted and the file system can be exposed. Except
tions: for this authentication process, all other commands
follow the network file system protocol semantics.
1 Definition of access rights (readable, writable or
both) to specific files and directories; The tunnelling interface has two methods:
2 For each resource it should be possible to define ITUNReqCommand(CIFSAttachment) – Transports a

which component of the resource is available (off- complete request command from client to host with
set, length etc.); network file system.
3 Definition of access rights and format/presentation ITUNResCommand(CIFSAttachment) – Transports a

from specific device or group of devices; complete response command from host with network
file system to client.
4 Definition of access rights from specific IP-
addresses, subnets or domains; Reduced mapping interface
Every CIFS message can be replaced by a corre-
5 Definition of access rights by specific users and sponding SOAP message. In theory, each field of
groups of users. a CIFS message could be mapped into an entry of
a SOAP message by the Home Access Local Web

Service. At the client side (terminal), the SOAP mes- • Dynamic global IP address
sage is parsed and the original CIFS message recon- • Permanent local IP address
structed and exposed through a CIFS server. How- • Dynamic local IP address.
ever, such a full mapping scheme introduces a lot of
overhead and it is not sure that the mobile device is It collaborates with several Home Access Local Web
capable of receiving and processing all the data that Services belonging to different users. It must have a
it gets. A reduced mapping scheme is more efficient list of users to serve. Before establishing the connec-
and has the following advantages: tion of a Home Access Local Web Service of a user,
sufficiently strong authentication must be carried out.
• Reduces the content of each message;
It has the following functionality:
• Reduces the number of total messages;
• Discovery and updating of the home network’s
• Reduces the requirements on the mobile device; current IP address;
there is no need for a complete CIFS client on the
device, but only a client which supports the speci- • Relaying the method requests from the Home
fied methods; Access Web Service Client to the Home Access
Local Web Service;
• Transferred block size can be adapted to fit the
available resources on the handset, as well as to • Exchange of endpoint information (IP addresses
fit the processing capabilities of the parser on the and port numbers) between client and server, so as
client. to allow easier NAT/firewall penetration.
Only the most important parts of native network file It has the following interfaces:
system messages are mapped to an XML format. In
addition, a set of management interfaces that are used • The Native File interface
between the client and the service access point, are • The Web Service File interface
defined. These interfaces control connection estab- • The IP update interface.
lishment towards shares, as well as maintenance of
sessions and teardown of connections. The first two interfaces are the same as the ones
defined for the Home Access Local Service.
IACCListResources(URI uri, String pattern, Boolean
recursive) – Lists all resources on the specified URI The IP update interface has the following method:
matching the specified pattern. If pattern is left
empty, all resources on the specified URI are listed. IUpdateIP(user_id, IP address) – To update the IP
Setting recursive to true allows this method to be address of the specified user.
used for searching for specific named resources
throughout the entire tree defined by uri. IGetCurrentIP(user_id) – Returns the current IP
address of the specified user.
IACCReadResource(URI uri) – Reads the contents of
the specified resource as specified in the user config- 4.3 Home Access Web Service Client
uration described previously. This method incorpo- There are two types of Home Access Web Service
rates several methods of the network file system, Client:
such as protocol negotiation, session setup etc.
• Tunnelling Client
IACCWriteResource(URI uri, WriteSpecification ws) • Reduced Mapping Client.
– Writes to the specified resource the content speci-
fied by ws (e.g. create/offset/append, data, length The Tunnelling Client will use the Tunnelling inter-
etc.). This method incorporates several methods of face to interact with either the Home Access Local
the network file system, such as protocol negotiation, Web Service or the Home Access Global Web Ser-
session setup, etc. vice. This Client is suitable for regular PCs. It incor-
porates also a CIFS server such that a regular CIFS
4.2 Home Access Global Web Service client like Windows Explorer can be used to access
The Home Access Global Web Service is required for the remote files and services. In fact, the Tunnelling
the three cases: Client acts much like a CIFS proxy, since it is ex-
posed as a CIFS file system itself, and is a one-to-one
mapping of the CIFS file system on the server side.

The Reduced Mapping Client will use the Reduced
Integrated
Mapping interface to interact with the Home Access CIFS Client Local Storage
Local Storage handler
Local Web Service and Home Access Global Web
Service. This Client is suitable for mobile devices Terminal local exposure Iinterface
such as mobile phones or PDAs (Personal Digital
Assistant). It also incorporates a file browser and a
user interface (UI) which are designed for devices
Home access web
with limited display and navigation ability. service client
5 Experiences with existing Figure 3 Exposure mechanisms on the terminal; the Terminal Local
implementation Exposure interface
The current implementation of the Mobile Home
Access system is currently subject to a performance
evaluation. The evaluation is performed using the
Nokia 6680 cellular phone connected to the Telenor
Mobil 3G network. The preliminary results of this
evaluation are as follows.
With the initial implementation of the transfer mecha-

nism, an effective throughput rate of 16 kbit/s was WS client Local WS CIFS server
achieved. This seemed incredibly low, and it was
uncertain if this was due to the overhead introduced 1: SOAPRead
by XML processing and SOAP encoding/decoding,
2: SOAPMustAuthenticate
base64 encoding/decoding combined with the latency
of the cellular network. Since the system is based on
3: SOAPAuthenticate
a request/response mechanism, it seemed likely that
transferring small amounts of data in each request/ 4: SOAPAuthenticateResp
response pair would increase the total cellular net-
work latency substantially. By increasing the amount 5: SOAPRead
of data transferred in each request/response from
3000 bytes to 22,000 bytes, the throughput rate in- 6: SMBNegProf
creased to around 81 kbit/s. When content transferred
is not already compressed (e.g. Word documents and 7: SMBNegProfResp
similar), effective throughput rates of up to 155 kbit/s

8: SMBSessSetup
have been reached. In theory, the amount of data
transferred could be increased above 22,000 bytes, 9: SMBSessSetupResp
but with slightly larger amounts the current XML
parser breaks down. 10: SMBConnect
The estimated processing time spent in the mobile 11: SMBConnectResp

device after receiving a chunk of data and before
sending the next request for data was for a block size 12: SMBOpen
of 22,000 bytes 1.3 seconds. The measured time spent
13: SMBOpenResp
in the XML parser itself was 1058 ms for a block size
of 22,000 bytes. As illustrated by these numbers, too
14: SMBRead
much time is spent in processing received data in the
handset. With support for SOAP with Attachments, 15: SMBReadResp
the processing time spent in the XML parser would
be dramatically reduced, and the throughput rate sub-
16: SOAPReadResp
stantially increased. The implementation and prelimi-
nary testing of this approach is currently being done, 17: SMBClose
but since SOAP with Attachments is not supported by
JSR-172, these increased throughput rates will not be 18: SMBCloseResp
achievable by native libraries in the handsets in the

near future.
Figure 4 Call sequence for reading a remote file

Conclusion 3 Callaghan, B. 1996. RFC 2054: WebNFS Client
This paper proposes an architecture for providing Specification. Sun Microsystems Inc., October
access to a private home network file system from a 1996, available online: http://www.ietf.org/
remote terminal which prevents the security of the rfc/rfc2054.txt
home system. The proposed solution is based on the
Web Service concept. For the mapping between the 4 Callaghan, B. 1996. RFC 2055: WebNFS Server
local file system and the Web Service, three alterna- Specification. Sun Microsystems Inc., October
tives are presented but only two are recommended. 1996, available online: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/
The first one, Tunnelling mode is completely com- rfc2055.txt
patible for remote personal computers with installed
CIFS client like CIFS enable browser. The second 5 Hertel, C R. 2004. Implementing CIFS. Pearson
one, Restricted mapped mode, reduces the number Education Inc. (ISBN 0-13-047116-X)
of method calls and makes the implementation of a
client for mobile terminals feasible. 6 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). 2000.
SOAP Messages with Attachments. Available
online: http://www.w3.org/TR/SOAP-attachments
References
1 SNIA CIFS Technical Work Group. 2002. Com- 7 Sun Microsystems Inc. 2002. JSR101: Java API
mon Internet File System (CIFS). Technical Revi- for XML-based RPC, JAX-RPC 1.1. June 11,
sion: 1.0, February 27, 2002. 2002, available online: http://jcp.org/en/jsr/
detail?id=101
2 Shearer, D. 1996. History of SMB Project. Avail-
able online: http://www.samba.org/cifs/docs/ 8 Sun Microsystems Inc. 2003. SOAP with Attach-
smb-history.html ments API for Java (SAAJ) 1.2. October 21, 2003,
available online: http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=67
Do van Thuan is currently Lead Scientist at Linus AS – a Norwegian firm specialising in custom develop-
ment and system integration for telcos and the process industry. After finishing his studies at the Institute
of Informatics, University of Bergen, in 1984, he joined Norsk Data where he worked first with COBOL and
FORTRAN compilers, then with OS command interpreters and last with SQL processors for databases. Since
then he has been involved with several large projects developing information systems and process/produc-
tion control systems. These days he is member of two European projects, ADPO – Personalised Adaptive
Portal Framework, and Fidelity – Circle-of-Trust based on Liberty Alliance’s Specification. His research
interests are distributed systems, component technology and software design methods.

The role of RFID in the mobile phone
JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ CALVET
The purpose of this article is to give a general overview of the RFID technology and the role it will play
when included in mobile phones. The article gives an overview of the RFID market, the current status,
the future of RFID and the markets that are driving the technology through the hype curve. It then
goes through a description of why it makes sense to include RFID in the mobile phone and what is
motivating the different players pushing the technology.
Juan Carlos The article also includes a technology overview of the RFID and NFC technologies and finalises with a
López Calvet
short conclusion of how mobile operators and other players are positioning themselves in order to
is Research
Manager in take advantage of the opportunities provided by the inclusion of RFID/NFC on the mobile phones.
Telenor R&D
1 Introduction 1.1 RFID today

As with any new promising technology, RFID is Although RFID can be used in many areas, it is sup-
going through a hype where huge expectations are ply chain management that is currently driving the
created followed by just as huge disappointments. RFID hype due to the implications of the Wal-Mart
The technology fans see a sea of opportunities while and Department of Defence Mandates.
others fear that the technology will affect their pri-
vacy. But what is actually all this hype about? 1.1.1 The Wal-Mart Mandate
Linda Dillman, Wal-Mart’s CIO, publicly announced
RFID is in its most simple form just a bar code that in June 2003 that the retailer would ask its top suppli-
can be read from a distance, and some of the most ers to tag pallets and cases beginning in January 2005.
obvious advantages of this technology are: The news created a storm in the retail and consumer
packaged goods industries.
• Objects do not need to be passed individually
through a laser scanner. Wal-Mart receives roughly 1 billion cases per year
from its top 100 suppliers. Dillman said that the com-
• Many objects can be read at the same time from the pany would not be tracking every single case from
same reader. the top 100 suppliers by January 1, 2005, but rather
that it would ramp up over time. “Our goal is to track
• RFID tags can hold more information than bar all pallets and cases.” [7]
codes and therefore users or companies can benefit
from richer information. Dillman also indicated that Wal-Mart would start
deploying EPC (Electronic Product Code) technology
Based on these advantages, the applications that the in the United States and would quickly move to
technology has are almost endless, like locating and implement it in Europe and then in the rest of its
tracking an individual product in real time through overseas operations.
production, supply chain and warehouse, contactless
payments, positioning, personalization and identifica- Because of its size, Wal-Mart will have a major effect
tion just to name a few. on how RFID technology is adopted. Consider a few
facts. Wal-Mart’s annual sales are greater than the
Along with all the opportunities come questions like: combined sales of the entire semiconductor industry.
Are people going to monitor each item I’m wearing Wal-Mart’s sales are greater than the gross domestic
when I enter a store? Can anyone read the contents product of Turkey. Wal-Mart imports more goods
of my wallet from a distance? Am I going to be moni- from China ($14 billion) than Japan does ($10 bil-
tored and located everywhere I go? lion). And it employs more people than Ford, General
Motors, Exxon Mobil and GE combined [10].
And the answer is no, the technology is not there, nei-
ther for the advantages nor the concerns, but in very 1.1.2 US Department of Defence RFID Mandate
specific cases it can already provide a clear benefit Following in Wal-Mart’s footsteps, the US Depart-
for users and companies. ment of Defence asked its top 100 suppliers to put
RFID tags on shipments.

The DOD suppliers are among the largest companies • Serial Number: This field is the specific instance
in the world. The top 100 include Boeing, General of the object tagged. In other words, when an inter-
Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and rogator reads this object it knows exactly which
Raytheon. By endorsing EPC technology for tracking unique object has been read and not only what type
goods in the military supply chain, it could help spread of object.
EPC technology throughout the manufacturing sector
because the military’s top 100 suppliers also have
divisions that make commercial airplanes, electronic 2 RFID market overview
components, trucks, ships and other products [9].
2.1 Supply chain management
1.1.3 EPC and the “Internet of Things” Due to the size of Wal-Mart and its 100 top suppliers,
The EPC network, using RFID tags, will enable com- the media has been focusing on the use of RFID on
puters to automatically recognize and identify every- the Supply Chain, but the reality is that it is early
day objects, and then track, trace, monitor, trigger days and most of the RFID deployments for the sup-
events, and perform actions on those objects. The tech- ply chain are still in the pilot phase.
nology will effectively create an “Internet of Things.”
Europe has some interesting cases like the Metro
The industries and media are focusing on this “Inter- Group, which is using RFID step by step throughout
net of Things” for manufacturing, retail, transporta- the entire process chain (http://www.metro-group.
tion, health care, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and com.tr), and Marks & Spencer, who tested the ability
government, offering an unprecedented real-time to check stock deliveries and count stock quickly in
view of assets and inventories throughout the global stores using RFID tags. But in Scandinavia the pic-
supply chain. Once the products have unique identifi- ture is different. Most of the retail industry has just
cation codes and with mobile phones that can read migrated to unified bar codes and are not expecting to
such codes (like NFC mobile phones), the concept of do any investments for the use of RFID in the supply
the “Internet of Things” will not only be used for chain for the next three or four years.
industry process, but it will also migrate to the con-
sumer market, giving end users the possibility of Nevertheless, some niche areas could see the benefits
accessing product information from their mobile of RFID, like fresh goods; e.g. monitoring the fish
phones. temperature as it goes through the supply chain. Such
areas could give industries like retail a good opportu-
The electronic product code uniquely identifies nity to test the benefits of the RFID technology with-
objects and facilitates tracking throughout the product out having to make huge investments to include their
life cycle, so when a reader scans an RFID tag on a whole line of products.
case of milk, the tag will answer with an EPC number
for the inventory management system, letting it know 2.2 Asset management
exactly which case of milk was just scanned. There seems to be a common perception that there are
other areas that will make use of the RFID technol-
The data structure of an electronic product code is ogy before supply chain management, and the best
described in the table below. candidate is Asset management.
Electronic Product Code
By using active RFID tags companies have the possi-
01 0000B92 00056A 0004325F0
bility to better track and monitor their assets through-
Header EPC Manager Object Class Serial Number out a supply chain, in an enterprise, and dispersed
0-7 bits 8-35 bits 35-59 bits 60-95 bits into the field. This area has been commercial for some
time now and due to the influence of Telecom Opera-
• Header: This field tells the reader what type of tors it got the name M2M or machine-to-machine.
number follows, in order to understand what the
number represents, for example: a military unique From the point of view of RFID middleware pro-
identifier number or a complete EPC structure. viders like IBM and Oracle, RFID is only a small part
of their M2M middleware offering, meaning that an
• EPC Manager: This field identifies the company or M2M platform that is used to monitor the tempera-
the company entity. ture of refrigerators can also be used to track goods
going through the supply chain, for the middleware
• Object Class: This field is a unique numeric identi- platform it is just a matter of handling different types
fier that refers to a specific product in an inventory of signals and giving them a business meaning.
or in a catalogue.

The reason why asset management is more mature is • Failure Reports: Touch a tag and get linked to a
because the cost of investment in technology in order page to enter the reason for failure.
to track expensive or important items is minimal
compared to the value of loss or malfunction of such • Materials Used Report: Touch a tag and get linked
items, and this is the same reason why the supply to a page to enter the materials used.
chain is not yet mature, since the cost of monitoring a
package of milk is much higher than the value that it • Recording Travel Expenses: Attach a tag to the
brings. Some areas that could instantly benefit from dashboard of a car. Touch and enter beginning and
M2M could be airports, oil platforms or any other ending mileage to have time stamped data for a
industry that needs to track and monitor expensive travel expense form.
assets (see Figure 1).
• Time and Date Stamping (ex. Security): Attach tags
2.3 Workflow management to sites that are visited by security guards.
Workflow management is the area where the NFC and Get accurate time stamps and proof of work done.
RFID technologies converge and is also gaining a lot
of momentum. Mobile Workflow Management makes • Time and Attendance Recording: For example,
use of mobile phones enabled with RFID/NFC readers personnel could use personal tags to touch a single
in order to automate information retrieval and data phone in the office, at a construction site or field
capture in the field. Some example applications are: office to clock in and out.
• Service Information: Get up to date service infor- • Automatic Meter Reading: Touch a tag attached to
mation by touching an item. a meter and the meter readings are recorded in the
phone. Time stamp and tag information is available
• Automatic Search: Touch a tag to automate exten- automatically.
sive search strings.
The Norwegian company AD Columbi has been
• Work order Generation: Touch a tag attached to offering these types of services for some time using
the machine and a new work order is available bar code scanners attached to mobile phones and is
from a web page. currently collaborating with Nokia for the usage of
Value of item Asset

in process
- High margins management
- Safety driven
- Capital savings Oil&Gas
Airport
Industry
Construction
Shipping Health
Supply chain management
Care
Transport
Retail
Low Volume High

of RFID
Items deployed
Figure 1 Industry adoption of RFID according to the value and volume of the - Individuals
- Pallets
items being tagged. Source: Per Christian Eggen, Magnus Bakken, Lene Wium,
- Cases
Thomas Kvaal and Juan Carlos López Calvet - Items

Global potential Billion/year RFID leadership EPC standards (Class 0 and Class1). The biggest dif-
Library 0.1 Singapore
ference between these two standards is that there is
now a single global protocol instead of the two (Class
Museums, art galleries 0.1 Europe
0 and Class 1) that EPC previously had. The implica-
Laundry 1 Europe tion of a unified protocol is that readers will be able
Tires 1 Europe to read tags regardless of where they are manufac-
tured.
Military items 2 US
Blood 2 Europe/US Another important aspect of the UHF Gen 2 protocol

Test tubes 2 Europe/US is that it uses the available radio spectrum more effi-
Archiving paperwork 2 US
ciently, providing a much better performance in
Europe than any other UHF protocol.
Drugs 30 US
Books 50 Japan Finally and probably the most important addition to

Postal 650 Europe the new standard is that a Gen 2 reader will now be
able to read active tags with sensors, which moves
Retail items 10,000 Europe/Japan/US
RFID from a pure supply chain management app-
roach to a more general asset managing approach
Table 1 Potential maximum yearly sales by 2020 or earlier for different which includes a wider range of markets.
types of item level RFID tagging [Source IDTechEx]
3.2 The facts about product level tagging
Item level is a term that usually refers to fairly small
RFID/NFC enabled phones for customers like ISS items in high volume. Item level tagging offers far
Norge that uses the solution to inform their workforce more benefits than case and pallet tagging. They
about jobs to be done in a specific place by pushing include crime reduction, error prevention and brand
the necessary information to the phone and register enhancement as well as cost, service and so on. It is
when the job is done by touching an RFID tag. only with item level tagging that the consumer will
clearly see benefits.
3 RFID in the future Others with their own priorities are proceeding very
rapidly to trial and roll out item level tagging with
3.1 EPC Generation 2 excellent paybacks, usually employing the well
For most of 2004 there has been a lot of focus on the proven 13.56 MHz frequency where the environment
second-generation UHF standard of EPCGlobal1), but and production quality are less of a problem.
there are only few people who really understand how
this new generation differs from the first-generation There are fresh food items tagged in Botswana and
Japan, survival equipment in France and cigarettes,
videos and even artificial logs in the US. Supermarket
items have been tagged in the Philippines. Most are
trials of course, but gas cylinders and beer barrels
SIM card
tagged in Denmark, the UK, France and elsewhere
Integrated have long been full rollouts with excellent paybacks
ROM SIM/RFID
RST of one year or so. And this is a worldwide phenom-
controller enon. Their objectives vary greatly of course, and the
CLK I/O RAM
system CPU list changes by the day. Those that quietly get on with
I/O
EEPROM
item level tagging are increasingly reaping rewards.
VCC
Memory
From Table 1 it is possible to conclude that while
tagging pallets does increase supply chain visibility,
item level tagging satisfies specialized needs that
Antenna bring direct benefits.
Figure 2 Sketch of an integrated RFID/SIM controller inside a SIM card
1) EPCGlobal is leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) to support the use of
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

4 RFID and the SIM card
In March 2004 Telenor R&D filed a patent applica- Mobile terminal
tion for a SIM card with embedded RFID capabilities.
The idea was to bring all the benefits of contactless
cards into the mobile phone using the SIM card as a RFID
GSM
storage device. By doing so the mobile phone will be system
able to function as an electronic ticket, ID, key or
credit card.
4.1 Merging RFID and GSM services Access

Mobile control Personal
One of the main purposes of including the RFID tech-
commerce ID
nology into the SIM card was to be able to offer an
alternative for the contactless card infrastructure Marketing Localisation
Internet
being installed in different parts of the world (with
the first beneficiary being contactless ticketing).
Including RFID into the mobile phone gives contact-

less cards the advantage of being able to be installed, Figure 3 Merging of RFID and GSM services
updated and cancelled over the air through the ser-
vices offered by GSM.
4.2 The challenges of RFID in the SIM card putting them close to each other. NFC can also be
One of the biggest challenges of RFID in general is used to start other communication technologies like
that it does not work that well when it is attached to Bluetooth and WiFi by exchanging the configuration
metal or glass because the radio field gets distorted. and session data.
Therefore, putting an RFID transponder in the heart
of the mobile phone (the SIM card) is not an easy 5.2 The NFC Forum
task, because the SIM card is usually placed under In April 2004 the NFC Forum was established by the
the battery and is surrounded by many different mate- three founding members Nokia, Philips and Sony,
rials that disturb the RFID radio field. with the vision of bringing the physical world and the
electronic world closer together. This was not a new
In order to solve this challenge companies like vision, but was rather the Auto-ID lab’s “Internet of
Giesecke & Devrient made an adaptation of a Siemens Things” vision, which was brought to the consumer
mobile phone that connected an external antenna on market. By placing tags and readers into objects,
the cover of the mobile phone to their dual interface users would be able to interact with them by touching
SIM card (this type of SIM card has contactless capa- them with other NFC devices (e.g. mobile phones).
bilities, but need an external antenna).
5.2.1 A winning team: Philips, Sony and Nokia
Although solutions like this could offer many of the The initial founders of the NFC Forum saw the vari-
capabilities envisioned by Telenor R&D, we did not ety of opportunities that this technology would bring,
believe that the mass market was going to adopt solu- but they also had an adequate background, which is
tions that were not fully integrated with the mobile why they were able to form a winning team.
phone and we did not believe either that mobile
phone manufacturers would change their hardware Philips offerings are so broad that you could find
designs to include an antenna for such SIM cards. their technology in almost any electronic device, but
Telenor R&D therefore opted to follow the NFC they provide two key elements into the NFC technol-
technology instead. ogy: The MIFARE standard, which is the most used
contactless ticketing and payment standard in Europe
with approximately 80 % of the market and the NFC
5 Near Field Communication (NFC) chip itself.
5.1 NFC introduction Sony is also one of the biggest players in consumer
Near Field Communication is a short-range wireless electronics, but when it comes to the NFC technology
technology optimized for communication between they provide the FeliCa standard, which is the other
various devices without any user configuration. The biggest contactless ticketing and payment standard,
goal of the NFC technology is to make two objects mainly used in Asia.
communicate in a simple and secure way just by

And finally Nokia, who is one of the most dominant • Touch and connect
mobile phone manufacturers in the world. Because of Linking two NFC-enabled devices to enable peer-
their vast penetration of devices in the consumer mar- to-peer transfer of data such as downloading music,
ket they are the perfect partner to bring this technol- exchanging images or synchronizing address books.
ogy to the masses. The main reason why Nokia was
able to bring this vision to reality before other mobile • Touch and explore
phone manufacturers is that they were already active NFC devices may offer more than one possible
in integrating the RFID technology on their mobile function. The consumer will be able to explore a
phones targeted at industry usage, such as mobile device’s capabilities to find out which functionali-
workforce management. ties and services are offered.
5.2.2 The NFC Forum grows quickly 5.4 NFC and the mobile phone
From April to September 2005 another 44 members NFC adds intelligence and networking capabilities to
have joined the Forum from a wide variety of indus- the phone and creates many new opportunities to add
tries. There are four levels of membership, but the product and service capabilities to the handset like
founding members remain in the same industries with digital transactions and sharing in very close proximi-
the addition of VISA and Master Card, who together ties.
dominate the payment market.
One of the main technological advantages of an NFC
Without having the insight on why these partners have is that its chip can act as reader, but it can also act as
joined the Forum, one could probably guess their moti- a card, and is backward compatible with the contact-
vation by grouping them into the following segments: less card standards. Therefore it makes a mobile
phone an ideal device for making payments, since
• Mobile phone providers: Nokia, Motorola, Sam- with a mobile phone you can control the interaction
sung Electronics, Philips and Microsoft; with the card (no one can read your card if you do not
want them to), the mobile operator can update or can-
• Semiconductor manufacturers: Philips, NEC, cel the card remotely and it is a device that users are
Renasas and Texas Instruments; already carrying.
• Payment: MasterCard International and Visa. When acting as a reader, an NFC mobile phone has
the possibility to exchange data with other NFC
The fast growth of the Forum plus the relevance of devices, but most importantly it can trigger the down-
the players involved give credibility to this emerging load of content related to a specific object like a
technology. Most of the players that Telenor has had movie poster. For example: if a user walks by a
contact with indicate that they are serious about their movie poster, by just touching the poster it will trig-
efforts towards the NFC technology and that we can ger the browser, then the phone will automatically
expect devices to be launched with full support of download information related to that movie, in what
their companies starting from 2006. theatres it is being screened, and it will give the user
the possibility to purchase tickets if desired.
5.3 NFC applications
In order to emphasise the idea of close proximity, 5.5 The first NFC mobile phones are
Philips (http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/mar- launched
kets/identification/products/nfc/index.html) has divided On 9 February 2005 Nokia introduced the world’s
the NFC applications into the four following areas: first Near Field Communication (NFC) product for
payment and ticketing which was an enhanced ver-
• Touch and go sion of the Nokia NFC shell for the Nokia 3220
Applications such as access control or transport/ mobile phone. It was the first mobile phone to deliver
event ticketing, where the user only needs to bring all the services envisioned by the NFC Forum, which
the device storing the ticket or access code close to are: service discovery, payment and ticketing.
the reader. Also for simple data capture applica-
tions, such as picking up an Internet URL from a 5.5.1 Why the shell concept?
smart label on a poster. New technologies like NFC offer many exciting pos-
sibilities, but nowadays it is not easy to change a line
• Touch and confirm of production just because a new technology is sup-
Applications such as mobile payment where the posed to bring great benefits. In order to test the new
user has to confirm the interaction by entering a capabilities of the NFC technology, Nokia decided to
password or just accepting the transaction. use one of their models in production (Nokia 3220)

that had the capability of communicating with the
mobile phone cover, and by reusing this phone they Baseband
were able to create a shell or cover with an embedded
ISO/IEC
NFC chipset. 7816
Users or companies willing to test the NFC capabili-

ties are now able to buy an off-the-shelf Nokia 3220 Reader NFC SIM
with an extra NFC shell. But such as solution is only
expected to be used in the first pilots and once the
technology is proven we can expect mobile phones
with full NFC integration offered not just by Nokia, This connection has to
be standarised
but other mobile phone manufacturers like Samsung,
SonyEricsson and Philips by 2006.
Figure 4 Using the SIM card as the storage unit for NFC transactions
5.5.2 Why is it taking so long? in a mobile phone
The main reason for the delay of NFC mobile phones
is standardization. The NFC technology involves
mainly semiconductor, SIM and mobile phone manu-
facturers. And all of them have to create standard area in Germany, launched a mobile ticketing project
interfaces to be able to communicate with each other. in early 2005 in the city of Hanau.
Once the interfaces are standardized it usually takes
one year for phone manufacturers to go from design The project was the first live ticketing application
to production of a new mobile phone. based on NFC using mobile phones as a contactless
ticket for an already existing ticketing infrastructure.
5.5.3 The role of the SIM card for the NFC The solution was tested in Hanau allowing customers
technology to buy, store and use tickets with a Nokia 3220 NFC
With the introduction of the NFC technology into the mobile phone.
mobile phone, the SIM card takes a more important
role not just for telecom operators, but also for pay- Since the pilot used the first version of the NFC
ment, ticketing and SIM card providers. Nokia phones, it was not able to store the electronic
ticketing information on the SIM card, but instead it
When NFC functions as a contactless card, it requires used an integrated smart card controller in the phone.
a place to store critical information such as ticket
numbers, credit card accounts or ID information. This The aim of the project is to provide partners (Nokia,
storage place could be basically anywhere in the Philips and RMV) with practical experience of NFC
mobile phone (RAM), but since the SIM card has mobile phone ticketing that are compatible with
storage capacity and already offers a high level of already installed contactless smart card infrastruc-
security, there seemed to be a common agreement tures.
between all the companies involved in the NFC
Forum to use the SIM card for storage of critical Telenor R&D and Nokia are currently joining efforts
and sensitive information. to test the NFC technology together with the most
relevant transport systems in Norway, since there is a
The only problem is that communication between the national effort to migrate ticketing systems all around
NFC chip and the SIM card does not exist today and the country towards a contactless card infrastructure
therefore has to be standardized. This is one of the where travellers can use the same card in any kind of
main reasons why NFC mobile phones have not yet transport (train, ferries, subways and busses).
been launched. The communication between the SIM
card and the NFC chip requires a high-speed trans-
action time in order to offer a real alternative for 6 Market drivers for NFC
today’s ticketing and payment system. Users would
never accept a new ticketing solution that is not easier 6.1 Contactless smart cards
or faster than the already available solutions offered Contactless smart cards have now reached a mature
by contactless plastic cards. state with over 540 million cards on the market.
There are two types of cards that have been dominat-
5.5.4 First NFC pilot efforts ing the arena: The FeliCa card developed by Sony
Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund (RMV), the public and the MIFARE card developed by Philips based
transport network operator for Frankfurt’s greater on the ISO 14443-A standard.

ISO 14443 became a standard in 2001 and has two cally download information about the movie, ring-
standard components (A and B). The cards come in tones, logos or even purchase tickets. The main idea
different shapes and sizes, but they must comply with is to provide easy access to information related to the
either A or B while readers and point-of-sale termi- tagged object.
nals must comply with both. The standard works on
the 13.56 MHz frequency and several major transport 6.3.1 Industry will adopt NFC/RFID mobile
systems in Asia have been in public service for more phones first
than a year. Other cities are in the process of switch- This concept has many uses ranging from marketing
ing to this new technology primarily to reduce main- – as the poster example – to workflow management
tenance costs, increase system reliability, security, for industry process automation. Nokia has clear
provide greater convenience for users, and improve plans to be a leader in this market by launching the
the processing speed, especially for busses. first RFID/NFC mobile phone for the industry seg-
ment with their 5140 model.
Contactless smart cards can also be used to substitute
magnetic strip cards for payment and authentication; The Nokia RFID phones are designed specifically
they provide all the security features of smart cards for industry sectors ranging from security, services
plus the advantage of being contactless. and utilities to health care and public administration.
Some application examples include meter reading,
6.2 Ticketing maintenance and reporting of task completion.
The main driver for contactless smart cards is that it
has already an installed infrastructure of contactless Telenor R&D and the Norwegian company AD
ticketing systems around the world. Cities like Hong Columbi, who specializes in automation of processes
Kong and London were early adopters of this tech- like task completion through the use of mobile
nology; Hong Kong with a solution called Octopus phones, have been cooperating in order to bring the
and London with a solution called Oyster. Most first RFID pilots to the Norwegian market.
European countries are also migrating their ticketing
systems towards contactless cards including Norway, The main reason why the industry is more mature to
which has a national effort to use one card that will adopt this technology is that companies specializing
be compatible with every transport ticketing system. in the mobile workforce have a total control over
which mobile terminals their mobile workers need
Not only are transport systems benefiting from the in order to perform their tasks and are therefore not
high-speed transaction time of contactless cards, but dependent on the penetration of this type of device
also event venues like football stadiums are applying in the market.
this technology due to the drastic reduction of queues.
6.4 Payment
The football world cup arranged in Germany next Contactless payment systems are penetrating the mar-
year will bring massive attention from the media ket just as quickly as the ticketing systems, and the
since it will only use contactless tickets in every most important success of such adoption is the agree-
venue. The tickets are personalized and unique to ment between credit card issuers to use a single RFID
each person and cannot be transferred. Such a big chip standard (ISO/IEC 14443). Since American
event will trigger a wave of adoption of contactless Express, MasterCard and Visa are already rolling out
ticketing systems around the world. their contactless payment cards for consumers, mer-
chants are also moving quickly to upgrade their termi-
We can conclude that contactless ticketing systems nals to be able to handle RFID-based transactions. The
are not just a hype, but are here to stay at least for the standard agreed on by MasterCard, American Express
next ten years, and with such a big installed infra- and Visa is the same standard that is supported by NFC
structure the probability of using mobile phones as mobile phones and therefore fully compatible.
contactless tickets increases dramatically.
In contrast to ticketing systems, the US have been
6.3 Service discovery quicker to adopt payments through contactless cards,
NFC service discovery is the concept of interacting since they have a stronger credit card culture than
with (tagged) objects in the real world through the Europe. MasterCard, Visa and American Express
use of an NFC enabled devices. The example most have been running pilots showing positive results for
commonly used is that of a movie poster with an merchants, indicating that users who pay by contact-
RFID tagged attached to it: when the user touches the less cards tend to purchase more items compared with
poster with the NFC mobile phone, it can automati- consumers paying by cash.

Although the use of mobile phones in contactless 7 Technology overview
payment systems could be a straightforward step
technology-wise, there are some concerns surround- 7.1 RFID basics
ing privacy that must be addressed in order for the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a means of
mass market to adopt this technology. storing and retrieving data through electromagnetic
transmission to an RF compatible integrated circuit.
6.5 Privacy concerns This RFID tag or integrated circuit is usually a single
Users are increasingly more concerned about the solid-state memory chip.
privacy of information, and when it comes to RFID
cards or phones that hold sensitive information such 7.1.1 RFID system components
as bank accounts or credit card numbers, they are A micro controller or PC, a reader or interrogator,
afraid that a thief will be able to read the card with a and a transponder or tag are the most basic compo-
mobile RFID interrogator and steal all the data stored nents of an RFID system.
in the card. Such fears could be the biggest barrier for
adoption of RFID based payments. Such concern 7.1.2 RFID readers
might be due to all the negative media coverage that Readers or interrogators are used to identify objects
surrounded some of the early adoptions of RFID for by communicating with the tags using a wireless RF
supply chain management like Gillette, who had to link. An interrogator is then used to “scan” the tag.
cancel their RFID pilot due to a very aggressive The interrogator (controlled by some type of host
movement towards the protection of privacy. computer) transmits an RF signal out to the RFID
tag(s). In order for these tags to be read by the inter-
But the truth is that RFID payment devices offer rogator they must be presented in a defined RF area
a higher level of security than traditional payment of saturation, known as an RF portal, or RF field of
cards. The ISO 14443, which is the standard adopted view. This RF signal first activates the RFID tag(s),
by credit card issuers (MasterCard, Visa and Ameri- and then interrogates each tag based on criteria
can Express) allows the account information in the received back to the interrogator from the first RF
card to be encrypted, giving each company the possi- transmission.
bility to use a different encryption method and keys.
7.1.3 RFID tags
Unlike RFID for supply chain management, this stan- RFID tags or transponders are basically a source chip
dard is specified for very short-range communication with an antenna. When these tags are within the field
(in the range of 10 cm) making it difficult to read of an RFID reader or interrogator they react by send-
from a long distance. Even if someone is able to read ing the information stored in their memory. This
the data with a specialized long-range interrogator, information could be an Electronic Product Code
the attacker will still have to crack the encryption (EPC) number that gives the interrogator a unique
algorithms to be able to make some sense of the data identification number for that tag, meaning that the
acquired. The concept behind using such a range is interrogator will not only know what type of object is
to guarantee that the card is read only when the user in the field, but it will know specifically which
wants it to be read, just as it is today with contact or unique object is in the field. There are two types of
magnetic stripe cards. RFID tags, which mainly differ in tags that have a
battery and tags that do not have a battery.
When the cardholder waves the card by an RFID pay-
ment terminal, it turns the encrypted number into a
digital signature, which is passed through the pay-
ment network and then decrypted to authorize the
transaction. To further protect the account informa- Interrogator
tion, the digital signature changes each time a card is
read. So even if a thief were to somehow access the
digital signature, it could not be used to make another
transaction.
Personal computer
The main challenge is therefore for card associations,

banks and merchants to send a clear message to con-
sumers that contactless payment systems are actually Responder
(data carrier)
more secure than today’s cards if they want con-
sumers to comfortably adopt the technology.
Figure 5 Basic elements of an RFID system

7.1.3.1 Active RFID tags nication that it provides. There are two types of ISO
Active tags have a source of power, usually in the 14443 readers, A and B. They basically differ in
form of a battery. The advantages of active tags are speed, signal modulation, coding format and anti-
many, but the most obvious one is the ability to collision method.
increase the range of readability through the use of
an extra source of power. NFC is compatible with the broadly established
infrastructure based on ISO 14443-A (Philips
Active tags can also be used to store status informa- MIFARE technology), ISO 14443-B, as well as
tion like temperature, pressure, light, etc. This infor- Sony’s FeliCa card used for electronic ticketing
mation can provide valuable information about the in public transport and for payment applications.
tagged objects since companies will be able to know
not only where the object is at every step of the sup- NFC devices can operate in a reader mode that allows
ply chain, but also how the object is handled over communication with a wide variety of contactless
time. smart cards or RF transponders (tags). NFC devices
can also work in a card emulation mode, which
The disadvantage of these types of tags is the price, enables the NFC device to act as a smart card towards
which makes them affordable only when the value smart card readers, such as public transport and point
of the data received is bigger than the investment of sale terminals.
required in order get such data.
7.2.2 NFC Philips transmission modules
7.1.3.2 Passive RFID tags Philips is currently providing two NFC transmission
Passive tags are tags without any source of power. modules called pn511 and pn531, which are the mod-
These types of tags use the principle called inductive ules that the first Nokia implementations are using.
coupling to transfer the energy from one circuit (such The following section is taken from the Short Form
as a conductive antenna and associated circuitry) to Specification of both modules, which can be down-
another by means of mutual inductance between the loaded from Philips website (http://www.semicon-
two circuits. It basically uses the energy provided by ductors.philips.com/markets/identification/datasheets/).
signals sent by the reader to send a signal back with
the information stored on the tag. The two chips provided by Philips (pn511 and pn531)
are highly integrated transmission modules for con-
These tags are much cheaper than active tags and are tactless communication at 13.56 MHz. These trans-
commonly used in pallets to increase visibility in the mission modules utilise an outstanding modulation
supply chain. Although the price of these tags is con- and demodulation concept completely integrated for
siderably lower, it has not yet reached the point different kinds of passive contactless communication
where every single product can be tagged, but with methods and protocols at 13.56 MHz.
increased adoption and economies of scale the price
of tags is expected to reach the critical point for them The transmission modules support three different
to be used at item level. operating modes:
7.1.4 RFID software • Reader/writer mode for FeliCa and ISO 14443-A
The last basic component in any RFID system is the cards;
software that controls the interrogators in order to • Supports Card interface mode for FeliCa and
synchronize when and where tags are read, filter the ISO 14443-A/MIFARE in combination with secure
received data (since tags and readers communicate µC;
more than one time when they are within each other’s • IP-1 mode.
field) and gives the data meaning for business pro-
cesses. Enabled in reader/writer mode the module internal
transmitter part is able to drive a reader/writer
7.2 NFC technical overview antenna designed to communicate with ISO 14443-A
/MIFARE or FeliCa cards and transponders without
7.2.1 ISO 14443 additional active circuitry.
The ISO 14443 is the international standard for 13.56
MHz identification cards. This standard was initially The receiver part provides a robust and efficient
designed for payment and ID cards and it was later implementation of a demodulation and decoding cir-
modified to include contactless cards. This standard cuitry for signals from ISO 14443-A compatible
is most commonly used for payment and ticketing cards and transponders. The digital part handles the
systems due to the higher security and faster commu- complete ISO 14443-A framing and error detection

(Parity & CRC). The modules support contactless their SIM cards and implicitly their relation with their
communication using MIFARE Higher Baud rates up customers; and third parties reduce their administra-
to 424 kbit/s in both directions. tion costs of delivery, storage, security and manage-
ment of contactless cards.
In the reader/writer mode the transmission modules
support the FeliCa communication scheme. The 8.2 Mobile phone manufacturers
receiver part provides a robust and efficient imple- For mobile phone manufacturers the main reason to
mentation of the demodulation and decoding circuitry adopt the NFC technology is the increased overall
for FeliCa coded signals. The digital part handles the value of mobile phones. Mobile phones are already
FeliCa framing and error detection like CRC. The used by almost everyone throughout developed coun-
modules support contactless communication using tries, but with the integration of NFC the mobile
FeliCa Higher Baud rates up to 424 kbit/s in both phone cam become the single most valuable asset for
directions. consumers, since it will not only be used as a means
of communication but can potentially replace wallets,
Enabled in card mode the transmission modules are keys, tickets and IDs.
able to answer to a reader/writer command either in
FeliCa or ISO 14443-A/MIFARE® card mode. The 8.3 Semiconductor manufacturers
modules generate the digital load modulated signals For semiconductor manufacturers like Philips it is
and in addition with an external circuit the answers just a matter of numbers. The mobile phone is by far
can be sent back to the reader/writer. the most purchased consumer electronic product, and
the interest of mobile phone manufacturers towards
Additionally the transmission modules offer the this technology creates a big market for those in the
possibility to communicate directly to several NFC NFC semiconductor business. The inclusion of the
enabled devices in the NFC IP-1 mode. The NFC NFC technology in other consumer electronics like
mode offers different communication baud rates up to TVs, radios, MP3 players, etc. will also increase the
424 kbit/s. The digital part handles the complete NFC opportunities for semiconductor manufacturers to sell
framing and error detection. their products.
8.4 SIM manufacturers

8 Strategy SIM card manufacturers, together with mobile opera-
tors have constantly been trying to increase the value
8.1 Operators of the SIM card, but the lack of cooperation with
The SIM card has always been the most important mobile phone manufacturers has rendered most of the
asset of GSM mobile operators, but regardless of efforts fruitless, since there is no guarantee that SIM
many efforts to increase its value towards the user, toolkit applications developed by operators or SIM
operators have not been able to reap the benefits of manufacturers will work in every single mobile
having such an important asset in the heart of every phone on the market.
GSM mobile phone.
The value of the SIM decreased so much that ques-
The introduction of the NFC technology brings the tions were raised on the real need to include the SIM
unique opportunity to easily connect the SIM card in GSM mobile phones. But with so much momen-
with the physical world. All the visions of mobile tum and support from all the different industries
payments can finally be realized without cumbersome interested in the introduction of the NFC technology
WAP menus or slow SIM toolkit applications. the SIM card has guaranteed its place in the mobile
phone as the security storage unit for sensitive infor-
With the adoption of NFC, the SIM card will increase mation for the NFC technology.
its value dramatically by storing the end user’s most
valuable information: credit card numbers, bank 8.5 End customers
account numbers, personal IDs, plane tickets, bus The most important aspect of the adoption of the
tickets, bonus cards, etc. This gives operators the NFC technology in the mass market is the security
unique opportunity to offer a “real state” type of busi- concerns that have been raised by the hype of RFID
ness to third parties such as credit card issuers, banks, in general. If the industry is able to manage such
transport companies, etc. concerns by sending a clear and consistent message
regarding the security advantages of the NFC tech-
It is a win-win situation between mobile operators nology, end users will surely adopt the technology
and third parties that offer some kind of contactless due to the benefits that the technology can bring to
card services, since operators increase the value of their everyday life.

References 9 U.S. Military to Issue RFID Mandate. RFID Jour-
1 ABI research. Near Field Communications. Pub- nal, 15 Sept 2003, http://www.rfidjournal.com/
lished Q3 2004. http://www.abiresearch.com article/articleview/576/1/1/
2 Forrester Collection. RFID: The Complete Guide. 10 The Wal-Mart Factor. RFID Journal, 17 March
Spring 2005. http://www.forrester.com 2003. http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/
articleview/346/1/27/
3 Philips Semiconductors. Near Field Communica-
tion PN511-Transmission module (Short Form 11 Sony Ericsson M2M wireless communications.
Specification Revision 2.0). February 2004. http://www.sonyericsson.com/images/spgc/
CWS31AFW_12781_36_0_4002.pdf
4 Philips Semiconductors. Near Field Communica-
tion PN531-mC based Transmission module 12 Nokia Field Force Solutions.
(Objective Short Form Specification Revision http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,55738,00.html
2.0). February 2004
13 Near Field Communication Forum Launches
5 Potential of the RFID technology for Telecom Four Technical Working Groups, 28 June 2005.
Operators. Eurescom Project Report, January http://www.nfc-forum.com
2004.
14 Item level RFID gathers pace. IDTechEx, 7 Feb
6 Guide to Smart Card Technology. Cyberspace 2005. http://www.idtechex.com/products/en/
Center, Hong Kong University of Science and articles/00000140.asp
Technology, November 1998.
15 NFC Technology. Philips, 31 Oct 2005.
7 Wal-Mart Expands RFID Market. RFID Journal, http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/markets/
18 Aug 2003. http://www.rfidjournal.com/ identification/products/nfc/technology/index.html
article/articleview/539/1/26/
16 Giesecke & Devrient. (U)SIM card from G&D
8 Wal-Mart Draws Line in the Sand. RFID Journal, combines mobile and contactless technologies.
11 June 2003. http://www.rfidjournal.com/arti- 31 Oct 2005. http://www.gi-de.com/portal/page?_
cle/view/462/1/1/ pageid=44,94279&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
Juan Carlos López Calvet is Research Manager in Telenor R&D. He studied Telematics at ITAM in Mexico
City with a specialization on Elliptic Curves Cryptography. During his work as researcher at Telenor R&D
he has filed a total of six patents in different areas ranging from security to e-commerce. He has won two
second places in Telenor’s business idea competition “Seed” and currently works on bringing emerging
mobile technologies to the market.

Future management of mobile phones
DO VAN THANH, ANNE MARTE HJEMÅS, ANDERS BJURGÅRD AND
ØYSTEIN CHRISTIAN LØKEN
The increasing diversity and complexity of mobile phones call for an efficient Device Management
System. Unfortunately, although there are currently quite a lot of effort and activities around device
management, there is not yet a satisfactory one. This paper presents a vision of a future device
management system elaborated by Telenor Nordic Mobile. It starts with an overview of the standards
related to device management. Before describing the future Device Management System, the limita-
tions of current systems are presented. Last but not least, the architecture of a future Device
Do van Thanh is Management System is introduced and explained.
Senior Research
Scientist at
Telenor R&D
1 Introduction sented. Last but not least, the architecture of a future
Today’s mobile phones are far more advanced than Device Management System is introduced and ex-
only a few years ago. The services that are available plained.
are not just plain old telephony anymore but rather
complex and diverse. The user is faced with a broad
range of devices and settings, and as the mobile 2 Standards for device management
phone converges to become a mini PC, the user will There are many different protocols and technology
Anne Marte
Hjemås is surely be overwhelmed by options, application set- for device management that support different func-
Research tings, configurations, and services. He/she will be tionality, and there will probably always be more than
Scientist at reluctant to install new services when there were one protocol, but most standardization bodies and
Telenor R&D problems with the first one. More advanced and open vendors look at SyncML DM as the most promising
devices often mean more bugs, and an increasing risk protocol that all other protocols merge into. OMA’s
of attacks by malicious viruses. However, the user is SyncML DM supports all the functionality needed
not the only player having problems. The mobile within 3–5 years, and is flexible for change. SyncML
operator is also affected. Indeed, more problems also will be considered in more details in the following
mean more pressure on the mobile operator’s cus- sections.
tomer service. Due to the variety of devices and
Anders Bjurgård applications, the training of call centre agents could 2.1 SyncML
is Head of Busi- be a problem. On the other hand, the agents cannot “SyncML is a new industry initiative to develop and
ness Logic & expect the user to know what version of the operating promote a single, common data synchronization pro-
Terminals in system they have on their device. Some users may tocol that can be used industry-wide. Driving the ini-
Telenor Nordic
not even know what their device manufacturer or tiative are Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Motorola, Nokia,
model is. Trying to figure this out before starting to Palm Inc., Psion and Starfish Software. The SyncML
solve the problem takes time and frustration. Many initiative is supported by several hundred leading
challenges are coming, and being able to guide the companies in the industry, and additional companies
users through them will be an enormous added value. are welcome to join the open initiative and partici-
pate.” [1]. SyncML joined the Open Mobile Alliance
The ideal solution to all the problems described (OMA) [2] in 2002 and the SyncML protocol became
Øystein Chr. above is to have a system that can perform remote hence an OMA standard.
Løken is Product and automatic configuration and management of the
Manager for
mobile phones with insignificant user’s effort and Figure 1 gives an overview of the SyncML Protocol
Device Manage-
ment in Telenor
minimal intervention from customer service. Such a Architecture. SyncML provides a common interface
Nordic system is called Device Management System in the for synchronization that supports several different
mobile communication jargon. Unfortunately, al- transport protocols and physical media. This will help
though there are currently quite a lot of effort and achieve the goal that any mobile device should be
activities around device management, there is not yet able to synchronize with any data repository. The
a satisfactory one. This paper presents a vision of SyncML Protocol does not dictate the internal repre-
a future device management system elaborated by sentation of data, but rather how to exchange data in
Telenor Nordic Mobile [13]. It starts with an over- an interoperable way. The protocol is designed to be
view of the standards related to device management. extensible, allowing developers the freedom to define
Before describing the future Device Management new data formats or protocol primitives.
System, the limitations of current systems are pre-

Sync client application Sync server application
Sync client agent Sync server engine
Sync server agent
SyncML interface SyncML interface
SyncML SyncML
HTTP WSP OBEX Transport
Internet/ IrDA, USB,

WAP Physical medium
Intranet RS, Bluetooth
Mobile/terminal device Server device
Figure 1 SyncML Protocol Architecture [2]
SyncML is based on XML and provides an XML sentation Protocol. Uniquely addressable manage-
DTD allowing representation of the information ment objects are used to reflect the various aspects of
required for device management and data synchro- device settings and run-time environment. Device set-
nization. This provides the means to represent com- tings may be read or written using commands that
mands, data and also metadata. The Device Manage- operate on the management objects.
ment and Data Synchronization protocols describe
how to exchange messages conforming to the DTD. Figure 2 gives an overview of the two phases of the
SyncML DM Protocol – authentication and manage-
Being tailored for mobile devices with potentially ment. Authentication may be initiated by the user
low bandwidth, a binary encoding is defined. This himself, or possibly by some form of notification sent
encoding is based on work by the WAP Forum; from the server. The SyncML DM Protocol specifies
WBXML (WAP Binary XML). several notification methods. Either way, the authen-
The SyncML specification contains the following

main components:
Setup phase
• An XML-based representation protocol; Client Server
Package 0: Alert from the server
• A synchronization protocol (SyncML DS) and a
Package 1: Client initialisation with client
device management protocol (SyncML DM); credentials and device information
• Transport bindings for the protocol;

Package 2: Server initialisation with server
credentials, initial management operations or
• A device description framework for device man- user interaction commands from the server
agement. [6]
Management phase
2.2 SyncML DM
The Device Management Working Group continues Package 3: Client response to server
management operations
the work done by the SyncML initiative and WAP
Forum concerning Device Management (DM). Of Package 4: More user interaction and
most importance here is the SyncML Device Man- management operations if the session is
agement Protocol. continued
The SyncML Device Management Protocol [3] is a

management protocol that uses the SyncML Repre- Figure 2 SyncML DM Protocol Parts [4]

tication phase ensures that the client and server can
Factory
establish a trusted relationship. Also, the authentica-
bootstrapped
tion reply, Package 2, from the server may contain device
management operations to be carried out by the client
and may end the device management session if no User inserts SIM
further communication is needed. One or more itera- or gets the
tions of the management phase then follow. [4] device
personalised
SyncML Device Management Bootstrap is the initial User initiates

process in which an un-provisioned device is pro- User management session.
personalised Or client does it
vided with the necessary settings to start the ordinary and automaticcally
device management process described above. SyncML bootstrapped
DM Bootstrap is not intended to be used for other device
purposes.
Server is informed about device
Bootstrapping can be done either as a customized address/phone number. Could
be through sales system, Management session
bootstrap or a server initiated bootstrap. Figure 3 gives consumer web site or the established
an overview of customized bootstrap. The device is network
provided at the factory with the necessary information
required to engage in a management session. This is
Server initiates
not very flexible, and requires that the manufacturer Server knows
management session
address
knows details about the operator’s network.
Figure 4 shows a server-initiated bootstrap. By way Figure 3 Customized bootstrap [5]

of automatic detection, the server initiates the man-
agement session.
SyncML DM promises to simplify device manage- Synchronization of data between two devices requires
ment by providing a common protocol across differ- that a change log be kept. This allows the server and
ent devices. Of course, settings for each device will client to figure out which changes to the data are
still be determined by its capabilities. Mobile phone most recent. SyncML DS does not pose any restric-
manufacturers can expose any type of device settings,
including runtime environment. This will provide the
capability to upgrade software or firmware and pro-
User inserts SIM Fresh
vide bug fixes. device
or gets the
device
SyncML DM v1.1.2 became an approved enabler personalised
release in January 2004. An approved enabler release
has passed the candidate status and has associated
interoperability test cases generated by OMA. User
personalised
device
An example from [6] provides a more hands-on feeling
of how the protocol appears (Figure 5 and Figure 6). Server is informed about device
address/phone number. Could User initiates
be through sales system, management session.
The protocol contains necessary authentication sup- consumer web site or the Or client does it
port, alerts, error codes, etc. For those interested, [6] network automatically Management session
is a recommended document. established
Server knows
2.3 SyncML DS address
The Data Synchronization Working Group continues
the work done by the SyncML Initiative regarding
Server sends out
Data Syncronization, DS. The SyncML Data Syn-
bootstrap information
chronization protocol specifies how the SyncML
Device
Representation Protocol is to be used for synchro- bootstrapped Server initiates
nization of data. management session
Figure 4 Server initiated bootstrap [5]

<SyncML xmlns=’SYNCML:SYNCML1.1’>
<SyncHdr>
...blah, blah...
</SyncHdr>
<SyncBody>
<Status>
<MsgRef>1</MsgRef>
<CmdID>1</CmdID>
<CmdRef>0</CmdRef>
<Cmd>SyncHdr</Cmd>
<Data>200</Data>
</Status>
<Alert>
<CmdID>2</CmdID>
<Data>1100</Data> 
<Item></Item>
<Item>
<Data>Your antivirus software is being updated.</Data>
</Item>
</Alert>
<Get>
<CmdID>3</CmdID>
<Item>
<Target>
<LocURI>./antivirus_data/version</LocURI>
</Target>
</Item>
</Get>
<Final/>
</SyncBody>
</SyncML>
Figure 5 An example of initiation of an anti-virus update
<Add>
<CmdID>2</CmdID>
<Meta>
<Format xmlns=”syncml:metinf”>b64</Format>
<Type xmlns=”syncml:metinf”>
application/antivirus-inc.virusdef
</Type>
</Meta>
<Item>
<Meta>
<Size xmlns=’syncml:metinf’>37214</Size>
</Meta>
<Target><LocURI>./antivirus data</LocURI></Target>
<Data>
<!–Base64-coded antivirus file -->
</Data>
</Item>
</Add>
Figure 6 An example of adding an anti-virus software update
tions on how this change log is implemented, as long then send a reply to the client with its own set of
as the devices are able to specify which data items modified data. [7][8]
have changed. Figure 7 shows the basics of data syn-
chronization. The device, in this case a mobile phone, The advantage of SyncML DS is that it allows syn-
will send a record of all changes since the previous chronization of any data that the device manufacturer
synchronization took place. The server will then decides to expose, using a common framework. Also
check this record against its own data and decide the most important mobile phone manufacturers are
which data to keep, change or delete. The server will supporting and implementing this protocol.

SyncML client SyncML server • Customer/device user: The customer is the service
subscriber and device user. This should be one of
SyncML message, client modifications the most important users to consider. A future
DMS will satisfy many customer needs. The cus-
SyncML message, server modifications
tomer wants:
- Services to perform flawlessly from day one with
Figure 7 Synchronizing mobile client with server [8] minimum interaction
- Backup and synchronization of personal data
- Device independent operation. The services
follow the user, not the device
3 Current Device Management - A faultless and safe device
Systems - Customized and personalized devices and
Current Device Management Systems are still rather services
primitive and limited. Some operators have a deal
with some distributors to pre-configure devices with • Corporation: A corporation is also a very impor-
MMS, WAP and Internet. The distributors get a pro- tant customer. A corporation will gain in addition
vision for a successful configuration. The end users to the customer:
can obtain the settings themselves via WEB, SMS, - Improved management of mobile devices
WAP or IVR solutions. In most cases the users need - Bulk configuration
to specify their phone type and also their phone num- - Presence information
ber in some cases. The SMS interface is used a lot, - Branding and corporation menus
and the Web interface has even higher and more
increasing usage than the SMS interface. They can • Operator: The operator provides the network and
also call customer service, but the process is no dif- its resources. The operator can also host and
ferent except that the call centre agent performs the administer the solution. Example: Telenor Nordic
same operation. In some cases the agents have to ask Mobile and NetCom. The operator wants:
the customers what manufacturer and device model - One solution for all devices
they have. They will then receive an Over-The-Air - Enhanced service level and several administra-
(OTA) message that sets up the device. For technical tion levels adapted to customer service, net divi-
reasons, they have to do this for each setting: MMS, sion, DMS administrator and corporate users
WAP and Internet. - Increased service uptake
- Decreased customer care costs
The OTA management functions offered today are
quite often limited setups of CSD, GPRS, MMS, ISP, • Service Provider: The Service Provider develops
Bookmarks and email settings, and SyncML DS. and provides value added services, and is responsi-
ble for the provision and continuous availability of
OTA can be requested in the following ways: subscribed services. Responsibilities are manage-
ment, administration and operation of services. The
• SMS sent by customer service provider relies on the operator by means of
the physical network and resources. The needs are
• Mobile operatorWEB-sites: for example telenor- much the same as those of the Operator.
mobil.no, djuice.no, djuice.se, telenormobile.se
• Content Provider: Also called third parties. The
• Mobile operator WAP-site: for example content provider in this case delivers services
wap.telenormobil.no through the service provider. It could be Java
games or third party applications. Content
providers rely on the service provider for provi-
4 Future Device Management sioning and billing. Benefits are:
System - A standardized tool for application configuration
- Faster content delivery
4.1 Players of the Future Device - Improved content adaptation
Management System
In addition to the customer who is the end-user, a • Device Manufacturer: The manufacturer produces
future Device Management System will interact with the actual devices and has knowledge of terminal
several other important players that have different capabilities, known bugs, updates, etc. The manu-
needs and expectations. The identified players for the facturers have many benefits of a standardized
future DMS are as follows: Device Management.

Content provider
Subscribe to and Supply

use services services
Device user
Service provider
Supply updats/fixes Manage and

and information provision services Network operator
Mobile manufacturer
Provide network Administer

and resources server
Administer employees
settings
and applications
Business customer
Run device
diagnostics
Bulk cofiguration
of devices
Distributor
Customer service agent
Configuration
of device
Retailer
Figure 8 Players and business use cases
- Only one solution to support in the devices • Retailer: The retailer sells the devices to the end
- No need to call back devices with firm/software user. They can pre-configure the phone for the user
errors, can perform remote updates and perform repairs etc. Benefits:
- Easier configuration
• Customer Service Agent/Operator’s Customer Ser-
vice: A customer Service Agent talks to the device • Distributor: The distributor can have a deal with
users, provides information and helps them solve a Network Operator to pre-configure a volume of
their problems. Benefits are: devices. Benefits:
- Instant knowledge of device characteristics - Bulk configuration
- Quicker service
- Better tools to aid customer All the players need a user interface to the system.
The different players have different access. Some
players have access to similar functionality, but
access to a subset of information. We prioritize cus-

Synchronise data Download applications
Receive service
Backup data
settings
Request info about Receive firmware

available services updates
Device user
(from actions)e
Seamlessly
Run diagnostics
change device
Receive customised Receive adapted

menues content
Figure 9 Use cases for device user
tomer angle, but the other players are involved in automatic the configuration is, should be based on the
many of the use cases. nature of the data. If it is configuration for basic ser-
vices like MMS, it should be automatic. For services
Figure 9 shows some use cases for the device user. that have personal configuration parameters, there
“Seamlessly change device” means that the data and may be a need for some kind of user interaction.
services follow the user, not the device.
Bulk configuration must also be enabled and is a use-
4.2 Features of the Device Management ful operation that can customize groups of devices,
System for example updating the electronic payment software
There are four features that we will probably see in package on the SIM card of all prepaid customers. An
most Device Management Systems and devices administrator of the Device Management system can
within three years. The features present in the Device manage branded services, menus and other UI cus-
Management System are: tomization remotely. If the service requires certain
software or firmware updates, we rely on the func-
• Remote Configuration tionality in the next section. By providing automatic
• Software and Firmware updates download of service menu for specific services to the
• Mobile Diagnostics phone, the usage and user experience of the services
• User Data Management will most likely increase. Users with advanced
• Personalisation WPABX solutions can then easily use functionality
like call transfer, add/remove themselves from hunt-
4.2.1 Remote Configuration ing groups etc. without having to remember cryptic
Remote Configuration includes provisioning of key key codes.
parameters to configure the handset and activate the
service remotely, setting initial configuration infor- 4.2.2 Software and firmware updates
mation in devices, and modifying or reading operator Device management can also perform software oper-
parameters. The interaction with the user can be fully ations, i.e. upgrading software packages or installing
automatic, with user input, or through a session. How new applications on the terminal to provide for new

services. This includes both native and Java applica- this functionality. Automatic detection means that the
tions. Downloading software will be more attractive network detects the (new) combination of device and
when the future high-speed connections are available. SIM-card as soon as the terminal is turned on or comes
There will also be remote software management within range. This feature is very important for many
where the functionality for the Administrator will be of the user scenarios that are discussed later.
[12]:
4.2.4 User data management
• Application and component inventory User data management includes backup and synchro-
• Install, delete, update, check, stop, kill, start appli- nization of user data, system and service settings etc.
cation and/or component Standards like SyncML DS, for synchronization of
• Remote reboot. mobile terminals, has been in the works for many
years, and is already included in the new, advanced
All with the proper user consent and authorization, of devices. The user can now synchronize data any-
course. where, anytime. The backup could be either content
aware or content unaware. No content awareness
Software operations also include installation of soft- means that a raw, binary image is copied to a server.
ware patches/bug fixes for operational improvement, The data cannot be restored to another device model.
i.e. firmware. Firmware is programming that is Content aware backup means that the user can select
inserted into programmable read-only memory, thus what will be backed up and the data can be restored
becoming a permanent part of a computing device. to another device model. Data like calendar, contacts
Firmware is created and tested like software. When etc. could be synchronized to a USIM card so that the
ready, it can be distributed like other software and, possible bad consequences of borrowing a phone are
using a special user interface, installed in the pro- reduced. The customer only needs access and the cor-
grammable read-only memory by the user. Firmware rect settings to a reliable server.
is sometimes distributed for printers, modems, and
other computer devices [9]. In short: computer pro- 4.2.5 Personalization
gramme instructions incorporated in a hardware If the laws and regulations allow it, the service
device that cannot be changed under computer pro- provider could gather information about the user and
gram control are defined as firmware (e.g. the operat- use personalization to offer services that the user might
ing system of a device). be interested in. The service offer could be an extra
item in the operator specific menu; either a concrete
Updating firmware can improve performance, fix offer or a menu option that fetches new service offer-
bugs or add functionality. Many still believe that the ings. Personalization uses information that is either
mobile phone is secure from viruses and worms, but obtained from or provided by the user. A good exam-
there are already security holes in some devices ple is the online book store Amazon.com which now
where worms can spread via Bluetooth, and SMS can has expanded to selling DVDs, toys and much more.
be sent without the user noticing in Java applications The site gathers information about the user based on
[12]. Firmware updates are delivered as binary pack- what the user buys, views or searches for. Based on
ages replacing the malfunctioning part of the software that information and what other users with similar
image. The mobile manufacturer delivers the firm- preferences have bought, the user will be presented
ware update packages to the operator, which dis- with offers that the personalization engine has pre-
tributes the updates to the relevant handsets. The dicted to be interesting. The recommendations, based
updates include a security voucher from the mobile on a complex set of rules, are often quite accurate.
manufacturer ensuring secure handling.
This could also apply to telecom services. If Nick has
4.2.3 Mobile diagnostics ticked that he is interested in subject A, or has down-
It is important to be able to read as much information loaded Application A, he could receive recommenda-
as possible from a device, e.g. service settings, device tions about similar applications. Or maybe many
model, a list of installed or running software, version users that have downloaded Application A also have
information, hardware configurations, etc. A service downloaded Application B. The system could then
can then be adapted to device capabilities and user pref- recommend Application B to Nick.
erences. The system can also listen for alerts sent from
a device, and invoke local diagnostics on it. The user 4.3 Architecture of a future Device
will be notified of the diagnostic session and can give Management System
permanent or temporary rights for certain administra- The architecture of a future Device Management
tion actions. The user can also revoke the rights. The System is shown in Figure 10.
possibility of automatic detection is also sorted under

DMS server Having all device related information and operations
The DMS server contains the actual business logic in one place fits the CSF-philosophy. Using the DMS
for Device Management. The DMS server’s main for all device operations fits the LEGO principle. The
responsibility is to keep track of existing terminals question is how many LEGO parts the system should
and their general attributes, OTA standards (propri- be made of? The terminal database could be one sep-
etary and SyncML DM), handle requests and produce arate self-serviced LEGO-part, but it is an integral
statistics. All non-OTA interfaces to external systems part of the DMS and the data is not operator specific.
should be standardized and controlled/owned by the Regardless, the other systems should only use the
operator. Device Management is developing fast, and DMS interface to obtain device information without
it is vital that it is possible to change vendors or at having to know whether the database is in the server
least keep them on their toes. When detecting a new or in a separate LEGO part used by the server.
IMEI-MSISDN combination the DMS should add or
update an entry in the Subscriber-Terminal DB, per- Storage of IMEI in the HLR / automatic detection
form a mobile diagnostic and register and validate An infrastructure in the network for detecting SIM-
settings etc. on the device. If any updates are neces- IMEI combinations must be present. Several vendors
sary an update session will be initiated towards the offer a solution inspired by Vodafone’s 3GPP-pro-
device with or without user interaction. posal to store the IMEI in the HLR. This is a simple
and elegant solution for simple applications, but
There are also advantages of having the terminal increasing the subscriber profile size too much would
database outside the DMS server. The operator has decrease the number of subscribers to be served by an
more control, but the vendor should have an interface HLR. HLRs are expensive and difficult to update.
to the database in order to keep it updated. This would They are system critical components, and changing
probably also mean more server customization for the their interfaces is a long process through standardiza-
vendors if the operator wishes to use another server. tion forums. However, storing only an IMEI number,
or even just the TAC (Type Allocation Code) is suffi-
Manufact
O&M
Retailer
Customer CPA
Call center
WAP Portal
Web
Web
External triggers
ParlayX /WebService
DMS
Terminal db WebService
Statistics db Subscriber-terminal db Subscription

(”DCR”)
Proprietary SyncML DM
HLR w/
IMEI
SyncML DS
server
Figure 10 Architecture overview

cient for most of the basic usages like MMS or very up process making sure that devices that have not
performance critical applications. It is also necessary been registered in the network for n days, should be
to detect new or unregistered combinations of IMEI- deleted. Regulations might even require such a pro-
MSISDN, and the HLR is a good candidate. There cess. The database should be handled by the DMS,
must also be a trigger that notifies the DMS or the but should be a separate, DMS-vendor-independent
subscriber-terminal DB (depending on architecture) component. It could function as an extended HLR.
of new IMEI-MSISDN combinations.
The subscriber-terminal data can be stored in a
Subscriber-terminal Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
A customer can have more than one subscription. We structure. LDAP defines how data should be
assume that the services follow the subscription, and accessed, but not how it is stored. Descriptive infor-
hence the device data will be coupled with the phone mation is stored in the attributes of an entry, where
number (MSISDN). The subscriber-terminal relation each attribute describes a specific type of informa-
is perhaps the most difficult issue. Where should the tion. An example could be:
relation be stored and what should be stored? A sim-
ple subscriber-IMEI relation might be present in the msisdn: 555 555 555
HLR within 2005, and the DMS already keeps a name: John Doe
database of information about the terminals. An imei: 347398473
application could look up the subscriber’s device type os: Symbian v 7.0
in the HLR, and then find more information in the
terminal database. However, this is not extendible Subscription database
if in the future one should wish to extend the sub- Another difficult issue is how to integrate DMS with
scriber-terminal relationship with more information, the subscription information. It is important to know
e.g. what version of the virus software the customer if the subscriber is eligible for GPRS, which is a rele-
has. This information could be requested direct from vant problem at several operators. There is one of two
the device when needed, but the most flexible option statements that must be broken: No dependencies or
would be to have a separate, extendible database to no double storage. If we strive for minimum depen-
store detailed subscriber-device specific information. dencies, we mirror the subscription database, or parts
This is important for applications where the action is of it, to the Subscriber-Terminal Database (STdb).
not triggered from the subscriber; for example, if one This would mean significantly more data in the STdb,
wants to automatically send virus software updates also it will be more prone to error because of the
to all customers who have a specific device-operating delay between the mirror update. Event-based
system combination. It is very likely that the combi- updates would solve this problem, but demands that
nation of device, firmware and software is not as the subscription database is designed to send events
obvious in the future as it is today. Today, device to listeners. Either way, duplicate data will be stored
management is in most cases not as real-time critical in two different databases. Another solution would be
as call handling, which also uses the HLR. Updating to have DMS or a process in the Subscriber-terminal
the HLR is an expensive task, and having a separate to query the subscription database directly. Since the
database for more high-level user data will provide Subscriber-Terminal db probably will be more per-
for more flexibility and will be more future-proof. It manent and stable than the DMS, the queries could be
is impossible to predict 100 % what type of informa- handled from the db, thus the DMS would not have to
tion that is useful to store about a subscriber in 3–5 know where the subscription data is. Today there is
years. This database is most important for network- much stress on the subscription database, and this
triggered actions and statistics. By separating this connection is not always stable. Today there is no
database from the DMS, the system will be more integration with subscription data in the Norwegian
flexible and maintainable. The content of the DMS solution, but there is a clear need for it in the
database could be very Telenor specific, and integrat- future. This integration must be taken into account
ing too much with the DMS would tie Telenor to one when designing the subscriber-terminal database.
DMS vendor.
Web
The subscriber entries could be populated either by Today the Web solution is tightly integrated with the
a simple mirroring process, or by an event-based DMS. The ideal would be to separate web from
method that uses automatic detection to detect valid server so that the web solution uses the same inter-
subscriptions in the network that do not already exist face as the other systems. The web interface will get
in the database. If it is a Nordic subscription, the more complex as more roles with more options get
DMS-db could be updated with the new subscription. involved. Examples of this are web interfaces for web
With the event-based method there should be a clean- administrators in a company, operator administrators,

company employees and end-users. Skilled web 4 SyncML Device Management Protocol, Version
developers is a must-have, and there are many quali- 1.1. (2004-04-16) [online] – URL: http://www.
fied third parties that are cheaper than the DMS openmobilealliance.org/tech/affiliates/syncml/
vendors. syncml_dm_protocol_v11_20020215.pdf
J2EE 5 SyncML Device Management Bootstrap. (2004-

It is interesting to see that there is some J2EE-stan- 04-16) [online] – URL : http://www.
dardization work in progress regarding Device Man- openmobilealliance.org/tech/affiliates/syncml/
agement. Although this is too immature to be consid- syncml_dm_boot_v11_20020215.pdf
ered yet, one should be open to the possibility of
great savings by integrating certain DMS functions 6 SyncML Representation Protocol, Device Man-
into existing J2EE-infrastructure. agement Usage, version 1.1. (2004-04-16)
[online] – URL: http://www.openmobilealliance.
SyncML DS org/tech/affiliates/syncml/syncml_dm_
Synchronization of PIM data is a very simple and represent_v11_20020215.pdf
cheap solution to put into operation. The only thing
you need is a server that runs, e.g. JBoss with sync4J. 7 SyncML Representation Protocol, Data Synchro-
However there are costs related to storage space, back- nization Usage, version 1.2, Draft Version 14-
up systems and other O&M tasks. We have put the Jan-2004. (2004-04-16) [online] – URL:
SyncML DS server in the picture, because it should http://member.openmobilealliance.org/ftp/
be readily available to Telenor’s customers. If Telenor Public_documents/DS/2003/OMA-DS-2003-
does not host it, there should be an agreement with 0548R02-SyncRepresentDataSyncUsage.zip
a third party that Telenor offers a default set-up for.
8 SyncML Sync Protocol, version 1.1. (2004-04-16)
[online] – URL: http://www.openmobilealliance.
5 Conclusion org/tech/affiliates/syncml/syncml_sync_
The increasing complexity and diversity of the protocol_v11_20020215.pdf
mobile phones are the fast growing challenges to
mobile operators, and an efficient Device Manage- 9 What is. (2004-03-29) [online] – URL:
ment System is the best tool to solve it. The vision http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_
for a future Device Management System (DMS) is gci212127,00.html
to lower the service threshold for the customers and
make sure that the average user only has to think con- 10 Toroi, Teemu. The SyncML Road Ahead – Appli-
tent, not technology. The most important functionali- cation Development and Device Management.
ties like Remote Configuration and Mobile Diagnos- SyncML Initiative, 2002-01-30.
tics, including automatic detection, must be imple-
mented. 11 Nokia. Smart Messaging Specification, Revision
3.0.0. 2000-12-18.
Reference 12 ALD homepage. (2004-06-14) [online] – URL:

1 OMA Homepage. (2004-04-15) [online] – URL: http://www.thebunker.net/
http://www.openmobilealliance.com release-bluestumbler.htm
2 Building an Industry-Wide Mobile Data Synchro- 13 Hjemås, A M, Brecke, H, Rønning, M, Eldhuset,

nization Protocol – SyncML White Paper, Version K. Mobile Device Management In The Future.
1.0. (2004-04-16) [online] – URL : http://www. Fornebu, Telenor R&D, 2004. (Telenor R&D
openmobilealliance.org/tech/affiliates/syncml/ report R 20/2004)
whitepaper.pdf
3 SyncML DM: A SyncML Protocol for Device

Management. (2004-04-16) [online] – URL:
http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/
affiliates/syncml/syncml_devman_business_
cases_whppr.pdf

Anne Marte Hjemås has been working as researcher in the Service Platform unit of Telenor R&D, Trondheim
since 2000. She holds an MSc degree in Technical Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science
and Technology (NTNU) and has worked with system architecture and development for eight years. She has
been involved in several commercial projects as well as research projects. Her current research interests are
system architecture, service platforms for telecoms, device management, IM and Presence.
Anders Bjurgård is Head of Business Logic and Terminals, and has been working in Telenor Mobile’s unit for
Product Development since 1997. He has been technical responsible for several product launches within the
Consumer and Corporate area for mobile products. From 1995 to 1997 he was Technical Project Manager
for Telenor/Digifone in Ireland with the responsibility for Service Platform and Core Network from bid to
launch of the GSM net. His main interest today is the evolution of mobile services into all-IP services.
Øystein Christian Løken has been working with terminals and device management related areas in Telenor
Mobile Nordic since 2001. He holds a Bachelor degree in Cybernetics from Buskerud University College,
Norway, a Bachelor degree in Microelectronic Engineering from Griffith University, Australia, and a Master
degree in Information Technology from Bond University, Australia. He has been involved in several commer-
cial projects in Telenor Nordic, such as the commercial launch of MMS and 3G, to more device management
projects, such as the Telenor Entry project. He is currently product manager for the Telenor Nordic DMS
platform and responsible for Telenor Nordic variant implementation.

From personal mobility to mobile personality
MATTHIAS WAGNER, MARKO LUTHER, ROBERT HIRSCHFELD,
WOLFGANG KELLERER AND ANTHONY TARLANO
Difficulties in using and accessing new services have been the most frequently mentioned reasons for
slow service acceptance in the past. For future mobile services to succeed, it is therefore critical that
users are able to get intuitive and convenient access to the services they personally need in a given
situation or context. We introduce the concept of Mobile Personality, which allows the mobile user to
develop her own online personality in terms of personal preference, usage and service profiles over
time, as well as the offered services to acquire a unique proactive behavior. This vision of adaptive
Matthias Wagner personalized services is essentially based on the advanced profiling and personalization concept,
is Project Man-
context-aware computing as well as flexible and evolvable service support middleware. Through a
ager at DoCoMo
Euro-Labs practical use case and a detailed explanation as well as an interrelation of the essential enablers,
this paper gives an insight into the foreseen transition from personal mobility to mobile personality.
1 Introduction ties of a mobile system to implement adaptive per-

Systems beyond 3G (B3G) are considered to encom- sonal services that develop their own initiative
pass heterogeneous access networks to provide a best spawning a Personality Space (see Figure 1). Over
availability of mobile connectivity to the customers. service deployment- and usage-time, such a “Mobile
Marko Luther is These systems are not only considered to integrate Personality” allows different users to develop their
Researcher at several network platforms, they also strongly encour- personal preference profile and typical service usage
DoCoMo age the vision of a substantial richness of services and patterns according to their personal demands, as well
Euro-Labs applications. On the other hand – with the complexity as the offered services to acquire unique proactive
of services constantly increasing – we can only grasp behavior.
a vague impression of how most end-users will soon
be confronted with a broad variety of services and
multiple ways to combine them. Difficulties in using 2 Towards personalization in
and accessing new services have already been the systems B3G – a glimpse of
most frequently mentioned reasons for slow service the future
adoption in the past. This might even be more so for Personalized services and applications are considered
Robert Hirschfeld
is Senior novel multimedia-type services and context-aware to be among the most compelling features for mobile
Researcher applications in the future. As a consequence, it is crit- communication systems. They promise high customer
with DoCoMo ical that users are able to get intuitive and convenient benefit through selecting specific services from a
Euro-Labs access to the services they personally need in a given rapidly increasing diversity of mobile service offer-
situation, environment or context. ings, and adjusting these services to their individual
needs. Taking the example of a business traveler, in
This work is motivated by ongoing research activities [27] and [12] we have already sketched some of the
at DoCoMo Euro-Labs which are focusing on key key personalization issues in future mobile communi-
concepts to enable personalized service provisioning cation systems through application scenarios. In the
in systems beyond 3G. In projects such as [7] or [11] following we revisit these scenarios particularly with
Wolfgang Kellerer we have identified, together with European operators, regard to an evolving Mobile Personality.
is Head of manufacturers and vendors, several system concepts
Research group
and application domains that promise to be key Let us consider a sample user, named Michael, who
at DoCoMo
Euro-Labs
drivers of future mobile communications systems. plans and takes a business trip from Boston to Paris
We advocate that an effective use of future services including many different steps and various responsi-
can only be achieved through adequate personaliza- bilities. Setting up all the necessary preparations is a
tion concepts and proactive service advertisement and complex matter and manually finding adequate ser-
adaptation. It will essentially be new concepts for services can already be quite time-consuming. But com-
vice provisioning and deployment together with new municating personal requirements and preferences to
service paradigms that attract customers and bring many services – that might not even be feasible to
Anthony Tarlano mobile communication beyond voice applications to fulfill Michael’s needs at all – will definitely become
is Researcher the mass market. In the following we sketch our con- tedious. For the sake of simplicity, let us assume that
at DoCoMo cept of an evolving virtual personality, which is not in Michael’s case the personalization and planning
Euro-Labs limited to users, but can also be applied for other enti- tasks for the business trip “only” consists of

Personality Space Service adaptation: service history,
experiences, usage patterns , …
Personalisation: profiling, identity,

preferences, constraints, …
Context: environment, situation,

device(s), sensoring adapt to changes
adapt to changes in personality
in personality
own / acquire
own/acquire personality
personality
Services
host host / propagate

personality personality
GSM UMTS
Mobile User
WLAN
B3G GPRS
PAN
Evolvable systems & networks B3G
Figure 1 Vision of mobile personality in systems beyond 3G
• setting up the necessary transportation car at his destination. Having successfully booked a
• guidance to the meeting place flight Michael finally arrives at his travel destination.
• adaptation of services and user devices to changing He heads straight for the airport’s rental car center
environments. where he picks up his reserved car just by identifica-
tion and authorization via his mobile phone. His
Obviously, Michael’s trip will start with a flight from phone transparently and automatically initiates a dis-
Boston to Paris. A flight booking agent, e.g. initiated covery of available services. The in-car equipment
through an interactive Web portal and later monitored synchronizes with the phone and automatically
on a mobile terminal, might try to buy a plane ticket adjusts mirrors, seat and heating to Michael’s per-
in accordance with Michael’s personal preferences. In sonal preferences. In addition to his convenience-
this case, all available airline services need to be dis- driving settings, his phone discovers the car’s built-in
covered that allow performing the task of booking a navigation system. The address of the meeting is
flight. This could be done either manually through the immediately transferred and the appropriate maps are
travel portal or by the activated travel agent. In either loaded by the navigation system. Using a local traffic
case, a flexible and intuitive way to model and information service, the navigation system chooses a
express user preferences should be supported. In route and is able to predict the arrival time. Since the
Michael’s case, his user profile might contain hard in-car system signals that there is enough time before
constraints on the departure and arrival date and the the meeting starts, Michael decides to get some cash
class of the ticket, e.g. Business Class, together with in the local currency. He accesses an ATM locator
soft constraints on the preferred airline (“I prefer to service, which shows him the way to the ATM clos-
fly Air France to Delta Air Lines”), the type of flight est to his current location that is able to charge his
(“non-stop”) and the route (“as fast as possible”). credit card at the lowest costs. Once Michael has
Preferences associated with Michael are stored in his selected an ATM the navigation service has to adjust
personal profile which can either be stored on his pri- the route and collaborates with another service to find
mary personal device or distributed in the network [1]. a nearby parking space.
In the same way his air ticket is booked Michael’s Finally, Michael is guided to the meeting. Through
travel agent might also take care of reserving a rental his situation-aware communication environment, his

preference of only being disturbed during meetings in 3.1 Advanced personalization concepts
the case of emergencies is activated. At the meeting In our scenario, the “personality” of a user is
room, the settings of Michael’s communication reflected by the set of personal profiles associated
devices are thus automatically adapted as the session with him and passed to other users, network nodes
starts. There is no need to explicitly switch to another and service providers. User modeling and profiling
device profile anymore. Even if there is no internal beyond device independence – covering user prefer-
device profile available that meets the situation ences and wishes – are essential for supporting such
requirements, parameters from an external profile are a virtual mobile personality. Recently profiling stan-
transferred temporarily while carefully respecting dards have been established for describing service
emergency settings. During the meeting, Michael is delivery context: the Composite Capabilities / Prefer-
able to transfer his video streaming session from his ences Profile (CC/PP) created by the W3C [25], the
laptop to the built-in screen and conference system in User Agent Profile (UAProf) created by the Open
the meeting room. In addition, other services like a Mobile Alliance [18] (formerly WAP Forum) as well
nearby printer and a video transcoder are discovered as the Generic User Profile (GUP) put forward by the
which support project work. All these devices are ini- 3GPP [1]. They specify an XML – and (in the case of
tialized with Michael’s settings derived from his per- CC/PP and UAProf) an RDF [16] based framework –
sonal profile. Since an important partner in the meeting to address common needs for device independent ser-
is called away to an emergency, the meeting has to be vice access. Although they provide an interoperable
re-scheduled on that day taking the schedules of all basis for meta data descriptions of profile informa-
meeting parties into account. Meanwhile, Michael tion, current profiling languages are not yet ade-
might be interested to meet with other researchers from quately suited for advanced profiling needs.
the company. A scheduler service, available through
the corporate WLAN, allows for short-term arrange- As shown in the scenario, semantic-based and co-
ments. It displays the availability of staff and adminis- operative service discovery and selection are integral
trative information such as room number or telephone, parts of proactive services; i.e. user needs and wishes
which are derived from the users’ online profiles. will be identified as complex tasks, which are typi-
cally further divided into simpler sub-goals and heav-
ily relate to the user’s context and environment. For
3 Enablers of mobile personality user profiling languages there is a lot to learn from
Various system and implementation aspects have to Knowledge Engineering and the database world
be considered in engineering future service provision- where the taxonomy or organization of profile ele-
ing platforms that support the above scenario. The ments is often referred to as schema or ontology. We
scenario already reveals a number of requirements advocate that the design of future profiling languages
that are essential for the realization of personalized for personalization can particularly benefit from the
service provisioning towards a Mobile Personality. current approaches of the so-called Semantic Web [6]
In particular we consider the following requirements where the layering of content descriptions has a simi-
to be most important: lar quality: on top of XML, RDF provides a simple
yet coherent structure for the expression of basic
• Modeling the user through advanced profiling; semantics and a foundation for different Web Ontol-
ogy languages with a varying level of expressiveness
• Perception and modeling of the environment (con- [19]. For services to be proactive, the sub-goals of a
text awareness); user’s tasks have to be further explored and subse-
quently matched to adequate services. Matchmaking
• Supporting a user-centered service discovery and can be achieved with the help of advanced discovery
service selection process based on the modeled and selection mechanisms [3][4] and autonomous
information; intelligent agents [24] that search the user’s service
environment according to his personal preferences.
• Processing the modeled information and supporting
their effect on the service execution including ser- 3.2 Context-aware computing
vice adaptation; Context awareness is an attribute of a service that is
capable of accessing, interpreting and manipulating
• Flexible service support middleware that allows knowledge of its environment and to adapt the ser-
profile propagation and service transfer as well as vice behavior accordingly [15]. For the provisioning
personalization-driven service composition. of intelligent services, having their own personality,
we are developing a context spaces agent service
In the following we will discuss the main building architecture that allows acquiring, managing and pro-
blocks for mobile personality. cessing context information based on agent technol-

ogy [24]. Here, a significant attribute of an intelligent in separate interacting proxy servers that are on the
agents environment is the existence of other intelli- end-to-end service signaling path. This concept is
gent agents with the possibility for social communi- substantially enhanced to enable a preference-based
cation between agents [17]. Thus, allowing agents to session management [12]. Preference-based session
exchange context information and experience reports management makes use of profile information
of service usage as well as to adapt to services to user already in the proxy servers (e.g. network edge
profile/preference information and vice versa. nodes) that are traversed by the service signaling
messages and not only in the target application.
Introspection capabilities are a key requirement
within context-aware computing and specifically in In addition, regarding user requirements and emer-
the context spaces architecture. The construction of gent services, future systems have to be most flexible.
a context space provides the capability of accessing To date, nearly all service architectures center on
knowledge of the environment for logic reasoning required functionality within a strictly layered system
purposes. To enable introspection in the architecture, structure. In [21] we describe an architecture that sup-
accessible data attributes of the environment are mod- ports adaptation and evolution in systems B3G in
eled and constructed as a context tree structure. Agent general and on a middleware level in particular. Such
services using logic, such as dependency rules or an adaptable environment allows making personaliza-
logic expressions, can use the context space as data tion effective for service execution by a flexible
source for personalization input. Since the resulting introduction and exchange of functional components,
context tree structure is an overlay data model such as context manager or service selector. Pro-
designed to remain independent of the original stor- grammable platforms on all system layers form the
age model, it can be used for both transient and per- basis for the component management.
sistent data originating from data storage repositories
or broadcast sensor data. Adaptation and programmability of services should
not be limited to content adaptation as it is in most of
3.3 Flexible and evolvable service support today’s systems. Instead it will involve modifications
middleware to behavior (service logic) [9], service interaction and
Service support middleware has to be capable of effi- signaling as well. How dynamic service adaptation
cient session management including profile manage- can benefit from dynamic programming environ-
ment and service mobility. The service session con- ments such as [8] is further explained in [10].
trol as core part of the service support middleware
has to provide advanced service provisioning func-
tions including those described above. We regard 4 Preference-based service
application-layer signaling to act as a coordination discovery on mobile devices
facility supporting information exchange between the Using Web-based services has already become an
acting entities. To support advanced personalization integral part of our everyday life. Semantic Web tech-
concepts, we advocate a proxy-based service signal- nology and the advent of universal and mobile access
ing approach [13]. Here profile management, service to Internet services will only add to the broad range
session management and resource control are realized of existing services on the Web and provide addi-
service request
personal
profile
Flight booking
service
Context space
default business
personal profile profile
profile
service result
profile
updates
Figure 2 Cooperative service execution and context spaces

tional features like knowledge-based, location- or MP3, Europa
context-aware information. On the other hand, so far
little work has been done to explicitly account for
MP3, Japan MP3, America Real, Europa
aspects of mobile computing in semantic service
frameworks. Whereas much of the work in Semantic
Web services discovery and composition concen- Real, Japan Real, America
trated on the functionalities of the services, contex-
tual information, personal preferences and more gen- Figure 3 A user-defined preference ordering
erally personalization are more pressing challenges in
the mobile computing arena. In order to manage an
increasing amount of mobile services, it is essential 4.2 User preferences
that Semantic Web services standards explicitly sup- While browsing the service ontology, service con-
port the needs of developers and users, such as the cepts with key relevance to the user can be selected
discovery and selection of services they personally and combined to preferences. In our preference
need in a given situation or context. framework [14], these (partially) ordered feature sets
are directly handled without the use of any explicit
In an early case study we have implemented MobiOnt quality or ranking values: user preferences are intro-
and MobiXpl as a semantic toolbox to explore mobile duced as a special relation with the semantics of con-
user-centered services on the Semantic Web [6]. Our sidering some object (or class) A superior to another
vision is to take full advantage of future complex ser- object (or class) B (“I like Music channels better than
vice offerings on limited client devices and to handle News stations”). Preferences indicate constraints that
the need for personalized service discovery in mobile a service should fulfill to best meet its requirements.
environments. At this point MobiOnt and MobiXpl On the other hand, even if none of the indicated pref-
are early prototypes that are realized and can be erences are met, a match can still be possible. To
demonstrated as plug-ins to the Protégé knowledge manage multiple user preferences complex prefer-
workbench [22]. MobiXpl emulates different com- ences can be inductively constructed from a set of
mercially available handsets, whereas MobiOnt base preferences by means of preference constructors
encapsulates central preference-based matchmaking [14][28].
mechanisms. Implementations of MobiOnt as a cen-
tral network component and MobiXpl as a Java-based Figure 3 shows an example of a combined preference
client running on an actual phone are currently imple- from the radio scenario. Here a user has indicated that
mented. she generally prefers radio programs from Europe to
those from Japan or America. Still, the two latter
4.1 A Concrete usage scenario choices are her preferred choices over any other
We study an extension of the usage scenario pub- available program. Due to the technical capabilities
lished in [28] that addresses a future mobile Internet of her player, she also prefers MP3 encoding to Real.
radio scenario. Internet radio has become increasingly Further, she has specified that both base preferences
popular in recent years with boosting numbers in are equally important to her.
Web radio stations and subscribers [20][23]. In this
context, personalized access to content is particularly 4.3 Cooperative service discovery
important to accommodate varying technical as well User preferences constructed during preference build-
as personal user needs and preferences. In our testbed ing define a service request that ultimately needs to
we have modeled Internet radio stations as Web ser- be mapped to the underlying service ontology.
vices with varying service characteristics. Radios MobiOnt therefore implements a flexible discovery
channels are described using an Internet radio ontol- algorithm that can be extended through different
ogy (a fragment of the ontology is shown in Figure 4) strategies. The goal of service discovery is to retrieve
that consists of concepts that describe and classify those service instances from the ontology that repre-
Web radio services in terms of program format, ori- sent the best matches to given preferences.
gin, audio format characteristics and a time-based
classification of streamed audio content. This service The implemented preference-based service matching
ontology is then used for preference-based service is performed along the lines of the determined prefer-
discovery. Note that our Internet radio use case is ence order to implement cooperative behavior: if the
only one of many possible applications for the search for a perfectly matching radio station fails, the
MobiOnt. initial query is gradually relaxed along the path of the
(complex) preferences until a next-best match can be
found. Thus, if in our example from above during ser-
vice discovery no match could be found in European

HighResolution
Resolution LowResolution mpegv1
MediumResolution MotionPictures MPEG3 mpegv4
travel mpegv2
Video Quicktime
PictureShow
weather TransmissionFormat MP3
radio
Audio MPWMA3
Realtime UK
WestEuropa France
Germany
Europe
EastEuropa Russia
Poland
Service lookup flight Region NorthEuropa Scandinavia
banking booking Greece
SouthEuropa
Italy
Asian Japan
China
India
America SouthAmerica Brazil
Carribean Argentina
NorthAmerica Usa SouthUSA

NorthUSA
Service matchmaking
preference elaxation
Service description
Service ontologies
metadata
User preference
MOBIONT MOBIXPL
Figure 4 MobiOnt / MobiXpl – A testbed for mobile semantic-based services
programs in MP3 encoding, the next discovery step 4.4 mobiXpl – a user interface for
consists of trying to match radio stations that broad- preference-based discovery
cast Japanese or American programs in MP3 or Euro- Parts of the Internet radio ontology are carefully
pean programs in Real. If neither of these two sec- exposed to the user through MobiXpl, the graphical
ond-best choices are available, any other program is frontend to our framework (cf. Figure 5). MobiXpl
matched. Further implementation and application emulates different mobile terminals and consists of a
aspects as well as selective ontology browsing and mobile ontology browser with support for individual
preference building and mapping are further explored user views as well as an intuitive interface to user
in [4][5]. preferences. The idea is to only display selected con-
cepts and sub-ontologies depending on the user’s
Figure 5 MobiXpl – exploring ontology-based service catalogs on the mobile device

experience level and usage profile. While browsing available two basic conflict resolution strategies (and
the service ontology, concepts that circumscribe ser- combinations thereof) are applicable: on the one
vices with key relevance to the user can be selected hand, the cooperative service execution might decide
and combined to user preferences. Subsequently, to relax user’s preferences until a match can be made.
these preferences are used during the service discov- On the other hand, the user might be associated with
ery to implement cooperative behavior: if the search a typical group pattern, e.g. “Business User”, result-
for a perfectly matching radio station fails, the initial ing in the enrichment of his request with additional
query is gradually relaxed along the lines of the deter- preference data from the pattern.
mined preferences until a next-best match can be
found. Both application aspects, selective ontology Beyond the one-time usage the lifecycle of profile
browsing and preference building and mapping are data is crucial in the Mobile Personality paradigm.
fully explored in [28]. For instance, when an intelligent agent reserves a
rental car at Boston airport on behalf of our sample
user Michael for the first time, he will do this based
5 Towards a mobile personality on some base preferences. However, on a revisit to
Expressing user preferences, wishes and dislikes in Boston, Michael’s user profile will already contain a
an intuitive way is crucial for the flexible provision- usage history of services together with an experience
ing of mobile services. With the vision of Mobile report. Again, the left-hand side of Figure 2 illustrates
Personality in mind, we have developed essential this through the cycle of profile usage and profile
concepts and solutions for the flexible matchmaking update. Based on the user’s profile and/or usage his-
of evolving user preferences and services; namely, tory – and maybe additional usage histories, e.g. from
Michael’s colleagues or users with similar prefer-
• an algorithm for preference-based negotiation and ences and interest, a more informed decision can be
interaction with services [3]; made. In the case of Michael it is conceivable that the
choice of car rental agency, formerly price-based,
• a mechanism for the use of semantically rich ser- will change based on experiences with the agency in
vices descriptions together with service usage pat- case of a car breakdown or due to unanticipated tech-
terns in aggregated service catalogs for cooperative nical problems with adapting his mobile terminal to
service discovery [4][5]; the in-car navigation system.
• early prototypes that leverage preference-based Referring to Figure 2, we show a more detailed
matchmaking in semantically rich service catalogs prospective of adaptive service interaction and the
for the mobile user. use of a context space for introspection and inter-
action by intelligent service agents: in the diagram,
In cases where the perfect match of the user’s prefer- Michael initiates the flight booking service using a
ences to the available services is not possible in the service request containing meta-data representing his
given context the next nearest match has to be pro- personal profile. Upon receiving the service request,
vided in a cooperative fashion. The outlined approach the flight booking service processes the service
assumes that user preferences are modeled in terms of request and promptly returns the service result and
hard and soft constraints. Hard constraints model user the profile update. In addition to sending the service
preferences that definitely need to be matched during result to Michael, the flight booking service annotates
service discovery and selection, whereas soft con- the context space by writing the updated profile to the
straints represent parts of a user profile or a user context space. Service agents with a similar interest
request that can be relaxed during the matchmaking in Michael, using the introspection capabilities of the
to the available services. Our profiling concepts com- context space, observe the annotation of the space
prise a notion of usage patterns to express preferences and use logic to determine if the updates in the profile
of user groups and typical service invocation patterns. can be used for personalization. Through agent social
For example, a general preference from the travel interaction, service agents such as a group of car
domain could be that “everyone prefers a short travel- rental agents reason that additional profile update
ing time” (i.e. a departure date with maximum prox- should be made available to Michael. The profile
imity to the arrival date is preferred). The iterative updates are annotated into the context space and the
adaptation of these patterns to evolving user needs flight booking service is notified for asynchronous
plays a key role in the concept of Mobile Personality. delivery to Michael.
As indicated in Figure 2, user preferences are passed
to the service provider for service matchmaking and
execution. If no match between the personal profile
and the default execution profile of the service is

6 Summary 6 Berners-Lee, T, Hendler, J, Lassila, O. The
The evolution towards systems and services B3G Semantic Web. Scientific American, 284 (5),
bears the risk of increasingly confronting the cus- 34–43, 2001.
tomer with technology features instead of service
aspects. We claim that similar problems in using and 7 EURESCOM Project P1203.
accessing new services have already led to slow ser- http://www.eurescom.de
vice adoption in the past. As a consequence, users
might not be able to fully understand novel services 8 Hirschfeld, R. AspectS – Aspect-Oriented Pro-
and to benefit from future applications. In this paper gramming with Squeak. In: Architectures, Ser-
– with customer acceptance and ease-of-use as the vices, and Applications for a Networked World,
most important success factor for forthcoming LNCS 2591, Springer 2002.
telecommunication systems in mind – we have pre-
sented our vision and first steps towards supporting 9 Hirschfeld, R, Wagner, M. PerspectiveS –
advanced personalization concepts under the AspectS with Context. In: Proceedings of the
umbrella of a “Mobile Personality”. OOPSLA 2002 Workshop on Engineering Con-
text-Aware Object-Oriented Systems and Envi-
The Mobile Personality paradigm is characterized ronments, Seattle, WA, November 2002.
through personal services, user preference and service
profiles that evolve over time according to changes in 10 Hirschfeld, R, Wagner, M, Kellerer, W, Prehofer,
the user’s environment, context or the service offer- C. AOSD for System Integration and Personaliza-
ings themselves. The main building blocks of this tion. In: Proc. of the AOSD Workshop on the
personalization concept are: advanced personalization Commercialization of AOSD Technology, Boston,
concepts, context-aware computing, as well as highly MA, March 2003.
flexible and evolvable system architectures. Our
ongoing work has emphasized generic approaches to 11 IST MobiLife. http://www.ist-mobilife.org
context management as well as service discovery and
selection that feature extendable semantic descrip- 12 Kellerer, W, Wagner, W, Balke, W-T. Prefer-
tions of services, users and devices. ence-based Session Management. In: Proceedings
of the 8th International Workshop on Mobile Mul-
timedia Communications (MOMUC2003),
7 References Munich, Germany, October 2003 (to appear).
1 3GPP. Generic User Profile.
http://www.3gpp.org 13 Kellerer, W, Berndt, H. Next Generation Service
Session Signaling. In: Proceedings of TINA 2002,
2 Ankolenkar, A, Burstein, M, Hobbs, J et al. Petaling Jaya, 2002.
DAML-S: Web Service Description for the
Semantic Web. In: Proceedings of the Interna- 14 Kießling, W, Köstler, G. Preference SQL –
tional Semantic Web Conference (ISWC’02), Sar- Design, Implementation, Experiences. In: Proc.
dinia, Italy, LNCS 2342, Springer, June 2002. of the Int. Conf. on Very Large Databases
(VLDB’02), Hong Kong, 2002.
3 Balke, W-T, Wagner, M. Towards Personalized
Selection of Web Services. In: Proceedings of the 15 Naghshineh, M. Context-Aware Computing.
International World Wide Web Conference IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, Spe-
(WWW2003), Budapest, Hungary, May 2003. cial Issue, October 2002.
4 Balke, W-T, Wagner, M. Cooperative Discovery 16 Lassila, O, Swick, R R. Resource Description

for User-centered Web Service Provisioning. In: Format: Model and Syntax Specification. W3C
Proceedings of the 1st International Web Service Recommendation, 1999.
Conference (ICWS2003), Las Vegas, Nevada,
June 2003. 17 Odell, J et al. Modeling Agents and their Environ-
ment. In: Proceedings of the AOSE Workshop of
5 Balke, W-T, Wagner, M. Through Different Eyes AAMAS, 2002.
– Assessing Multiple Conceptual Views for
Querying Web Services. In: Proc. of 13th Int. 18 OMA. http://www.openmobilealliance.org, 2003.
WWW Conf. (WWW’04), New York 2004.

19 McGuinness, D L, van Harmelen, F. OWL Web 25 W3C. Composite Capabilities/Preferences Pro-
Ontology Language Overview. W3C Working files. http://www.w3.org/Mobile/CCPP, 2002.
Draft. http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-features/. 2003.
26 W3C. Web Services Activity (Architecture
20 NullSoft SHOUTcast. http://www.shoutcast.com. Domain). http://www.w3.org/2002/ws/, 2002.
21 Prehofer, C, Kellerer, W, Hirschfeld, R, Berndt, 27 Wagner, M, Balke, W-T, Hirschfeld, R, Kellerer,

H, Kawamura, K. An Architecture Supporting W. A Roadmap to Advanced Personalization of
Adaptation and Evolution in Fourth Generation Mobile Services. In: Proceedings of the Interna-
Mobile Communication Systems. JCN Journal of tional Conference DOA/ODBASE/CoopIS (Indus-
Communications and Networks, 4 (4), 2002. try Program), Irvine, CA, October 2002.
22 Protégé Ontology Editor and Knowledge Acquisi- 28 Wagner, M, Liebig, T, Noppens, O, Balzer, S,
tion System. http://protege.stanford.edu/ Kellerer, W. mobiXPL – Semantic-based Service
Discovery on Tiny Mobile Devices. In: Proc. of
23 Radio Locator. http://www.radio-locator.com/. Workshop on Semantic Web Technology for
Mobile and Ubiquitous Applications (in conj.
24 Talano, A. Context Spaces Agent Architecture. with ISWC’04), Hiroshima, Japan, 2004.
In: Proceedings of the EURESCOM Summit, Hei-
delberg, 2002.
Matthias Wagner is the Project Manager of the Evolutionary Systems project at DoCoMo Euro-Labs. His
group is concerned with adaptive software as well as user guidance and contextual intelligence for the next
generation of mobile systems. In his research he mainly focuses on proactive services and personalisation
issues. Currently, he acts as a work package coordinator and a project management team member of the
IST integrated project MobiLife. He is also responsible for coordinating DoCoMo Euro-Lab’s activities in and
contributions to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Prior to joining DoCoMo, he worked for the depart-
ment of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ulm and the department of Databases and Information
Systems at the University of Augsburg. Matthias Wagner has numerous scientific publications in inter-
national journals, conferences and workshops. He holds a Master degree and a Ph.D. degree in Computer
Science.
Marko Luther is a Researcher in the Evolutionary Systems project at DoCoMo Euro-Labs where he is focus-
ing on context-aware computing and ubiquitous services. Methods researched and applied include formal
ontologies, qualitative reasoning and distributed semantic computing. Marko Luther has an extensive
background in Artificial Intelligence and Formal Methods. Prior to joining DoCoMo, he worked for the
department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ulm and has numerous scientific publications
in international journals, conferences and workshops. He holds a Master degree and a Ph.D. degree in
Computer Science.
Robert Hirschfeld is a senior researcher with DoCoMo Euro-Labs, the European research facility of NTT
DoCoMo Japan. There he works on infrastructure components for next generation mobile communication
systems with focus on dynamic service adaptation and context-oriented programming. Prior to joining
DoCoMo, he was a principal engineer at Windward Solutions in Sunnyvale, California. Robert Hirschfeld
received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany.

Wolfgang Kellerer is heading the Ubiquitous Services' Platforms research group at NTT DoCoMo's European
Research laboratories in Munich, Germany, focusing on capabilities of next generation mobile service
support platforms. Research topics include service signaling architectures, context-awareness, ubiquitous
communications (peer-to-peer, sensor networks), and cross-layer system design aspects. Dr. Kellerer is
currently serving as the elected Vice Chairman of the Working Group 2 (Service Architecture for the Wire-
less World) of the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF). He has published over 50 papers in respective
journals, conferences and workshops in the area of service architecture and mobile networking. He is also
active in European IST projects such as IST MobiLife and IST Simplicity. Before he joined DoCoMo Euro-
Labs, he worked at the Institute of Communication Networks at Technische Universität München (TUM),
Munich, Germany. In 2001 he was a visiting researcher at the Information Systems Laboratory of Stanford
University, California, US. He holds a Master and a PhD degree in electrical engineering and information
technology from TUM.
Anthony Tarlano is member of the Object Management Group (OMG) Agent Special Interest Group (Agent-
SIG) focused on the specification of Software Agent Technologies and has recently held positions as co-
chairman of the Agent SIG and as a member of the OMG Architecture Board. His current research activities
at DoCoMo Euro-Labs are focused toward the realization of Context Aware Computing Services for 4th
Generation Wireless Systems using Technologies such as, Peer-to-Peer Protocols, Middleware Object
Systems, Multi-Agent Systems and Dynamic Transformation Processing Systems. His formal educational
background includes studies in Computer Science and Data Communications Engineering at the University
of Mississippi, School of Engineering and Research Center for Telecommunication. In addition to his educa-
tional experience, Mr. Tarlano has contributed to variety of technically cutting-edge projects as a member
of the research and development technical staff at Harris Corporation, Litton-FiberCom, and Bell Labs in
Murray Hill, New Jersey

The Virtual Device – The future mobile phone?
DO VAN THANH AND IVAR JØRSTAD
In this paper we introduce a novel mobile device concept, which considers all the autonomous devices
on the user ‘s Personal Area Network (PAN) as one big “Virtual Device” having multiple input and
output units and providing a coherent and surround interface to the user. Such a concept is quite
valuable to the user since it allows him to manage all his devices as one. The paper also proposes and
describes a PAN middleware that enables the formation of a Virtual Device on the PAN and that is
capable of handling the dynamical presence of devices and the diversity of device types. In order to
Do van Thanh identify the necessary capabilities and functions of such middleware, two PAN configurations, namely
is Senior
Isolated PAN with multiple Open devices and Networked PAN without Open devices are considered
Research
Scientist at thoroughly.
Telenor R&D
1 Introduction have both hands free. To write on the tiny keypad of

There is no doubt about the popularity of the mobile the mobile phone may be an exciting challenge for
phone. Both the number of mobile phones and the youngster but it is not appealing to all people. The
number of subscribers world-wide are not only sounds and pictures offered by the mobile phone are
increasing but also at a faster pace. The mobile phone good enough for the mobile user but cannot be com-
has become the companion of many people. They pared with the pictures and the surround sounds of
Ivar Jørstad is a always bring it with them. They speak, watch and lis- the home theatre system.
PhD student at ten to their phone. The abilities and functions of the
Norwegian mobile phone are surely very valuable for the user. It is hence desirable dynamically to be able to move
University of However, the current physical form of the mobile the input functions, e.g. microphone, keypad, navi-
Science and
phone, although very light and handy, is not always gation, pointing, etc. and the output functions, e.g.
Technology
the most suitable one. The driving user would find it display, loudspeaker, etc. of the mobile phone to
difficult to talk on phone while driving with one external devices.
hand. A hands-free or headset allowing the user to
speak on the phone without having to hold the hand- This paper presents a novel concept called Virtual
set is definitely a better form. It allows the user to Device that aims to realise the mentioned demand.
The Virtual Device incorporates all the autonomous
devices in the vicinity of the user and allows him to
use them as one big “Virtual Device” [1] with dis-
tributed multiple input and output capabilities. The
Plain-old phone paper starts with a thorough description of the Virtual
Device concept with the clarification of its useful-
Laptop as ness. Next, it will explain how the concept can be
SIP/H323 Cordless phone realised.
te r min al
Mobile phone
2 The Virtual Device concept

User PDA The Virtual Device is a novel concept, which consid-
PC as SIP/H323 ers all the autonomous devices surrounding the user
Laptop terminal
Workstation as one big “Virtual Device” having multiple input
and output units and providing a coherent and sur-
Camcorder round interface to the user [2]. With the Virtual
Microphone Device concept, the user is no longer communicating
Personal
area Interactive TV
using one phone but a combination of multiple
network phones combined with other electronic devices both
Printer portable and stationary.
Such a concept is quite valuable to the user since it

Virtual
device allows him to manage all his devices as one (see
Figure 1 The Virtual Device on PAN Figure 1).

The Virtual Device will also help the user in utilizing
Plain-old phone
stationary devices on visiting places, e.g. printers, TV
screens, etc., and to coordinate them with the mobile
Cordless phone
devices carried along. Whether or not stationary
devices should be available to visiting users should
The Virtual Terminal
depend only on the permission from the owner of the
devices and not on the configuration or technical
interoperability of the devices. As long as the visiting
user has permission to use stationary devices, the
Mobile phone PC as H323 Virtual Device will be responsible for unifying and
Laptop as terminal
coordinating the mobile and stationary devices so
H323 terminal
User that they can work together in a seamless way.
Figure 2 A virtual terminal comprising several communication devices With the Virtual Device concept, all the different
communications devices, computing devices and
other electronic and peripheral devices will be con-
2.1 Device unification and coordination sidered as one big terminal with multiple input and
The most powerful feature of the Virtual Device is output capabilities. The user terminal will no longer
the ability to combine mobile and stationary devices. be an integrated and recognisable device but a set of
Since many communication devices, e.g. mobile and distributed devices that allow access to certain ser-
fixed phones, may have a limited user interface, the vices, e.g. multimedia communication services,
combination of these devices with various other various computing services, etc.
devices with different capabilities into a “Virtual Ter-
minal” as illustrated in Figure 2, may result in much 2.2 Uniform device management
better user interfaces and hence enhance the offered When the user is confronted with several different
services. devices, the management of all the different devices
might be complex and time consuming, and it can be
During a service session, a user may want to use one difficult for a non-technical user to master it all (see
or more elementary devices with just input and output Figure 3). For example, there will be several terminal
functionality in addition to his communication profiles and several user profiles the user has to relate
device. Examples of such elementary devices can be to. From the user’s point of view, it would certainly
a big screen display, loudspeakers, a microphone etc. be desirable to have one unique user profile specify-
In other cases the user may want to reroute the voice ing for example his home, office and travelling envi-
or data streams coming in to his mobile phone to ronments.
other, more convenient devices such as a fixed phone,
a PC etc. Another task for the Virtual Device might The Virtual Device will allow the user to define, add
be to send the contents of a file from the mailbox to and remove the devices that are included in the Vir-
a nearby printer to provide a hardcopy of incoming tual Device at any time. The user’s many terminal
text, pictures etc. profiles and user profiles on different devices will
be replaced by a unique user profile defined once and
for all in the Virtual Device. Whenever this profile is
set up or updated, it will automatically be accessible
from all other devices contained in the Virtual
Device. In this way, the user can set up and modify
his personal preferences for all his devices at one
place. For example, the user might have different
profiles for different environments – at home, in the
office, travelling, out of reach, etc. In each of these
profiles, he may configure the composition of the
Virtual Device according to what devices are avail-
able in the different environments. He may also spec-
ify which of the profiles should be active at any given
time in different ways, e.g. according to a timetable
or a location table or he can specify directly by manu-
ally informing the Virtual Device and thus override
Figure 3 Handling several devices might be difficult any existing time- or location table previously in
for a non-technical user effect.

The different profiles can also be set up to specify
different personal preferences when it comes to sub-
scription of services, user interfaces on particular
device types etc., so that the user will be offered the
same services and experience the same look and feel ?
regardless of where he is and what particular device !
DUS
he is using. The only requirements are that the device
in question supports such services and such user
interfaces.
Figure 4 Addressing a person instead of a device
The Virtual Device will offer a dynamic configura-
tion depending on which personal service environ-
ment is in effect and considering what services are
available at any time. For example, the Virtual some predefined settings, for example default regis-
Device can have one configuration for the home en- tration, a timetable or a location dependent table.
vironment specifying which devices are available in Another solution is to make use of service discovery
the evenings when the user is at home and another protocols to detect automatically all nearby services
configuration for the office environment specifying and devices. The Virtual Device will know which
what devices are preferably used at work. device it will be most appropriate to contact the user
by at any time. Anyone wishing to communicate with
Another inconvenience avoided when using the him will dial up his Virtual Device, which in turn will
Virtual Device is the repetition of the same tasks for contact the user. In other words – the Virtual Device
many devices. Instead of defining his profile and will function as the user’s personal secretary. Incom-
preferences on every device, for example enabling ing calls will be transferred to the most appropriate
voice-answering service both on his cellular phone devices at any given time, and it will receive mes-
and his plain old telephone, he can define it once and sages for the user when he does not want to be dis-
for all in the Virtual Device. Also, the address list turbed.
defined for one device will automatically be available
on other devices and there will no longer be a need The Virtual Device will offer personal mobility to the
for the user to define and update a distinct address list end user in that there are no fixed relations between
for each device. the user and any specific device. Any relations both
with respect to devices and subscriptions are dynami-
2.3 Cost reduction and increase of cally set up and taken down by the Virtual Device.
convenience In this way, the different identities of the different
Other advantages of the Virtual Device concept are devices will become transparent, but the identifier
the cost reduction and the increase of convenience. belonging to the Virtual Device will stay unchanged.
Devices can share resources like processing power,
battery power, memory, data, applications, network
access points and user interfaces. The user does not 3 Related works
have to purchase the same resource twice and can In the project EU IST-2001-34157 PACWOMAN,
hence save money. It is also more convenient for him there is a different definition of the Virtual Device
to carry as little equipment as possible when moving. which consists of a Master device and several Basic,
low cost, low power radio terminals. Each device can
2.4 A truly user centric concept be considered as one device on the PAN. The PAC-
The proposed concept will be user centric instead WOMAN Virtual Device corresponds to the idea
of device centric in that it will be possible to address introduced in Wearable Computing where a main
a person directly instead of addressing one of his PDA is controlling and communicating via wireless
devices (Figure 4). With the Virtual Device, the user links with miniaturised peripheral devices. The Vir-
will be accessible anywhere, anytime and regardless tual Device in this paper, on the other hand, consists
of what communication device he has at his disposal. of all devices of various types within and beyond the
PAN. The Eurescom project P1101 “Always-On”
The Virtual Device will be responsible for handling Device Unifying Service, defines a Virtual Terminal
available devices, which may include a variety of per- concept that consists of networked devices without
sonal or public devices. The user should keep his Vir- local connectivity between each other. No clear PAN
tual Device of what devices he can be reached by at is defined. The focus is on the transfer of voice and
any time, but this does not necessarily have to trouble data sessions between devices, e.g. to move a conver-
the user. It can be done automatically according to sation from a mobile to a fixed phone or vice versa.

The Virtual Device in this paper may be confused 5 The Virtual Device – the natural
with Jini from Sun Microsystems. Jini enables ser- and inevitable evolution
vices and resources offered by devices over a net- The computer, from its infancy until now has a con-
work to be shared by users. No attempt is made to stant evolution and has experienced several paradigm
exploit the benefits of integrating devices together as shifts:
defined by our Virtual Device.
• Mainframe and monolithic architecture
• Distributed system and network system
4 Realisation of the Virtual Device • Wireless distributed system and personal area
concept networks.
The Virtual Device concept can never be a reality
without the emergence of local short-range communi- From the 50s till the 80s, the computing world is
cation technologies such as Bluetooth [3], WLAN dominated by mainframes and minicomputers. They
[4], IEEE 802.15 [?], etc. that enable local connectiv- have a monolithic architecture composed of:
ity between devices. The devices belonging to a per-
son will form a private Personal Area Network • A Central Processing Unit (CPU)
(PAN) where devices appear and disappear dynami- • A Memory system (Volatile Storage)
cally. Unfortunately and most importantly, connectiv- • A Persistent storage
ity does not necessarily mean communication, and • An Input and Output unit which manages series of
many challenging issues must be resolved before terminals.
devices can collaborate and together form a Virtual
Device. This paper proposes and describes a middle- The heart of the mainframe is the CPU but the main
ware that enables the formation of a Virtual Device vein is the bus system. The bus system is used to con-
on the PAN and that is capable of handling the vey both the control information necessary for the
dynamical presence of devices and the diversity of control and synchronisation in the system and the
device types. But, before proceeding with the descrip- data that is exchanged between the units. Generally
tion of the Virtual Device middleware let us start with speaking, it is possible for the bus to convey both
a review of the architectures of the computer since operations and data streams although, at the imple-
they are the fundament of the Virtual Device concept. mentation level, a bus system may consist of two
separate parts, one for control and one for data.
During the 80s, microprocessors, workstations and

Workstation PC
PCs made their appearance and in a very short time
forced the mainframes to retreat. However, they
CPU Input unit CPU Input unit would not have such a success without the break-
Wired
network Data & through in data communications. With Ethernet,
control
bus higher data rate can be exchanged between computers
Memory Output unit Memory Output unit in the Local Area Networks. The Distributed Com-
puting paradigm is introduced and the goal is to build
Data & Data & a huge mainframe based upon independent comput-
control control ers. The transparency concept is aimed at hiding the
bus bus
complexity created by the communication distribu-
Figure 5 Distributed computing tion such that developers can concentrate on the
development of their applications [5][6][7]. The fol-
lowing transparencies are defined:
Wireless network
• access transparency
• location transparency
CPU Input unit CPU Input unit • relocation transparency
Data & • migration transparency
control
bus • persistence transparency
Memory Output unit • failure transparency
Memory Output unit • replication transparency
Data & • transaction transparency.
control
bus
To realize the Distributed Computing paradigm a
Figure 6 Wireless Distributed computing software layer, or more precisely, a middleware is

introduced between the applications and the infra-
PAN applications
structure. A well-known example of such a middle-
Applications
ware is CORBA (Common Object Request Broker
Virtual device middleware
Architecture) promoted by the Object Management
group [8]. Personal area network
With the emergence of short-range wireless technolo- Device 1 Device 2 Device 3

gies like Bluetooth and WLAN, the natural evolution
is to replace the wired network with the wireless net-
work to obtain the wireless distributing computing Figure 7 The Virtual Device architecture
paradigm as shown in Figure 6.
6 The Virtual Device middleware • Open device: Device allowing the installation and
Although sharing some similarities with the tradi- execution of PAN middleware and other applica-
tional Distributed Computing the Wireless Dis- tions, e.g. PDA, laptop, workstation, etc.
tributed Computing also has major differences and to
realize the Virtual Device requires yet another type of • Closed device: Device that can operate stand-alone
middleware (Figure 7). The main difference is that all but is like a black box; i.e. its internal structure and
the transparencies except Access Transparency are functions are totally hidden and communicates with
undesirable. Indeed, one of the goals of the Virtual the environment through only well defined inter-
Device is to be in control of the location of the appli- faces. For instance, a digital camera is an advanced
cations and to do relocation, migration, duplication, device having processor, memory, input and output
etc. The other differences are the heterogeneity and units but does not allow the installation and execu-
dynamics of the devices on the PAN. In the tradition of foreign applications. It communicates with
tional Distributed Computing, the computing nodes the rest of the world via interfaces like serial, paral-
are supposed to be stable and equal or at least having lel, USB, etc.
the minimum of capabilities e.g. processing, storage,
communication, etc. In order to identify and define the capabilities and
functions in the PAN Virtual Device Middleware
Indeed, on the PAN there is a variety of devices such (PVDM) let us consider two PAN configurations:
as:
• Isolated PAN with multiple open device
• Communications devices (fixed, mobile & IP • Networked PAN without open device.
phones)
• Computing devices (computer, PC, laptop, PDA, 6.1 Isolated PAN with multiple open
etc.) devices
• Peripheral devices (printer, scanner, digital camera, In this PAN configuration, there are multiple Open
camcorder, etc.) devices, multiple Closed devices and multiple Primi-
• Electronic devices (TV, stereo equipment, loud- tive devices on the PAN. Figure 8 shows a PAN with
speakers, etc.) two Primitive devices: microphone and earphone, two
• Electronic appliances (fridge, espresso machine,
washing machine, etc.)
• On-body or Off-body
• Mobile or stationary P: Micro P: Earphone
• With or without network connections
• With or without local wireless connections. PAN PAN
middleware middleware
PAN
It will be necessary with a careful and unambiguous
O: Laptop O: PDA
definition of device types but for the time being it is
sufficient to consider the device types at a coarse
C: Mobilephone C: Camcorder
level as follows:
PAN
middleware
• Primitive device: Simple device that cannot operate
alone but is slave to other devices, e.g. earphone, O: PC
microphone, display, etc.
Figure 8 A PAN with multiple Open devices

Closed devices: Mobile phone and Camcorder, and send it to another device on the PAN. An API (Appli-
three Open devices: PDA, laptop and PC. The PAN cation Programming Interface) will be defined for
Virtual Device Middleware should have the follow- this functionality.
ing capabilities and functions:
D. Application/service input and output
A. Device profile redirection
The PVDM should be able to detect and to recognise The input and output redirection should also be done
what are the devices present in the PAN, what type at the application/service level, i.e. one application
they are and what capabilities they have or what ser- can be redirected to one device while another is redi-
vice they are offering, e.g. printing, sound input, text rected to another device. However, this capability is
displaying, etc. The definition of device types must more difficult since it depends on the feature of the
be logical and unambiguous. It must be logical to operating system and may also require a new applica-
address both composite devices and inherited devices. tion structure as shown in Figure 9. An application
It must be unambiguous to guarantee the identifica- consists of three components: Core, Input and Out-
tion of a device type. The definition of device types put. The Core component contains the main logic of
should be standardised. the application and should remain invariant. The
Input and Output Components should be specified
B. Device discovery and updating according to the services supported such as sound
To support the PAN’s dynamics, where devices input, text input, graphic display, colour printing, etc.
appear and disappear, the PVDM should be equipped If a device offers a service matching the one required
with mechanisms for Device Discovery and Updat- then it can be used for the application.
ing. One method is to carry out polling periodically.
Since Primitive devices may be tied to their master E. User profile
and not visible to others, the PVDM should also ask The user and owner of the PAN should be reserved
Open and Closed devices for Primitive devices which the right to define the following:
are connected. In a second method, the PVDM only
runs the device discovery once and relies on trigger- • What devices are allowed to participate in her PAN
ing from the network layer to update its device set. In when present within the PAN’s coverage?
a third method, the changes are only updated when an
attempt to reach a device upon request from an appli- • How should the devices be used at a particular
cation fails. The best options will be determined location or at a particular time or according to
based upon the operational scenarios of Activity 2. a certain timetable. How should the redirection
The PVDM should also store information about the between devices occur?
present devices. It is necessary to have a naming con-
vention, e.g. PDA 1, Mobile 2, etc. The network • Which devices should be internal and which should
addresses (IP, Bluetooth, etc.) and protocols for each be global and visible to the outside world?
device must also be stored.
• Which applications can execute and what are their
C. Device input and output redirection settings?
The PVDM should be able to redirect an output
stream from one device to the input stream of • How should the applications be distributed among
another. For example, the sound output stream from the devices, i.e. how should the components be dis-
the PDA can be redirected to an earphone and the tributed among devices according to criteria such
sound input redirected to a microphone. It must inter- as quality, price, battery level, etc.?
cept the output stream addressed to a device at an
output port, perform the necessary transformation and In addition, the user must have the ability to alter,
remove, and add devices and applications at any time
and anywhere. These hard requirements induce a seri-
ous challenge on the design of the User Profile struc-
Input Core Output
ture and the architecture of the system around it.
F. Interface to the user

Sound Text Graphic Colour
Since the user, as owner of the PAN, should be the
one having the right to decide everything, there is a
Micro Keyboard Display Printer need for an application for PAN Control that offers
interfaces allowing him/her to communicate and con-
Figure 9 PAN Application structure trol the PAN Virtual Device. As with other applica-

tions, the PAN Control should also be structured as PANcontrol PAN-based applications
Core, Input and Output and should support a variety Appl Resource sharing
of input and output services.
Dev prof Dev disc Dev redir Appl red User profile
G. Interface to applications and services Personal area network

With the emergence of the PAN, a brand new type
of PAN-based applications is born. This new type Device 1 Device 2 Device 3
of applications will actively take advantage of the
unique properties of the PAN: device dynamics and
resource sharing. A typical example of PAN-based Figure 10 PVDM for PAN with multiple Open devices
applications is an application which focuses on the
control of existing applications, their parallel execu-
tion, their flexible and dynamic composition, and the
distribution of their input and output. The PVDM will collapse but fortunately there is a way to remedy
should provide an Application Programming Inter- the situation if there is one device with network con-
face (API) allowing the application access to the nection. As shown in Figure 10, the mobile phone
PAN capabilities and functions. It is also necessary allows communication with a computer running the
by careful study to decide which technology, e.g. PAN Virtual Device Middleware (PVDM). In this
Java, CORBA, XML Web service, etc. should be case the PAN can function very well because it is
used to implement such an API. logically equivalent to the configuration Isolated
PAN with unique Open device if the Computer on the
H. Optimal resource sharing network is considered as a PAN device. This configu-
In addition, it is desirable to achieve better collabora- ration is however very interesting since it opens for
tion and more optimal resource sharing between the several relevant usage scenarios. Indeed, the network
Open devices. There are several alternatives to computer can be a home PC or an office workstation
achieve improved Resource Sharing as follows: that the user always leaves behind when traveling, but
it can still participate and give support to her PAN.
1 Distributed Operating System: Such an alternative This network computer can also be provisioned and
demands the implementation of the Distributed OS managed by a Service Provider that offers PAN ser-
on all of the Open device types. With rapid growth vice to the users.
in type of mobile devices this could be difficult.
It is essential to consider the role of the network oper-
2 Distributed Computing: The traditional Distributed ator. It is interesting to investigate the newly associ-
Computing middleware must be extended with ated business model.
functionality to cope with the dynamics of devices.
3 XML Web Services: The devices are more loosely 7 Conclusion

coupled in this alternative and it can cope better In this paper we introduce a novel concept, which
with device dynamics [9][10]. proposes to realise a Virtual Device based on
autonomous devices in the Personal Area Network.
4 Application distribution, coordination and control: We also propose a PAN middleware necessary for the
the PVDM performs the distribution, coordination realisation of the Virtual Device. The capabilities and
and control of applications based on the Core, functions of the proposed PAN middleware are iden-
Input and Output application structure. The distri- tified and explained. However, we are still in the
bution of the input and output components is
already taken care of by the Application Redirec-
tion Function described earlier. Concerning the
Core, it could only be moved and resumed to a
P: Micro Internet
compatible Open device.
P: Earphone
PAN
The functionalities of the PVDM are depicted in Fig- PAN middleware
ure 10.
C: Camcorder O: Computer
6.2 Networked PAN without Open device
In this configuration the PAN does not have any C: Mobile phone
Open device but only either Primitive or Closed
devices. Usually without an Open device, the PAN Figure 11 A PAN without Open device

analysis phase. In order to obtain a running PAN 3 Bluetooth. https://www.bluetooth.org/
middleware, the design, implementation and testing
should be carried out and many challenging issues 4 IEEE. http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/
such as the device discovery, the design of the user portfolio.html
profile, the choice of appropriate approach for
resource sharing, etc. must be treated. Last but least, 5 ITU-T X.901 | ISO/IEC 10746-1. Open Dis-
the PAN will only take off with the wide availability tributed Processing Reference Model Part 1 –
of short-range wireless technologies that consume Overview. 1998.
less energy.
6 ITU-T X.901 | ISO/IEC 10746-2. Open Dis-
tributed Processing Reference Model Part 2 –
References Foundations. 1996.
1 Do van Thanh, Jønvik, T, Vanem, E, Tran Dao
van, Audestad, J A. The Device Management Ser- 7 ITU-T X.901 | ISO/IEC 10746-3. Open Dis-
vice. Proceedings of The IEEE Intelligent Net- tributed Processing Reference Model Part 3 –
work Workshop 2001 (IN2001), Boston, USA, Architecture. 1996.
May 6–9, 2001. (ISBN 0-7803-7047-3)
8 Object Management Group. CORBA V2.0 – The
2 Vanem, E, Tran Dao van, Jønvik, T, Do van Common Object Request Broker: Architecture
Thanh. Extending VHE with the Device Unifying and Specification, Revision 2.0. July 1995,
Service. Proceedings of The IEEE International Updated July 1996.
Conference on Comunications ICC 2002, New
York, USA, April 28 – May 2, 2002. (ISBN 0- 9 Executive Overview: Web Services. The Forrester
7803-7400-2 (softbound) ISBN 0-7803-7401-0 Brief, Forrester Research Inc., October 2001.
(CD-ROM))
10 Cerami, E. Web Services Essentials, 1st edition.
O’Reilly Media Inc., 2002.

Special
Telektronikk 3/4.2005 173

174 Telektronikk 3/4.2005
IP-based resource discovery in fixed and mobile networks
PAAL E. ENGELSTAD AND GEIR EGELAND
This article introduces the most common IP-based naming services and service discovery mechanisms.
The reader is made familiar with the most common naming services used on the Internet and how
names can be resolved in mobile wireless ad hoc networks. Further, the reader is introduced to service
discovery mechanisms for an ad hoc network where traditional service discovery mechanisms might
be deficient, and where service discovery is particularly important since the availability of services is
dependent on the network dynamics.
Paal E. Engelstad
is Research
Scientist in
Telenor R&D 1 Name resolution To give some examples, the Domain Name System
As human beings, we prefer to remember the name of (DNS) [1][2] maps the host name of the University of
a computer. Computers, on the other hand, prefer to Oslo’s public web server, which is www.uio.no, to
address each other by numbers, which on the Internet the IP address 129.240.4.44. Another example
is 32 bits or 128 bits long, depending on whether can be a VoIP system that maps a SIP identifier to an
IPv4 or IPv6 is used. This is one reason why we need E.164 number, e.g. URI sip:dave@my_tele-
a naming service that can handle mapping between com.com:5060 is translated to +47 904 30 495.
computer names, which we humans find convenient
Geir Egeland to remember, and between network addresses (i.e. The association between a name and the lower layer
is Research numbers), which computers deal with. Another rea- identifier of a network entity is called a binding.
Scientist in son is that according to the Internet model, an IP Some naming services, such as DNS, also have the
Telenor R&D address does not identify a host, such as a web-server, possibility to do reverse mapping, e.g. to map an IP
but a network interface. Although the host makes address to a corresponding higher layer name, and to
changes to its network interface or network attache- do mapping from one higher layer name to another.
ment, it is convenient for the users and applications Some naming services, such as DNS, also have the
that the name of the host remains unchanged. As such, possibility to do reverse mapping, e.g. to map an IP
keeping different identifiers at different layers helps address to a corresponding higher layer name, and to
keep the protocol layers more independent and also do mapping from one higher layer name to another.
reduces problems associated with layering violations.
In the following section, we will describe a generic
In a middleware perspective, naming services is also model for naming services, which will serve as a ref-
a question of keeping higher layer names of entities erence model for the remaining part of this article.
independent of their lower layer identfiers and their
actual locations. Here, the naming service is not only 1.1.1 A generic model
a way of helping the users of applications; it is just as The process of looking up a name in a computer net-
much a help for the software developer. work consists normally of the following steps: First,
the binding between higher layer names and lower
In this section, the reader is made familiar with the layer addresses must be registered in the network.
most common naming services used on the Internet This procedure can be referred to as registration. The
and how names can be resolved in mobile wireless registration is normally done only once, and the bind-
ad hoc networks. ing is provided through some administrator authority.
The bindings are normally registered with a server
1.1 An architecture for naming services that holds a binding cache. An example of such an
A fundamental facility in any computer network is entity is a DNS server. With a strict authentication
the naming service, which is the means by which regime, the registration can be done automatically,
names are associated with network addresses, and as illustrated in message 1 of Figure 1-1.
network addresses are found based on their names.
For example, when you use an electronic mail sys- Second, the network entities that desire to resolve a
tem, you must provide the name of the recipient to name must be informed of the corresponding binding
whom you want to send mail. If you want to access that is registered in the network. This procedure can
a web site you must provide its URL, which again is be referred to as name resolution. There are two dif-
translated into the network address of the computer ferent principle approaches to name resolution,
hosting the web site. namely push and pull:

www.companyA.com
binds to 10.10.10.100
10.10.10.100
Cache Coordinator
3 Entity (CCE) Naming Authority
1 NA
2
Network address for
www.companyA.com?
User Entity (UE)

www.companyA.com
10.10.10.100
Name Entity (NE)
Figure 1-1 A Cache Coordinator Entity (e.g. the enterprise DNS server) is updated with a new binding for its
Named Entity (e.g. a public web server)
• Push approach: The bindings are proactively In the DNS naming system, requests are issued by the
broadcast to all network entities that might need to resolver in the computer’s operating system. The ini-
use the bindings for name resolution some time in tiative to activate the resolver can come from an end
the future. user typing a web address in a browser, or from an
application needing to access a binding. The request
• Pull approach: A network entity that desires to will end up at the entity caching the binding for the
resolve a name to a network entity issues a request name requested, and the binding containing the
on demand at the time the binding is needed. resolved identifiers will be returned to the resolver.
This is illustrated by messages 2 and 3 in Figure 1-1.
Due to scalability issues the pull model has been cho-
sen for the Internet, and this model will be our focus Named Entity (NE)
in the following sections. The Named Entity (NE) is the network entity (e.g.
host or computer) identified by a name. For commu-
The generic model involves four networking entities nication, it uses the network interfaces referred to by
for the registration and name resolution procedures. the lower layer identifiers of a binding.
These are: Naming Authority (NA)

The Naming Authority (NA) is the authority or sys-
1 A User Entity (UE) represents the network entity tem of authorities permitted to assign names to NEs
issuing a request to resolve a name. and bindings between the names and the lower layer
identifiers of the NE. This is normally only config-
2 A Named Entity (NE) represents the network entity ured once, but might require to be updated if parame-
that a name points to. ters of the network configuration changes. For exam-
ple, an ISP can perform the administrative task of
3 A Naming Authority (NA) is authorized to create a configuring their DNS server to map the network
binding between names and addresses of Named address of a customers public web server to the net-
Entities (NE). work address assigned to the customer, or the net-
work administrator of an enterprise network will
4 A Caching Coordinator Entity (CCE) does inter- configure the company’s local DNS-server to map
mediate storage of bindings. a computer’s name to a fixed network address.
User Entity (UE) There exist solutions that enable an NE to update its
The role of the User Entity (UE) is to resolve the own binding directly with a Caching Coordinator
mapping between a name and the lower layer identi- Entity (described below). This requires that the
fiers of an NE by retrieving a binding from the nam- Caching Coordinator Entity can authenticate the NE.
ing service. The UE may be software components or With no authentication, it would be possible for
actual end-users that want to look up a specific name. someone to insert false information into the caching
In most cases the UE will offer a low level function- entity, and in the worst case impersonate another net-
ality directed towards system components. work entity by hijacking its binding. The NE must

net int com edu gov mil org biz name info pro
Figure 1-2 The structure of the DNS name space
also be authorized to automatic updates to its binding, The DNS resolver acts as the UE described above,
and the node thus also has the role of an NA. while the DNS servers act as CCEs. The registration
is normally a manual process and the Named Entities
Caching Coordinator Entity (CCE) normally do not take part in the name resolution pro-
The primary task of the Caching Coordinator Entity cess (unless they use DNS Secure Dynamic Updates
(CCE) is to act as a cache for name bindings. The [5]).
CCEs are important for the efficiency of the naming
service in the presence of a large number of UEs and 1.2 Resolving Names without the use of
NEs. Normally the NE knows the location of the DNS servers
CCE it is supposed to register its bindings with. The In some situations it is not feasible to make use of the
UE, which somehow has to retrive this information, DNS system to resolve name bindings, and in some
does not normally know the location of the CCE cases the DNS system might not even be available.
where the binding is located. For the DNS system, the For example, consider a spontaneous setting where
location of the local CCE, i.e. the local DNS server, people in some airport lounge want to make use of
is normally provided dynamically to the UE, by for their laptop’s WLAN feature and connect to each
example mechanisms such as DHCP. Here, the UE other to exchange music or other information they
normally uses the local CCE to be able to locate and may find interesting (Figure 1-3). Without any DNS
retreive a binding stored at another CCE on the Inter- service, they will have to identify themselves using
net. the network address, which for human beings is not
very attractive.
1.1.2 The Domain Name System
The DNS’ distributed database is indexed by domain If it was somehow possible to define a separate name
names. Each domain is basically just a path in an space in addition to the DNS system, and if some
inverted tree, called the domain name space. Figure mechanism could advertise and resolve these names
1-2 illustrates the structure of the domain name space. in such a spontaneous setting, users could search and
identify names in a more human-friendly way. Multi-
The practical operation of the DNS system consists of cast DNS [6] and Link Local Multicast Name Resolu-
three modules:
1 The DNS resolver that generates DNS requests on

behalf of software programs; Bob’s
computer Steve’s
computer
2 The recursive DNS server, which searches through
the DNS in response to queries from resolvers, and
returns answers to those resolvers;
3 The authoritative DNS server, which responds to

queries from recursive DNS servers. Figure 1-3 Computers communicating without a
DNS server

tion [7] are two competing solutions addressing this that connect it as a “stub” network to a fixed network
scenario. These will be described in the following. infrastructure. Since a node is not necessarily in direct
radio range with any other node in the network, the
1.2.1 Multicast DNS name resolution nodes must participate in the routing process and be
Multicast DNS (mDNS) is a way of using familiar willing to forward packets on behalf of other nodes in
DNS programming interfaces, packet formats and the network.
operating semantics in a small network where no con-
ventional DNS server has been installed [6]. In short, An ad hoc network is a network that is created spon-
the mechanism works by enabling a node to search taneously, without support from the existing fixed
for the network address of the computer with the Internet infrastructure. The network might be formed
name X by sending a multicast DNS message asking when people equipped with their portable PCs come
“Does anyone know the network address of node X?” together at conferences, or it can be used to network a
If a node with the name X is present on the network, user’s personal wireless devices into a Personal Area
it will respond by returning a DNS response contain- Network (PAN). Ad hoc networks may also be
ing information about its network adress. Multicast formed during emergency situations when legacy net-
DNS is a part of the Mac OS X® operating system, work infrastructures are unavailable or damaged. Yet
where its implementation is called Rendezvous. another application of ad hoc networking is on a mili-
tary battlefield in places where fixed network infra-
1.2.2 Link Local Multicast Name Resolution structures are unavailable or not feasible to use.
Link Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR) is
a peer-to-peer name resolution protocol focused on The salient characteristics of ad hoc networks include
enabling resolution of names on the local link [7]. not only the dynamics of the network topology. In
LLMNR utilizes the DNS packet format and supports addition, the links are bandwidth constrained and of
all DNS formats, types and classes. LLMNR is not ever-changing capacity. Furthermore, the nodes often
intended as a replacement for DNS, and as a result, rely on energy-constrained batteries to move about
it is only used when a DNS server is either not avail- freely, and energy conservation is an important design
able or is not providing an answer to a query. goal for many ad hoc networking technologies.
LLMNR differs from mDNS in many ways. First, Due to the dynamic networking topology and the fact
LLMNR is an IETF standards track specification, that nodes might enter and leave the network fre-
while mDNS, which is used in Apple Rendezvous, quently, it is often also assumed that an ad hoc net-
is not. LLMNR is designed for use only on the local work is without any pre-existing infrastructure and
link, while mDNS also offers site-wide usage. Fur- that it is difficult to maintain an infrastructure in such
thermore, mDNS sends multicast responses as well as a dynamic environment.
multicast queries.
Due to the lack of pre-existing infrastructure, it is
1.3 Name resolution in ad hoc networks anticipated that direct peer-to-peer communication
Mobile ad hoc networking started out from military between nodes will be popular on ad hoc networks.
research on Packet Radio Networks. In the late 1990s, This means that any node may in principle operate as
however, the issue was included as a working group a server (e.g. Web server or SIP-server) and be con-
item of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). tacted directly by other MANET nodes. Any node
The goal of the IETF was “to develop a peer-to-peer may also operate as a client and contact other servers
mobile routing capability in a purely mobile, wireless available in the network.
domain. This capability will exist beyond the fixed net-
work (as supported by traditional IP networking) and A Mobile Ad hoc Network that is equipped with IP-
beyond the one-hop fringe of the fixed network.” [8]. based routing is normally referred to as a “MANET”.
There are two principal different approaches to rout-
1.3.1 Characteristics of ad hoc networks ing in MANETs, namely reactive and proactive rout-
A mobile ad hoc network consists of mobile routers ing. These two approaches will be detailed below,
– often simply referred to as “nodes”. They are free however, with most emphasize on reactive routing.
to move about arbitrarily and wireless technology is
used for direct communication between the nodes. 1.3.2 Reactive and proactive routing protocols
Due to the dynamic nature of the wireless media and The routing protocols in mobile ad hoc networks can
the arbitrary mobility of the nodes, the network forms be divided into two different approaches:
a random, multi-hop graph that changes with time.
The network is an autonomous system that may oper- • Reactive
ate in isolation, or it may optionally have gateways • Proactive

A reactive routing protocol has no prior knowledge
of the network topology, but finds a route to a given
destination on demand. A proactive routing protocol,
S E
on the other hand, tries to always have a complete F
updated picture of the network topology. C J
M
B G
L
Reactive routing protocols are normally preferred K
when nodes are highly mobile, when only a subset of A H D
I
nodes are communicating at any one time, and when
communication sessions last for a relatively long N
time. Proactive routing protocols, on the contrary, are

preferred for lower levels of mobility and when com- Represents links on return route
munication is random and sporadic. Reactive routing
is not well known to most people, probably because Figure 1-4 Route Requests (RREQs) in AODV
routing on the fixed Internet is proactive by nature.
As a consequence, we will summarize the features
of reactive routing in the following:
A number of reactive routing protocols have been pro- ward pointers to the destination in the route tables.
posed over the years. The most widely studied and pop- The Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol, on the
ular proposals include the Ad-hoc On-demand Distance other hand, does not rely on routing state in the net-
Vector (AODV [9]) routing protocol and the Dynamic work. Instead, DSR uses source routing. The RREQ
Source Routing (DSR [10]) routing protocol. collects the IP addresses of all the nodes that it has
passed on the way to the destination. The destination
Reactive protocols allow source nodes to discover subsequently sends by source-routing a Route Reply
routes to an IP address on demand. Most proposals, back to the source of the request, providing it with the
including AODV and DSR, work as follows: When source route to the destination.
a source router requires a route to a destination IP
address for which it does not already have a route, it 1.3.3 The importance of name resolution in
issues a route request (RREQ) packet. The packet is MANETs
broadcast by controlled flooding throughout the net- Name resolution is an important feature in an ad hoc
work, and sets up a return route to the source (Figure network, since addresses may change relatively fre-
1-4). quently due to the network dynamics, e.g. when
nodes enter and leave the network. Furthermore, it is
If a router receiving the RREQ is either the destination often impossible to use the address as a well-known
or has a valid route to the destination IP address, it uni- identifier, since IP addresses for nodes on the MANET
casts a Route Reply (RREP) back to the source along will normally be auto-configured at random, and
the reverse route. The RREP normally sets up a for- nodes may also need to change addresses due to
ward route from source to destination. Thus, the pair of addressing conflicts. Devices and resources should
RREQ and RREP messages set up a bi-directional uni- instead be identified by stable and unique higher
cast route between source and destination. Once the layer names (e.g. Fully Qualified Domain Names).
source router receives the RREP, it may begin to for-
ward data packets to the destination. (The acronyms If a MANET is connected to the Internet, a MANET
RREQ and RREP are borrowed from AODV.) node may use the existing mechanism for name resolu-
tion on the Internet, namely DNS, to look up the IP
Most protocols let routes that are inactive eventually address of another MANET node. However, in most
time out. If a link becomes unavailable while the scenarios the MANET will not always be permanently
route is active, the routing protocol normally imple- connected to a fixed infrastructure, and the DNS
ments an algorithm to repair the route. Often the infrastructure on the Internet might be unavailable.
router upstream to the link breakage would send an Relying entirely on the DNS on the Internet would not
error message upstream towards the source. be a robust solution to name resolution in the MANET.
AODV is a protocol that stores state information in One option would be to introduce a DNS infrastruc-
the network. Routers that receive RREQs set up the ture into the MANET. However, DNS is designed
return routes in the route tables as backwards pointers with a fixed network in mind, and has a relatively
to the source router, while RREPs that are propagated static, centralized and hierarchical architecture that
back to the source along the reverse route leave for- does not fit well to MANETs.

Without a name resolution method in place, MANET ing scope parameter. Each NE responds to a NREQ
users cannot easily use the applications that are for its own names (i.e. no name caching is allowed)
developed for fixed networks for local communica- with a unicast Name Resolution Reply (NREP) (2).
tion on the MANET. In the following, solutions to
name resolutions in ad hoc networks will be explored. Coordinator based architecture
The focus is mainly on name resolution in reactive Certain nodes in the MANET are chosen to be
MANETs, because name resolution in proactive Caching Coordinators (CCEs), a role quite similar to
MANETs might be a less challenging task. a DNS server. The interaction between User Entities,
Named Entities and Caching Coordinators are illus-
1.3.4 Architectures for resolving host and trated in Figure 1-6. The CCEs announce their pres-
service names in ad hoc networks ences to the network by periodically flooding CCE
For name resolution in ad hoc networks, a MANET Announcement messages (1). The flooding can be
node may hold the same role as presented above for limited to a certain number of hops, determined by
fixed networks. A node may act as a User Entity (UE) the Coordinator announcement scope parameter. Due
that wants to resolve a name, a Named Entity (NE) to the dynamics of ad hoc networks, the Named Enti-
that wants to make its services available to other ties must be allowed to register their bindings auto-
MANET nodes, and/or a Caching Coordinator Entity matically with the CCE. Hence, a Named Entity that
(CCE) that holds a central repository for cached bind- receives CCE Announcements unicasts Name Regis-
ings and assists other UEs and NEs with name resolu- tration messages to register its bindings (i.e. names
tion. A binding maps a name to an IP address(es) and and associated IP addresses) with CCEs in its sur-
possibly a port number(s) that the UE may subse- roundings (2). A User Entity that has received CCE
quently use to contact the NE. Announcement messages may unicast a Name Reso-
lution Request (NREQ) to a selected CCE to discover
There are three name resolution architectures that desired services (3). The CCE finally responds with
need to be considered for ad hoc networks: a unicast Name Resolution Reply (NREP) (4). The
selected CCE is often referred to as an affiliated
1 Distributed architecture CCE.
2 Coordinator based architecture
3 Hybrid architecture Hybrid architecture
This architecture combines the two architectures
These name resolution architectures will be described described in previous sections. UEs within the Co-
in the following. ordinator announcement scope of one or more CCEs
will register their bindings with them. They must
Distributed architecture however also be ready to respond to flooded NREQs.
As shown in Figure 1-5, this architecture contains no When a UE unicasts an NREQ to its affiliated CCE in
CCE. Instead, a UE floods the Name Resolution line with the Coordinator based architecture (Figure
Request (NREQ) throughout its surroundings in the 1-6), the CCE responds with a positive or negative
network (1). The flooding can be limited by a flood- NREP. However, if there is no CCE in the UE’s sur-
NE
1
.
req
1 isc. 1
1 ed
Na
m ply
Name disc. req. Name disc. c. re
1 req. 22 e dis
st m
ue 2
2 1 Na
c. req 1 Name disc. reply
Name d
isc. reply
e dis ly
p
N am c . re
22 e dis
m
Na
1 1
UE
Figure 1-5 The Distributed architecture with User Entities (UE) and Named Entities (NE)

1 NE
t
en
1 c em
un 1
1 no
CCE announcement CCE ann E an er
ouncem CC ist
ent 22 eg
t
1 CCE
mer
en 2 1
em
3 Na
c Name re
un 3 Name disc. req. gister
no
E an eq
.
OC 1 i s c. r
2 ed
m
Na
1 1
UE
Figure 1-6 The Coordinator based architecture with User Entities (UE), Caching Coordinator Entities (CCEs)
and Named Entities (NE)
roundings or if the affiliated CCE returned a negative work efficiently with reactive routing. The process of
NREP, the UE will simply fall back to the Distrib- contacting a node on the MANET would require two
uted architecture (Figure 1-5). Both CCEs and or three broadcasts, as illustrated in the left side of
Named Entities may respond to a flooded NREQ with Figure 1-7. Two broadcasts are necessary for the
a positive NREP that matches the requested service. initial name resolution, because the User Entity first
has to flood a name resolution request. The reply
Intermediate node caching returned by a node that can resolve the name also
An additional alternative – or a supplement – to the requires flooding, since the node does not have a
three architectures is to use intermediate node caching. route to the node that issued the request. Finally, the
The name resolution may for example follow the User Entity will have to flood a regular RREQ to find
distributed architecture, but intermediate nodes are a route to the resolved IP address.
allowed to cache bindings found in NREPs that they
are forwarding. Later, when receiving an NREP for a Alternatively, if the node resolving the name to an IP
cached binding, the intermediate node resolves the address is the Named Entity of the name (and not a
name on behalf of the NE according to the cached node that has cached the name binding), the specifica-
binding. The bindings should contain a lifetime value tion might mandate that the reply be returned by uni-
that controls for how long a binding should be kept cast to the User Entity. Then, before replying, the node
valid in a cache. must first flood an RREQ to discover and set up a uni-
cast route to the User Entity and send the name resolu-
1.3.5 Emerging principles for name resolution tion reply by unicast along this route. It would then be
in reactive ad hoc networks possible to reduce the number of flooded broadcasts
Many ad hoc routing protocols are designed to con- from three to two, because the User Entity already
serve the scarce networking resources by reducing has a route to the resolved IP address as a result of
the need for and the negative impact of system-wide the name resolution process when it contacts the
flooded broadcasts. Flooded broadcasts not only Named Entity. Further details are provided in [11][12].
exhaust the available bandwidth on the network and
reduce the scalability in terms of number of nodes It is however possible to reduce the number of
accommodated on the network. Broadcasts also flooded broadcasts to one, as illustrated in the right
consume battery power of all networked devices. side of Figure 1-7. The solution is to use routing mes-
sages as carriers for name resolution. First the User
Reactive routing protocols, such as AODV, are Entity floods the name resolution request (NREQ).
designed to reduce to the furthest extent the need for By piggybacking the NREQ on a route request
system-wide flooded broadcasts associated with route (RREQ) packet, a “return route” to the User Entity
discovery. Although route discovery is efficient in would be formed as part of this flooding. By also pig-
terms of reducing the number of flooded broadcasts gybacking a name resolution reply (NREP) on a route
from two to one, name resolution that is not opti- request (RREQ) packet, the NREP is sent by unicast
mised with respect to the route discovery would not along the “return route” to the User Entity. The

Named
Named
Entity (NE)
Entity (NE)
User User
Entity (UE) Entity (UE)
Step 1 Step 1
Named
Named Entity (NE)
Entity (NE)
User
User
Entity (UE)
Entity (UE)
Step 2 Step 2
Named
Entity (NE) Named
Entity (NE)
User User
Entity (UE) Entity (UE)
Step 3 Step 3
Figure 1-7 Name resolution without optimization (left) and with optimization (right)
RREP also ensures that a “forward route” is formed Needless to say, this broadcast issue is a smaller
as part of this transmission. When the User Entity problem in proactive ad hoc networks, since all uni-
finally contacts the service at the IP address of the cast communication (including the NREP) can be
resolved name, the service request is unicast along sent along unicast routes established beforehand by
the forward route that was put in place by the RREP. the routing protocol. However, the broadcasting of
In summary, only one flooded broadcast is required the NREQ might benefit from reusing the efficient
in total. The idea of using routing messages as carri- flooding capabilities (e.g. using Multi-point relays)
ers has been proposed for name resolution in [11]. In that are built-in features of many proactive protocols,
fact, the same mechanism can also be used for service including the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR)
resolution, as we will see in the next part on service protocol [13].
discovery below.

1.3.6 A proposal for name resolution in reactive IP RREQ NREQ
ad hoc networks 1 2
IP RREQ NREQ
1
1 2
Overview Named
2
A mechanism for name resolution in MANET is pro- Entity (NE)
User 1
posed in [14]. It is mainly targeted at users that can Entity (UE)
supply their MANET node with a Fully Qualified 1
Domain Name (FQDN) from the globally unique 1

DNS name space. The user may have control over
some part of the DNS name space or may have re- NREQ == Mux Name
ceived the FQDN from an organization that they NREP == IP-Addr Name
Mux
belong to or subscribe to. The proposed name resolu-
tion scheme shares similarities to the Link-Local
Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR) protocol and Figure 1-8 A Name Resolver (NR) floods a Name Resolution Request
multicast DNS protocol for local-link name resolu- (NREQ), carried by a Route Request (RREQ) header, throughout the
tion presented above. The mechanism proposed for network (1). A Name Server (NS) process with the requested name-to-
ad hoc networks specifies compressed message for- address mapping unicasts a Name Resolution Reply (NREP), carried by
mats allowing for bandwidth-efficient name lookups. a Route Reply (RREP) header, back along the reverse route formed by
As an option, it also specifies message formats that the RREQ (2)
reuse the format of DNS messages, allowing for
name lookups that are fully compatible with DNS.
Name Resolution Requests and Replies The NREP is carried as an extension to an RREP
The proposed scheme uses the distributed architec- message (Figure 1-8). The User Entity sending of the
ture presented above, with no intermediate node NREP will normally include its own IP address as
caching. No Caching Coordinators are allowed, and destination IP address in the RREP message to ensure
instead, only User Entities and Naming Entities are that a forward route is formed.
present on the MANET. When an NREQ is broadcast
by flooding throughout the MANET, each node with By carrying the response in an RREP message,
a Named Entity processes the request. By carrying a responder that is identified by the name that is
the NREQ as an extension to an RREQ (Figure 1-8), searched for, can supply the User Entity with the
the number of broadcasts required for name resolu- resolved IP address in addition to a unicast route to
tion is reduced as explained earlier in this article. that IP address. Hence, the User Entity does not have
Hence, a return unicast route to the User Entity of the to issue an additional broadcast to discover a route to
request is already in place for a node that wants to the resolved address when it subsequently tries to
respond to the NREQ. contact that address.
The destination IP address contained in the RREQ, Interaction with External Networks
indicating the address to which a route is searched MANETs might be connected to external networks
for, is set to a pre-defined value. This can be a zero through Internet Gateways (IGWs). An IGW is a
address, a broadcast address or a pre-assigned multi- MANET router that also is a host or a router on an
cast address to which no node can cache a route. external network (with Internet connectivity). The
Hence, intermediate nodes without a valid address IGW may have access to a conventional DNS server
mapping for the requested name will not respond to over the external network and it may also provide
the RREQ part of the message. other MANET nodes with access to the external net-
IP UDP DNS
IP RREQ NREQ
1 2
NS DNS resolv DNS system
4 3
Internet Gateway Internet
IP RREQ NREQ
Figure 1-9 An Internet Gateway (IGW) which receives a Name Resolution Request (NREQ) on the MANET (1)
may try to resolve the requested name using the Domain Name System on the Internet (2). A successful
response (3) may be injected as a Name Resolution Reply (NREP)

work. The scheme proposes to use each IGW as a tance from a network administrator or even a compli-
DNS proxy, as shown in Figure 1-9. cated manual to locate services. Service discovery
worked automatically and was operated by using a
The main advantage of using the IGW as a DNS simple interface.
proxy is that there is only one name resolution
scheme used on the MANET and that nodes can This section will introduce the reader to various ser-
resolve names in one single process. vice discovery mechanisms that enable the same type
of functionality that the AppleTalk protocol offered
Response Selection [15]. Further, the reader is introduced to service dis-
A flooded NREQ might result in reception of multi- covery mechanisms for an ad hoc network where tra-
ple NREPs. If the Named Entity present in the ditional service discovery mechanisms might be defi-
MANET has registered its name in the DNS, both the cient, and where service discovery is particularly
Named Entity and each IGW present in the network important since the availability of services is depen-
may return an NREP. Furthermore, if the NREP con- dent on the networks dynamics.
tains a DNS SRV resource record to resolve a non-
unique service name (as explained later in this arti- 2.1 A generic model
cle), many Named Entities present in the MANET Users typically want to accomplish a certain task, not
may respond to the same NREP. To deal with the query a list of devices to find out what services are
possibility of multiple responses, the User Entity running. It makes far more sense for a client to ask a
should wait for some milliseconds to collect single question: “What print services are available?”
responses that might arrive. The proposal includes than to query each available device with the question,
response selection rules that ensure that a response “What services are you running?” and sift through
from a Named Entity present locally on the MANET the results looking for printers. This latter approach,
will always have preference over responses arriving which is called device-centric, is not only time-con-
from other nodes, such as IGWs, since a local suming, it generates a tremendous amount of network
response might be more reliable and up-to-date. Fur- traffic, most of it useless. On the other hand, a ser-
thermore, a direct route through the MANET should vice-centric approach sends a single query that gener-
normally have preference compared to a route that ates only relevant replies. This is what service discov-
goes through external networks. If the User Entity has ery is all about.
multiple addresses to select from after applying this
selection rule, it should select – as a secondary selec- The process of discovering services on a computer
tion rule – an IP address to which it has a route that network, is similar to the process of looking up a
is preferred by the routing protocol. That means that name described in the previous chapter, but instead
it will normally select an IP address to which it has of asking “Who has this name?”, service discovery
valid routes and select the IP address that is the involves the question “Who offers these services?”.
fewest hops away from the User Entity. Normally three entities, or agents, are needed in a ser-
vice discovery architecture for a computer network.
These are:
2 Service discovery
The only information two end-points communicating 1 A User Agent (UA) that represents the network
over the Internet need to know, besides their own entity issuing a request to find a service;
configuration, is the network address of the end-point
they communicate with. Any of the two end-points 2 A Service Agent (SA) that represents the service
might offer a wide range of services such as email, offered;
ftp, http etc., but there exists no defined way for the
other end-point to find out which of these services are 3 A Directory Agent (DA) for intermediate storage
being offered. Instead, the users themselves have to of information about available services.
remember the name of the computer offering the ser-
vices and to know in advance the TCP or UDP port 2.1.1 User Agent
numbers associated with the set of services desired The User Agent (UA) represents the client part in the
or to rely on the well-known port numbers. process of discovering services. The UA may be a
software component or an end-user that wants to
Would it not be easier if services and the associated locate a specific service. In most cases the UA will
IP addresses and port numbers could be searched for offer a low level functionality directed towards sys-
and discovered dynamically? This was indeed the tem components.
case for Macintosh computers that used AppleTalk
networking. The Mac user did not require any assis-

2.1.2 Service Agent The service model can be divided into three architec-
The Service Agent (SA) represents the service in the tures, the distributed, centralized, and hybrid archi-
architecture. This can be the actual service, or some tectures. In the distributed architecture, there are no
entity representing it. Such an entity is called a DAs present. The UAs will issue a multicast message
proxy-SA. An SA will advertise the services it offers to find the SAs. The reply from the SAs can be uni-
by either broadcast or multicast service messages. If cast, or multicast if the UAs have the ability to use
a Directory Agent exists, the SA will try to register and manage a local cache of available SAs. In the
with it. centralized architecture, one or more DAs are present.
2.1.3 Directory Agent A variation of the centralized architecture is shown

A Directory Agent (DA) acts as a cache and will in Figure 2-2, where the UA is retrieving service dis-
merely collect information from the Service Agents covery bindings from the DA according to the pull
and forward it on demand to User Agents. The UA model. In this example, UAs are also proactively
and SA can use either passive or active DA discovery caching announced bindings according to the push
to find a DA. This is shown in Figure 2-1. model, as illustrated in the left part of the figure. (The
a) Active DA discovery
Service Request User Agent (UA)
DA Advertisement
Service Agent (SA)
Directory Agent (DA)
b) Passive DA discovery
User Agent (UA)

DA Advertisement
Service Agent (SA)
Directory Agent (DA)
Figure 2-1 Active and passive Directory Agent (DA) discovery
Service Agent (SA) Service Agent (SA) Service Agent (SA)
Directory Agent (DA) Directory Agent (DA) Directory Agent (DA)
User Agent (UA) User Agent (UA) User Agent (UA)

a) b) c)
Figure 2-2 A Service Agent announces its services, and announcements can be cached in both the DA and
the UA (a). If the UA is searching for a service it has not heard being announced, it can broadcast a service
request or contact a DA directly. The DA will respond with information about where the service can be located
(b). The UA can access a service it has learnt about via a DA, or from the SA directly (c)

push and pull approaches were described in the previ- An example of a port to service name mapping can be:
ous chapter on name resolution.)
http 80/tcp www www-http
In the hybrid approach, a UA will first try to contact a
DA according to the centralized architecture, and fall The mapping of a network address to the computer
back to the distributed approach if no DA can be offering the service is normally done using address
located. resolution through DNS or through a cache at the
local computer, if there is no access to any name
2.2 Service discovery on the Internet server.
2.2.1 Current practice for service discovery As can be seen, the procedure for discovering ser-
When an application on computer A wants to connect vices on the Internet is cumbersome and not very
to an application on computer B, computer A requires efficient. Other alternatives will be outlined in the
the network address of computer B and the port num- following.
ber of the service. The network address is necessary
to route A’s request to B. Since B may offer a multi- 2.2.2 Service Location Protocol
tude of services, a port number is used to distinguish The Service Location Protocol (SLP) is an emerging
between the different services offered at the same Internet standard provided by IETF for automatic
network address. Existing practice in IP networks is service discovery on the Internet [16]. SLP provides
to go through a three-step process to obtain the net- a framework to allow networking applications to dis-
work address and the port number of the services. cover the existence, location, and configuration of
The three steps consist of: networked services in enterprise networks. Tradition-
ally, in order to locate services on the network, users
1 Mapping the service name to the name of the com- of network applications have been required to supply
puter offering the service; the host name or network address of the machine that
provides a desired service. Ensuring that users and
2 Mapping the port number of the service to a service applications are supplied with the correct information
name; has, in many cases, become an administrative night-
mare.
3 Resolving the computer name to a network address
using DNS or a local name service. SLP was inspired by the AppleTalk ® protocol [15],
which was a mechanism created by Apple and which
There is no widely used mechanism to undertake the proved to be a huge success much due to the simplic-
first step of this process in today’s IP network. A ity and benefits of the solution. The only drawback
common method of advertising services is to map the was that it did not scale very well.
network address of the computer offering services
and the service name with the DNS service. Exam- The main focus of SLP is to be a mechanism that acts
ples of such services can be a public web server as an enabler for Plug and Play functionality in IP
which is given the name www, or a public file trans- networks with automatic and dynamic bindings
fer server which is given the name ftp. between services and service users.
Example: The SLP protocol introduces three major components

in the network:
www.some_domain.com
ftp.some_domain.com 1 User Agent (UA): The SLP User Agent is a soft-
ware entity that looks for the location of one or
The procedure for mapping port numbers to a service more services. This is usually implemented (at least
name is pretty simple, and a one-to-one relationship partially), as a library to which client applications
exists between the service name and the port number. link, and it provides client applications with a sim-
The port number is assigned by the Internet Assigned ple interface for accessing SLP-registered service
Number Authority (IANA) and is normally main- information.
tained in a database on the local computer. The map-
ping between a service name and a port is typically: 2 Service Agent (SA): The SLP Service Agent is a
software entity that advertises the location of one
<name> <port number>/<transport or more services. SLP advertisement is designed to
protocol> <aliases> be both scalable and effective, minimizing the use
of network bandwidth through the use of targeted

multicast messages, and unicast responses to $ORIGIN company_A.com.
queries. @ SOA server.company_A.com.
root.company_A.com. (1995032001 3600
3 Directory Agent (DA): The SLP Directory Agent 3600 604800 86400)
is a software entity that acts as a centralized reposi- NS server.company_A.com.
tory for service location information. In a large net- http.tcp.www SRV 0 0 80 server.com-
work with many UAs and SAs, the amount of pany_A.com.
multicast traffic involved in service discovery can smtp.tcp SRV 0 0 25 mail.com-
become so large that network performance is de- pany_A.com.
graded. By deploying one or more DAs, both SAs server A 172.30.79.10
and UAs make it a priority to discover available mail A 172.30.79.11
DAs, since the use of a DA minimizes the amount
of multicast messages sent by the protocol on the For example, to locate a http server that supports TCP
network. The only SLP-registered multicast in a protocol and provides web service, it does a lookup
network with DAs is for active and passive DA for:
discovery.
_http._tcp.www.company_A.com.
SLP introduces dynamic naming services without the
need for any centralized name server or other agents. If the use of SRV had been widely deployed, a DNS
Since SLP uses IP multicast for this purpose, it server would have answered with a list of web servers
requires the cooperation of IP routers that implement that satisfied the searching criteria.
IP multicast. IP multicast is used for such features as
IP-based audio and video broadcasting and video With no existing Directory Agent, this mechanism
conferencing, but IP multicasting may not be com- solely depends on the DNS system. Critics claim
pletely implemented across some intranets. In the that the deployment of it puts an extra burden on an
absence of IP multicasting, SLP name lookups will already overloaded DNS system. Furthermore, DNS
only work within the subnet on which they are per- SRV only allows for simple service name resolution
formed, or within the groups of subnets over which and has little support for the type of service attribute
IP multicast is supported. negotiation that is accommodated by SLP.
The SLP protocol suffers from the lack of implemen- 2.2.4 XML Web Services / UDDI
tation support, since companies such as Apple and An XML Web Service is a service that accommo-
Microsoft, each on their own push a different service dates direct interaction using XML-based messaging
discovery technology. Generally, standardisation is (such as SOAP [18]) over Internet-based protocols,
a good thing, but not very useful if no one provides such as HTTP. The interfaces and bindings of the
implementation support for the standards. The Ser- Web Service are defined, described and discovered
vice Location Protocol has proved to be useful, espe- by XML [19].
cially for UNIX® variants, and an open source pro-
ject exists (an implementation of SLP can be down- In addition to being able to describe and invoke a
loaded from www.openslp.org) to support service dis- Web Service, publication of and discovery of Web
covery on operating systems such as Linux and BSD. services should also be accommodated. The Univer-
sal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI)
2.2.3 DNS Service Resource Records specification [20] is commonly accepted to be the
An alternative to building up a new SLP infrastruc- standard mechanism to handle this. UDDI registries
ture on the Internet is to reuse the existing DNS provide a publishing interface to allow for creation
infrastructure and allow for service discovery as an and deletion of entries in the registry and an inquiring
extension to DNS. Extensions to DNS are enabled interface to search for entries in the registry by differ-
through the use of DNS Resource Records (DNS ent search criteria. The interfaces are invoked by
RRs). The most common resource record for service SOAP messages, and as such UDDI itself can be
location is the DNS SRV resource record [17]. thought of as an XML Web Service.
DNS SRV was originally designed to locate services Each entry in the UDDI registry contains three parts:
on the global Internet. As an example, let us assume
that company_A has implemented the use of SRV • The white pages contain business information;
in its DNS server. Entries for the protocols http and
smtp would look like this in the zone file for com- • The yellow pages contain the service a business
pany_A: provides;

• The green pages contain the specific services pro- capabilities of other elements in the network, and
vided and technical information sufficient for a inform others about own capabilities.
programmer to write an application that makes use
of the service. The UPnP protocols are based on open Internet-based
communications standards. UPnP is based on IP,
Web services are described by XML using the WSDL TCP/UDP, HTTP and XML. The SSDP protocol
specification [21]. specifies the use of multicast of UDP/HTTP for
announcements of services. The content of the ser-
2.2.5 Other service discovery protocols vice announcements are described using XML.
The Salutation protocol [22] released by the Saluta- HTTPU and HTTMU are used by SSDP to generate
tion Consortium in 1996 predates SLP. It introduces requests over unicast and multicast.
the same concept as a Directory Agent, referred to as
the Salutation Manager (SLM). In the Salutation Pro- The SSDP architecture introduces three entities in the
tocol, User Agents and Service Agents are referred to network:
as Clients and Servers, respectively. The Salutation
Manager Protocol (SMP) and the Transport Manager • SSDP Service: The SSDP service is a Server Agent
(TM) are used for the actual communication, using and represents the individual resources in an SSDP
Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). SLM will also assist enabled network. The agent is defined in two ver-
in establishing a session pipe over which a service sions, depending on whether an SSDP Proxy is
access between the client and the server can occur. available in the network or not. An SSDP Service
without proxy support is a simple service where all
Jini® [23] is another technology for service discovery messages are sent on an SSDP reserved multicast
that runs on top of Java®. It allows clients to join a group.
Jini lookup service, which maintains dynamic infor-
mation about services in the network. The client can • SSDP Client: The SSDP Client is a User Agent.
use it for simple service discovery by requesting When starting, the SSDP Client will search for a
information about a particular device. An attractive proxy, followed by the search for other relevant
feature of Jini is that it allows clients also to down- resources. If an SSDP Proxy is available, all requests
load Java code from the lookup service, which is used are done using unicast. If not, the SSDP searches
to access the service. It requires however that the for services using multicast. The SSDP Client will
server has already uploaded the Java proxy that the cache all information about services and uses a
client downloads from the lookup service. Jini also time stamp to manage the accuracy of the cache.
supports the concepts of federations, where groups
of devices may register with each other to make their • SSDP Proxy: The SSDP Proxy is a Directory
services available within the group. Agent and gathers information about available
resources in the network. The Proxy can be viewed
2.3 Service discovery on link local as a regular resource with responsibility to cache
networks and manage all service information. An SSDP
Proxy is not a mandatory element in an SSDP
2.3.1 Simple Service Discovery Protocol enabled network, but improves the scalability
The Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) [24] when deployed in large networks.
is a part of Microsoft’s Universal Plug and Play
(UpnPTM) [25] and provides a mechanism that net- 2.3.2 Multicast DNS
work clients can use to discover network services. DNS Service Discovery is a way of using standard
UPnP supports self configuration networks by en- DNS programming interfaces, servers, and packet
abling the ability to automatically acquire an IP add- formats to browse the network for services. As shown
ress, announce a name, learn about the existence and in the previous chapter, Multicast DNS (mDNS) [26]
can be used to resolve names without the use of any
DNS server. The same multicast mechanism can be
Has anyone got used to search for services, by requesting a binding
music I can for the type of service wanted instead of requesting
stream?
a binding for a name. This is illustrated in Figure 2-3.
When an mDNS query is sent out for a given service

type and domain, any matching service replies with
their names. The result is a list of available services
Figure 2-3 Illustrating the principle of multicast DNS to choose from.

For example, an application that is searching for a nodes. Any node may also operate as a client and use
printer that supports TCP and is located in the com- the service discovery protocol to detect available ser-
pany_A domain would issue a query for: vices in the network. The service attributes include
service characteristics and service binding informa-
_lpr._tcp.company_A.com tion, such as IP addresses, port-numbers and proto-
cols, which enable the client to initiate the selected
Then every printer attached to the LAN will answer service on the appropriate server.
with information about its services, i.e. color, pages
per minute etc. Existing service discovery mechanisms, described in
previous sections, are designed with a fixed network
Using a mechanism for automatic service discovery in mind, and might not fit well to MANETs.
greatly simplifies the job of connecting PCs, termi-
nals, wireless units and consumer electronics. Before a service discovery mechanism for ad-hoc net-
works can be designed, we need to determine the nec-
Caching of multicast packets can prevent hosts from essary principles for service discovery in ad hoc net-
requesting information that has already been re- works and evaluate which service discovery architec-
quested. For example, when one host requests, say, a ture that is most suitable. The reader will observe that
list of LPR print spoolers, the list of printers comes name resolution and service discovery have many
back via multicast, so that all local hosts can see it. similar features in terms of both discovery principles
The next time a host needs a list of print spoolers, it and possible architectures.
already has the list in its cache and does not need to
reissue the query. 2.4.2 Service location architectures for service
discovery on MANETs
2.4 Service discovery in ad hoc networks The architectures available for name resolution, as
described for name resolution above, are also avail-
2.4.1 Service discovery mechanism for MANETs able for service discovery. In the context of service
Discovery of services and other named resources is discovery, the Caching Coordinator Entity is nor-
an important feature for the usability of mobile ad mally referred to as a Service Coordinator (SC), the
hoc networks (MANETs). The characteristics of ad User Entity is referred to as a User Agent (UA) and
hoc networks were described earlier. We recall that a the Named Entity is referred to as a Service Agent
MANET is anticipated to be without any pre-existing (SA). Furthermore, the architectures are often
infrastructure and that nodes may enter or leave the referred to as the Distributed, the Service-Coordina-
network at any time. This makes efficient and timely tor-based and the Hybrid Service Location Architec-
service discovery a challenging task. tures. The Distributed architecture for MANETs is
illustrated in Figure 2-4, and the Service-Coordinator-
In a MANET, any node may in principle operate as based architecture is shown in Figure 2-5. The hybrid
a server and provide its services to other MANET architecture is a combination of the two: The UA tries
1 SA
q.
1 c. re 1
1 dis
ce ply
Service disc. req. rvi . re
Service dis
c. req. Se dis
c
1 22 e
c
est 2 1 rvi
req
u
1 2 Se
c. Service
dis Service disc. reply d isc. reply
e ly
r vic . re
p
Se c
22 e dis
c
rvi
Se
1 1
UE
Figure 2-4 The Distributed architecture

1 SA
nt
1 e me
nc 1
1 ou
nn er
SC announcement SC anno
SC
a ist
unceme eg
1 SC nt 22
c er
en
t 2 1 rvi
ce
m 3 Se
un 3 Service disc. req. Service
no re gister
an eq
.
SC 1 c. r
2 e. dis
c
rvi
Se
1 1
UA
Figure 2-5 The Service-Coordinator-based architecture
to discover services according to the Service-Coordi- 3 A forward route is established along with the SREP
nator-based architecture, but falls back to the Dis- so that no additional route discovery is necessary
tributed approach if the selected SC does not have for further communication with the node issuing
the desired binding, or if no SC can be found. the reply.
2.4.3 Emerging principles for service discovery Figure 2-6 shows how service discovery can be
on reactively routed MANETs streamlined with the reactive routing protocol. Ser-
The emerging principles for name resolution in reac- vice Discovery Requests (SREQs) are piggybacked
tive MANETs, in which resolution requests and on Routing Request (RREQ) packets, and Service
replies are carried by routing messages (outlined in Discovery Replies (SREPs) are piggybacked on
the previous chapter), are also useful for service dis- Routing Reply (RREP) packets. In addition, for the
covery. In the context of service discovery, Service Hybrid architecture, the SC Announcements are pig-
Discovery Requests (SREQs) and Service Discovery gybacked on RREQ packets, and Service Registra-
Replies (SREPs) are piggybacked on RREQ and tions are piggybacked on RREP packets. Thus, both
RREP packets, respectively. This is illustrated in the SC-based, Hybrid and Distributed architectures
Figure 2-6. can take advantage of this.
The advantages of piggybacking service discovery on 2.4.4 Proposed solution for service discovery in
routing messages are: reactive ad hoc networks
A solution for service discovery in reactive ad hoc
1 Reverse routes to the User Agent (i.e. client) are networks is proposed in [27]. It basically uses the
established along with the SREQ so that no addi- same mechanism as was presented for name resolu-
tional route discovery is necessary to relay the tion in the previous chapter. It is based on the dis-
SREP back to the requestor. tributed architecture without the use of any Service
Coordinators, but here the intermediate nodes are
2 Forward routes to the SC are established along with allowed to cache service bindings and respond imme-
the SC Announcements so that SREQs and Service diately if a valid binding is found. It also uses the
Registrations can be unicast to the SC. same technique to carry the discovery messages by
the routing packets to allow both services and the
routes to the nodes providing these services to be dis-
covered in one round-trip.
Service Discovery Request (SREQ) = IP RREQ Service description
Service Discovery Reply (SREP) = IP RREP Service description and binding In [27] a service binding is defined as a mapping of
Service Coordinator announcement = IP RREQ Service coordinator information a service name to an IP address. Different encoding
Service Registration = IP RREP Service description and binding schemes, such as Service Port Request or Service
URL, can be used to request a binding for an IP
Figure 2-6 Routing packets carry Service discovery messages address. An SREQ for a Service URL contains a ser-

vice type string and a service request predicate of for- 1 Flooding scope: This parameter determines the
mats that are defined by SLP. The format of the URL maximum number of hops a flooded Service Dis-
and the authentication block contained in the corre- covery Request is allowed to traverse in the net-
sponding SREP are also defined by SLP. Hence, not work. (For example, the flooding scope is of four
only are formats of SLP reused, but the authorization hops in Figure 2-4 and of two hops in Figure 2-5.)
block also ensures that the service authorization fea-
tures of SLP are maintained. The use of SREQs for a 2 SC announcement scope: This parameter deter-
Service Port assumes that the User Agents know in mines the maximum number of hops a flooded SC
advance the well-defined (TCP or UDP) port number Announcement is allowed to traverse in the net-
associated with the requested service. Hence, the work. (For example, Figure 2-5 illustrates a situa-
SREQ only needs to contain the port number associ- tion with SC announcement scope of two hops.)
ated with the service application requested. This parameter is used only in the Hybrid architec-
ture. Alternatively, the Distributed architecture can
The proposed service discovery protocol not only be considered as a special case of a Hybrid archi-
considers the case where the UA has neither a service tecture where the SC announcement scope is set to
binding nor an active route to a node providing the zero.
desired service. It also considers the case where the
route is active, but the service binding has expired (or The objective is to optimize the benefits of additional
is absent), and the case where the service binding is service availability provided by the use of Service
active, but the route has expired. Coordinators against the cost of additional overhead
and possibly higher delay. We will consider the per-
2.4.5 Evaluation of service location formance measured by delay, by the service availabil-
architectures in ad hoc networks ity and by the message overhead.
As a slight simplification, one may say that all ser-
vice discovery protocols presented above are based In [28] it was observed that the differences in delays
on two baseline mechanisms for the management of between the two architectures are only in the order
service discovery information: of a few milliseconds. Since service discovery is nor-
mally part of the service initiation, users would nor-
1 Information about services offered on the network mally accept an initial delay (e.g. when retrieving a
is stored on one or a few centralized nodes, referred web page on the Internet or for setting up an IP Tele-
to as Service Coordinators (SCs) in this article; phony call). Hence, it was concluded that the small
observed differences in delay between the two archi-
2 Information about each service is stored on each tectures should be considered negligible in this con-
node that offers the service. text. With delay out of the picture, the key question is
reduced to whether the increased service availability
In previous sections we have defined the service is worth the increase in message overhead.
discovery architectures according to the two mecha-
nisms above. A solution that is only based on the first The service availability can be defined as [29]:
mechanism is referred to as a Service Coordinator
number of positive service replies
based architecture, while a solution only based on Serv.Avail. =
total number of service requests generated
the second mechanism is referred to as a Distributed
architecture. Finally, a solution based on a mixture of A positive Service Discovery Reply means a success-
both the first and the second mechanism is referred to ful contact to this server via the given access informa-
as a Hybrid architecture. tion, i.e. that a route to the resolved server can be
found.
In the next section we evaluate the performance of
the Hybrid and Distributed architectures in a reac- It is observed in Figure 2-7 that the service availabil-
tively routed MANET. The architectures were pre- ity is indeed higher with the Hybrid approach. Figure
sented in detail in the previous chapter and summa- 2-7 also shows how the presence of SCs (i.e. for the
rized more briefly above in this article. Hybrid architecture) influences the service availabil-
ity. When comparing architectures that use the same
2.4.6 Architecture evaluation flooding scope, we find that the Hybrid architecture
The evaluation of the Distributed and Hybrid archi- improves the service availability as compared to the
tectures is based on results from [28]. The architec- Distributed query-based architecture.
tures can be configured by different settings of the
following two parameters: The main reason that SCs improve the service avail-
ability, is that in some cases the SC will be positioned

Service availability
1.0 server density of 5 %. Since the introduction of SCs
improves the service availability, it comes as no sur-
prise that the service availability increases with an
0.8
increasing SC announcement scope.
0.6 Although the SCs introduced in the Hybrid architec-

ture yield higher service availability, it also results in
extra message overhead, as observed in Figure 2-8.
0.4 The SCs introduce two proactive elements to the net-
work, namely SC Announcements and Service Regis-
trations. These messages will take up a fixed band-
0.2 Hybrid (SC density: 20%, SC announcement scope: 1 hop) width regardless of whether or not there are clients
Hybrid (SC density: 20%, SC announcement scope: 2 hops) doing service discoveries. In addition, these two types
Distributed
of messages will also trigger pure route discovery
0.0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 messages when a reactive routing protocol is being
Server density (%) used.
Figure 2-7 The introduction of SCs improves the service availability By comparing Figure 2-7 and Figure 2-8 we observe
that the additional cost of using SC in terms of per-
centage increase in message overhead is much higher
than the additional benefits provided in terms of per-
in between the UA and SA. We may return to Figure centage increase in Service Availablity.
2-5 for an example of such a situation. Here the UA
and SA are four hops apart, but both are only two A more rigorous analysis that compares the two
hops away from the SC. The SC announcement and architectures are undertaken in [28]. It takes into con-
flooding scopes are both of two hops. Hence, the SA sideration a large range of control parameters, such
is able to register its services with the SC, and the as server density, SC density, flooding scopes, SC
UA is able to discover the server by means of the SC. announcement scopes, reasonable request frequen-
However, since the UA is four hops away from the cies, number of different types of services, level of
SA, the UA would not be able to discover the SA if mobility, and so forth. It is also argued that the con-
the Distributed architecture with a flooding scope of clusion is valid independent of the lengths of the ser-
two hops had been used. vice discovery messages.
From Figure 2-7 we observe that with SC announce- In [28] it is generally observed that for any Hybrid
ment scopes of one or two hops, the service availabil- configuration with a given SC announcement scope
ity is improved by 8.7 % or 20.9 %, respectively, at a and flooding scope, it is always possible to find a dis-
tributed configuration (with some flooding scope)
that outperforms the Hybrid configuration in terms of
both higher service availability and lower messaging
Message overhead (packets)
3000
RREQ/RREP overhead. As the opposite is not the case, it is con-
Service register cluded that the Distributed architecture outperforms
2500 SC announcement the Hybrid architecture. Hence, service discovery
SREQ (to SC)
protocols that use Service Coordinators (or function-
SREP
2000
Broadcast SREQ
ality similar to Directory Agents) do not work well
in ad hoc networks with reactive routing. The main
1500
reason is that the increase in service availability by
adding Service Coordinators is negligible compared
to the extra message overhead it causes.
1000
In addition to the analyses presented in [28], there are

500 several other arguments that are in favor of not intro-
ducing Service Coordinators in MANETs at large.
0
First, the Distributed architecture is considerably less
Hybrid Hybrid complex than the Hybrid architecture. Furthermore,
Distributed
(SC announcement 2 hops) (SC announcement 1 hop)
in a dynamic topology with network entries and
Figure 2-8 Detailed comparison of message overhead by message type. departures, the Service Coordinators of the Hybrid
(Server density at 20 %, flooding scope of two hops) architecture have the disadvantage of sometimes pro-

viding the User Agents with “false positives”, i.e. Comm. 2003 (ICC 2003).
with outdated bindings of servers that have already http://www.unik.no/~paalee/publications/
left the network. Moreover, the Hybrid approach may NR-paper-for-ICC2003.pdf
call for a separate complicated mechanism for elect-
ing Service Coordinators, which might require a sub- 12 Engelstad, P E, Do T V, Jønvik, T E. Name Reso-
stantial amount of network resources. lution in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks. Proceedings
of 10th Int. Conf. on Telecom. 2003 (ICT 2003).
http://www.unik.no/~paalee/ publications/
References NR-paper-for-ICT2003.pdf
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Internet Draft, draft-cheshire-dnsext-multicas- Discovery Architectures for Mobile Ad Hoc Net-
tdns-04.txt, February 2004, Work in Progress. works. Proceedings of the 2nd annual conference
on Wireless On-demand Networks and Services
(WONS 2005), St. Moritz, Switzerland, Jan.
19–21, 2005.
Paal E. Engelstad completed his PhD on resource discovery in Mobile Ad hoc and Personal Area Networks
in 2005. He has also a Bachelor and Masters degree (Honours with Distinction) in Applied Physics from
NTNU, Norway, and a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from University of Oslo, Norway. After working
five years in industry, he joined Telenor R&D where he focuses on IETF and IP technology (e.g. IP mobility,
IPv6, QoS, MANET and AAA-issues) and IEEE wireless technologies (e.g. 802.11, 802.15 and 802.16).
Paal Engelstad has published 28 refereed papers and holds three patents (two pending).
Geir Egeland holds a B.Eng (Hons) from the University of Bristol and has for the last ten years worked as
a research scientist in the field of mobile networks. He is currently with Telenor R&D where his work is mainly
focused on mobility for IP networks, with a particular emphasis on MANET and IPv6. Geir Egeland was
formerly employed by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE) as a research scientist
working on design and analysis of MAC and routing protocols for mobile ad hoc network.

Terms and acronyms in
Future Mobile Phones
ADSL Asymmetric Digital A data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone
Subscriber Line lines than a conventional modem can provide. The access utilises the 1.1 MHz band and has the pos-
sibility to offer, dependent of subscriber line length, downstream rates of up to 8 Mb/s. Upstream
rates start at 64 kb/s and typically reach 256 kb/s but can go as high as 768 kb/s.
BT Bluetooth Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). Bluetooth pro-
vides a way to connect and exchange information between devices like personal digital assistants
(PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally
available short range radio frequency.
CDC Connected Device CDC is a larger subset of J2SE, containing almost all the libraries that are not GUI related.
Configuration CDC is based on the cVM (compact Virtual Machine)
CLDC Connected Limited The CLDC contains a strict subset of the Java class libraries and is the minimal needed for a Java
Device Configuration virtual machine to operate. CLDC is based on the kVM (kilo Virtual Machine). CLDC is basically used
to classify the myriad of devices into a fixed configuration.
CIFS Common Internet File CIFS defines a standard remote file system access protocol for use over the Internet, enabling
System groups of users to work together and share documents across the Internet or within corporate
intranets. CIFS is an open, cross-platform technology based on the native file-sharing protocols built
into Microsoft® Windows® and other popular PC operating systems, and supported on dozens of
other platforms. With CIFS, millions of computer users can open and share remote files on the Inter-
net without having to install new software or change the way they work.
DHCP Dynamic Host DHCP is a client-server networking protocol. A DHCP server provides configuration parameters
Configuration Protocol specific to the DHCP client host requesting, generally, information required by the client host to par-
ticipate on an IP network. DHCP also provides a mechanism for allocation of IP addresses to client
hosts.
DHCP appeared as a standard protocol in October 1993. RFC 2131 provides the latest (March 1997)
DHCP definition.
The latest standard on a protocol describing DHCPv6, DHCP in an IPv6 environment, was published
in July 2003 as RFC 3315
DM Device Management Device Management is the generic term used for technology that allows third parties to carry out
the difficult procedures of configuring mobile devices on behalf of the end user (customer). Third
parties would typically be wireless operators, service providers or corporate information manage-
ment departments. Through device management, an external party can remotely set parameters,
conduct troubleshooting servicing of terminals, install or upgrade software.
GSM Global System for Mobile GSM is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM phones are used by over
Communications a billion people across more than 200 countries. The ubiquity of the GSM standard makes inter-
national roaming very common between mobile phone operators which enables phone users to
access their services in many other parts of the world in addition to their own country. GSM differs
significantly from its predecessors in that both signalling and speech channels are digital, which
means that it is seen as a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This fact has also meant
that data communication was built into the system from very early on. GSM is an open standard
which is currently developed by the 3GPP.
HLR Home Location Register The HLR is a central database that contains details of each mobile phone subscriber that is autho-
rized to use the GSM core network. More precisely, the HLR stores details of every SIM card issued
by the mobile phone operator. Each SIM has a unique identifier called an IMSI which is one of the
primary keys to each HLR record.
The next important items of data associated with the SIM are the telephone numbers used to make
and receive calls to the mobile phone, known as MSISDNs. The main MSISDN is the number used for
making and receiving voice calls and SMS, but it is possible for a SIM to have other secondary MSIS-
DNs associated with it for fax and data calls. Each MSISDN is also a primary key to the HLR record.

IEEE 802.11 Refers to a family of specifications developed by the IEEE for wireless local area networks. It also
refers to the “Wireless LAN working group” of the IEEE 802 project. 802.11 specifies an over-the-air
interface between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients. The IEEE
accepted the specification in 1997. There are several specifications in the 802.11 family, including
i) 802.11 – provides 1 or 2 Mbit/s transmission in the 2.4 GHz band,; ii) 802.11a – an extension that
provides up to 54 Mbit/s in the 5 GHz band. It uses an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
encoding scheme rather than FHSS or DSSS; iii) 802.11b provides 11 Mbit/s transmission in the 2.4
GHz band and was ratified in 1999 allowing wireless functionality comparable to Ethernet; iv) 802.11g
provides 20+ Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz band; v) 802.11z is a method for transporting an authentication
protocol between the client and access point, and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. More
variants are also under preparation, including support of 100 Mbit/s traffic flows.
http://www.ieee802.org/11
IMAP Internet Message The Internet Message Access Protocol (commonly known as IMAP, and previously called Interactive
Access Protocol Mail Access Protocol) is an application layer Internet protocol used for accessing email on a remote
server from a local client. IMAP and POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) are the two most preva-
lent Internet standard protocols for email retrieval. Both are supported by virtually all modern email
clients and servers, although in some cases in addition to vendor-specific, typically proprietary,
interfaces. For example, while proprietary protocols are typically used between Microsoft’s Outlook
client and an Exchange server and between IBM’s Notes client and a Domino server, all of these
products also support IMAP and POP3 allowing interoperability with other servers and clients. The
current version of IMAP, IMAP version 4 revision 1 (IMAP4rev1), is defined by RFC 3501.
IP Internet Protocol A protocol for communication between computers, used as a standard for transmitting data over
networks and as the basis for standard Internet protocols.
http://www.ietf.org
ISDN Integrated Services A digital telecommunications network that provides end-to-end digital connectivity to support a
Digital Network wide range of services, including voice and non-voice services, to which users have access by a lim-
ited set of standard multi-purpose user-network interfaces. The user is offered one or more 64 kb/s
channels.
http://www.itu.int
ITU International Tele- On May 17, 1865, the first International Telegraph Convention was signed in Paris by the 20 founding
communication Union members, and the International Telegraph Union (ITU) was established to facilitate subsequent amend-
ments to this initial agreement. It changed its name to the International Telecommunications Union
in 1934. From 1948 a UN body with approx. 200 member countries. It is the top forum for discussion
and management of technical and administrative aspects of international telecommunications.
http://www.itu.int
ITU-T International Tele- http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/

communication Union –
Standardization Sector
J2ME Java 2 Platform, J2ME is a collection of Java APIs targeting embedded consumer products such as PDAs, cell phones
Micro Edition and other consumer appliances.
MIDlet A MIDlet is a Java program for embedded devices, more specifically the J2ME virtual machine.
Generally, these are games and applications that run on a cell phone.
MIDP Mobile Information Designed for cell phones, MIDP boasts an LCD-oriented GUI API, and MIDP 2.0 includes a basic 2D
Device Profile gaming API. Applications written for this profile are called MIDlets. Almost all new cell phones come
with a MIDP implementation, and it is now the de facto standard for downloadable cell phone games.
MIME Multipurpose Internet MIME is an Internet Standard for the format of e-mail. Virtually all Internet e-mail is transmitted via
Mail Extensions SMTP in MIME format. Internet e-mail is so closely associated with the SMTP and MIME standards
that it is sometimes called SMTP/MIME e-mail.
MSC Mobile services The MSC is a sophisticated telephone exchange which provides circuit-switched calling, mobility
Switching Centre management and GSM services to the mobile phones roaming within the area that it serves. This
means voice, data and fax services, as well as SMS and call divert.
A Gateway MSC is the MSC that determines in which visited MSC the subscriber who is being called is
curently located. It also interfaces with the Public Switched Telephone Network. All mobile to mobile
calls and PSTN to mobile calls are routed through a GMSC. The term is only valid in the context of
one call since any MSC may provide both the gateway function and the Visited MSC function; how-
ever, some manufacturers design dedicated high capacity MSCs which do not have any BSCs con-
nected to them. These MSCs will then be the Gateway MSC for many of the calls they handle.

NAT Network Address In computer networking, the process of network address translation (NAT, also known as network
Translation masquerading or IP-masquerading) involves re-writing the source and/or destination addresses of
IP packets as they pass through a router or firewall. Most systems using NAT do so in order to enable
multiple hosts on a private network to access the Internet using a single public IP address. According
to specifications, routers should not act in this way, but many network administrators find NAT a
convenient technique and use it widely. Nonetheless, NAT can introduce complications in communi-
cation between hosts.
NAT first became popular as a way to deal with the IPv4 address shortage and to avoid the difficulty
of reserving IP addresses. Use of NAT has proven particularly popular in countries other than the
United States, which (for historical reasons) have fewer address-blocks allocated per capita. It has
become a standard feature in routers for home and small-office Internet connections, where the
price of extra IP addresses would often outweigh the benefits.
In a typical configuration, a local network uses one of the designated “private” IP address subnets
(such as 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x), and a router on that network has a private address (such as
192.168.0.1) in that address space. The router is also connected to the Internet with a single “public”
address (known as “overloaded” NAT) or multiple “public” addresses assigned by an ISP. As traffic
passes from the local network to the Internet, the source address on the packets are translated on
the fly from the private addresses to the public address(es). The router tracks basic data about each
active connection (particularly the destination address and port). When a reply returns to the router,
it uses the connection tracking data it stored during the outbound phase to determine where on the
internal network to forward the reply; the TCP or UDP client port numbers are used to demultiplex
the packets in the case of overloaded NAT, or IP address and port number when multiple public
addresses are available, on packet return. To a system on the Internet, the router itself appears to
be the source/destination for this traffic.
NetBIOS Network Basic The NetBIOS API allows applications on separate computers to communicate over a local area
Input/Output System network. It provides services related to the session layer of the OSI model but is not routable and
must be encapsulated within a protocol in order to be of use in a wide area network. NetBIOS makes
wide use of broadcast messages, which accounts for its reputation as a chatty interface.
NetBIOS provides three distinct services:
- Name service for name registration and resolution
- Session service for connection-oriented communication
- Datagram distribution service for connectionless communication
NFC Near Field Communication NFC, jointly developed by Sony and Philips, was approved as an ISO/IEC standard on 8 December
Technology 2003. It was approved as an ECMA standard earlier on. On 18 March 2004 Nokia, Sony and Philips
formed the NFC-forum to advance NFC development.
NFC holds the promise of bringing true mobility to consumer electronics in an intuitive and psycho-
logically comfortable way since the devices can hand-shake only when brought literally into touch-
ing distance
PAN Personal Area Network A PAN is a computer network used for communication between computer devices (including tele-
phones and personal digital assistants) close to one person. The devices may or may not belong to
the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few metres. PANs can be used for communi-
cation between the personal devices themselves (intrapersonal communication), or for connecting
to a higher level network and the Internet (an uplink).
Personal area networks may be wired with computer buses such as USB and FireWire. A wireless
personal area network (WPAN) can also be made possible with network technologies such as IrDA
and Bluetooth.
POP3 Post Office Protocol POP3 is an application layer Internet standard protocol used to retrieve email from a remote server
version 3 to a local client over a TCP/IP connection. Nearly all individual Internet service provider email
accounts are accessed via POP3.
POTS Plain Old A very general term used to describe an ordinary voice telephone service. See also PSTN.
Telephone Service
PSTN Public Service Common notation for the conventional analogue telephone network.
Telephone Network

RFID Radio Frequency RFID is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using
Identification devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is a small object that can be attached to or
incorporated into a product, animal, or person. RFID tags contain antennas to enable them to
receive and respond to radio frequency queries from an RFID transceiver. Passive tags require
no internal power source, whereas active tags require a power source.
SAT SIM Application Toolkit The SIM Application Toolkit is a set of commands which defines how the card should interact with
the outside world and extend the communication protocol between the card and the handset. With
SIM Application Toolkit, the card has a proactive role in the handset (this means that the SIM initi-
ates commands independently of the handset and the network).
SMB Server Message Block SMB was originally invented by IBM to turn DOS “Interrupt 33” local file access into a networked file
system, but the most common version is heavily modified by Microsoft. At around the time when Sun
Microsystems announced WebNFS, Microsoft coincidentally launched an initiative in 1998 to
rename SMB to Common Internet File System (CIFS) and added more features, including support for
symbolic links, hard links, larger file sizes and an attempt at supporting direct connection without all
the NetBIOS trimmings – an effort that was largely experimental and required further refinement.
SMB was originally designed to run on top of the NetBIOS protocol (which itself is typically run on
NetBEUI, IPX/SPX or NBT), though SMB can also run on top of TCP/IP directly since Windows 2000.
“SMB the protocol” is not to be confused with the SMB services that run on it, nor with NetBIOS, nor
with the DCE/RPC services that utilise SMB as an authenticated Inter-process communication
channel (over Named pipes), nor with the “Network Neighborhood” protocols which primarily but not
exclusively run as datagram services direct on the NetBIOS transport.
Because of the importance of the SMB protocol in interacting with the dominant Microsoft Windows
platform, coupled with the heavily modified nature of the SMB implementation present in that plat-
form, the Samba project was created to provide a free implementation of a compatible SMB client
and server for use with non-Microsoft operating systems.
SIM Subscriber A SIM is a logical application running on a UICC smartcard. Although the terms UICC and SIM are
Identity Module often interchanged, UICC refers to the physical card, whereas SIM refers to a single application
residing in the UICC that collects GSM user subscription information. The SIM provides secure storing
of the key identifying a mobile phone service subscriber but also subscription information, prefer-
ences and storage of text messages. The equivalent to a SIM in UMTS is a Universal Subscriber Iden-
tity Module (USIM).
SMTP Simple Mail SMTP is the de facto standard for email transmission across the Internet.
Transfer Protocol SMTP is a relatively simple, text-based protocol, where one or more recipients of a message are
specified (and in most cases verified to exist) and then the message text is transferred. It is quite
easy to test a SMTP server using the telnet program. SMTP uses TCP port 25. To determine the
SMTP server for a given domain name, the MX (Mail eXchange) DNS record is used.
SOAP Simple Object SOAP is a protocol for exchanging XML-based messages over a computer network, normally using
Access Protocol HTTP. SOAP forms the foundation layer of the web services stack, providing a basic messaging
framework that more abstract layers can build on. SOAP facilitates the Service-Oriented architec-
tural pattern.
UMA Unlicensed UMA provides an alternative access to GSM and GPRS core network services via IP-based broad-
Mobile Access band connections. In order to deliver a seamless user experience, the specifications define a new
network element and associated protocols that provide for the secure transport of GSM/GPRS sig-
naling and user traffic over IP. The caller can automatically switch from GSM to IP-based networks
and back again without interruptions. UMA also helps to make better use of the scarce GSM spec-
trum: as soon as a phone is in reach of an UMA access point, it will leave the GSM spectrum and con-
tinue its call over WiFi, leaving the GSM spectrum for those callers that really need it.
UMTS Universal Mobile Tele- The European member of the IMT 2000 family of 3G wireless standards. UMTS supports data rates
communication System of 144 kb/s for vehicular traffic, 384 kb/s for pedestrian traffic and up to 2 Mb/s in support of in-
building services. The standardisation work began in 1991 by ETSI but was transferred in 1998 to
3GPP as a corporation between Japanese, Chinese, Korean and American organisations. It is based
on the use of WCDMA technology and is currently deployed in many European countries. The first
European service opened in 2003. In Japan NTT DoCoMo opened its “pre-UMTS” service FOMA
(Freedom Of Mobile multimedia Access) in 2000. The system operates in the 2.1 GHz band and is
capable of carrying multimedia traffic.
http://www.3gpp.org/

VLR Visitors Location The VLR is a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area which
Register it serves. Each Base Station in the network is served by exactly one VLR, hence a subscriber cannot
be present in more than one VLR at a time. The data stored in the VLR has either been received from
the HLR, or collected from the MS. In practice, for performance reasons, most vendors integrate the
VLR directly to the V-MSC and, where this is not done, the VLR is very tightly linked with the MSC via
a proprietary interface.
VPN Virtual Private Network A VPN is a private communications network usually used within a company, or by several different
companies or organizations, to communicate over a public network. VPN message traffic is carried
on public networking infrastructure (e.g. the Internet) using standard (often insecure) protocols, or
over a service provider’s network providing VPN service guarded by well defined Service Level
Agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider.
WAP Wireless Application WAP is an open international standard for applications that use wireless communication, for ex-
Protocol ample Internet access from a mobile phone. WAP was designed to provide services equivalent to a
Web browser with some mobile-specific additions, being specifically designed to address the limita-
tions of very small portable devices. It is now the protocol used for the majority of the world’s mobile
internet sites, otherwise known as wap-sites. The Japanese i-mode system is the other major com-
peting wireless data protocol.
WDMA Wavelength Division In optical communication different wavelengths are used to send packets from different sources.
Multiple Access The wavelength constitutes independent communication channels and may carry different signal
formats.
WSDL Web Services WSDL is an XML format published for describing Web services. Version V 1.1 has not been endorsed
Description Language by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), however it released a draft for version 2.0 on 11 May
2005, that will be a recommendation (an official standard), and thus endorsed by the W3C. It is
commonly abbreviated as WSDL in technical literature and often pronounced “Whiz’-Dull”.
WSDL describes the public interface to the web service. This is an XML-based service description
on how to communicate using the web service; namely the protocol bindings and message formats
required to interact with the web services listed in its directory. The supported operations and mes-
sages are described abstractly and then bound to a concrete network protocol and message format.
WSDL is often used in combination with SOAP and XML Schema to provide web services over the
internet. A client (program) connecting to a web service can read the WSDL to determine what func-
tions are available on the server. Any special datatypes used are embedded in the WSDL file in the
form of XML Schema. The client can then use SOAP to actually call one of the functions listed in the
WSDL.
XML Extensible Markup XML is a W3C-recommended general-purpose markup language for creating special-purpose
Language markup languages, capable of describing many different kinds of data. It is a simplified subset of
SGML. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of data across different systems, particularly
systems connected via the Internet. Languages based on XML (for example, RDF/XML, RSS,
MathML, XHTML, SVG, and cXML) are defined in a formal way, allowing programs to modify and
validate documents in these languages without prior knowledge of their form.
XML Web Service A Web Service is a software component that is described via WSDL and is capable of being accessed
via standard network protocols such as, but not limited to SOAP over HTTP.

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Contents

Telektronikk Future Mobile Phones

165 The Virtual Device – The future mobile phone?

Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2006 1

2 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2006 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

• A receiver to accept signals

Telektronikk 3.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 3

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Location area XXN

Visitor location register

Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 5

SIM A SIM card contains the subscriber identity module.

Authentication normally takes place when the MS is

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Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 7

3 The mobile phone form factors

• Clamshell: (AKA folder) This mobile phone type

Most clamshell phones have a feature called Active

• Flip: This mobile phone type is a cross between the

8 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

4.1 Evolution of the SIM

• Identification: This application contains user

contain photos of the user or fingerprints. It has the Content

smart card to offer authentication and authorisation Payment

Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 9

High-Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) in-

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4.2.3 WLAN and UMA phone

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12 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

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A Web service is application logic that is made avail-

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4.4.4 Web services layer

Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 15

4.4.6 User’s personalisation

Figure 16 Example of mobile phone’s theme

16 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

Figure 17 The ownership models

The evolution does not stop there, because the mobile

Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 17

The main improvements of cameras mounted in

• Introduction of the macromode that allows a digital

• Offering resolution of 2 megapixels or higher,

• Unifying the camera interface to make them as

Figure 19 Mobile phone with camera

18 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

5.2 Mobile phone as portable storage

The mobile phone will of course not threaten the

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For a presentation of Do Van Thanh, please turn to page 2.

Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2005 21

Introduction companies concentrated on providing landline tele-

A year after that landmark article, the first American

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Telektronikk 3/4.2005 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2006 23

24 ISSN 0085-7130 © Telenor ASA 2006 Telektronikk 3/4.2005

In 1967 Televerket, now Telenor, began operating a