Goin' Mobile Japan

Trendwatch:Is P2P protocol the next thing to think about?

Mobile phones are constantly evolving. These days, the mobile phone is not only a voice communication tool, but now it is also a means of identification, is capable of conducting financial transactions, and even can act as a remote security device and multimedia controller. One important thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is that an “ordinary PC” is no longer involved in the new wave of P2P, sometimes called ubiquitous, technology. In other words, the mobile phones and devices communicate directly to each other without the need of an outside PC. Sony and Blackboard recently developed the contact-less NFC (Near Field Communication) device for school ID. In addition to verifying the identity of students, the device also acts as an electronic wallet that can be used to purchase lunches and books (See 11/7/2007 article in Mobile Commerce section). In 2008, Softbank Mobile, Master Card Worldwide, Gemalto, Orico, Samsung, Hitachi, and HP (Japan) will jointly conduct experimental contact-less commerce using NFC based mobile phones (See 11/13/2007 article in Mobile Commerce section). ISO 14443 is defined as a global standard for NFC and is compatible with FeliCa, Japan’s most penetrated NFC device available today from DoCoMo, au and Softbank. ISO 14443 also works with other wireless networks such as Bluetooth and WiFi so that large files can be transferred, as so-called “handover feature”.

Near Field Communication (English site)        FeliCa (Japanese site)

Mobile venture companies in Japan have started developing revolutionary P2P devices such as NFRM developed by Faith. NFRM transfers DRM based video files from a mobile phone to a digital TV (See the 10/2 article in the New Application section). Emotion Link by Freebit/DTI is another interesting P2P device that allows users to control home security systems remotely (See the 12/10 article in the New Application section).

Faith's NFRM (Japanese site)        Emotion Link (Japanese site)

Another unique movement for P2P development in Japan is the PUCC (P2P Universal Computing Consortium, www.pucc.jp/en/index.html) protocol which co-exists with existing network protocols such as Bluetooth, 802.xx, IEEE1394, UPnP, DLNA, ECHONET, PictBridge, TCP/IP, etc. Participating companies and colleges work together to standardize P2P communications among all electronics and home appliances. Along with development activities, PUCC has been utilized in certain governmental projects such as telemedicine, and presented to W3C and IEEE to appeal for international recognition.

PUCC (English site)

Bluetooth has been implemented into mobile phones, personal computers and peripherals rapidly and as more applications and middleware are developed with Bluetooth, the P2P communications market will continue to thrive. In 2008, we will pay close attention to how P2P and other movements that allow near-field communication will influence our future lifestyle.