After the first three generations
in mobile telecommunications
comes 4G. The fourth generation
that is set to be the future of
cellular technology, with analysts
predicting a global scale
commercial roll out from 2012 to
around 2015. 4G is expected to
bring super- fast internet to
mobile devices,
with it exciting
new prospects for all those
involved in the mobile industry
from developers and marketers,
through to end users and
beyond. So what of 4G and the
future of mobile technology? In
part 1 of this series we take a
look at what Google is doing…
Google, bigger than ever and a
major player on the internet. It is
also one of the giants among
advertising companies as we
know them today and has
quietly been diversifying into
numerous market, not least
mobile.
Lovers of the mobile
phone will be familiar with
Google Inc.’s Android – an open
source platform which has taken
it to the top in the battle of the
smartphone wars in a relatively
short period of time.
Google is synonymous with
innovation and continues to
bring us new and exciting stuff to
dazzle our thinking. One of the
first original products developed
by Google for the Android
platform, named Google
Goggles, already has the chance
to completely revolutionize the
way in which mobile phones
interact with search engines and
gives a brief insight into what is
still to come.
All users have to do is open the
app, take a picture and wait for
the results. It is incredibly
versatile and works with an array
of products; everything from
books and DVDs, through to
landmarks, logos and art,
barcodes and text and so on.
Consider this,
if you will. A
foreign tourist takes a picture of
the French menu in a restaurant
using their phone, hits the search
button and Google returns a full
translation of the menu into
English. The end goal of the
product is for it to be able
recognize virtually anything, with
future plans including animals,
plants and food. It is
unbelievable technology as only
Google know how.
Be sure to check out part two of
our series on how 4G and the
future of mobile, to see the
potential impact of Microsoft in a
4G world.u