It seems that there is a growing trend in the corporate world to get into peer-to-peer technology. Take ‘Skype’ for example, created by the founders of the file sharing program ‘Kazaa’, this software allows you to make long distance phone calls over the internet for next to no cost.

How do you apply the peer-to-peer mentality to cell phone applications ? I’ve been thinking about this and am getting quite excited by the possibilities of peer-to-peer apps on phones. If you merge in Geo-position information then and you could create a useful service that alerts people when someone interesting is in their vicinity.

By creating a profile, users would be able to advertise who they are to the world and receive alerts when someone else who matches their search criteria is in the nearby area. This could lead to interesting networking opportunities for salesmen for instance, or for people who share obscure interests. On a more practical level you could advertise that you are looking for a builder to patch up your roof - the service would alert you when someone with the right qualifications passes you.

The idea of online-directories for finding services is not new, but take it to the next level with real-time, real-world integration and you have the beginnings of a datamap which you can overlay on your everyday life.

Here’s a cool idea, you combine RSS datafeeds with GPS position tags and create a location based browsing experience.

Not too dissimilar from recent ponderings about geo-tagged photos this idea comes with a twist.

Think about how RSS feeds when viewed in your reader give you streams of information from different sources all ordered by time and date, now imagine a portable reader with streams of information sorted by location. It would be so cool, you leave your cell phone switched on and tuned into the application as you walk around town. You check it occasionally to see what people have posted from or about where you currently are.

The information could be mindless junk from surfers with too many gadgets or it could be corporate messages commanding your attention to a sale at a nearby store, the possibilities are huge.

Today one of my collegues showed off a new i-appli that he had found. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the Japanese i-mode network, an i-appli is basically a java appi specifically created for DoCoMo phones.

Anyway, this new i-appli that has got everyone in the office excited is a really good ‘full browser’ called ’scope’ that lets you view real websites through your mobile phone. He showed me it in action and I must say I was impressed. With the 3G FOMA network the images and page content loaded up fast and looked sharp on the small screeen.

This has got me thinking about what this means for services like i-mode ?

Could it be that the in the future content for mobile sites will be no different from real sites? Will i-mode and WAP content become redundant?

Have you ever tried to surf the web from your cell phone? Chances are, if you have, you were probably disappointed by the experience.

At the moment a lot of carriers are still only providing access to a portal of partner sites for their subscribers. The largest and most successful data service, NTT DoCoMo, provides a ‘walled-garden’ portal of content but also allows access to the regular internet. The problem is that most regular sites are not designed for mobile access and are only suitable for the larger screens of PCs, and those that are specifically made for cell phones are hard to find.

Google is trying to break into the cell phone market by offering a mobile version of their search engine that also translates the PC version of a site into a cut-down version for viewing on your handset. The feedback I have been reading so far has been mixed, I personally have not been that impressed by what I have been able to find so far, the translated pages I have been reading just don’t ‘gell’ together well. Having said that I do think this is an excellent idea and with projects like the W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative trying to standardise content so that it is readable by mobile devices as well as PCs we will soon be able to read normal content on the cell phone.

As the carriers increase the capacity and speeds of their networks and as more sites adopt common web standards the next question we have to ask is, will the content of the ‘full sized’ internet be relevant to the mobile user?

The mobile user tends to surf for information when they are out and about and when they are waiting for something, the most common time for the Japanese and Koreans to surf on their cell phone is in the train on the way to and from work. The user is usually looking for quick hits of information or entertainment and the successful sites know this and make it quick and easy to find. The user does not want to be sifting through countless layers of menus, have to click and load too many pages or have to type in or read lots of text. Granted the user will have to click through some links or type something in to find the content they are looking for but good design will mean they can get to the content with the least amount of clicks. The sites that do this are the ones that get bookmarked and being bookmarked from a mobile should be a much coveted thing as the memory space dictates ( for now at least ) that only the best sites get saved.

Getting your site featured on one of the main carriers home portals is the best way you can attract customers to your content but this is a highly competitive area and the service requirements placed on your organisation will block most small companies from access. This leads me to think that there is still space for new, high quality portals in the market and novel ways to link through to content. Maybe some form of context-based click-through portal would be good, where the dynamic links take you to information you have already expressed an interest in, either through previous searches or through filters you set when registering.

The typical user on the train looking for something to distract him or her from the journey is looking for ‘bite-sized’ packets of information, they do not want lengthy discourse on a topic - they carry books for that. So it is vital to tailor your mobile content for this audience.

Content has become more diluted with each phase of its delivery from the first printing presses through television and the internet information has become more widespread and more specialised. From a time when the only book you could read ( if you could afford it ) was the bible through to a time where you could look up the different sub-cultures of algae found in ponds, if you really wanted to.

With the new mobile media still in its infancy some argue that this model will continue, the internet as we know it will remain but with a new method of access, others argue that a totally new model will be needed one that caters for a new audience of short term users.

I personally think that both points of view are valid. The mobile internet will give the specialists even easier access to their topics of interest and at the same time a new style of site will evolve to fulfill the masses who will surf for short term distraction.

However, my money is with the short term users because of the simple fact that the small screen and keyboard really isn’t suited for serious use. I have tried to work using my phone, I have also tried to publish to this blog using my phone and the experience in both cases has been painful

With 12 handsets already on the market and 3 million subscribers NTT DoCoMo’s Felica system has moved the electronic wallet from fantasy into reality, now you can buy goods from over 20,000 stores by just placing your cell phone over the reader. Its that simple. But will it really take off?

The technology is good: the RFID chipset is a proven technology already in use in credit cards in Europe; and the idea is good, managing all your payments from one point without the need to carry cards and cash will bring convenience for the millions of users who already carry their cell phones with them everywhere they go. So it would seem perfect sense to merge all three things into your handset.

However, there are critics who say that the phone will never replace the convenience of slipping out that bit of plastic from your wallet when the bill comes. And that the prestige that comes with owning a platinum card will never be replicated on a cell phone. There are some who say that cash will never die being the perfect way to pay for most day to day items.

Regardless of which is the correct view, there seems to be no reason why there wont be a use for another, easy method of payment. And so for now my money is on the Felica standard winning through, well, at least in Japan.

In the midst of the rising blogging craze, EZweb by AU phones in Japan has come up with a nice service that looks to take blogging away from the geeks and push it into the mainstream. Users can create a custom ‘avatar’ - a cartoon image to identify themselves online and then add more personalisation to the avatar by adding goods.

The fun part is that the goods are all available in real-life from well known brands so your avatar could be wearing the latest nike sneakers or carrying the new season bag from Gucci.

The service is free through the cell phone and lets you invite friends and communicate with your group through messaging users who create the avatar can then use this in the DUOBLOG mobile-blogging system to add personality to their sites.

Now for the special part - users can buy all the items their avatar wears or uses for themselves to truely mimic their online personality in the real-world.