Are mobile videophones the next hot accessory?

In Sweden, ringing a friend and using your mobile videophone to show off the beautiful scenery where you are vacationing is no big deal. Neither is watching a video clip of a just missed play on your mobile videophone from the stands during a live sporting event. But Americans lag behind Swedes in the development of such mobile services, says SCIL visiting scholar Niclas Lilja, who arrived at Stanford this fall.

That lag in technology, along with his interest in press coverage of such new technology and innovation, are the subjects of study Lilja has undertaken during his nine-month stay.

As part of the Wallenberg Research Lin, Lilja will share his findings with Stanford and his former colleagues at the mobile video operator "3" and others within the mobile media sector.

The broadband phone craze began several years ago in Sweden, says Lilja. Today there are more than 30 million users worldwide. Lilja is working with SCIL co-director Stig Hagström and fellow visiting scholar, David Nordfors, whose study of innovation journalism began last year.

"My interest is where is the mobile videophone technology going to lead in the U.S.?" says Lilja. " The creativity of US companies and the preferences of US audiences have had a defining global impact on medias such as Internet and TV. It will be interesting to see what it does to mobile video services"

Mobile videophones have multiple applications that make them an interesting subject of study. They provide a dynamic communication device for those who want to see the person with whom they are speaking, in the simplest form. They also offer a means to share the caller's perspective.

"You can point it away to show something else, or you can point it at yourself if you want to be seen," explained Lilja. "In Sweden we saw that more video calls were initiated for showing what you are experiencing rather than seeing the other person."

It is not uncommon to call from a faraway spot and show off beautiful beach weather to a friend in rainy Sweden, laughed Lilja. "It is a sort of, 'Look at the view from where I am. Like a postcard.'"

Swedish projects include giving mobile videophones to parents of chronically ill children so that they can call the doctor for a consultation and use the phone to show the status of the child. People with impaired hearing welcome the possibility to use videophones for sign language. There are also concerns, however, that the existence of millions of videophones could present a threat to personal integrity.

Lilja will publish his findings on development of mobile videophones and mobile video services at the end of his Stanford scholarship.

For more information: http://sll.stanford.edu/projects/wrl/english/location.html

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