Irish have finger on pulse

A CORNER of Barcelona turned green for a few days, as the Ireland pavilion showcased some of the most innovative companies in the State.

The Irish contingent was supported by Enterprise Ireland, which has been attending the Mobile World Congress for 10 years and places a high value on the event. There was an array of technology and innovation on display from Irish-based firms – from Jivo’s biodegradable iPhone case dubbed the Leaf

to Sentry Wireless’s anti-SMS spam technology.

Irish exhibitors certainly had their finger on the pulse. Several exhibitors at the wider event demonstrated how cashless payments could work with near-field communications (NFC), an area in which Irish firm Zapa Technology has considerable expertise. Zapa’s John Wall explained that there was a certain reluctance to invest in NFC, but it would benefit retailers in the end.

“What you have with near- field communications is chicken and egg; mobile-phone operators don’t want to invest in the mobile phone handset, retailers don’t want to invest in the technology, but they all want to get NFC to roll out, he said.

In Japan, NFC is already popular and used for a large proportion of convenience transactions. The firm has a deal with some branches of Insomnia, where it provides loyalty card services through a Zapa tag instead of physical cards. The company is undertaking further trials of the technology in Dundalk and Tuam.

“We’re driving NFC. We want to become a trusted services manager,” he said.

The move towards using the mobile phone as a multimedia device was underscored by Redmere, which showcased new cables designed to work with phones. The company has developed technology that will allow mobile phone users to show high-definition video or images stored on their mobile phone or other portable device on a HD television.

As mobile phones increasingly become a part of people’s lives, it is inevitable advertisers will follow. Digital Research Group was on hand to demonstrate how companies could get the best from the new technology, with chief executive Colm Grealy showing the power of built-in advertising in applications such as those used on the iPhone.

There were plenty of announcements of new deals. Irish technology firm Dial2Do revealed its deal with Bluetooth headset maker Jabra.

Legislation prohibits drivers in Ireland from talking on their phones or texting. Dial2Do’s technology, which will be available on selected Jabra headsets and speaker phones, will not only allow users to receive texts and e-mails without holding their mobile but will also send them. The voice-recognition software has been developed to convert your voice to text, and send to your desired location.

Fresh from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was Belfast-based APTX, whose software sends high-quality audio over Bluetooth. It has already announced a deal with Microsoft for Xbox Live.