Location and size don't matter. It's your mindset, your attitude and your ambition that are the success factors in the mobile industry.
This is the view of Peter Vesterbacka, founder of Some Bazaar and co-founder of the mobile industry movement Mobile Monday, who spoke to i-Tech about the mobile industry and its opportunities and challenges in Malta.
He was recently in Malta for an event organised by the Maltese chapter of Mobile Monday, which aims to enable would-be entrepreneurs to develop ideas into tangible business through its global network of contacts.
While appreciating the fact that Malta is a small market, he however noted that there are many small markers around the world.
"It is not where you are, you can get your business going anywhere in the world. The web gives unlimited opportunities. The issue is more in the mindset, in the attitude, and the ambition. Malta is just as good or just as bad as any country in Europe. To create a big success story it would be good to create something where Malta has a global interest and competence," he insisted.
Mr Vesterbacka explained that the biggest challenges for the mobile industry right now are both industry-specific and general. He said there is no global mobile market but there are certain mobile markets with very specific needs. It is a very fragmented market which can be operator specific or device specific.
"It is a market where you can't do just one service. On the web, you launch a website and it is pretty much usable to everyone. In mobile it is not the same. Then you have the same challenges as any entrepreneur such as your customers and getting your idea funded."
The Mobile Monday Malta event offered an opportunity for local researchers in mobile technologies to share their ideas and experience.
Claire Zarb, managing director of Global IT Solutions Ltd, spoke about a mobile solution for security companies, called Guard Body Pro, using a type of near-field communication (NFC) that enables the transfer of information between an RFID tag and NFC enabled mobile phones or a rugged mobile phone handset that can survive tough environmental conditions.
Such a system has already been successfully installed at the Vittoriosa Waterfront by Signal 8 Security, a Maltese company in the security market which is also the sole representatives of the International Bodyguards Association IBA together with the International Law Enforcement Training Agency (ILETA).
Traditional security monitoring systems, even though they make use of computers, software, and wireless communication devices such as mobile handsets and radio (walkie-talkie), many times do not offer a complete integrated solution. These generally incur considerable initiation investment and the security company is forced to bear servicing costs related to the installed system and the possible replacement costs.
This traditional and outdated system for collecting data related to rounds-based systems of security only allows information to be assessed by on-site visits to the guarded site in order to read data collected. This data provided to the security company can be printed and then the information can be analysed by only the checkpoint number and its date/time of scanning/reading, which means it can only be known some time after the event took place.
Such outdated systems are therefore burdened with serious problems, since the information is limited and most of the time, late.
The Guard Body Pro solution installed by Signal 8 Security at the Vittoriosa Waterfront cuts down on the need for compilation and handling of hard copies of report and gives the clients of Signal 8 Security real time, on demand monitoring of their active patrol rounds simply by determining the time location and date the client can have access to instant customised reports.
The only device needed is a generic NFC phone programme to handle both normal phone communication functions and specialized RFID tag communication.
Signal 8 said this system at the Vittoriosa Waterfront has blended in well with all the functions necessary of security personnel.
"Within four months of operation, our safety of the security persons employed within the organisation new system have met and exceeded our expectations," said Joseph Grech, managing director at Signal 8 Security.
Its officers could easily monitor and perform basic functions implementing all the responsibilities and the upkeep of procedures while on guard, and also such as the turning on and off of boilers or motors at a specific time. This system will ensure that the time accuracy can be enforced and verified thus ensuring safety of mind to the business owners.
Asked about the costs of near-field communications applications, Ms Zarb said that the phone with NFC reader/writer itself costs between €200 and €500. RFID tags are very cheap, generally in the region of €1 each. Then there is a monthly fee of €12 per month for the server (located in Switzerland) since everything is online.
"The beauty of the system is that there is no need to install anything, since everything is delivered as an online service. No other investments are needed," reassured Ms Zarb.
Despite being a simple concept, the implementation has its own challenges.
"The right talent for developing this kind of technology is rare to find and difficult to supervise. The market is not well informed of the benefits reaped by this kind of technology," lamented Ms Zarb.
Global IT Solutions said they will soon be upgrading the solution to incorporate the "man down" function which will be implemented in the new model and will send an alarm to the base control station if and when the security phone is free falling or if it recognises that the individual is not moving, ensuring immediate help for the security in case of accident.