A growing proportion of cellular phone shipments are replacements (last year, almost 60 percent).  So it's no wonder every year, we see new handset models, as vendors try to incorporate new functionality to drive up replacements.  Over this past year, there was added emphasis placed on camera phones, which are great not only for the handset manufacturers themselves, but also for operators because they can hopefully increase data traffic.  So it was no wonder to see the so many models having built-in cameras at 3GSM, including the sleek Motorola SLVR V8 show on the figure (hat tip: Gizmodo).  The model is really compact and features tri-band capabilities (GSM/GPRS/EDGE), 5 Megs of memory, Bluetooth support, color display, push-to-talk, MP3 playback, and an MPEG4 VGA camera.

Camera phones are tracking at about 50% of new handset shipments in Western Europe, and part of the reason for their success is that vendors have been able to keep the costs down (the integrated camera models is about 5% of the total bill of materials for the handset).  One of my own biggest questions from 3GSM was - will users want a cell phone that can take pictures or a camera that can make phone calls?  Honestly, one could almost not tell the two apart.

Nortel (NYSE:NT) and Research in Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM) signed an agreement under which BlackBerry devices will have added VoIP capabilities via Wi-Fi.  This will require a tight integration between RIM's BlackBerry enterprise platform and Nortel's CSE 5100 multimedia server.  As announced at VoiceCon 2005, the first model to incorporate this feature will be the BlackBerry 7270, albeit it will be a VoIP-only device (to be used not only in enterprises, but also over public WLAN hotsports).  However, the future is really all about seamless roaming, so the market is IMHO ready for a dual mode BlackBerry that could function in 2.5/3G mode or in Wi-Fi/WLAN mode. 

Note: RIM also signed a similar partnership deal with 3Com, which will use its own IP PBX and WLAN switch (licensed from Trapeze).

While voice and data convergence in the enterprise has been considerably refined in the past three years, very few vendors have put much thought behind convergence of devices. There has been a lot of emphasis put on the so-called softphones, which are CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) applications that can run on PCs and provide end-users with a rich set of functions.

While the softphone has been labeled as the “desktop of the future”, that goal has remained quite elusive as most vendors did not understand that these applications should ideally work with desktop phones and not necessarily replace them (except perhaps for special cases such as traveling salesmen who can load them up on their laptops and take them on the road). Business cases were made for the IP softphones to replace IP hard phones, but nobody figured a way to get more functionality of a desktop phone via a complementary CTI application that worked in conjunction with that desk terminal.

Enterprise telephony equipment vendors have struggled to understand that end-users typically prefer an interface that is not overly complex and with which they are already familiar with rather than something overly complex. A sophisticated IP phone with color displays and web browsing functions sitting right next to a PC is just an expensive toy that will hardly be used for these functions (the PC is just as capable for viewing some web sites). Of course, that same phone in a different setting (such as an airport lounge or a hotel room, where a PC is not readily available) would have an entirely different appeal and value proposition, but why settle for only niche opportunities?

Another forgotten point was human factors. How many vendors out there are selling softphones that have pictures of phones on the screen? How bad is that? Instead of taking advantage of an environment that is as rich as a PC, with nice GUI gizmos such as dialog boxes, dropdown menus, radio buttons, etc., let’s just go back to the same old 12-button desktop phone interface and emulate that on a PC.

This is why it was so refreshing to see innovative products such as Mitel’s Navigator, which was announced today at BCR’s VoiceCon conference in Orlando.  Mitel has brought a new form factor to the world of IP telephony: a phone bar that can deliver powerful functionality via a tightly knit interface to the PC world. This allows Navigator to work in conjunction with applications such as Mitel’s YourAssistant (YA) and environments such as Microsoft’s Live Communications Server. The new ergonomic design saves desktop space, is very intuitive to use and allows users to define their own functions via 9 programmable keys. These buttons can invoke PC applications, telephony functions or commands. Navigator also supports SIP and hands-free calling, but the key differentiator is the rich suite of functions that YA can deliver, including collaboration, instant messaging, presence and video. Users can drag and drop a few contacts on a container and initiate an impromptu conference call on Navigator via just a click of a button. The end result is pretty compelling: a phone with an innovative form factor that is easy to use, yet that can deliver a lot of powerful functions via PC client applications.