No.5   May 1, 2000   Creating a Ubiquitous Networking Market:Mobile Phones   Ichiro MORIMOTO        When Xerox put forward the idea of "ubiquity," ubiquitous computing and mobile computing were regarded as two separate areas. However, now that the use of mobile phones is becoming increasingly common and smart phones capable of receiving new services such as NTT DoCoMo's "iMode" are now available, the mobile phone is becoming an important tool for accessing ubiquitous environments.    Although the use of mobile phones will continue to grow, new content will become an increasingly important factor in the development of ubiquitous environments. From this is likely to emerge a wide range of different services. One of these will be voice-based services, while another is expected to be the use of smart cards. When combined with a payment capability, these services will enable mobile phones to function as electronic wallets and become a new kind of platform. Contents I Ubiquitous Environments Will Develop as a Result of Advances in Mobile Technology 1 Mobile Computing and Ubiquitous Computing 2 Exponential Growth of the Mobile Phone 3 Mobile Phones as Data Communications Tools II Accessing the Internet with a Smart Phone 1 Why the Smart Phone Has Caught Public Attention 2 Content as the Key to Increased Use 3 Smart Phones Lead the Way in the Development of Ubiquitous Environments III New Applications for Ubiquitous Environments 1 VoiceXML--a Product of Speech Recognition Technology 2 Next-Generation Mobile Phones with a Built-In Smart Card 3 Mobile Phones as Electronic Wallets GO to PDF