Contact:
Newsfox Desk
Phone: + 43 - 1 - 811 40 - 319
E-Mail: editor@newsfox.com
| Pressbox | 
|
Southampton (pte056/16.06.2003/17:42) - A consortium of mobile phone manufacturers and operators, entertainment electronics producers and broadcasting facilities are financing the development of software agents for mobile phones. Known as Mobile VCE http://www.mobilevce.com , the consortium includes giants like Nokia, Sony, Vodafone and the BBC.
As reported by the New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com , the new software agents will be able to act independently of their users by anticipating purchases and even carrying out transactions.
Designed for the next generation of mobile phones, the program will learn from its owner's decisions and then make decisions on its own.
Nick Jennings of the University of Southampton http://www.soton.ac.uk division of the project says he thinks the software agent's role will be similar to that of a butler: After some time it will learn its user's preferences, but the user can always decide just how much autonomy the program should have.
The software agents will mainly focus on those events listed in the phone's electronic calendar which could have an influence on purchasing needs. The agent might, for example, help its owner book flights and hotel rooms.
Jennings believes these kinds of software agents will become more and more popular in the future.
At the moment, prototypes of the "software butler" are being tested on notebooks connected to mobile networks via GSM cards. First versions designed specifically for mobile phones could become available in 18 months.
(end)
|
|
