Digital domesticity
Mobile phone operator O2 has created what it calls a "revolutionary touch screen device" called the O2 Joggler. It's an always-on Wi-Fi enabled smart device that is designed to facilitate communication within the domestic environment in the way fridge doors currently do.
It has a 7-inch touch screen and seems to be based around a number of widget-like devices that grant access to information or messaging services. There's no mention of spec or operating system in the press release but O2's press office informed us it runs on a 1.1GHz Atom CPU, has 1GB of storage, a USB port and run on a bespoke Linux build.
The Joggler reminded us of a gadget revealed when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was last in town, but made by an independent company, called Wayve. We contacted Wayve boss Simon Lewis and asked him if he was involved.
"No, it's not anything to do with us," said Lewis. "It actually demonstrates a rather different ‘point-of-view': Wayve is very focussed on a single compelling and sticky function (the emotion-rich messaging we demonstrated). This product is much more diverse and offers many different things (but not, at least at launch, any messaging function). It's going to be interesting to see how the market responds."
"What this and other products do demonstrate is something we already knew - there is a huge interest from manufacturers and service providers in trying to do something like this in the family/home space. The challenge is to figure out exactly what, which is where we think we have the insight. We're continuing to talk to a number of potential partners about bringing Wayve to the market."
Click through to the next page of an image and O2's breakdown of features.
