Qualcomm Uplinq 2011 Keynote #1: 3D, Peer-To-Peer Gaming, Augmented Reality
This particular Qualcomm keynote on a lovely June 1st morning began with Dr Paul Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Qualcomm noting some impressive numbers on a large stage with one gigantic colorful screen behind him flowing with ribbons of light. Jacobs noted that they've got word that mobile data is expected to grow 10-12 fold by 2015, this punctuated by the completely odd addition of "Real D 3D" glasses on everyone's seats. Next Jacobs noted that 1 BILLION Qualcomm BREW-powered devices had already been shipped, and notes that "today's market [is one where people] don't really care about what their next PC is going to be."
"You have the ability to think AND act globally." "Mobile is the dominant computing platform and it's never going back." These are the quotes that matter, as spoken again by Dr Paul Jacobs. CreativeArtistsAgency aka CAA, Qualcomm's newest partners in business spoke next. It's noted that 250 Snapdradon devices are in development – an impressive number by anyone's yardstick. He went on to remind the audience that on benchmark tests in the past, single-core Snapdragon processors have beaten dual-core processors run by the competition. In their a-synchronous dual-core devices of the future, Qualcomm will only run one core when one core is needed, two when two are needed. This makes the best of the cores, says Jacobs, and it sets Qualcomm apart from the rest of the competition. HP is seen on the screen, their whole new lineup toting some magic for the near future, then it's Sony Ericsson's turn.
The new lineup of course includes our favorite Xperia PLAY device amongst a couple other smaller players, and their Executive Vice President and Chief Creation Officer Rikko Sakaguchi notes that their mission is to combine communication and entertainment. Check out our recent review of the Verizon Xperia PLAY here.
The note by Qualcomm comes in the form of 3D – they showing up on the big screen a bunch of video games and video captured and played back for the audience. Next they punctuate the experience with a scene from Kung Fu Panda 2, a 3D movie that's just come out in theaters this weekend. All of this is being shown on the Qualcomm MPD, a device we're just a bit familiar with, running its ADRENO GPU. All of this is played back from the smartphone. Have a peek at the MPD here.
A bit of the ol' peer-to-peer gaming was demonstrated on an HTC tablet, and it was mentioned that there'd be augmented reality in earnest for Apple's iOS by July of this year. The HTC tablet used was a HTC Flyer (we've got two reviews of this device, believe it or not,) and the game was a lovely PAC-MAN racing game.
Of course they bust the MPD out again for another show of power, this one in Augmented Reality showing off some Dreamworks DVDs, each one of them looked at through the MPD's camera. This camera sees each of the DVD cases and displays a trailer for each of the movies inside!
Dreamworks was invited on stage via President of Production and Feature Animation, John Batter. He speaks of pre-selling DVDS using augmented reality, again pushing the entertaining experience of doing so, and partnering with national retailers to do so. Pre-selling DVDs, he says, allows for custom content to be pushed to the users phone, content that's exclusive to this sort of situation, available only on pre-purchase and only through the device.
This all leads into the Digital 6th Sense, a piece of your personal self you the consumer will soon be using to interact with your media-laden environment. The Digital 6th Sense is the camera in the device, the Augmented Reality acting as an extension of our eyes. Additional exciting expansions of our senses are coming on, says Dr Paul Jacobs, sensors popping up not only all around us, but on us as well.
Finally, before the beginning of the keynote there was a screen that showed some options for what the audience felt was the Biggest Opportunity in Mobile in the Next Five Years. Have a peek at what the poll resulted in here:
Finally there was a bit of a sitdown where one quote stood out from all others: Jon Rubinstein noted that he believed that giants in the mobile space today (aka Apple and Google's Android implied) "may not be giants in the future." Power shifts a-brewin? Stick with us throughout the week as we'll be hanging out at Uplinq 2011 the whole time!
