Stefan Schemat {biografie} {fullpaper}

Augmented Reality Zoombies

80 billion Euro is the estimated cost of UMTS in Germany. Getting a return on this investment from phone bills only is impossible. In the near future local based services (LBS) could be the technologies for a brave new world. The vision is: With the seductive power of the Sirens the UMTS mobile phone guides its owner through an odyssey of reality, leaving a trail of consumption behind. I would like to advance two hypothesis on which the success of this media depends:
1. UMTS mobile phones have to be (hyper)fictional to unlock their full seductive powers.
2. To prevent traffic accidents and other disasters UMTS phones will also have to keep their seductive powers under control.
Whether this technology opens the door to the hell of omnipresent advertising or lets us enter a fiction/reality web is not just a matter for big telcos. Now, before the LBS marketing machine is ramped up, is the time for us to seize the opportunity of shaping this technology.