Mobile Services: Nec Immediate Translator + Pay-by-Mobile in London

NEC’s Immediate Translator

The Japanese manufacturer of electric equipment NEC has announced the release of an “immediate” translator for its mobile platform, which will be able to translate the words of the Japanese tourists into English.

When the phone “hears” Japanese speech, it transforms the sound into a text on the screen of the device with the help of a new technology and in a few seconds the text is translated into English. NEC informs that the novelty is the first translator that carries out the whole translation independently in the world. The company has been able to develop the software that enables voice recognition function and translator functions. The software is quite compact as it works on a small micro-chipset installed into a phone.

The application is able to recognize up to 50 000 Japanese words. It has been created in order to help travelers and tourists and its major focus are widely spread traveling phrases like “How much does a metro ticket cost?” Technically, it is quite possible to include the feature of voicing the translation, but at the moment (according to the company’s representative Mitsumasa Fukumoto) hasn’t considered the idea.

Fukumoto says:

“We’ll have to research how to recognize the words exactly on a phone. Another problem is that how an individual understands if his words are translated correctly.” According to his words, NEC hasn’t yet decided on when the new technology will be put into practice, but NEC is working on “creating a society where any individual will be able to communicate with anybody, any when and anywhere.”

Pay-by-Mobile: London public transport

Londoners will be able to buy underground tickets and newspapers pressing a single button on their mobile devices.

Hundreds or resident have been given special mobile phones with inbuilt credit cards and Oyster cards designed for paying for public transport (buses and underground). One of the organizers of the event announced that when a phone is place over the scanner at metro stations and in shops the fee is automatically taken from the owner’s account. The customers car spend up to 10 pounds at a time in special shops and coffees (including the chain Coffee Republic, the liquor shop Threshers and the bookshop Books Etc.).

Mobile payment are widely spread in a number of countries like, for instance, Japan where the owners of mobile phones can pay for everything with them – from sandwiches to underground tickets. The organizers claim that if the half-of-the-year tests are successful, the program will be made much wider including a great number of shops, booking offices and sport revenues.

The users who agreed to participate in the tests will be given the following bonuses:

• Public transportation extras by Oyster worth 50 pounds ($103.2)
• 60 and 200 pounds charge off for the inbuilt Barclaycard expenses

The companies that this or that way participate in the tests are Transport for London, the mobile operator O2, Barclaycard, Visa Europe and Nokia.

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