| Alatto
Launches Mobile Weather Forecasts
Irish
company Alatto has developed a wireless application aimed
at bringing advanced weather forecasts to third-generation
mobile phones.
The
company is currently in discussion with mobile operators in
the UK, Germany and Portugal and expects to provide its weather
service to users next year. A prototype of the service is
already running in Japan, according to John Whelan, one of
Alatto's founders.
Whelan
said the weather maps have colours and "movie-like quality,"
showing details of approaching weather fronts and forecasting
where and how fast the fronts will move. Users will only need
to download the weather map once onto their phones; for future
updates they will download the weather details only. In the
future the service will also be location-enabled, Whelan said,
which means it will take into account where the user is and
offer a localised forecast.
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The
third generation service follows another weather service which
Alatto developed to let sailors see the height of the waves
and the speed of the wind, taking data which is monitored by
floating buoys and transmitted via satellite. Whelan said the
company was currently in discussions with operators in the UK
about this service, which works with the current generation
of mobile technology, and said the service might also have a
future in Ireland.
Alatto
serves as a wireless industry consultancy firm, but also develops
a variety of products and solutions for its customers. One of
its products is a Mobile Applications Pack, which is a group
of 2.5G and 3G applications targeted at mobile network operators,
MVNO's and system integrators. The application pack contains
25 different applications designed to help operators boost average
revenue per user, including lottery, Vegas slot machines, fixed
odds betting and blackjack.
Another
Alatto product is its FOMA Emulator 1.1, a software system that
provides 3G functionality on a desktop. The FOMA emulator is
designed for technical developers and designers building applications
for 3G phones.
Dublin-based
Alatto was founded in 2000 and is funded by its founders. It
currently employs 21 people, including two based in Japan, and
Whelan said the company expects to bring on more staff in the
near future.
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