Conclusions

MOMENTS reached its objective to test the technical feasibility of wireless multimedia in an early phase. As a result of this project, commercial information technologies were applied to wireless multimedia services, new audiovisual enabling technologies were developed, a wireless payment system was demonstrated, and the first multislot GSM was deployed. The Internet was experienced first as a competitive but also as a synergistic opportunity for mobile services creation. Partners were deeply involved in the trialing from beginning to end. Postproject cooperation with related projects and across the mobile multimedia technology clusters improved the new business partnerships and helped focus business strategies for the future. We believe that these trial experiences were a useful advisory for planning trials for the development of mobile 3G multimedia.

In the planning phase of 1995, the vision of wireless services and technology solutions was not clear, and thus the preliminary character of these trials is evident in retrospect. Instead of marshalling a well-defined set of services, technologies, and study assumptions on end-user behavior, we took an approach to the studies that was more innovative than systematic. This led to high ramp-up on participant competence improvement, which was utilized well in follow-up projects. Thus the value of the project can be stated not only in terms of itself but also as a part in series of business development actions.