Vodafone Qatar showcased a number of their latest innovations at their Qitcom 2012 stand yesterday, where they highlighted their work in the area of Internet services for businesses and consumers. Three of the main innovations on display are the mHealth service, the machine-to-machine services and the Vodafone Guardian application. The mHealth service utilises mobile Internet technology in healthcare, helping to improve the efficiency of the relationship between doctors and patients, said a spokesperson, explaining that it can be used to provide lifesaving assistance such as in heart attack cases where doctors can transmit instructions to paramedics in ambulances on the move. Machine-to-machine services enable communication between devices without human interaction, and offer businesses the capacity for more control over certain aspects of their work. Vodafone Guardian is an Android-based application which ensures children’s safety while using smartphones, allowing parents to control how the phone is used and provide protection from various calls, messages and online content. Vodafone Qatar CEO Richard Daly said: “As a global company with local roots in Qatar, Vodafone is delighted to be showcasing future global products and services at Qitcom. Qitcom is a great opportunity for Vodafone to demonstrate how innovative data solutions can create new opportunities for businesses and inspire consumers.” Vodafone is also running a competition to encourage the development of applications, the Indie Fikra Appathon 2012, which is aimed at stimulating the creation of Arabic content over the next two days, with cash prizes and mentoring support to be offered to four winning teams which will be announced tomorrow. Head of innovation and interactive at Vodafone Qatar, Khalifa Haroon said: “Indie Fikra Appathon 2012, the first event of its kind in the region, is all about accelerating great app development talent. We are very excited to see the great work that the teams come up with.” http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=490851&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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