Everyone’s about apps these days, so why would Novatel be any different. As a matter of fact they’ve unveiled the MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot platform along with the first apps. The idea is to allow MiFi users to access apps while connecting to the Internet — MiFi’s internal web server connects to remote locations to make the experience faster (it can even work offline).
In real life this works like this:
- You start MiFi and try to connect to the new hotspot created
- A web page shows up asking you what do you want to do – apps are there
- You can either start an app or browse your way out of MiFi
Among the apps Novatel will demonstrate are AutoVPN (which simplifies VPN configuration and maintenance), NovaDrive (think of it as a network drive that combines local and cloud-based storage) and MiFi PhotoSharing Application with Eye-Wi (I guess you know what this does).
Novatel continues saying that their platform architecture is designed to ensure that the operator’s network is protected, while maintaining the ability for new applications and services to be field-deployed. Is this pre-announcement for the MiFi app store or what? Waiting and seeing is all we could do at the moment…