Today, Intel along with Nokia and the University of Oulu in Finland announced the establishment of the Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center. This lab will aim to revolutionize interactions with mobile devices by combining advanced mobile technology, 3D interfaces and user experience research. It will be based at the Center for Internet Excellence at the University of Oulu and as such will benefit from the research expertise at the University as well as the surrounding technical community.

The first research project the group is exploring is the development of rich, immersive internet experiences using 3D on a mobile device. This will apply software concepts originally developed for virtual worlds such as our ScienceSim collaboration and expand the benefits of 3D visuals beyond any single virtual world to enhance more of your everyday internet experience. Long term, the lab will explore what is possible or even desirable for these types of interfaces, to determine the right technologies to develop further.

This work is just beginning, but the team will soon begin to publish papers and present at technical conferences to share their findings over time. Much of the work will be developed under open source guiding principles and aligned with broader efforts around Meego.

Some of the challenges that virtual worlds have had in gaining broader adoption are the learning curve for mainstream users, processing requirements, and the so-called “walled gardens” that make it difficult to move between different worlds. If this collaboration is able to accelerate progress towards addressing these challenges, this could trigger an explosion in the number of websites that are 3D-enabled and create interesting new ways of communicating, sharing, learning and interacting through the Internet.