If you’re a mobile developer — or an internet developer with designs on mobile — today’s news deserves a sit-down analysis and big think by you and your colleagues.

How would you like an entirely managed method of reaching up to 289 million users worldwide via Vodafone’s own ‘app store’ with the billing taken care of?

I’ve put ‘app store’ in inverted commas because, although there isn’t a mention of the term in their official announcement, that’s more or less what it’s promising to be. Or, at least, that’s a quick summary from me.

Vodafone have done a rather good job of the announcement, so instead of re-writing it, here it is:

Vodafone is to stimulate a new generation of mobile internet applications by providing internet service developers with a single point of access to Vodafone’s global customer base.

Developers will only need to create internet applications once in order to reach millions of Vodafone customers on any device and will be able to charge for it directly through Vodafone’s billing system. This will provide internet content partners, such as the media or game developers, with a cost-efficient and effective micro-payments system to reach all customers on mobile devices.

Vodafone will also provide partners and developers with customer controlled access to other network capabilities, such as location awareness, enabling them to create even more innovative mobile internet services and applications.

The move will be accompanied by a framework to provide customers with transparency and control over how their information is accessed and used.

The scale of the initiative will provide partners and developers with an unparalleled opportunity to increase their revenues from the mobile internet, while delivering services to Vodafone’s 289 million customers. Vodafone will also benefit from any uplift in sales under a revenue-share model.

The benefits to third-party developers and internet companies include:

- A single point of access to millions of Vodafone customers across the globe
- Faster time to market for new products and services across several operating systems and handsets
- Enhanced revenue stream opportunities
- Simplified micro-payments for services through the use of Vodafone’s existing billing systems

The benefits to customers include:

- A greater selection of more compelling internet applications and services
- More convenience and greater flexibility in paying for new services
- A simpler and more intuitive mobile internet experience
- Consistent quality of service across the entire Vodafone footprint

Vodafone will enable developers to use its direct billing capabilities to permit customers to pay for services wirelessly through their existing Vodafone pre- and post-paid accounts rather than having to input sensitive credit card data into multiple application stores.

This is expected to give customers a convenient and highly secure payment option for the different services on offer, as well as encourage greater take up.

By giving developers access to location awareness capabilities, Vodafone will enable a new generation of highly personalised user-activated and controlled services and applications that are tailored to meet the customer’s immediate requirements.

Vodafone is making the enhancements through the creation of a set of network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) which will enable developers to build capabilities such as direct billing and location awareness into their services.

The APIs, which provide a link between the applications and the Vodafone network capabilities, will work across the entire Vodafone footprint thanks to a new layer of management technology based on Service Oriented Architecture.

Vodafone will start to offer access to selected network enablers through the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) initiative, which is designed to help developers create useful widgets for a combined audience of up to one billion customers (across the four JIL partner networks). JIL is due to release a website and a Software Developer Kit in the summer. Vodafone is also exploring a range of other ways to expose its network enablers to the broadest possible audience.

“Vodafone is making these changes to make it easier for third parties to develop attractive new services as well as bill and support our customers through our network capabilities in all markets,” said Vittorio Colao CEO of Vodafone. “By giving them simple access to our global customer base and network assets, such as direct billing and location awareness, we will help them to make more money while providing our customers with the innovative services that they want.”

I’ve got a lot of questions. This sounds rather good. Especially the join innovation lab concept.

Can they pull it off? And whilst we’re talking about 289 million customers (or, potentially a billion), how realistic is that considering X million of them are currently sporting rubbish Motorola RAZR handsets? What does this mean for Vodafone support of Nokia’s Ovi? What exactly are Vodafone going to have to put on every handset to support this?

Or are we actually talking about a sooped-up set of mobile web pages that, whilst sounding good (especially to nervous shareholders looking for a response to Apple), isn’t actually going to blow any doors off this year, next year, or this decade?

I hope those questions — and more — will be answered initially in today’s 3pm call. I’m also going to see if I can get some interviews on camera soon.

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It’s an idea that has always intrigued me; I’m a fan of anything that is gripping, true and something I can relate too (in terms of Dramas that is). Even more so, I’m finding more and more often with the onset of recurrent boredom throughout the day, it would be brilliant to have something on my mobile which was free, that could keep me entertained for five or ten minutes.

Now yes, of course there is the marvel that is the iPhone, and a number of software developers who have found ways to get your favourite films compressed and ready for viewing on said devices, but what if you don’t have an iPhone, and you don’t have the time to watch the first part of the Matrix Trilogy?

Well, there is something like THMBNLS, or if you’re like me and totally at a loss at text language, Thumbnails.

I’ve signed up for this, thinking and hoping for, let’s say the best. After all, I would have hoped that somewhere a long the line something good might come-about this mini-mobile-drama…

Wrong.

Well, actually, that’s just a tad biased. It’s funded by the Government, and the Department of Children, it has a primary focus on all things “teen”, and current in the news; sex, drugs, bullying, respect etc.

Now whilst I like the initiative being shown here by the Government and the obvious attempts at trying to bridge into the “youth of today”, there really is little to be said about this “drama”.

And the same can be said for previous attempts I’ve seen floating about the internet. I can remember a number of similar (although far shorter) offerings being heavily promoted on the popular Social Network, Bebo. Needless to say, they had the same shortcomings of Thumbnails…

They’re not that good, at all.

In a technological age of the internet and Youtube, and the growing popularity of programming such as Hollyoaks, Skins, and even American imports such as The O.C and others, the expectations of the teen audience are far more than what I have come-across with the mobile supplements.

The thing is, as with many brilliant ideas, there is a huge potential here; but once again what is delivered is so much less than what you or I expected. Whereas I would love to find and become engaged in a mobile drama which I could enjoy over a number of weeks, when all there is to offer is quite bluntly, tripe… Am I going to waste my time?

The same can be said for my peers. As far as I am aware, no one that I know engages in opting to watch, sign-up, download or view these things. And I’m really not surprised!

Maybe it’s too early to judge now, if this area of mobile improves like many of the others have done, then I do not doubt that in a few years or so there will be some mini-masterpieces right there on our handhelds!

Until then though, I think I will stick to my daily dose of the good ol’ television.

Samantha.
Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

But a couple of months ago I signed up to a website to do with “students”, homework help, offers, competitions all that rather exciting rubbish really. And you know for some part it has been of some good use; then I got an update about a “Mobile Social Network”.

Originally, I though “ahh, I could review this, and see how incredibly wonderful it may or may not be!” then I clicked through, browsed at the website and spoke aloud to myself…

“Samantha, what are you doing? This whole idea is completely pointless, and certainly not “free” to you!”

It then suddenly hit me, like a brick that purely mobile social networks (Socials) are completely pointless, and useless.

The way I see it, with Facebook, Myspace and to some extent even the dreaded Bebo out there (plus many others), small little Mobile Networks such as “QEEP” which I was so close to reviewing, have not got a hope in hell to be of any use.

I’ll explain further; I was one of the first people out of my collection of friends to “migrate” to Facebook from Myspace; now encouraging my friends to move from their beloved Myspace accounts to something which in comparison offered no personalisation or customisation and looked rather bland was something of a headache. It was an even tougher job getting the Bebo users to realise what a pile of crap Bebo truly has become and convert them to Facebook also. Over a year down the line, if I want to see a certain friends’ latest photo’s I’ll still have to sign into Myspace of Bebo and have a browse.

Now as far as Mobile Socials go, I can’t see the point in it. A mobile phone for “most” people is merely a day-to-day tool; and I have to say there are still relatively few people I know who use their mobiles for any web-browsing need or desire. It’s simply not on the agenda.

Therefore it only appears apparent that for some young people Mobile Socials have absolutely no place in their lives.

Now for me, even though I do go on Facebook on my mobile (I think its part addiction), I go online because I know I have a few hundred friends, and that since the last time I looked at something it would have updated or changed. Similarly, I know that there is quite a large possibility I’ll have a status comment to respond to, or any other kind of notification.

But before any of that can even happen, you have to persuade your friends to migrate to this particular site or service. And that is by no means an easy task or feat; and then I realise, what is the point in having a Social just purely for the mobile?

As Facebook Mobile demonstrates, a platform you can enjoy on your Laptop, PC, Mac, PDA, and Mobile is quite possibly the best. Anyone can have access to it, and it’s relevant to you no matter what you’re doing. If I’m on Facebook at home, why would I update my under-populated profile on my Mobile Social?

There’s a time and place for Mobile Socialising, and I don’t know about anyone else, but for me it’s during times when I’m away from my computer, and when I have a bit of spare time on my hands. The hassle that I sense with even partially migrating to a new platform is pointless. There is nothing I can benefit out of a service which only serves a purpose at those very rare moments; I would much rather update my Facebook, or reply to a comment on my main form of internet socialising.

So does the purely mobile social network have any stability? Personally, I don’t think so; and just as the stories that have appeared on MIR over the past week about Twitter (and using it at home, work or play) just go to prove this. Any form of social network I believe, has to be usable and accessible no matter where you are, and what you’re doing. More than anything though, if you decide to migrate to a new platform you have to be able to ensure that your friends are going to want to follow you there; otherwise, what is the point?

I want to know what you think though. Am I completely wrong? Do you use a completely mobile, mobile social?  Feel free to send any e-mails into Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

Also, before I forget; I hope everyone has a very good Christmas too!

France Telecom announced today they’ve just completed the upgrade to both their networks in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This means both 3G and what they’re calling 3G+, but what we’re calling HSPA coverage has now reach a new high in the UK for Orange.

They now boast, in their words, they can ‘offer over 94% population 3G coverage and over 70% 3G+ across the UK’. Not a small feat in itself by any means, which makes their network even stronger in the process and in turn is set to attract more customers.

Whereas Vodafone’s website states they only have 80 percent of the UK covered on 3G as a comparison, with just 99.7 percent on 2G.

These new updates back more reliable voice and data services, with upgrades seen around cities and towns, as well as major roads, rail routes, business parks, conference centres, hotels and airports.

In fact, everywhere you really expect the majority of calls and business aspects of handsets and mobile broadband to be used.

Nokia mentioned these enhancements were to 760 sites across these regions, and have seen over a 20 percent improvement all around.

Unless others start to work on their networks, they could all lose out to Orange’s network dominance in terms of their coverage.

Yup, you read that right.

YES there is an LG Mobile Developer Network. Finally. Excellent.

Unfortunately it is stuck in the year 1997.

Yes indeed! If you’d like to get your application on to LG handsets, it’s as simple as:

1. Spend AGES writing a sodding proposal. (Ok so it’s only two pages…)

2. Formally submit the proposal to LG. (They do have an online system for this).

3. Submit a proposal and wait for fooking AGES. (I’m assuming)

4. The LG Business Proposal team spent AGES looking through your proposal. (I’m assuming)

5. Keep waiting for AGES. (I’m assuming)

6. If you are successful — that’s a big IF — you and LG’s Business Proposal team create a contract together.

7. Insert another few months of arsing about. (I’m assuming)

8. If you are LUCKY you will be able to distribute your software on the LG Mobile Developer Network, LG Mobile.com and MAYBE even get it pre-loaded.

Well that’s easy then.

Don’t hold your breath.

It looks rather complicated.

Has anyone you know been successful? If so, I’d like to know so we can shine some light on the process.

Firstly, I call for originality.

I personally think originality should be the first aspect of any design; and one would imagine that being original with design would be high if not on top of the list of things to do when making a new product… But I don’t see it a lot.

Most mobile phones are pretty much the same thing with a slight difference, and upgraded something-or-another; and it doesn’t hold interest. I don’t need a mobile that is only slightly different from the one I own now, so please, don’t try and sell it to me!

I’m not one full of ideas (and I will never claim to be), however, there are thousands of younger people in the UK, and millions around the world who I’m sure have at least a single idea on how to improve mobile phones, and come up with an original idea.

It is due to that, that I find no excuse for what many manufacturers are doing now; and when I look in the Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U or any other mobile-phone shop, and I see the same design specifications and in some cases even just the same physical design, I’m annoyed!

Secondly, a good deal!

Now this is where you get the “student” side to me; the side where I source out the cheapest possible deal. Going back to my first point, do something original at the same time (if you can), like Nokia and their “Comes With Music” – I said it when it came out, and I’ll say it now – BRILLIANT! That’s the kind of thing I love to see.

When I walk around the shops, complaining of the cold, wishing I had a Hot Chocolate, or even that Christmas would end, I want to be tempted to fall back in love with Christmas again. Give me something I can get excited about; a price that is so outrageously competitive that I will part with my cash there and then.

The Mobile networks? Well, couldn’t you give me a Christmas present too? How about a nice reward of getting say half of whatever I top up in the month of December free? (So I top up £10, and I actually get £15?)

And finally…

And this goes to pay-as-you-go more than anything else; bring me some good news about tariffs!

I’ve noticed more than ever my addiction to Facebook, and I’ll admit I spend far too much of my time thinking about Facebook and being on it. It’s edging on the slightly crazy spectrum, but I’ll survive.

The point is though; I can’t feed my addiction well enough. I want to browse on my mobile for a reasonable price, and at the same time I don’t want to be on a contract.
I know some networks (Orange are all of who I can think of right now), offer little bundle systems for browsing, which is a step in the right direction; but I want this on all networks; so that no matter who I am with, I can browse away on my mobile endlessly updating my status, and poking people. Or even check my e-mail; for a good price!

I know it’s too early to be discussing Christmas, but with any luck someone might take notice before the Christmas Eve rush, and this Christmas could be full of lots of mobile delights!

Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

You remember the Private Mobile Network Unit that I took to the Maldives?

Well Jay Fenton has produced a brilliant review that’s coming our way tomorrow morning.

Jay is one of the world’s foremost experts on telephony. And that sort of thing. It’s actually hard to specifically identify where his skills begin and end. Yes he knows telephony back to front, but he’s also a bit of a programming genius too (he’s the guy who knocked up a Symbian blog editor for me in 60 minutes).

Jay is the chap mentioned now and again by his colleague Dan Lane in our weekly Mobile Industry Review Show video. (They both work at Howler Tech). In fact, I think Jay is mentioned this week. We’ve had him on one of the podcasts a while ago — we’ll need to get him on the video soon.

I was delighted when Jay said he’d be able to take the time to review the PMN and give us his perspective. Standby for the piece tomorrow.

Ostensibly the network is a pilot — aimed at connecting students, teaching staff, business and local residents. The network launches on the 29th of September (the day, by the way, when I turn 31).

WiMAX is a dirty word here on Mobile Industry Review after our industry columnist, Mr Operator, went to town on it. Here’s a reminder of just how scathing Mr Operator was:

If WiMax had come along 5 years ago, it would have been a lighthouse for Mobile operators struggling to right the shipwreck of 3G’s launch. But WiMax – and critically its mobile version – just didn’t arrive in time. HSPA and the roadmapped HSPA+ / LTE have stolen the show.

Evolution, not revolution. Why tear apart what you have, when you can just bolt on some new cards? Why give customers ‘orphan’ handsets when they can have devices that are backward-compatible with legacy networks?

…

For nations where 3G mobile broadband with its high QoS and device choice is already commoditised, WiMax has no place to play. Not because it’s inherently inferior, but because it doesn’t have anything to differentiate it except less choice in vendor/device, premature mobility & QoS standards, poorer performance in approved bands and the same cost base for infrastructure.

All it can do is play catch-up. And there’s precious little profit in being last to the party.

I’ve been meaning to head up to Manchester to check out the Freedom4 WiMAX network there — and now I need to add Nottingham to my list.

More news about the Nottingham roll-out at http://www.ingenuitygateway.com/programme/.

The Nokia Media Network, which was launched back in February, 2008 currently services over 70 launch publishers, including Discovery, Hearst, Cosmopolitan, AccuWeather and Reuters. The advertising network allows advertisers to target consumers who visit the sites and pages of premium mobile internet publishers. The new publishers that have been added include:

 

 

•  
  • Agence France-Presse, France
  • RTL Mobile, Germany
  • Cuatro, Spain
  • Grupo Prisa, publisher of El País, Spain
  • Unidad Editorial, publisher of El Mundo, Spain
  • CNET, UK
  • Telegraph Media Group, UK
  • Trinity Mirror, UK
  • International Herald Tribune, pan-European

Nokia recently ran a campaign on El Mundo of Spain, managed by Unidad Editorial, which carried ads by BMW. Nokia’s Ad Network is fairly popular and successful and is expected to expand with more and more publishers joining in on the team.

Sprint has really been struggling all round for some time and a sale of a network that was superceded in both technology and popularity terms a while back makes a lot of sense – the only question is who would buy it? The same reasons that Sprint would want to get rid of the iDen network are reasons why it would be hard to find a potential buyer.

In a recent filing, Sprint said it wants will consider “”improving operations, making additional investments, entering into strategic partnerships and considering potential divestitures” when it comes to iDen. I suspect Sprint would rather favour the latter two options.

I wouldn’t mind one of those connections in my place, actually. I once had a 155mb connection installed in my place in Charlton Street, just above Euston Road, in London. It was 155mb for about 20 minutes whilst the engineers tested it. Then they switched it back to 0.5mb as that’s what I was paying for. Joy. This was before broadband.

We get sent a lot of releases here at Mobile Industry Review — not all of them are relevant and not all of them fit into our sphere of interest — but this one caught my eye.

Firstly, it’s about lotsa-meg. Any mobile genius worth his or her salt will have an interest in megs-per-second. Or, in Geo’s case, gigs-per-second. It’s all about the speed, right?

Second, the press release title was simply: Fibre, network, london, sewer.

Gifted. A gifted title. Does-wot-it-sayz-on-the-tin.

A little more info:

Geo, a leading provider of bespoke fibre networks, today announced a refresh of their Geo.Metro product portfolio which includes the launch of Geo.ONE PLUS (1Gbit/s plus), Geo.TEN (10Gbit/s) and Geo.TEN PLUS (2 x 10Gbit/s), all scalable Managed Network Service solutions for businesses in London. The company is the only network provider to have deployed optical fibre via the Thames Water sewer system.

Geo’s high speed solution has been designed for medium to large sized organisations that require a secure and reliable network to connect multiple sites across the capital. Geo also offers dedicated fibre for customers who prefer to manage and own their own network infrastructure.

Fibre, network, London, sewer, yes, please. Although I don’t expect it will compete very effectively on price with o2’s recently announced £20/month mobile and home broadband solution.

There is a video of the Geo CEO talking about the concept on their front page. I’d have linked it here if it was embeddable.

I’m going to ask Steve O’Donnell of The Hot Aisle and Martin MacLeod (ye Brother and fellow data speed nut) of BladeWatch for their viewpoints. I reckon they’ll be overwhelmingly positive of the concept.

Here’s the summary of what’s happening from Orange:

• new customer service strategy implemented including 500 new customer- facing roles in UK customer centres & shops; launching new contact options including IM, web and in-store service; stopping off-shore customer service expansion
• Retail expansion plans to reach 400 stores plus new on-line virtual shop
• new investment in 2G and 3G network quality and coverage
• new super-fast network to go live in 2009 offering speeds of up to 14.4mbps
• new “totally connected” product line – including laptops – to build on fixed & mobile broadband capabilities
• focus on stopping duplication which is likely to result in reduction of up to 450 roles

Being a network nerd, I’m particularly happy to see UK operators aiming to get speeds up to some of their international rivals (although it’s worth noting that there’s still a lack of handsets available that can cope with 14.4Mbps). I suspect, however, others will be more excited by the promised improvement in customer service.

Sprint said that it’s now finished commercial testing of its Xohm network, alongside buddy Samsung, and the WiMax network is now meeting all the necessary criteria on “overall performance, handoff performance and handoff delay” after trials in Washington DC and Baltimore, as well as in Sprint’s labs. The two cities will be the first to get to try the service commercially later this year, according to the operator.

It’s now starting to look like Sprint really is going to bring a WiMax network to the US (it was looking shaky there for a while, especially after the departure of former CEO Gary Forsee) but the fuzziness around the timing of the launch – “later this year” – still hints that there could be some quirks to be ironed out yet.

However, neither Telstra nor Optus has discussed what new applications, if any, will debut on the super-fast network. Still, after all the slow build up in 3G speeds in Europe, it’s good to see a couple of operators not shy about promising tens of megabits.

Currently, Australia is planning a fixed fibre-to-the-node network that will get 12Mbps to 98 percent of the population in the next five years. Meanwhile, Optus is promising to get 42Mbps (admittedly maximum peak downlink) to the same coverage level in less time. This could make Australia one of the few countries where mobile network are faster than fixed in real terms. Wow.

The test looks like it’s just a small one without any consumers involved – according to the pair, the trial will take place in Dish’s labs from May to August with a view to finding out how well it performs and how much it costs.

The trial seems a little on the small side for anyone seriously thinking about getting into mobile TV any time soon. But if Dish really is just testing the water without a full scale rollout in mind, why did it buy a great big chunk of 700Mhz spectrum recently?

Xinhua also adds that China Unicom will also provide English, Korean and Japanese hotline services during the games and extend opening hours for its outlets around the Olympic venues. It looks like the most interesting race won’t be on the athletics track this Olympics: it’s all about the networks. China Mobile, which is also working on Olympics content has promised to get its 3G network up in time for the Games while Unicom is reportedly spending billions of yuan on improving its GSM network. I wonder which will go down better with visitors – slow and steady or fast and just-released?