Throughout the incredible journey of the telecom OSS/BSS sector over
the last 10 years, VanillaPlus has remained a reliable source of both key
news but also informative, objective and thought-provoking assessments of
the key trends which have shaped our industry. I am looking forward to
VanillaPlus and their more recent Stream journal continuing to play a key
role in providing valuable insights as we enter one of the most exciting
phases of the telecoms OSS/BSS market evolutions.
Kieran Moynihan
Vice President & CTO Telecoms
IBM Tivoli Division
Music & Audio
T-Mobile Germany launches Comverse and Jamba’s Fun Broker off-deck ringback tones
Commercial implementation of the Fun Broker off-deck ringback tone platform at T-Mobile Germany, a unit of Deutsche Telekom has gone live. This was enabled by Comverse, a supplier of software and systems for enhanced communication and billing services, with Jamba, a provider of digital entertainment services, and a joint venture between News Corporation and VeriSign.
Now available globally, Fun Broker allows content providers to sell ringback tones directly from their portals. Integrating ringback tones into the dynamic off-deck content retail market helps subscribers to personalise ringback tones easily from multiple media sources, which can increase the service’s penetration. Fun Dial, Comverse's popular ringback tone service, allows users to personalise ringing and busy signals with music and content to entertain callers waiting for the phone to be answered.
The entry of leading content players like Jamba into the ringback tone service arena will increase user awareness and choice, which can generate substantial new traffic and revenue in ringback tone content.
Lee Fenton, COO at Jamba said: "Operators have too much to do already to successfully take on the entire burden of constant promotion of ringback tones. By turning to Jamba and Comverse, T-Mobile gains energetic and motivated market-savvy content and service delivery partners, and benefits from our highly popular portal fordigital entertainment."
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Sony Ericsson’s sort-of-answer to iPhone really grows on you
OK, so it’s not as cool as the iPhone, and it’s
not hyped as much as Samsung’s F700 with QWERTY keyboard. But at the end of a
few days together the W960i was growing on Jeremy Cowan, who was in no rush to
send it back.
Perhaps we
got off to a bad start, it and me. It’s a little slow to boot up, well slower
than my trusty W850i. It’s bigger too; but then it would be, to accommodate a
39 x 52 mm screen. But it soon started to win back some ground with its 3.2
megapixel camera and high screen resolution. My first digital camera barely
matched the 960’s camera and it never matched the screen size.
The change of GUI was just annoying though. I’ve had a number of Sony Ericsson
phones and – though I’ve liked them all, more or less – the applications menu
alters with every iteration. Sony Ericsson is no more guilty here than other
manufacturers; they all annoy me with needless menu changes that erode the
pleasing familiarity of an easy search for the next function.
Pros
* Touch screen – many will opt for the W960i for this alone. It’s sensitive
without being overly so. Job done.
* Jog dial – Apologies to Jonny, the first person to call me after I received
it and who I accused of mumbling -- I’d brushed the side-mounted Jog Dial which
is both navigation tool and volume control when putting it in a coat pocket
inadvertently cutting the speaker volume (duh! Faulty operative; it didn’t
happen again).
OK, so the Jog Dial’s not strictly necessary when you’ve already got a good
touch screen and a finger or stylus as your OS. But it gives usesr a quicker
option when navigating the menu and works well; rotate the discreet wheel on
the side to highlight various options until you press the wheel, mouse-style.
* Stylus (I
started thinking it was a pain, and ended up using it all the time, even when a
finger might have been quicker).
* Better battery life than previous Sony Ericsson smart phones.
* Walkman is good (though I prefer downloads from Omnifone’s Music Station).
* 8Gb memory.
Cons
* Small-ish
screen means the touch screen is susceptible to (my not very) Fat Finger
Syndrome. Try the Jog Dial or Stylus instead.
*
Inconsistent GUI and applications menu: Memo to all handset makers: Find a menu
format that your customers like and flippin’ stick with it. Unless you’ve come
up with a genuine improvement, that
is. It took me a while to find the Silent mode. Eventually I even had to read
the manual. (I know, it’s a bloke thing!).
Verdict(s)
Day 1: I almost sent the W960i back.
Day 5: I may be out when they come to collect it.
IBM software mimics PC features on mobile devices
London, UK. August 8, 2008 -- IBM today announced new software and services for mobile devices that closely mimics desktop features hitherto found only on PCs. The new offerings are reportedly designed to help business users and consumers make better decisions faster, while connecting friends, work colleagues and teams beyond what has been available in the PC era.
According
to a recent report from IBM's Institute for Business Value, the number
of mobile internet users worldwide is projected to reach 1 billion this
year, a 191% increase from 2006 and a compound annual growth rate of
24%. Up to 67% of all workers now use mobile and wireless computing.
To
capture this market, IBM is combining its software, services and
research expertise to develop new mobile products and services. The new
software includes products with business intelligence, collaboration,
social networking and business performance capabilities. In addition,
IBM is providing developers with new tools to make existing software
applications run on mobile devices. Its software is built on open
standards, to be used with most mobile platforms including BlackBerry®,
iPhone®, Windows Mobile®, and Symbian.
The key points to note are:
-
The new software includes products with business intelligence,
collaboration, social networking and business performance capabilities.
-
Mobility@Work can help employers increase productivity by as much as 30
percent and cut real estate costs, the second largest corporate expense
after salaries and benefits.
- Using any type of device like an iPhone, BlackBerry or laptop, users can reach into the cloud for resources as they need them.
- A video of the technology is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgUwvzLc3W8
Orange World portal launched in Austria with ChangingWorlds
Sept 24, 2008. Dublin, Ireland & Vienna, Austria. The Orange World portal has today been launched for Orange Austria’s two million subscribers, following work done by ChangingWorlds, a leading provider of intelligent mobile portals and data personalisation solutions for mobile operators.
The latest launch extends the Orange World brand to 28 countries worldwide. This is an important strategic step for Orange as it increases the footprint of one of the world’s strongest telecoms brands.
The new Orange World portal offers a wide range of news, music, entertainment and gaming content to subscribers. Based on ChangingWorlds’ ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform, it offers a dynamic, multilingual portal, with content presented in an easily accessible layout that enables users to quickly reach topics of interest.
ClixSmart’s intelligent content discovery capabilities ensure that content is relevant to individual users and is optimally presented on the user’s handset by leveraging the device’s capabilities to maximum effect.
ClixSmart’s intuitive multi-portal management features have enabled Orange to create a compelling and user-friendly Orange World service that optimises the user experience for subscribers. It is said to have been easily integrated with Orange’s infrastructure systems and content providers. ClixSmart’s ‘one-click’ publishing capabilities will help to minimise time-to-market with new mobile internet services while simultaneously reducing portal administration overheads.
Speaking today, Günter Lischka, head of marketing from Orange Austria said: “The Orange ethos is to make mobile communications more simple, human and compelling and ChangingWorlds' portal and personalisation solutions are an integral element of this strategy. We are very impressed with how quickly and smoothly we have been able to switch from the old ONE portal to the new Orange World portal and we are excited about the benefits that it will bring to our customers."
Also speaking today, Oliver Cavanagh, ChangingWorlds’ business development director for Central Europe said “Having worked with Orange Austria since May 2007, we are delighted to have contributed to the launch of their new Orange World portal. Orange is an exciting and innovative mobile operator and is a great addition to the very competitive Austrian market. We look forward to helping them deliver an even more compelling mobile internet experience to their customers in the future by leveraging ClixSmart’s leading edge mobile content delivery and personalisation technology.”
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic launches personalised mobile internet
Prague, Czech Republic & Dublin, Ireland. 17 November, 2008: ChangingWorlds, specialists in mobile data personalisation and subscriber intelligence for mobile operators, today announced a new deal that will launch a personalised mobile internet service for Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. ChangingWorlds has worked with O2 UK and O2 Germany for many years but this is their first implementation with O2 Czech Republic.
Consisting of a new O2 internet-like portal and a browser bar that provides intuitive navigation support for users browsing off-portal, this O2 ‘True Internet’ proposition seamlessly integrates mobile internet content services with key services from O2 Active and its partner sites. ChangingWorlds’ ClixSmart system is employed to simplify mobile internet access, engage O2 users and optimise internet usability on the mobile handset.
O2 Czech Republic chose ChangingWorlds’ solution to improve the end user experience and personal value gained from using the mobile internet. ChangingWorld's Personalisation technology achieves this by reducing the information gap and increasing awareness of new relevant services for each O2 user.
The personalisation engine automatically selects new, fresh and relevant content for each user, based on learned user content preferences and behavioural patterns. In addition, the ClixSmart device management system optimises content presentation and screen flows to the specific capabilities of each O2 handset.
ChangingWorlds also provides in-depth reporting of both on- and off-portal activity which enables O2 to recognise, manage and leverage learned browsing trends, both established and emerging. Moreover, intuitive ClixSmart content management applications allow O2 portal managers to assume full control of the service.
Speaking today, Lorcan Jordan, program director for ChangingWorlds said: “O2 Czech Republic sees the delivery of a highly personalised mobile internet experience as an essential step in strengthening its competitive position in the now established mobile internet marketplace. The new personalised mobile internet service powered by ChangingWorlds’ technology improves the internet user experience by delivering relevant content to each individual. ChangingWorlds and O2 will continue to collaborate and extend the mobile internet data service with the ultimate aim of providing a ubiquitous, personalised internet channel for all O2 data users.”
Also speaking today, Jan Karas, marketing director of the residential segment from Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, said: “The launch of a personalised mobile internet service is an integral part of the O2 Czech Republic mobile data strategy to optimise the user experience and to ensure O2 can offer a convincing internet experience to our mobile users. This service will also enable us to monetise off-portal activity and to up-sell key value-add O2 data services. Vitally, it also ensures that we can assume control of the mobile internet browsing experience so that it enhances, rather than detracts from, our O2 Active portal.”
VanillaPlus Recruiting: More Telecoms Writers Needed
Owing to recent expansion, VanillaPlus is looking for additional freelance writers with experience of writing in the fields of telecoms, media and entertainment. If you have the communications skills to match writing by the likes of Alun Lewis, George Malim, and Mark Dye we'd like to hear from you.
VanillaPlus takes complex information on a rapidly evolving communications industry from varied sources including news agencies, PR companies, network operators, independent system vendors, analysts and others. Our goal is then to assess it and communicate it in a clear, vibrant, and stimulating way.
A 'can do' attitude, good English and an enquiring mind are more important than engineering expertise, but you should find new technology stimulating. If this is you or you know someone suitable, please contact VanillaPlus's Editor, Jeremy Cowan on Tel: +44 (0)1420 588638 or Email: editorial@vanillaplus.com
Mobile advertising market offers massive potential, but ...
London, UK. December 2, 2008 -- A report from Frost and Sullivan has
found that mobile advertising could become a strong source of revenues
for the mobile industry. Mobile advertising market revenues are
estimated to reach €2.18 billion in 2012 in Europe.
Andrew
Grill, head of Business Development at Gigafone, the mobile marketing
company, thinks this report is spot on and finds it encouraging to see
analysts taking mobile advertising seriously. However, he urges people
to forget the numbers and concentrate on getting things right from
inception, or else face the consequences of failure.
Says Grill:
"The Frost and Sullivan report is correct to advise marketing
professionals to confront three main challenges in order for revenue
potential to be fulfilled. Unless some basic rules are followed it
could all go horribly wrong. Careful planning and consideration is
needed to take us into an era where mobile advertising is a convenient
part of everyday life and a great revenue generator for the mobile
industry.
"The three Ps of mobile advertising must be applied:
permission, preference and privacy. Consumers must have control over
the marketing they receive; it must not be invasive. People will decide
what they see, receive, and engage with, so we need to ask their
permission. People will decide what content they find relevant, so
inference and assumption have a limited lifespan, hence consumer
preference is fundamental. And finally, people will decide where their
data is stored and how it is used, so we need to respect their privacy.
We
must not bombard consumers with unsolicited advertising. The technology
is there but those in the industry need to be sensible with its
roll-out. Testing and receiving informed consumer feedback is of vital
importance in the early stages of mobile advertising.
"Mobile
presents enormous opportunities for advertising. The mobile is now
elevating itself as a medium that has the potential to overtake TV.
Let's get it right."
Gigafone is set to launch an Early Adopter panel to gain consumer feedback this month.