ENGLISH
 日本語 中文 한국어
|
|
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
SITE MAP
|
 |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
Mobile Software Management everywhere around the worldSummary of three conferences on three continents in three weeks Reflecting back on the last three weeks, I had a slightly scary flashback to the 1985 remake of “Dancing in the streets” by David Bowie and Mick Jagger. While we did not quite make it to Tokyo, South America, Australia, France, Germany, UK and Africa, Red Bed has been “dancing” in the aisle of three different conferences on three different continents:
MDM Americas Conference With 16 different operators from Latin America in the audience, one of the big questions at the MDM Americas Conference (9-10 Oct.) was centered around the challenge of how these operators move from client provisioning of settings to a proactive model where they can manage the deployment of new services into an already installed base of handsets. It was interesting to hear how the migration from TDMA to GSM had given some of these operators, like Telemig Cellular in Brazil, the opportunity to put client provisioning technology and device management at the top of their strategic agenda. TDMA does not support SIM cards, so the customer base moving from phone to phone with the same SIM card was a challenge they had to address from day one with their new GSM networks. While many of these operators are now in the process of evaluating the business case for FOTA (Firmware Over-the-Air) updating, they are already keen to understand the next generation of technologies. The promise of the Software Component Management Object (SCoMO), the emerging Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) device management standard, was explored in a number of presentations. Once service providers are able to upgrade an installed base of handsets in the field, it is obvious that the time-to-market for new data services can be decoupled from the hardware replacement cycle and hence be improved by 9-18 months. While subscriber growth is still strong in Latin America, data revenues are starting to matter, so this was a topic that resonated well with the audience. The Symbian Smartphone Show Moving from the MDM Americas Conference to the Symbian Smartphone Show in London (16-17 Oct.), it was obvious that the move from Rio to London also was a move up the value-chain. You immediately notice the difference. The Smartphone Show is a trade show for companies involved in the creation of the software that makes mobile phones tick. As software is becoming key to service deployment, quite a few operators were sneaking in as well. Motorola’s announcement of their 50% stake in UIQ was the big news of the show. Alain Mutricy, Senior Vice President, Platforms, Motorola Mobile Devices stated: “Motorola’s investment in UIQ will enable us to bring feature-competitive multimedia devices to market. Its flexibility will enable us to bring devices to market that meet regional preferences or specific operator customisation requirements. We look forward to working closely with our partners, Sony Ericsson and UIQ.” This nicely set the tone of the show where >100 ISVs were showing their applications and services. Red Bend’s FOTA demo of the Motorola Z8 attracted a lot attention. Not just because it is the first available UIQ handset with FOTA, but also because ISVs are increasingly interested in how they can upgrade software on handsets and hence provide new revenue streams for themselves. “Operator Customisation” is all about providing the end-user with a unique experience with a set of application and services which enhanced their mobile user experience and life-style. CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment Last week, CTIA in San Francisco (23-25 Oct.) wrapped up the three conferences in three weeks. Due to the more enterprise-centric nature of the U.S. smartphone market, Microsoft was able to grab the headlines with the launch of their “System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008.” The target for this announcement was not primarily the handset manufacturers or the operators, but rather large enterprises. CIOs are increasingly looking to manage smartphones in a similar manner as laptops. It was therefore no surprise that one of the top features of the System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 is “OTA Software Deployment:” “The rich software targeting capabilities of Mobile Device Manager are designed to allow IT professionals to deploy firmware and software updates, with control over which updates are distributed to whom.” As enterprises usually are forced to provide a broad range of mobile phones to their staff, one of the first questions raised to Microsoft was whether they are planning to support other phones than just Windows Mobile phones using the OMA DM standard. With a vague answer from Microsoft, time will tell. The three conferences in three weeks showed that the topic of Mobile Software Management is top of the agenda in all parts of the value chain: Handset Manufacturers, Operators, ISVs, Consumers and Enterprises. Although we are making good progress on the SCoMO standard in OMA, there are still a lot of dots that needs to be connected across the value chain before we will be dancing in streets everywhere around the world. NOTE: For those who are intrigued by the fashion of the 80s, you can find the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74r-_anTO4k. Red Bend takes no responsibility for adverse effects from watching this video.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Copyright ® 2008 Red Bend All Rights Reserved.
Home | Solutions | Customers | Partners | Company | Terms | Contact Us | Site Map |