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When GAAP and MSM Intersect: Business Catches up to Demand for Software UpdatingBy Lori SylviaEVP Marketing, Red Bend Software We envision a world where software updates occur every second of the day, improving the mobile user experience while generating additional value for mobile providers. The technology is here today to enable this vision, with OMA DM servers adopted widely by tier-1 and tier-2 operators globally and with about half of handsets already supporting over-the-air software updating. Now, the business environment is catching up to market demand for software updates, as reflected by some recent changes to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). In the old days when hardware ruled, consumer electronics manufacturers would sell a device and recognize the sale of that device in that month. Then, software got more sophisticated and more essential to the functionality of a product. If OEMs delivered software updates to the device after it was sold, it meant OEMs had to spread the revenue recognition throughout the device’s lifetime. Years ago, we heard more than one OEM cite the accounting implications if they were to deliver FOTA updates. FOTA technology was used primarily as an insurance policy to prevent a product recall. But soon the leading OEMs and operators realized the strategic value of delivering continuous software updates. Today, FOTA is much more than fixing defects. It’s used to deliver new features as well as to improve a device’s performance. New advancements in the technology enable updating individual software components over the air (SCOTA) on-demand to support consumers personalizing their device with new applications and services. Software updating has become an important way to keep consumers satisfied with their mobile service and loyal to the experience they get from their handset maker. Changes to the GAAP rules now allow manufacturers that are delivering software updates to recognize more revenue sooner, even if they are offering those updates free of charge (otherwise bundled in the original price), and even if the contents of the software updates are unspecified at the time the original device is sold. One of the most vocal advocates of this change has been Apple. The company provides free software updates to iPhone users. Because some of the value of the iPhone is delivered after the product’s initial sale and because the software updates are not sold separately, the former GAAP rules forced Apple to bundle the value of the iPhone with the software updates and spread the revenue over the 24 month AT&T subscription term. Now, Apple and other manufacturers will be able to separate the value of the device from any future software updates. The product’s sales can be recognized in that quarter, while only the value of the device’s future software updates will be deferred. Software updating is becoming increasingly commonplace in mobile phones and is spreading quickly to other wirelessly connected devices. New business models will emerge that capitalize on this powerful capability to meet the increasing demands of mobile consumers. Mobile devices are no longer static products whose functionality is set when the device ships. Mobile Software Management is the key enabler that allows mobile providers to deliver more value to their consumers throughout the entire mobile user experience. Labels: accounting, Apple, ATT, FOTA, GAAP, iPhone, Red Bend Software, SCOTA
Red Bend Enables China Mobile to Manage Android DevicesBy Seger (Gang) ShenSales Director for China, Red Bend Software 3G has arrived in China, and with it has come a wave of innovative handsets. To drive usage of its new 3G service, China Mobile has developed an exciting new Android-based software platform called the OPhone OS (Open Mobile Phone Operating System). The OPhone OS has been developed by Borqs for China Mobile and is quickly expanding to Japan and other regions. OPhone smartphones are designed to compete with Apple’s iPhone, which is being offered by China Unicom. Through an agreement with China Mobile Research Institute, Red Bend is enabling China Mobile to manage its Android-based devices by providing FOTA and DM software for the OPhone OS. Devices running OPhone, such as the HTC Dopod A6188, have already launched in the Chinese market. 3G devices are feature rich, and therefore more complex. When developing the OPhone OS, China Mobile and Borqs decided to build in management support to ensure that the platform could be easily and efficiently updated over the air with the latest features and software improvements. “At Borqs, we understand that mobile phones and the software on these phones need to be updated at any time, from anywhere, and we needed a solution that could do this,” said Bob Li, senior vice president of business development at Borqs. “While the hardware of a phone can last for a long time, this is not the case with the software. Software comes with many functions and applications that require updates.” According to Li, “Red Bend has a good history, and the company has many global customers and a great deal of support experience. I believe Borqs will maintain our partnership with Red Bend into the future, and I’m sure we will have many opportunities to work with them.” Labels: 3G, Borqs, China Mobile, CMCC, CMRI, HTC, OPhone, Red Bend Software
Device Management Is Essential for Managing a Range of Wirelessly Connected DevicesBy Yoram BerholtzSenior Product Manager, Red Bend Software The demand for constant connectivity is at an all-time high. Consumers want mobile phones that work wherever they are and whenever they need them–at home, in the office, on the road and across geographies. These demands create a big challenge for mobile operators, which want to manage all the devices in their network in a unified way, regardless of the type of device or software platform. As a result, operators globally are harnessing the Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA DM) standard to meet the demands of this increasingly diverse environment and ensure a consistent and satisfying mobile user experience. Ovum recently reported that 36% of global handset shipments support OMA DM. Device management has become especially crucial to open platforms like Android, Brew Mobile Platform, Symbian and LiMo, as these platforms are feature-rich and geared to support rapidly evolving applications. Typical capabilities of DM include subscriber provisioning, connectivity configuration, firmware updating, diagnostics and monitoring, and software installation—all of which can be performed over the air (OTA). These capabilities result in lower support and maintenance costs for OEMs and operators while providing increased consumer satisfaction with their mobile device and service. With DM, operators and handset manufacturers can activate new subscribers on the network, configure parameters including preferred roaming lists, retrieve data such as billing and inventory as well as conduct “lock and wipe”—remotely shutting down the mobile phone and deleting its memory in case it’s lost or stolen. It’s not just mobile phones that require DM. Recent WiMAX deployments in the United States (Clearwire) and Japan (UQ Communications) adopted OMA DM as the main provisioning and management standard. These service providers are actively equipping their mobile devices, such as WiMAX modems and chipsets, with DM client software. By embracing the OMA DM standards, companies can ensure out-of-the-box interoperability in all the major WiMAX networks. As important as OMA DM is to the current phase of WiMAX deployment, it will be even more important as these networks evolve by being able to deliver more advanced applications and services to WiMAX consumers in the future. The prospects for WiMAX are merely up to the imaginations of the operators and their ability to offer attractive services, regardless of the device. The bandwidth capabilities anticipated in WiMAX will likely bring unprecedented access to video, movies and more, driving additional revenue streams to operators, manufacturers and ISVs as new services and applications become available. Machine-to-machine (M2M) is another wireless segment that has adopted OMA DM for two reasons: 1) the nomadic nature of some M2M segments (e.g., automotive and telematics) force the module to engage with several networks and even roam to other countries; thus, the module must be able to work in a multi-server environment, and (2) the cost of adopting standards-based DM is much less expensive than a proprietary environment because the integration with devices and the certification with networks can be quicker. With the inherent functionality that exists in OMA DM, such as provisioning, managing security and the ability to work globally, operators can benefit from lower cost of ownership by using their already deployed OMA DM infrastructure and utilizing it for M2M. Red Bend Software’s vDirect Mobile™ is the leading independent DM client. vDirect Mobile has been adopted by more than 30 manufacturers of wirelessly connected devices in the mobile, WiMAX and M2M markets, and is interoperable with any DM server supporting OMA DM standards. It also uniquely supports the WiMAX Management Object (MO) for managing mobile WiMAX devices according to specifications from the WiMAX Forum. During the next five years, mobile devices will become more advanced and have many integrated features and connectivity standards. Device management is essential for enabling manufacturers and operators to manage such a diverse installed base in a unified way. Labels: device management, FOTA, M2M, machine to machine, OMA DM, Ovum, Red Bend Software, WiMAX
Rise of the Machines in EuropeFOTA Software Is a Must-Have Feature for Managing Remotely Connected M2M DevicesBy Calogero (Lillo) Licata Director of Technology and New Business for Europe, Red Bend Software The machine-to-machine (M2M) market is a fast-growing area in the wireless sector. M2M applications can be found in a range of industries and used in a number of ways, including automotive telematics and transportation, environmental and energy control, physical surveillance and security, retail vending and even remote patient monitoring. In Europe, a number of drivers promise M2M market expansion. In April 2009, the U.K. passed new legislation to encourage energy efficiency. The legislation requires all profile-class type meters to upgrade to new “smart meters” by 2014. Smart metering, which affects hundreds of thousands of electricity and gas meters, will automate the reading of consumed energy and provide more frequent and accurate data to help save energy and meet the European Union directive to cut greenhouse gases. On the automotive front, analyst firm Berg Insight recently forecast that 3.5 million passenger cars in Europe will have on-board telematics by year’s end. Stolen vehicle tracking is the main application, followed by motor insurance telematics, connected navigation, automatic emergency call and driver assistance. In France, even M2M use for toll collection is expanding. With M2M embedded systems growing in complexity, there is an inherent need to life-cycle manage the module modem and application software in these devices in order to enable new features and applications. Both OEMs and solution providers greatly benefit from the ability to update and maintain M2M devices by remotely performing software improvements over the air. After all, some of these devices are intended to have a 20-plus year lifespan. The M2M market in Europe recognizes the importance of firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating for managing software and applications remotely. By keeping these devices up-to-date with the latest features and improvements, M2M manufacturers and service providers can ensure quality, avoid product recalls, reduce support costs and improve customer satisfaction. With FOTA support integrated into the M2M device, only hardware-related failures, which happen less often, need to be repaired manually in the field. According to ABI Research’s Senior Analyst Sam Lucero, FOTA is becoming more important in the M2M market: “For M2M, the benefits are operational efficiency and cost reduction. With M2M modules growing in complexity, FOTA enables manufacturers to perform software improvements over the air, without needing to send a technician on-site.” Four of the top five M2M module manufacturers, including Motorola’s Wireless Modules division and SIMCom Wireless Solutions Ltd., have adopted FOTA for use in their modules. Telit Wireless Solutions SpA., an international provider of cellular M2M technology, licensed Red Bend’s FOTA client software for use in its M2M product portfolio and now offers a FOTA service to its customers. In September, France-based Sagem Communications also selected Red Bend’s vRapid Mobile® FOTA solution in order to offer its customers software improvements and new functionality for Sagem’s M2M modules and devices. By the end of 2010, Red Bend estimates that approximately 40% of new M2M modules will be FOTA capable. Besides having the extensive experience, Red Bend has the products and solutions to allow OTA delivery and updating of embedded devices/systems comprising compressed firmware image structures, applications, read-only file systems and distributed CPU architectures, which are becoming pervasive in M2M. Red Bend is actively supporting M2M market expansion in Europe. Soon, M2M will help us all use energy more wisely, keep our cars running more efficiently and enable us to purchase goods and services on the go. Long live the machines! Labels: automotive, DM, EMEA, energy, Europe, FOTA, M2M, machine to machine, telematics
Striking the Right Balance with Open Source PlatformsBy Richard KinderVP of Technology and New Business for Europe Red Bend Software Red Bend recently exhibited at Symbian Exchange and Exposition 2009 in London. As expected, attendance was down this year given the economic situation, but likely also in part from the fading excitement surrounding the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, which was big news at last year’s event. In many areas, the Symbian Foundation is ahead of the schedule they set themselves. For example, its kernel has been released under the Eclipse Public License. One should not underestimate the amount of work that has gone into an achievement such as this. As with any “new” platform, a major proof point is the availability of devices running on it. Once this happens, I am sure that there will be renewed enthusiasm for the show, but by then, who knows how far the iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices will have evolved. All is not lost for Symbian yet. It has been successful in enabling delivery of smartphone functionality at increasingly lower device price points, but the industry has shifted its focus to usability and features. As Apple’s iPhone has proven, even in a down economy, consumers will pay for the right high-end smartphone with the right user experience. In the case of Samsung, which already has its own robust midrange solution, Symbian will need to offer something unique and compelling for the manufacturer to build on its platform. For Symbian to be successful, its platform must evolve and offer higher-end features in a way that is easily accessible to consumers in order to close the gap with Android and the iPhone. To do this, they must motivate their contributors to add value in the right areas. The challenges for an open-source platform aren’t limited to Symbian. A key challenge is that of clear and fair governance rules. Each community has different takes on governance, making their challenges unique. Take Google’s Android, for example. Android is available under an open-source license but some do not consider it an open source project. The platform is controlled by Google, and a majority of the contributions are made by Google. While this approach has some advantages, it is difficult for a contributor to make a real difference to the platform and speed its innovation. It’s important to remember that the core ethos of what open source offers is a platform for somebody with an idea to share that idea with other people. Open source brings together communities of like-minded people and should give them a forum to communicate in a way that is natural to them—therefore, lending itself to driving innovation. However, open source has often struggled to shape its “in-the-moment” innovation into cohesive robust projects. To be successful, open-source platforms will need to find the right balance between in-the-moment features and the slow-but-structured development approach of traditional mobile platforms. Key to this is governance rules that shape the community around the platform. So which open source smartphone platform will ultimately strike that right balance? At this point, you can’t ignore the Symbian Foundation. Nokia’s volumes and desire to drive usability and new features into the category previously serviced by S40 should not be underestimated. With Android, we’re seeing a broad variety of devices at various price points, and it is interesting to see Android scale from the very high end to cost-sensitive feature phones. The LiMo platform has had a big boost during recent months with the announcement of Vodafone 360 and the use of that platform to power the lead products from Samsung. Lastly, other efforts like Maemo and Intel’s Moblin may have an impact in the longer term. There will be no shortage of compelling smartphone products, based on varied platforms with differing governance models, usability and features, available in 2010. Coupled with this explosion of platform choice will be an implosion in smartphone average selling prices, with the possible exception of the iPhone. Competitive pressure will drive down smartphone prices as well as consumers demanding more for less. Above all, device manufacturers must consider the technical and commercial impact of their platform choices as never before in order to acquire a new customer base and keep the customers they have. ¡Viva la revolucion! Labels: 360, Android, Blackberry, iPhone, LiMo, Maemo, Moblin, Red Bend, S40, Symbian, Vodafone
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