Oct
6
Cont. Carrier portals not fulfilling need!
October 6, 2004 | 1 Comment
OK, here is part three. My last post talked about the carriers and their “walled garden” approach to “protecting” the data network. So far the solution for bodies wanting to protect their brand has been to create standalone apps that the mobile phone user can download. These solutions include creating a J2ME app, that can be downloaded and installed. Problem being that each device is different and testing all flavors of this J2ME app would be fairly pricey. There are advantages to creating a standalone app as well, which were mentioned in my previous post. So aside, from the carriers breaking down the walls and really enabling the internet, there are a couple of technologies that could make a play in this space as well.
RSS is a good one. Content syndication can happen two ways. One if a body is providing a content syndication feed, then the carriers could pick it up and display it in a much more effortless, but yet controlled, way. This should help keep the integrity of the brand a little more, and make distribution fairly easy to accomplish. The second option, would be to market the feed and let users use RSS readers to get their content. Only issue with this is linking off to content (ringtones, video, etc?) might not work do to the “walled garden”. However, syncing RSS and content via your PC to your phone would work well and wouldn?t have any impact by the “walled garden.”
Another emerging option is Flash content. Macromedia have demoed a Flash Player for Symbian phones. There is a content developers kit available as well. Flash on phones is very similar to J2ME in that it promises a write once, run anywhere kind of mentality. However, Flash Lite approaches the different device profiles a little differently and Macromedia is planning on releasing a tested and true player for each general profile, rather than leaving that to the apps that people produce. In addition to Flash Lite, Macromedia has produced a content management and delivery system called Flash Cast. It allows the carriers to distribute the Flash Lite player on their phones, providing a preloaded interface for the channels of content they want to provide their users. The content is then created in the form of SWFs (Flash Lite files) and can be pulled from the user using the interface. Once downloaded, the content will be stored on the device and can be used again and again without having to re-retrieve it over the network. Browsers have similar features, as does J2ME. However, besides Flash content being more “flashy”, with sound and motion, it also can interact with the device more than a browser can. Flash has the ability to launch media formats in the native player installed on the device. Flash Cast could provide an e-commerce mechanism. Flash Cast movies can be generated on the server containing dynamic data. The Flash Lite format provides a small file size for over the air delivery and a small foot print on the actual phone. It has its limitations, but compared to what is currently available it may be a very viable technology for media companies to look at if they want to work with the carrier to deliver their content, but yet still uphold a quality of branding.
Once the Flash Player has ubiquity, media companies could distribute Flash apps, similar to J2ME apps. The difference being shorter development times and less individual profile testing. With the amount of people that are going to be using “smartphones” in the next coming years, I believe the carriers will have to change their decision on “walled gardens” But until then, we have a couple of interesting technologies to use and see where things go. As I said in my first post, I feel very lucky to have an unlimited, unwalled data plan here in the US with T-Mobile.
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[...] Macromedia en su momento se dio cuenta de este fenómeno con los operadores, los “Walled Gardensâ€, el cuál implica que los operadores por proteger un mercado que parece seguro impiden el rápido avance de las tecnologÃas emergentes, asà que la alternativa fue buscar mayor aceptación con los fabricantes de teléfonos móviles, encontrando una buena respuesta por parte de Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, etc. [...]