NEW DELHI, INDIA: Auction for allocation of 3G Spectrum closed today after 34 days and 183 rounds of intense bidding. Price per block of 2x5 MHz Pan India spectrum is Rs. 16,750.58 crores.3G spectrum auction including amount payable by MTNL and BSNL will earn revenue of Rs. 67,718.95 crores to the government.
Details of the provisional winners are available on the site of Department of Telecommunication (www.dot.gov.in).
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Australia’s FetchTV selects Envivio to deliver IPTV offering
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Envivio Inc. announced that FetchTV has selected Envivio’s Three Screens solution as the delivery platform for its subscription TV offering.
The FetchTV service employs Envivio 4Caster C42 video encoders, featuring Extreme codec technology, to deliver visually stunning standard and high definition content over capacity restricted broadband networks without degradation.
The 4Caster C42 allows FetchTV to create a high quality alternative to incumbent services that can be delivered by Australian ISPs over consumers’ existing broadband connections. The systems have been deployed at two head-ends located in Melbourne and Sydney.
FetchTV CEO Scott Lorson said: “FetchTV is about delivering broadcast quality TV content to viewers via ISP partners’ broadband connections. Our service is far removed from grainy, low resolution images of traditional IPTV suppliers—we’re a broadcaster providing subscribers with a premium viewing experience. Envivio’s delivery platform allows us to ensure a high quality of service for standard and high-definition broadcasts over a multicast broadband network.”
“The vision behind the creation of Envivio Three Screens solutions has always been to encourage innovative services and business models such as FetchTV,” said Envivio CEO Julien Signès. “By maximizing the quality of experience that can be delivered over IP networks and removing the constraints ordinarily imposed by bandwidth limitations, we provide tremendous flexibility for creating compelling new ways of reaching consumers and affording unprecedented choices.”
The Envivio IPTV head-end on which the FetchTV service is built is an all IP-based solution, which simplifies integration and routing while enabling easy scalability. This provides FetchTV with the flexibility to add channels as needed, and the potential to move into mobile and web based formats if required.
The head-end includes the Envivio 4Stream IP gateway, which ingests content from satellite, cable and terrestrial networks and feeds it directly to Envivio 4Caster C42 systems for encoding/transcoding. 4Caster systems directly transcode MPEG-2 and H.264 input, eliminating the need for costly ingest equipment such as IRDs for satellite sources and video matrices for signal routing.
The Envivio Extreme compression codec enables the delivery of top quality video at the very low bitrates required for IPTV, including HD video at only 4 Mbps. The 4Caster C42 can be configured to deliver streams for any consumer screen including IPTV, Mobile TV and Internet TV.
The FetchTV service employs Envivio 4Caster C42 video encoders, featuring Extreme codec technology, to deliver visually stunning standard and high definition content over capacity restricted broadband networks without degradation.
The 4Caster C42 allows FetchTV to create a high quality alternative to incumbent services that can be delivered by Australian ISPs over consumers’ existing broadband connections. The systems have been deployed at two head-ends located in Melbourne and Sydney.
FetchTV CEO Scott Lorson said: “FetchTV is about delivering broadcast quality TV content to viewers via ISP partners’ broadband connections. Our service is far removed from grainy, low resolution images of traditional IPTV suppliers—we’re a broadcaster providing subscribers with a premium viewing experience. Envivio’s delivery platform allows us to ensure a high quality of service for standard and high-definition broadcasts over a multicast broadband network.”
“The vision behind the creation of Envivio Three Screens solutions has always been to encourage innovative services and business models such as FetchTV,” said Envivio CEO Julien Signès. “By maximizing the quality of experience that can be delivered over IP networks and removing the constraints ordinarily imposed by bandwidth limitations, we provide tremendous flexibility for creating compelling new ways of reaching consumers and affording unprecedented choices.”
The Envivio IPTV head-end on which the FetchTV service is built is an all IP-based solution, which simplifies integration and routing while enabling easy scalability. This provides FetchTV with the flexibility to add channels as needed, and the potential to move into mobile and web based formats if required.
The head-end includes the Envivio 4Stream IP gateway, which ingests content from satellite, cable and terrestrial networks and feeds it directly to Envivio 4Caster C42 systems for encoding/transcoding. 4Caster systems directly transcode MPEG-2 and H.264 input, eliminating the need for costly ingest equipment such as IRDs for satellite sources and video matrices for signal routing.
The Envivio Extreme compression codec enables the delivery of top quality video at the very low bitrates required for IPTV, including HD video at only 4 Mbps. The 4Caster C42 can be configured to deliver streams for any consumer screen including IPTV, Mobile TV and Internet TV.
Worldwide mobile gaming revenue to grow 19 percent in 2010
STAMFORD, USA: Worldwide mobile gaming end-user revenue is forecast to surpass $5.6 billion in 2010, a 19 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $4.7 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. The market will continue to see steady growth through 2014, when the market is projected to reach $11.4 billion.
"The hype around mobile application stores has opened this market up to numerous publishers and developers — further expanding revenue potential and competition in this industry," said Tuong Nguyen, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Although we expect most mobile gamers to continue to gravitate toward 'free' games, we do not expect the ad-supported model to take off within the next three years — despite the success we have seen with this approach in the Japanese market."
Gartner estimates 70 percent to 80 percent of all mobile consumer applications downloaded are mobile games. Moreover, 60 percent to 70 percent of these downloaded games are "free." This trend is expected to continue for the next two to three years.
Other factors that are boosting the global popularity of mobile gaming include the increasing accessibility of mobile games in emerging markets, where alternative gaming media are limited. The growing availability of micropayments for mobile gamers attracts users previously wary of investing larger amounts of money upfront to try out a game and also attracts groups whose disposable income is limited.
Improved user interfaces are a top priority for handset vendors as a competitive differentiator. A growing number of devices are implementing touchscreens and gesture, and enhanced qwerty keyboards will also improve the end-user experience. Furthermore, an increasing number of games are taking advantage of existing device features, such as camera, GPS and accelerometers, to enhance game play.
Communications service providers (CSPs) are also facilitating mobile gaming growth by improving ease of use and access for consumers. Direct billing is one of the most significant value-adds that CSPs can provide their partners — allowing consumers to charge purchases directly to their wireless bills.
Improvements to boost access to mobile games via search and recommendation engines will also improve take rates for mobile gaming, while more-competitive data pricing will lower barriers to adoption.
"Mobile gaming will remain an important component of consumers' value-added service offerings, as well as a revenue driver for CSPs," Nguyen said.
"On the high end, consumers will benefit from more-robust devices, such as smartphones, better cameras, more brilliant displays and increased processing power, to improve the gaming experience. Users from developing markets will also benefit as more-capable phones move down-market. Moreover, as more devices become connected, consumer electronic devices, such as tablets and portable gaming consoles, will join this space, adding another aspect to the market."
The popularity of application stores has also increased competition for market share in the developer space by lowering the barriers of entry for developers. Mobile carriers and application store owners both have the opportunity to take advantage of this enthusiasm to expand their mobile gaming offerings to their customers. Developers themselves can also take advantage of this to increase their negotiation power, as well as their channel options.
"The hype around mobile application stores has opened this market up to numerous publishers and developers — further expanding revenue potential and competition in this industry," said Tuong Nguyen, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Although we expect most mobile gamers to continue to gravitate toward 'free' games, we do not expect the ad-supported model to take off within the next three years — despite the success we have seen with this approach in the Japanese market."
Gartner estimates 70 percent to 80 percent of all mobile consumer applications downloaded are mobile games. Moreover, 60 percent to 70 percent of these downloaded games are "free." This trend is expected to continue for the next two to three years.
Other factors that are boosting the global popularity of mobile gaming include the increasing accessibility of mobile games in emerging markets, where alternative gaming media are limited. The growing availability of micropayments for mobile gamers attracts users previously wary of investing larger amounts of money upfront to try out a game and also attracts groups whose disposable income is limited.
Improved user interfaces are a top priority for handset vendors as a competitive differentiator. A growing number of devices are implementing touchscreens and gesture, and enhanced qwerty keyboards will also improve the end-user experience. Furthermore, an increasing number of games are taking advantage of existing device features, such as camera, GPS and accelerometers, to enhance game play.
Communications service providers (CSPs) are also facilitating mobile gaming growth by improving ease of use and access for consumers. Direct billing is one of the most significant value-adds that CSPs can provide their partners — allowing consumers to charge purchases directly to their wireless bills.
Improvements to boost access to mobile games via search and recommendation engines will also improve take rates for mobile gaming, while more-competitive data pricing will lower barriers to adoption.
"Mobile gaming will remain an important component of consumers' value-added service offerings, as well as a revenue driver for CSPs," Nguyen said.
"On the high end, consumers will benefit from more-robust devices, such as smartphones, better cameras, more brilliant displays and increased processing power, to improve the gaming experience. Users from developing markets will also benefit as more-capable phones move down-market. Moreover, as more devices become connected, consumer electronic devices, such as tablets and portable gaming consoles, will join this space, adding another aspect to the market."
The popularity of application stores has also increased competition for market share in the developer space by lowering the barriers of entry for developers. Mobile carriers and application store owners both have the opportunity to take advantage of this enthusiasm to expand their mobile gaming offerings to their customers. Developers themselves can also take advantage of this to increase their negotiation power, as well as their channel options.
China VoIP & Digital Telecom Inc. subsidiary establishes virtualization technical support center in Guangzhou City
JINAN, CHINA: Beijing PowerUnique Technologies Co. Ltd (BPUT), the wholly-owned subsidiary of China VoIP & Digital Telecom Inc. has established a virtualization technical support center (the Center) in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province.
The Center will serve as a central point for BPUT to provide front line technical support services to the customers all over Guangdong Province, particularly to China Southern Power Grid (Southern Grid).
The Southern Grid has six wholly-owned subsidiaries including Guangdong Grid, Guangxi Grid, Yunnan Grid, Guizhou Grid, Hainan Grid and Southern Grid International. BPUT has already won the virtualization contract from the Guangxi Grid in March, and a new contract with Guangdong Grid is expected soon.
Li Kunwu, president and CEO, said: "We believe this is the right time to establish a technical support center in Guangzhou given that we are strategically developing a wider customer base within the Southern Grid. With our comprehensive knowledge of virtualization technology, we can fully understand and serve our clients' needs. The creation of the Center will significantly improve our service efficiency and effectiveness while removing any geographical limitation."
The Center is currently staffed with six employees and it will be expanded according to the company's business development demands.
"We understand the importance of post-installation supports for robust virtualization systems," Li added, "and we always make quality technical support services a priority. We plan to establish more technical support centers in other cities to serve our customers on a national basis. This is also a good indication of our company's ongoing business expansion."
The Center will serve as a central point for BPUT to provide front line technical support services to the customers all over Guangdong Province, particularly to China Southern Power Grid (Southern Grid).
The Southern Grid has six wholly-owned subsidiaries including Guangdong Grid, Guangxi Grid, Yunnan Grid, Guizhou Grid, Hainan Grid and Southern Grid International. BPUT has already won the virtualization contract from the Guangxi Grid in March, and a new contract with Guangdong Grid is expected soon.
Li Kunwu, president and CEO, said: "We believe this is the right time to establish a technical support center in Guangzhou given that we are strategically developing a wider customer base within the Southern Grid. With our comprehensive knowledge of virtualization technology, we can fully understand and serve our clients' needs. The creation of the Center will significantly improve our service efficiency and effectiveness while removing any geographical limitation."
The Center is currently staffed with six employees and it will be expanded according to the company's business development demands.
"We understand the importance of post-installation supports for robust virtualization systems," Li added, "and we always make quality technical support services a priority. We plan to establish more technical support centers in other cities to serve our customers on a national basis. This is also a good indication of our company's ongoing business expansion."
Aricent, NetLogic Microsystems ally on LTE eNodeB solutions
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: Aricent, a global innovation, technology and services company focused exclusively on communications and NetLogic Microsystems Inc. have announced development collaboration aimed at enabling advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE) capabilities on NetLogic Microsystems' XLS family of MIPS64-based multi-core, multi-threaded processors.
As a result of the joint effort, the companies intend to create a pre-optimized, fully integrated platform on which telecom equipment manufacturers can develop the latest in advanced LTE eNodeB platforms.
"In conjunction with Aricent's advanced LTE software frameworks, our market-leading XLS family of multi-core, multi-threaded processors deliver the superior performance required by our mutual telecom system equipment customers to develop next-generation 4G/LTE eNodeB solutions," said Mark Litvack, senior director of business development, Multi-Core Processors at NetLogic Microsystems.
"The collaborative reference solution, using our best-in-class multi-core processor and Aricent's proven LTE software frameworks, provides a significant advantage for customers looking to create highly optimized 4G infrastructure solutions faster and more efficiently."
"Much of the challenge with LTE lies in carefully timing R&D investments to stay ahead of competition, and being ready when the market sees volume purchases by carriers," said C.P. Murali, sr. vice president at Aricent.
"Our LTE pre-packaged software and frameworks, when coupled with high-performance hardware such as NetLogic Microsystems' XLS multi-core processors, are designed to provide a significant development jumpstart. Combined with Aricent's lifecycle management services, these pre-optimized platforms may dramatically reduce development schedules and development costs to ensure competitive readiness and mitigate market-timing risk."
Aricent's award winning LTE solutions offer equipment manufacturers comprehensive end-to-end solutions including pre-packaged software frameworks conforming to the latest 3GPP standards, along with a comprehensive set of product lifecycle services to develop feature-rich and differentiated products while gaining significant time-to-market advantage at lower R&D costs.
Aricent's portfolio of services spans the entire product lifecycle from strategy and design to requirements definition and software development to interoperability, testing and certification. These pre-packaged software and services are proven to help significantly reduce the costs associated with bringing capital intensive LTE products to market. The various offerings include:
LTE User Equipment (UE) Software Suite: Aricent's LTE UE Software Suite is a complete software package for device and semi-conductor vendors including fully optimized Layer 1, Layer 2 protocol software with support for 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink data rates. The implementation ensures optimal power consumption, processor utilization and easy integration on multiple hardware platforms.
eNodeB Protocol Stacks and Framework: Aricent's existing eNodeB offering provides a turnkey solution for radio access, from pluggable stack software to a pre-integrated and optimized software frameworks for Radio Access equipment, that have been benchmarked on multiple industry leading hardware platforms. Aricent's eNodeB Framework (eNBF) serves as a robust software platform for infrastructure providers planning to develop a complete LTE Release 8+ compliant eNodeB of varying densities (macro/pico/femto).
IP Backhaul: Aricent's IP Backhaul solution is based on its industry-proven ISS Metro platform which offers pre-integrated Layer 2 switching solutions and can be used to build LTE and IP backhaul devices such as IP RAN Aggregation devices, Internet Offload Gateways, and Metro Ethernet devices.
Evolved Packet Core Protocol Stacks and Framework: Aricent offers EPC protocol stacks as well as frameworks for the System Architecture Evolution (SAE) Gateway and the Mobility Management Entity (MME) Gateway. These include support for charging, QoS, high availability, lawful interception, and bearer-related features.
NetLogic Microsystems' XLS family of multi-core, multi-threaded processors used in the reference design offers a rich set of features and functionality with unprecedented performance and power for embedded telecommunications, enterprise, data center, security and storage applications.
These processors integrate up to four high-performance MIPS64 cores, each with four-way simultaneous multi-threading, for a total of 16 fine-grain processor threads to mitigate latency, improve computational efficiency and throughput for network data plane and control plane processing in security appliances, storage appliances, base stations, eNodeB, RNCs, gateways, switches, routers, ATCA and AMC service cards.
The processors also offer a best-in-class packet management, packet distribution and network accelerator engine, an intelligent Fast Messaging Network to maximize on-chip communications bandwidth, a superior memory sub-system, high-speed interconnects, and a broad set of acceleration engines. This enables NetLogic Microsystems' multi-core processors to support billions of in-flight messages and packet descriptors between all on-chip elements.
The processor family is supported by a comprehensive software development kit (SDK) that contains reference and production-ready software components, which enables customers to accelerate time-to-market.
As a result of the joint effort, the companies intend to create a pre-optimized, fully integrated platform on which telecom equipment manufacturers can develop the latest in advanced LTE eNodeB platforms.
"In conjunction with Aricent's advanced LTE software frameworks, our market-leading XLS family of multi-core, multi-threaded processors deliver the superior performance required by our mutual telecom system equipment customers to develop next-generation 4G/LTE eNodeB solutions," said Mark Litvack, senior director of business development, Multi-Core Processors at NetLogic Microsystems.
"The collaborative reference solution, using our best-in-class multi-core processor and Aricent's proven LTE software frameworks, provides a significant advantage for customers looking to create highly optimized 4G infrastructure solutions faster and more efficiently."
"Much of the challenge with LTE lies in carefully timing R&D investments to stay ahead of competition, and being ready when the market sees volume purchases by carriers," said C.P. Murali, sr. vice president at Aricent.
"Our LTE pre-packaged software and frameworks, when coupled with high-performance hardware such as NetLogic Microsystems' XLS multi-core processors, are designed to provide a significant development jumpstart. Combined with Aricent's lifecycle management services, these pre-optimized platforms may dramatically reduce development schedules and development costs to ensure competitive readiness and mitigate market-timing risk."
Aricent's award winning LTE solutions offer equipment manufacturers comprehensive end-to-end solutions including pre-packaged software frameworks conforming to the latest 3GPP standards, along with a comprehensive set of product lifecycle services to develop feature-rich and differentiated products while gaining significant time-to-market advantage at lower R&D costs.
Aricent's portfolio of services spans the entire product lifecycle from strategy and design to requirements definition and software development to interoperability, testing and certification. These pre-packaged software and services are proven to help significantly reduce the costs associated with bringing capital intensive LTE products to market. The various offerings include:
LTE User Equipment (UE) Software Suite: Aricent's LTE UE Software Suite is a complete software package for device and semi-conductor vendors including fully optimized Layer 1, Layer 2 protocol software with support for 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink data rates. The implementation ensures optimal power consumption, processor utilization and easy integration on multiple hardware platforms.
eNodeB Protocol Stacks and Framework: Aricent's existing eNodeB offering provides a turnkey solution for radio access, from pluggable stack software to a pre-integrated and optimized software frameworks for Radio Access equipment, that have been benchmarked on multiple industry leading hardware platforms. Aricent's eNodeB Framework (eNBF) serves as a robust software platform for infrastructure providers planning to develop a complete LTE Release 8+ compliant eNodeB of varying densities (macro/pico/femto).
IP Backhaul: Aricent's IP Backhaul solution is based on its industry-proven ISS Metro platform which offers pre-integrated Layer 2 switching solutions and can be used to build LTE and IP backhaul devices such as IP RAN Aggregation devices, Internet Offload Gateways, and Metro Ethernet devices.
Evolved Packet Core Protocol Stacks and Framework: Aricent offers EPC protocol stacks as well as frameworks for the System Architecture Evolution (SAE) Gateway and the Mobility Management Entity (MME) Gateway. These include support for charging, QoS, high availability, lawful interception, and bearer-related features.
NetLogic Microsystems' XLS family of multi-core, multi-threaded processors used in the reference design offers a rich set of features and functionality with unprecedented performance and power for embedded telecommunications, enterprise, data center, security and storage applications.
These processors integrate up to four high-performance MIPS64 cores, each with four-way simultaneous multi-threading, for a total of 16 fine-grain processor threads to mitigate latency, improve computational efficiency and throughput for network data plane and control plane processing in security appliances, storage appliances, base stations, eNodeB, RNCs, gateways, switches, routers, ATCA and AMC service cards.
The processors also offer a best-in-class packet management, packet distribution and network accelerator engine, an intelligent Fast Messaging Network to maximize on-chip communications bandwidth, a superior memory sub-system, high-speed interconnects, and a broad set of acceleration engines. This enables NetLogic Microsystems' multi-core processors to support billions of in-flight messages and packet descriptors between all on-chip elements.
The processor family is supported by a comprehensive software development kit (SDK) that contains reference and production-ready software components, which enables customers to accelerate time-to-market.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Next generation mobile life – enabling the services of tomorrow
PADERBORN, GERMANY: Mobile phones have developed into a mini PC and, against many forecasts, users have adopted enthusiastically to the variety of functions. Nowhere does digital convergence show up as rapidly and as clearly as in the range of these days’ mobile communication.
In the light of growing services and use, Orga Systems, #1 choice for real-time charging and billing, offers solutions to manage complex subscriber profiles and charging rules for all services. The benefits are maximized revenue streams for operators and, at the same time, excellent fit with subscribers’ needs.
Differentiation and retention through a centralized subscriber view
From an individual perspective, today mobile phones structure our private and professional life to a high degree. From an economical point of view, they have become the driver of convergence and thus of the overall economic development. For mobile devices, convergence means that communication services and media content are growing together, enabled by digitization.
The mobile phone already is a communication device, credit card, navigation aid and mobile Entertainment gadget for all media and more. Communication Service Providers (CSPs) need to offer new services and Apps, along with bringing new technologies into their operations, all this to differentiate themselves by releasing new and innovative bundles for their customers.
To increase retention and profit, CSPs now need, more than ever, a comprehensive view of the subscriber in order to deliver personalized services and bundles.
Making money from mobile media usage
Achieving profitable growth and reliable revenues from mobile broadband and next generation data services is one of the big the challenges for mobile operators worldwide.
Bandwidth-demanding applications offered on a flat-rate basis cannot be profitable in the long run. Only new and highly personalized services can unlock the revenue potential of next gen data services. Orga Systems’ Next Generation Control Point (NGCP) enables operators to manage complex subscriber profiles and charging rules for all services across all networks.
Differentiated charging and a fine-grained policy management allow for the control of bandwidth-demanding applications while at the same time generating additional revenues with new individualized service offerings.
In the light of growing services and use, Orga Systems, #1 choice for real-time charging and billing, offers solutions to manage complex subscriber profiles and charging rules for all services. The benefits are maximized revenue streams for operators and, at the same time, excellent fit with subscribers’ needs.
Differentiation and retention through a centralized subscriber view
From an individual perspective, today mobile phones structure our private and professional life to a high degree. From an economical point of view, they have become the driver of convergence and thus of the overall economic development. For mobile devices, convergence means that communication services and media content are growing together, enabled by digitization.
The mobile phone already is a communication device, credit card, navigation aid and mobile Entertainment gadget for all media and more. Communication Service Providers (CSPs) need to offer new services and Apps, along with bringing new technologies into their operations, all this to differentiate themselves by releasing new and innovative bundles for their customers.
To increase retention and profit, CSPs now need, more than ever, a comprehensive view of the subscriber in order to deliver personalized services and bundles.
Making money from mobile media usage
Achieving profitable growth and reliable revenues from mobile broadband and next generation data services is one of the big the challenges for mobile operators worldwide.
Bandwidth-demanding applications offered on a flat-rate basis cannot be profitable in the long run. Only new and highly personalized services can unlock the revenue potential of next gen data services. Orga Systems’ Next Generation Control Point (NGCP) enables operators to manage complex subscriber profiles and charging rules for all services across all networks.
Differentiated charging and a fine-grained policy management allow for the control of bandwidth-demanding applications while at the same time generating additional revenues with new individualized service offerings.
Twitter risks app developer revolt
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Twitter’s entry into the smartphone applications market means it must act swiftly to avoid alienating third-party app developers that have been crucial to its success, Ovum has warned.
A new report by the independent technology analyst states that Twitter’s relationship with the developer community is becoming increasingly strained as the social networking site rolls out its own mobile applications.
Ovum believes Twitter should urgently provide developers with a clear roadmap of where its own in-house development efforts are heading in order to re-establish harmony.
Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum and report author, said: “As Twitter matures, it is inevitable that the company will want to produce or acquire more in-house applications, and there is always a certain inherent tension between developers and platform owners. However, Twitter needs to be very careful not to alienate the developer community as they drive innovation for the service and also traffic. It should be remembered that applications account for 75 percent of all tweets.
“Developers do not want to go to the trouble and cost of building an app if Twitter itself is going to make a big play for same area. This is exactly what Twitter appears to be doing with its in-house applications for smartphones, and the Tweetie application** it acquired in April stands out as a case in point.”
Last month, Twitter announced there were 100,000 applications for the site – double the number available just five months earlier in December 2009. At Chirp, its inaugural developer conference, the company told developers that it wants to focus on services that enhance the platform’s “core experience.”
“On the face of it, this is not great news for developers as enhancing the core Twitter experiences is exactly what most third-party applications do”, said Ms Zoller.
“For example, a core experience that Twitter is considering taking a direct hand in is rich media such as video and photos. It also plans to launch a URL link shortener.
“The implication is that developers should look to innovate more in verticals and other areas that they have not traditionally tapped into. This might appear harsh but there is logic behind the argument. The first Twitter applications are well established, and as the Twitter platform matures developers will need to be more creative.”
A new report by the independent technology analyst states that Twitter’s relationship with the developer community is becoming increasingly strained as the social networking site rolls out its own mobile applications.
Ovum believes Twitter should urgently provide developers with a clear roadmap of where its own in-house development efforts are heading in order to re-establish harmony.
Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum and report author, said: “As Twitter matures, it is inevitable that the company will want to produce or acquire more in-house applications, and there is always a certain inherent tension between developers and platform owners. However, Twitter needs to be very careful not to alienate the developer community as they drive innovation for the service and also traffic. It should be remembered that applications account for 75 percent of all tweets.
“Developers do not want to go to the trouble and cost of building an app if Twitter itself is going to make a big play for same area. This is exactly what Twitter appears to be doing with its in-house applications for smartphones, and the Tweetie application** it acquired in April stands out as a case in point.”
Last month, Twitter announced there were 100,000 applications for the site – double the number available just five months earlier in December 2009. At Chirp, its inaugural developer conference, the company told developers that it wants to focus on services that enhance the platform’s “core experience.”
“On the face of it, this is not great news for developers as enhancing the core Twitter experiences is exactly what most third-party applications do”, said Ms Zoller.
“For example, a core experience that Twitter is considering taking a direct hand in is rich media such as video and photos. It also plans to launch a URL link shortener.
“The implication is that developers should look to innovate more in verticals and other areas that they have not traditionally tapped into. This might appear harsh but there is logic behind the argument. The first Twitter applications are well established, and as the Twitter platform matures developers will need to be more creative.”
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