Put Your Best App Forward

This year's 3GSM World Congress (www.gsmworldcongress.com) was focused on migration to 3G networks, to be sure. But over and over, presenters made the point that content and applications drive consumer adoption of new technology, not new technology itself. Sir Richard Branson's keynote presentation touched on this point, when he mentioned Virgin Mobile's (www.virginmobile.com) wireless Internet services, which are branded “Virgin Xtras.” Rather than attempting to lure customers with “the wireless Web” or “wireless Internet access,” the Virgin commercial showed an average bloke using his wireless phone to make connections with friends, buy CDs and arrange to meet at pubs. Virgin — a mobile virtual network operator — is looking to enter the American market.

During his keynote address, Don Listwin, Openwave (www.openwave.com) CEO, said carriers need to begin deploying these new applications on existing 2G networks now, in order to pay for their future 3G migration. And Didier Bonnet of CapGemini Ernst & Young (www.cgey.com), said during a session on WAP that “successful 3G apps lie in bundling content with unique mobile features.”

By combining location and messaging capabilities, many wireless ASPs are creating hybrid services that extend communications beyond voice. Highlighting some of those innovations was Motorola's application developer's zone, which included 21 companies focusing on areas such as location technology, virtual communities, messaging, m-commerce and mobile presence (www.motorola.com).

• Dutch company Dotorion Mobile Solutions (www.dotorion.com) demonstrated Dotchat, a mobile chat application aimed at carriers, portals and content providers. Dotchat users can send messages to and from PCs or wireless devices.

• Yakara launched its M-groups mobile community solutions. Using location information and messaging functions, M-groups can assist individuals and groups in working together more efficiently. The product includes features such as proximity alerts, group chat and instant messaging, and a calendar interface. M-groups runs on carrier-class hardware and connects to a carrier's existing infrastructure (www.yakara.com).

• Calaba (www.calaba.com) announced two WAP information services. Deep Link Directory supplies users with a searchable directory of WAP sites and pages. MobiStats is a service that provides statistics on wireless content and wireless user preferences. The Deep Link Directory is an improvement of Calaba's Wapaw Wireless Intelligent Directory for wireless portal operators. It allows users to navigate sites and catalog specific pages. With access to 60,000 WAP pages, the directory uses semantic classification to provide users those pages that are relevant to their requirements. The directory and search engine are sold as unbranded services to wireless portal operators. MobiStats provides access to information on WAP site click-through trends, the number of visitors per day, monthly growth figures and the number of sites in the 20 largest subject areas. A full list of statistic categories is located at www.mobistats.com.

• Trackwell Software demonstrated a location-based community-messaging application called My Buddy Tracker that allows groups to interact using SMS (www.trackwell.com). A group of friends could locate each other to coordinate a dinner meeting and then send invitations via SMS.