At about 18 and a half minutes into a panel I was co-hosting at the Under the Radar: Mobility conference on Wednesday, things began to get ugly. Our panelists on the "No filters: Ask the carriers anything" session were representatives from U.S. wireless carriers Verizon Wireless, Alltell, T-Mobile, and AT&T. We took an audience question from an entrepreneur who was trying to start up an SMS-based business. He was frustrated because he had to jump through hoops to get the carriers to look at his service before he could roll it out. He appeared to reflect a general dissatisfaction that entrepreneurs have with the carriers for all mobile apps: They're gatekeepers.
Rupert Young of AT&T started to answer his query by talking about the value of shielding customers from bad SMS services, and that was bad enough, but he got himself in real trouble when he started to justify the roadblocks the carriers put in front of apps developers who are trying to get their code put onto the wireless networks.
"The thing to remember...is support," he said. People don't get tons of SMS spam in the U.S., because the carriers restrict businesses from accessing consumers directly. "Some would say it's protecting the consumer, some would say it's stifling innovation. The same is true with applications. And the end of the day, today, we take the call. If the customer installs an app on their phone that doesn't work, we take the call, not the app developer."
You could put the support cost back on the developer, as Verizon is doing. He didn't seem ready to adopt that scheme for AT&T, though. As Young said, you can "change the model and be more open to letting more innovative apps on your phone. Other than the fact that you still have to be concerned about...does the app burn the power levels on my phone? Does the app use tons of network and hit my usage caps and I don't know it? We work very closely with developers to make sure the user has a very good experience. That may slow down innovation, but I think it produces a better experience for the customer who has a limited device."
But I found the answer unsatisfying, and I said so. "You're gating innovation," I said. The audience applauded--which I was not expecting. Young, in reaction, said Apple also gated innovation, which is true, but the audience wasn't having it. Young smiled uncomfortably and barely moved his body out of the insouciant slouch that he had adopted at the start of the panel. One got the impression he knew he could not win the argument with entrepreneurs and didn't want to make himself into a target any more than he had to.
Later on in the session, we discussed a potential alternative to the restrictions that the carriers like AT&T put on new mobile apps. We talked about Where.com, an platform masquerading as an application. Developers who want to put quick geo-based apps in front of users can write widgets for the Where.com app. Users then choose those widgets from the Where.com site and their mobile phone gets access to them.
It's a workaround, but it does let developers who want to get on the mobile platform deal with a middleman developer who has already done the hard work of getting carrier approval for installation on phones, instead of having to get approval directly, which is, as Young indicated, not so easy. Plus, you don't have to deal with Young.
For developers, of course, tying one's fortunes to the success of a middleman app is not a strategy for the long term. But it is a decent way to get some exposure and to experiment with features while you wait for the carriers to figure out how to open up their platforms.
And to be fair, Young admitted that as handheld devices become more like "real computers," the support model will change and customers will take to installing and removing their own apps, as they do on the iPhone.
In the meantime, some of the carriers just aren't going to budge. If you want to get your cool new app on all the mainstream phones, there's no easy way. There are, though, other opportunities to work with the mobile carriers, if you're looking for a business to start. Watch the video for some hints.
If Bambuser's mobile live broadcasting app sounds familiar, it's because it's trying to unseat Qik.
As one of the companies presenting at Wednesday's Under the Radar conference in Mountain View, CA, Bambuser is trying to convince investors and future partners to propel their business forward. Like Qik, Bambuser broadcasts the contents of your view finder from your mobile phone, which viewers can watch live online. Also like Qik, Bambuser viewers can chat with the filmmaker when the video is live. However, Bambuser throws in recording and geotagging from the Webcam in addition to the phone.
As an extra touch, you can set it to update Twitter, Pownce, and Jaiku when you begin a new broadcast. That makes Bambuser more feature-rich, but it has an uphill battle to unseat the rival favored by tech blogger elite Robert Scoble.
Bambuser is in public alpha mode for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones, where Qik is strongest. You can look for your model here and get started with your broadcasts.
BlackBerry users feeling left out can start video streams from Qik.
More or less VuClip's looks on a mobile phone.
(Credit: CNET)VuClip, a start-up presenting at Wednesday's Under the Radar Conference, has a simple concept, but a good one: start with any Internet-ready phone. Search for a video by keyword, then select the video from the list of returned results. VuClip transcodes the video on-the-fly for your specific phone--screen size, video format, bit rate, and so on.
Right now, two things set VuClip apart from competitors: the fact that it's designed to search for any video hosted on the Web, and that it focuses more on mass market Java phones than it does on high-end smartphones, unlike most of the content companies presenting this morning. To this end, VuClip has a native app for Java phones in addition to a mobile-optimized site you can navigate to from any phone with Internet.
In addition to searching with VuClip, you'll be able to browse by a few categories or narrow the search to a specific site by keying in the site's name before typing the search term.
I tried a quick search, and about three videos show up per page, which makes sense with screen size allowances, but which also makes navigating a bit time consuming. It's better to be specific and hope your keywords match up with your target video.
Part two of VuClip's plan is to sign up partners on the API; that will let any carrier or content provider use VuClip's service.
VuClip has harnessed about 17 million video views since launching in January 2008.
DialPlus can serve directions and hours while you're on the phone with a business.
(Credit: DialPlus)DialPlus is a native mobile app that pulls visual information from the Web before, during, or after a call to your Internet-ready mobile phone. When a friend calls you, for instance, you'll be able to see some social networking information. If you call a business, its Web site details should surface.
While it's not listed as a criterion, the app won't be of any use if you're not using an earbud or Bluetooth headset, because the contextual details display on your screen.
As one additional perk, you can send the data you see to a friend; a restaurant menu or directions were two use cases. While DialPlus will prompt your pal to download the app, contacts can also view the HTML data in their browser. Ads will be one revenue model.
I'm not loving the interface--it isn't especially attractive and looks like it could require some extensive scrolling as data fills the screen--but I do like the idea a lot. So did the judges, who rightly requested that the service more importantly pull in information about callers you don't know, like an on-the-fly caller ID. This would be immensely useful if DialPlus can find and deliver at the very least a person or organization's name before your phone kicks the call to voice mail.
DialPlus has an alpha version available for Windows Mobile phones (5 and 6) that you can download right now.
New social networks are born each day, and at the Under the Radar conference (see all posts) a new batch is on display. Most are in early funding stages, and one is so new it's still in closed beta. The other three are ready for a try-out.
I'll give Frengo this--it's certainly different than most mobile chatting services. Case in point: Neither of Frengo's main competitors, Twitter and Jaiku, asks users to vote, compete in contests, or earn points. In that sense, a bit of the social-discovery element of social networks creeps in. Except, of course, the goal isn't necessarily to become friends with other users. Frengo is more interested in social collision--sort of a tamer, more innocent Hot or Not. Example? The Flirtable Facebook application launched last Thursday.... Read more
Here at the Under the Radar conference in Mountain View, Calif., three companies pitched interesting concepts for reshaping the way users will interact with mobile applications and content.
Microsoft-backed Zumobi (previously ZenZui,) will be a free downloadable application featuring 16 tiles (application widgets) that zoom in with touch, tap, or button clicks. Users can customize tiles by picking from the device or Zumobi's online gallery. Zooming into a tile takes you into the always-on application, which contains multiple search functions and a banner ad. Developers, keep an eye out for the software developer's kit announcement. Users, keep an eye out for the upcoming beta.
Mobio lets users create a portal of Web applications on their mobile phones. Since the applications, currently totaling 40, are all provided by Mobio, they share a similar look and feel across all handsets and carriers. Mobio, as a platform, renders images and sizes so users will share an identical experience, regardless of handset and carrier differences. Here's the latest coverage from Webware.com.
FoneMine is one Web 2.0 company that's working to make the Internet more mobile-friendly by offering business partners an XMS-powered scalable platform to build mobile applications for consumer use. Businesses using FoneMine's integrated mobile services can quickly create Java applications using widgets, voice, data messaging, and social networking.
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