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Greetings!
As many of you know, I am a staunch ?believer? in
Developer Programs. Our industry is fragmented
enough as it is with different networks, devices and
operating systems. To keep driving this industry
forward, there is no room for proprietary
systems.
There isn?t room for wasting time or resources
either. I encourage all developers, whether you are
an engineer, a content creator, or Internet veteran,
or a regular software programmer with the mandate to
take your application ?mobile? ? look before you
leap. Working with the proper SDKs and APIs will
save you development time and ultimately time to
market. Importantly, much of the time to market
acceleration is due to the support and contacts
received from the business development functions of
these programs.
Over the past month I have met with many of the
Developer Programs and will profile them in upcoming
newsletters. In the meantime, check out the
comprehensive list of Developer Programs on the
WIPwebsite. Yes ? there are a lot of them,
which is why
it is also important to get your market research
done too!
October was a busy travel month, but I must say I
enjoyed the programs at the Symbian Smart
Phone Show(London) and the Orange
Partner Camp (Cadiz,Spain) ?
nice, small events which provided better
opportunities for networking and to really gain
industry insight, than most of the larger events
I?ve attended.
I also met with representatives from the Mobile
Data
Association (UK), Cambridge Wireless,
the Torino
Wireless Cluster, the Washington Software
Alliance(Telecom & Wireless SIG) and the
Wireless
Communications Alliance (Silicon Valley) ? more
on
these groups in future newsletters.
WIP will also host a dinner of wireless trade
organizations in Barcelona during 3GSM. If your
organization would like to attend, please let me
know.
Caroline Lewko
| WIP MEMBERS IN: Enterprise Applications |
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Every month, WIP will choose a theme - a
technology, vertical market or a combination of
both. WIP members who reflect that theme will be
featured, (based on key words they have chosen
for their WIPConnector
profile.)
This month we feature Enterprise
Applications.
Some WIP Members with Enterprise Applications
include:
- Cognos
World leader in business intelligence (BI) and
performance planning software for the enterprise.
- Colligo
Offline collaboration solutions for mobile workers.
- Technical Magic
Courier mobile software designed for any dispatch
system.
- Techneos
A world leader in mobile survey automation.
- Bitheads
Custom software Development - Development on
Demand.
- Searchquest
Mobile 2.0 Map Mashup Location-Based GPS Search.
- Waypoint
Information
Hosted online mapping for
applications.
Upcoming Themes
December - Consumer Applications
January - Service Provider Solutions
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| WIP PARTNERS AND FEATURED MEMBERS |
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WIP
partners with wireless organizations around
the
world. Every month we feature one of their
members online and in the newsletter. Ask your
organization
to partner with WIP today!
Featured Partner Members for
September:
MX
Alliance features Real Time
Engineering
One of the UK?s leading independent providers of
business consultancy and IT solutions.
Ottawa Wireless Cluster features
GENIE
VIEW.
Develops and markets wireless, mobile, long-
range and high penetration power video streaming
products.
WINBC
features CONTEC
INNOVATIONS.
Hornet, Contec's Mobile Services
Delivery Platform (SDP), is a flexible and scalable
application development, management and hosting
solution that quickly provisions operator branded
services; and the ability to manage large numbers of
third party, value-added service providers.
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| How WIP Supports Emerging Companies |
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The Wireless Industry Partnership is about creating
resources and connections to accelerate the growth
of emerging wireless companies globally. WIP does
this by providing:
- Links to supporting organizations such as
trade associations and
developer programs
- Access to the decision makers of leading
companies who may be customers or partners
- Information on market data and competitive
intelligence
- Multiple opportunities to gain visibility on a
world stage so investors, customers, the media and
partners can find you
- Key resources like information on everything
from standards to tools
- A global network that you can call on in an
instant
WIP works individually with service providers,
technology players and investors in wireless who are
actively seeking new products, technologies and
companies. The WIPConnector Directory
is quickly becoming a key Business and
Partnership directory for the global wireless
community since our launch in August.
Be sure to get your profile completed in the
WIPConnector so you can be identified in the
scouting process.
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| Two Great Opportunities to Pitch Your Company |
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There's comes a point when you have to stop testing
in the lab, open the kumono and present your
product/ideas to get feedback from the "real world".
There seems to be a glut of angel and VC money in
the market today - more money chasing fewer
deals. Best to start getting known now.
Here are two great opportunities to get feedback and
funds from key influencers, vcs, and strategic
investors. These are well run events, andfrom a
simple cost/benefit analysis, you only have to show
up for one day to meet dozens of influencers. Trying
to arrange an introduction meeting with just one of
them can take you months of time and make a
signficant dent in your travel budget.
1. Under The Radar:
Mobility
November 16, Mountain View, California
On hand are panelists and judges from Mobile Crunch
to Orange to Gabriel Venture Partners.
WIP members presenting include: Comvu and EQO.
2. WINBC- Strategic Investment and
Partnership Event
January 24 and 25, Vancouver, BC
Deadline for company submissions is: November
20
In conjunction with the Service Providers
Investment Forum (SPIF),
meet strategic investors from over 15 venture
capital or R&D groups of telecommunications service
providers seeking investments, partnership
opportunities, and/or new products and
technologies.
Here's a great book that has come highly
recommended to WIP: Winning
Angels. A great read to give you insight into
investors to prepare you for your presentation.
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| WIP presenting at Wireless Developer Forum UK - December 4/5 |
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The Wireless Developer Forum UK is a unique forum
aimed at the mobile developer community, taking
place in Cambridge, UK on 4-5 December 2006.
Attendees will gain practical and valuable knowledge
by attending the corporate track(s) of their choice,
and will learn about the technical and business
challenges, opportunities and latest development
tools in mobile service development.
Caroline Lewko from WIP is presenting on
The Value
of Partnerships for Wireless Development on Monday,
December 4. 2006.
More
information about the event and to register.
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| EDITOR'S COMMENTS - Sometimes I despair about our industry and wonder if we will ever learn? |
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A few weeks ago I was enthusing to some industry
colleagues about organizations and companies which
could be considered slow to embrace new
technology; were now starting to use mobile
technology to connect with their customers.
The specific example that had caught my attention
was a poster advertising a promotion to give kids
free access to visitor attractions when accompanied
by an adult. To get more information about the offer
all you had to do was to text ?free? to the
shortcode. Simple and effective.
So not that revolutionary technology perhaps, but
the point I was trying to make was that here was an
organization taking advantage of an immediate and
low-cost communication channel that would probably
increase visitor numbers.
As I talked about a few more similar examples, one of
the group said ?Oh it?s just SMS, that?s so old
technology. Don?t you know they are already looking
at 4G in South Korea. And what about sensor
networks and what about etc?
See ? as an industry we are still largely fixated with
technology and if it?s not the latest and greatest
technology, and preferably one that?s not even been
delivered yet, then it isn?t worth bothering
about.
I won?t bother going through the litany of failed
mobile and wireless technolgies ? and having been in
the industry for a while it could have made quite a
long list.
The point I?m trying to make (yes there is a point), is
that people, whether they are looking at their
business or private lives, seldom buy technology for
the sake of technology.
In business, we want to reduce costs, increase
productivity or have easier and better ways to
engage with customers. In our private lives, we are
looking for ways to make our lives easier, enrich our
experiences with family and friends or have better
access to information.
So instead of pushing the latest technology, we need
to understand where a technology can help solve a
problem or can address a real customer need.
Focusing on the benefits delivered rather
than the technology is absolutely key. Loose sight of
that and chances are we?ll be adding it the list I
mentioned above.
And it?s ok to use technology that?s been around for
a while as well. As Mike Grenville,
founder of 160 Characters, says: ?Why is this
industry always looking for the next big thing ? the
next big thing is what is here and now.?
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THIS MONTH'S FEATURED DEVELOPER PROGRAM - Orange Camp, Cadiz Spain |
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In an era of walled gardens, one of the biggest
requests and questions WIP gets is: Can you help
me get into the carriers? There was even a recent
request from a large, well-respected event who
wanted to secure a speaker from one of the US
carriers: "We
just want them to talk to us."
Kudos to Orange and France Telecom
who twice a year throws open the doors in an
event now called "
Partner Camp", to engage developers in one-on-
one
conversations about Orange's plans and how
the 'outsiders' can get involved.
Of course those who attend not only come away
with key information, but also key contacts, which
always makes business a lot easier when you have
a warm introduction. There were also contacts to be
made with many of Orange's Partners including
Symbian, UIQ, Nokia,
Access/Palm Source, Sybase,
Sony Ericsson and many others.
The above photo features Tom Tierny from
Navteq
and Caroline Lewko from WIP, who
coincidentally
both won a Sony Playstation courtesy of Access
(Palm Source), at the recent Partner Camp in Cadiz,
Spain. Bill Lee from Access is also seen in
the
background.
______________________________________
Java ME Fragmentation - Feedback
Wanted
Java fragmentation in the mobile space is a serious
issue for developers, as it necessitates multiple
versions of an application. One horror story claims
that over 1000
versions of an application was developed!
Sun Microsystems and Orange have
teamed up to
create
an initial set of design guidelines to help
developers fight this problem. These guideline can
be viewed here.
Sun and Orange have asked for feedback on these
Guidelines. Please forward any comments you have on
these to wipnews(at) wipconnector (dot)com
with the
Subject JAVA, and we will forward them to the
appropriate contacts.
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Deadline for Entries for the LBS Challenge is: November 10!
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