SAN JOSE, Calif.-InnoPath Software Inc. has added Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. to its list of clients, agreeing to provide its over-the-air software on Sanyo’s 3G handsets.
InnoPath’s DeltaUpgrade Plus software allows operators to debug phones via a download. The product was used earlier this year when Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo provided a patch for 160,000 mobile phones that suffered from a software glitch.
The DoCoMo phones would reboot suddenly when customers tried to save certain images to the device’s memory. Instead of having to recall the phones, DoCoMo allowed customers to download the patch in what appears to be the first large-scale, over-the-air repair service of mobile phones.
Such repairs can be invaluable, saving the financial cost and public-relations toll of an embarrassing recall, said David Sym-Smith, InnoPath’s senior vice president of marketing and business development.
“As more people move to 3G networks, you’ve got richer, more complex handsets coming to market,” Sym-Smith said. “It becomes a risky proposition to not have an over-the-air solution.”
Other InnoPath clients include LG Electronics Inc., NEC Corp., Sharp Corp. and Panasonic. The company claims more than 30 million consumers use its software on their handsets.
Eventually, OTA proponents hope, the technology can be used to diagnose or upgrade phones and provide new applications and services.
“We look at this as a stepping stone toward a complete device management platform,” Sym-Smith said. “Then you can plug in whatever updates you want, remote diagnostics, data profiling. … Once you’re in there, you’re able to do all that.”
