Verizon Wireless is moving forward with a plan to install a proprietary Verizon-branded user interface across all of its new feature phones-a maneuver that has sparked widespread discontent among the carrier’s handset suppliers and could mark the start of a significant shift in power in the U.S. wireless industry.
Indeed, regional player Alltel is considering a similar exercise, and mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile has designed its own proprietary UI for use in its phones. Amp’d is scheduled to launch service using the Verizon network this fall.
Verizon’s UI is currently available in the carrier’s new VX8000 EV-DO camera phone from LG Electronics Co. Ltd. The distinctive UI features a red, orange and black color scheme and a menu system with listings for contacts, recent calls, settings and tools, messaging and the carrier’s Get It Now application download service. The UI also features one- and two-click shortcuts to important features like silencing the ringer, call volume, calendar and Verizon services like Get It Now and Vcast.
Most carriers have various handset requirements, such as attaching their brands to the phones and adding links to their services in the phone menus. But Verizon’s UI goes beyond that by detailing what users should see when they turn on and navigate their phones.
“You will see it on all Verizon Wireless devices going forward,” promised John Stratton, the carrier’s vice president and chief marketing officer. The UI is intended only for the carrier’s mass-market feature phones; Verizon will continue to sell smart phones running platforms like Windows Mobile or Palm OS.
Verizon argues that having a common user interface across all of its feature phones will simplify things for its subscribers and will encourage brand loyalty.
“People want to pick up their device and use the features immediately,” said Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney. “Primarily this is a tool for consumers.”
However, Verizon’s UI requirements essentially sterilize the carrier’s handset suppliers. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LG, Motorola Inc. and other Verizon phone vendors will no longer be able to differentiate themselves through their phones’ UIs-an important part of their products. Indeed, most major handset suppliers have spent millions of dollars and years of effort fine-tuning their UIs. Verizon’s UI requirements wipe out those labors.
The issue highlights carriers’ growing authority over their handset suppliers-a position pioneered by global carriers like NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone Group plc. Wireless observers have even compared the situation to that of the computer industry, where software is key and hardware has become a commodity.
Some of Verizon’s handset suppliers candidly admit to such issues.
“Yes, we would have liked to maintain our UI as we believe that our implementation is widely recognized to be user friendly,” wrote Samsung’s Muzib Khan in response to questions from RCR Wireless News. Khan is the vice president of Samsung’s U.S. product management and engineering efforts. “However, there are ways to differentiate products, and we will keep working on those aspects.”
Others echoed Khan’s concerns, to varying degrees.
“Historically, the UI has always been a successful way for LG, and all handset manufacturers, to differentiate themselves from other manufacturers and `brand’ their phone’s user experience,” LG wrote in a statement to RCR Wireless News. “With the specific carrier’s UI requirements, that method of branding is gone, but we’ve come so far in terms of design and technology that there are a multitude of other ways to differentiate an LG phone that will more than compensate for the UI. LG is completely behind each of our carriers’ UI requirements. Our mutual goal is always to provide the most seamless experience for the customer, and this proprietary UI will do that. Advanced features and innovative but practical design have always been hallmarks of LG phones, and in the absence of a branded user interface, those qualities will continue to differentiate LG handsets from our competitors.”
Motorola’s Jim Wicks said the company still sees an opportunity to separate its UI from those on other Verizon phones-even though Verizon’s goal is to stamp out such differences.
“I still believe there is an opportunity for differentiation and innovation,” said Wicks, Motorola’s vice president and director of consumer experience design. “What they (Verizon) are really providing us is a toolbox. It’s just a toolbox. It’s not a set end design.
“A UI is both a guide and a spec,” he said. “Partnering is critical to succeeding.”
Interestingly, Nokia Corp. has not yet decided whether it will sell phones using Verizon’s user interface. Nokia has long trumpeted its own user interface and has resisted carriers’ attempts to modify it. Nokia does, however, customize its phones with carrier-specific branding, buttons and Web links.
“We have the most popular menu structure in the world,” boasted Kai Oistamo, senior vice president of Nokia’s phone business, at a recent press briefing.
Nokia spokesman Keith Nowak said there are “a lot of bits and pieces going on,” but that the company has not made a decision on using Verizon’s UI. Nowak said the company is working to please both of its customers: end users and the carriers that sell its phones. Nokia does not currently sell any phones through Verizon, but has been working to bolster its CDMA phone line-up.
Verizon’s Raney said the carrier began work on its UI in late 2003. The carrier conducted focus groups and other testing to make the platform simple and easy to operate. Raney said the carrier could also institute hardware requirements along with the UI, so that specific keys are always in the same place.
Raney acknowledged that not all phones are the same-some feature cameras while others don’t, for example. She said Verizon would work alongside its handset suppliers to ensure the UI matches with specific phone models-including a “camera” listing in the menu, for instance.
Although LG is the first out of the gate with Verizon’s new UI, other handset makers are “working toward that point,” Raney said. She declined to say when other handset makers would launch phones running the UI.
As the No. 2 carrier in the United States, Verizon has the power to make such requirements. Alltel counts only 8.8 million wireless subscribers; nonetheless, the carrier is considering a common user interface much like Verizon’s.
“Our long-term plan is to make the user environment on the handset easier for customers to use,” said Scott Moody, director of Alltel’s wireless data products. “Ultimately, we would like to re-skin the entire experience.”
Alltel in May signed an agreement with Qualcomm Inc. for the company’s uiOne technology, which allows users to download new UI styles and themes. Alltel currently requires its handset suppliers to add a link to its Axcess application download service. Moody said that if its current UI requirements meet expectations, it could eventually develop an entire proprietary UI that would stretch through the depth and breadth of its phones.
Moody said Alltel’s handset suppliers are “pretty supportive of what we’re trying to do.”
He said he does not believe a carrier-branded UI diminishes the role of the handset supplier. He said the goal is to give Alltel subscribers a consistent experience across all of its handsets.
In a presentation at the recent BREW developer’s conference, Amp’d Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer Don McGuire said the MVNO had developed its own proprietary UI using BREW software. He did not provide details.
Other carriers are taking a somewhat different track. Cingular Wireless has said it prefers to offer its customers a wide range of handset and software choices. Sprint has various software requirements, but said it supports diversity across its handsets. The carrier likened the issue to that of the automotive industry. All cars have an emergency brake, but how manufacturers install it might differ.
“Our main goal is to make sure the customer’s experience is the best on each handset,” a Sprint representative wrote in response to questions from RCR Wireless News.
