Nokia Corp.’s Preminet offering gained another backer last week as Tira Wireless said it is offering its porting technology to content providers using the delivery platform.
Tira has made its Jump software available to developers and publishers looking to deliver content across a variety of handsets and operators. The technology is designed to allow developers to deploy applications across more than 500 Java-based handset models.
Preminet, which serves as both the developer/operator community and as a mobile software platform, slowly has gained traction since its launch a year ago. Competing directly against Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW offering, the platform supplies content as well as back-end billing and provisioning via a Java or Series 60 client and is targeted at smaller carriers working with multiple content providers. It can be used to access and deliver content from Preminet’s master catalog or from any other source.
Under terms of the deal, Preminet content providers can get discounted pricing for porting and testing services across a range of devices, Tira said. While developers and publishers also can choose to license Tira’s Jump software directly, the pact is more of a referral program, with Nokia recommending Tira’s technology to its content providers.
“Tira will continue to provide the (Preminet) development community nonproprietary guidelines, advice and free tools to aid them to create portable `master copies’ of their content,” said Gord Wade, Tira’s vice president of business development.
“The content providers then provide these gold masters to Tira’s professional services team and we create, optimize and test the final builds for the target devices.”
Bringing Tira into the fold is likely to be particularly helpful in deploying content on Java-based handsets, according to Gert Christen, director of Preminet Americas. Unlike the proprietary BREW platform, the open-standard nature of Java allows manufacturers to tweak the platform’s Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) for each model, allowing them to best take advantage of a handset’s features-and creating porting headaches for developers and publishers.
“One of the criticisms about open standards such as Java is that every manufacturer is going to implement MIDP 2 a little bit different on their phone,” Christen said. “Every application always needs to be tweaked a little bit differently from phone to phone.”
Created as an end-to-end solution, Preminet has been adopted by only two foreign carriers-Chile’s Smartcom and India’s TaTa Telservices-as well as regional U.S. operator Cincinnati Bell Inc. But it appears the technology may be gaining ground. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is testing the platform client to access Preminet content onto the Nokia 6682, and T-Mobile International is rumored to be considering using the client and its content library in Europe. Christen said other trials are under way with a number of carriers, but declined to disclose more specific information.
While Preminet is targeted at smaller carriers looking to handle relationships with a variety of content providers and m-commerce developers, larger carriers that don’t need an all-encompassing wireless data solution can use only certain elements of the solution. A Tier 1 operator, for instance, may use an embedded Preminet client to access a variety of content, allowing its own back-end system to handle purchasing details.
Only a year old, Preminet’s origins stem from Club Nokia, a controversial effort on behalf of the handset provider to market ringtones and other Java-based content directly to consumers. The project failed to generate substantial revenues but managed to irritate carriers that viewed the effort as competition in the mobile content market.
Preminet debuted in October 2004, just one month after Club Nokia’s content delivery business was shuttered.
“Club Nokia soured a lot of top-tier carriers,” said Seamus McAteer, chief product architect and senior analyst for research company M:Metrics. “On the pushback from that, Nokia killed Club Nokia and became much more pragmatic about working with carriers, providing platform-based solutions.”
Instead, Preminet has focused on building relationships and establishing business models for the wireless content industry. While the technology provides a uniform platform, Christen stressed the importance of relationships with carriers, publishers and developers across the globe. Preminet can act as a middleman, connecting players and using contractual blueprints to strike deals.
Also, an online master catalog allows developers to submit their wares, request prices in the form of shared revenues, use marketing collateral and attain certification for the platform. Operators can search the catalog by device or other filters and strike online deals with publishers to bring their products to market.
“Of course there will be tweaks, but we have developed a legal framework that regulates this business-to-business marketplace,” Christen said. “Every content provider who decides to become a Preminet content provider is signing an agreement with Nokia that regulates what services the content provider and Nokia will provide, and Nokia promises to invoice (operators) on their behalf. We promise to pay them out.”
Meanwhile, Qualcomm has worked aggressively to expand the footprint for its BREW offering in foreign markets. In recent months, the chipmaker has announced agreements with carriers in Taiwan, Russia, Norway and Sweden, and has even developed a version of BREW for Java-based handsets.
But BREW only has just begun to gain traction in Europe, and after a year in the space, Preminet has inked only three carrier customers. Ultimately, the success of both BREW and Preminet likely will hinge on how operators choose to present mobile data offerings to their consumers.
“You’ve sort of got conflicting currents,” said M:Metrics’ McAteer. “On one level you’ve got Vodafone Live and all the work they’re doing to propel their own brand ahead of the OEMs’ brands and build a position as a media aggregator. At the same time you’ve got O2 and Telefonica adopting a much more open i-mode approach. … It’s conceivable both these things can coexist.”
