3GSM World Congress
Schlumberger Messaging Solutions today announced the launch of its latest product, M-Touch, which can increase mobile phone operators’ average revenue per user (ARPU) by up to five per cent. The application will alert subscribers via SMS whenever a call is missed because their phone is switched off, out of coverage or busy. This will result in increased call completion rates, which will increase voice traffic and ARPU in turn.

Once triggered by a missed call, the M-Touch application formats and generates a short message including the calling party’s telephone number, date and time of the call and the number of call attempts. The short message is then forwarded to the intended subscriber, either directly using the system’s built-in M-Touch functionality or by interfacing with a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) using Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol (SMPP).

M-Touch can be offered to all subscribers immediately upon deployment without the need for customers to upgrade to new phones. Customers who don’t currently subscribe to their operator’s voicemail service will benefit by being advised of all missed calls, while voicemail subscribers will find that M-Touch complements their existing service. For example, M-Touch can alert subscribers for all missed calls, including callers who did not leave a voicemail message – accounting for 50-70% of callers (Source: Frost & Sullivan). Roaming voicemail subscribers can perform call-backs based on M-Touch information even when they can’t access their voicemail from a roaming area.

Industry sources predict that advanced messaging solutions such as M-Touch can increase ARPU by 3-5%, with a return on investment within 3 to 8 months for operators. (Source: Frost & Sullivan)

“Schlumberger Messaging Solutions has leveraged its wealth of experience in the messaging industry to provide operators with M-Touch” commented Terry McCabe, Chief Technical Officer, Schlumberger Messaging Solutions. “M-Touch is designed to scale with an operator’s subscriber base growth and to support the most demanding capacity requirements.”

Schlumberger Messaging Solutions plans to develop the M-Touch service as a personalized service enabler, with features such as missed video calls for 3G networks and user-configurable options via www/WAP.

Leading mobile operator joins Palm Powered Mobile World

3GSM World Congress
PalmSource, provider of Palm OS – a leading operating system powering next generation mobile devices and smartphones – and Orange, one of the world’s largest mobile communications companies, today announced that Orange has joined the Palm Powered Mobile World program to broaden the selection of Palm OS applications and extend the reach of Palm Powered smartphones.

The strong global presence of the Orange Group in the mobile market together with the leadership of the Palm OS platform will enable the development of innovative Palm OS solutions that take advantage of the advanced features of Palm Powered smartphones, such as the industry-leading palmOne Treo 600. Today’s announcement demonstrates PalmSource’s growing commitment to partner with leading operators to accelerate the deployment of Palm Powered smartphones into the growing mobile data services market.

As a charter mobile operator partner in the Palm Powered Mobile World program, Orange will collaborate with PalmSource in several areas including:

* Leveraging the extensive Palm OS developer community for the development and deployment of innovative Palm OS solutions optimized for the Orange network

* Joint-marketing efforts to identify key Palm OS applications based on Orange’s target markets and support the distribution of these solutions to Orange customers

* Aligning the Palm OS platform with Orange’s roadmap and service offerings to bring cutting-edge Palm Powered smartphones to market.

“We are pleased to welcome Orange as a charter member of the Palm Powered Mobile World program,” said David Nagel, president and CEO of PalmSource. “We look forward to our collaboration with Orange, an industry innovator, to bring user-friendly smartphones and services to our joint customers.”

“With the launch of the highly successful Orange Treo 600, we have strengthened our leadership in the innovation of smartphones,” said Richard Hanscott, Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships for the Orange Group. “We look forward to leveraging PalmSource’s strength in key market segments to enhance our smartphones with the widest offerings of Palm OS applications that meet the needs of our customers.”

Palm OS provides a flexible and efficient platform that enables hardware manufacturers and software developers to rapidly and efficiently create a wide range of powerful, innovative and easy-to-use smart mobile devices and software applications. Approximately 30 million Palm Powered handhelds and smartphones have been sold to date and Palm OS has attracted a large and loyal following with approximately 275,000 developers building applications for Palm Powered smart mobile devices.

Italian 3G mobile operator Hutchison benefits from network traffic analysis and control improving performance and service delivery

3GSM World Congress
P-Cube Inc., the originator of programmable IP Service Control platforms for fixed-line and mobile network operators, has announced 3 Italy (Hutchison), Europe’s first 3G mobile network service provider, as the world’s first mobile network operator (MNO) to select its Service Control Platform and Encharge solution for traffic analysis, control and network optimisation of wireless data services. With P-Cube’s IP service control solution deployed in its Italian operation, 3 Italy will benefit from increased network performance and service delivery to both its pre- and post-paid subscribers.

By deploying P-Cube’s Service Control solutions, MNOs can gain unprecedented network visibility, control service delivery, and intelligently segment bandwidth on a per application basis. Crucially, these combined functions enable operators to quickly roll out, support and profit from new IP-based services to both pre- and post-paid users.

“Mobile operators currently have very little insight into the types of data services being run over their networks. Consequently, they are unable to accurately charge for these services on either an application or content basis,” said Yuval Shahar, president and CEO of P-Cube.
“This results in an inability to properly control pre-paid tariffs or bill for premium services.”
Shahar added, “when an operator develops a new premium content data service, to match or surpass a competitor, it must have the ability to roll this out and bill correctly in real-time. P-Cube solves this problem ensuring the proliferation of high- margin, revenue generating data services; reducing churn and increasing average revenue per user.”
P-Cube’s IP service control engine was deployed by Proxy Srl. to provide a solution precisely tailored for 3 Italy’s needs and requirements.
“P-Cube’s Service Control Platform is a critical part of 3 Italy’s
infrastructure, optimising network performance and service delivery to the level its subscribers expect,” said Rosario Libraro, CEO at P-Cube’s channel partner Proxy Srl.. “The level of intelligence that P-Cube’s solution delivers specifically addresses 3’s need for traffic analysis, control and billing for premium value IP data services.”
“3 was particularly impressed with the flexibility and speed of the roll-out we were able to achieve with the Encharge solution,” added Libraro. “As the customer’s requirements inevitably evolved during the installation, the highly programmable nature of the solution to scale and support new services allowed us to accommodate 3 Italy’s needs within a matter of days.”

P-Cube’s Service Engine is a programmable network element that creates a service intelligence layer that overlays the existing IP transport network and dramatically enhances a carrier’s ability to analyse and optimise application traffic and incorporate new content-based billing models leading to reduced costs and enhanced profits. The Service Engine works with software modules (Engage, Encharge, and Insight) to provide Service Control for any high speed IP network – fixed or mobile.
P-Cube’s IP Service Control solutions use stateful deep packet analysis to perform application level and user specific bandwidth optimisation. As a result, the solution can separately trace each and every network transaction and extract the required billing information for each and every data service.

A mass market mobile video plug-in to Windows Media Services 9 Series Microsoft Windows Media Server

3GSM World Congress
Oplayo, the leading mobile video specialist, today announces Oplayo Transcoder, an advanced plug-in for Microsoft Windows Media Server that instantly makes content easily available to users of mass-market phones.

Joint solution demonstrated in Booth B24, Hall 1 at the GSM World Congress

3GSM World Congress
Mobilitec Inc., a global provider of leading integrated software products that enable mobile service delivery, is collaborating with Amdocs to demonstrate an integrated mobile commerce solution for media delivery at the 3GSM World Congress. Mobilitec’s leading suite of integrated software products for mobile service delivery combined with Amdocs Commerce Payments and Amdocs Partner Relationship Management (PRM) products enable wireless operators worldwide to easily purchase and use rich data services to increase revenue and reduce costs.

“Mobilitec and Amdocs are demonstrating a powerful solution for wireless operators who want to implement a tightly integrated solution combining media delivery and payment mechanisms,” said Erez Nir, vice president of product management and marketing, Mobilitec. “This joint solution will enable operators to attract and manage partners and increase subscriber usage and customer loyalty.”

The joint solution will demonstrate how wireless operators worldwide will be able to quickly, seamlessly and cost- effectively implement mobile service delivery while also leveraging and extending the functionality of existing billing, customer care and operational support systems without compromising current customer support or billing accuracy.

Mobilitec’s mPower suite of tightly integrated software products for mobile service delivery enables the flexible and secure service creation, management, charging and delivery of all mobile media including applications, video and audio for wireless operators and partners.

Amdocs Commerce Payments and Amdocs Partnership Relationship Management are part of the Company’s suite of innovative software products and services designed to deliver true integrated customer management to the world’s leading service companies. Amdocs’ best-in-class billing and CRM products seamlessly link all customer-facing business processes – marketing, sales, ordering, delivery, fulfillment, billing, settlement, service, support, and analytics – resulting in stronger, more profitable customer relationships.

3GSM World Congress
Landmat, a leading developer of mobile services and content, today announced mBlog, an application that enables mobile device users to create and receive multimedia blogs through MMS. mBlog offers carriers an additional tool to generate greater average revenue per user (ARPU). Landmat’s mBlog application has already been adopted by three major carriers and 20 others are in the set-up phase to receive it. Landmat is demonstrating mBlog at the 3GSM World Congress in the Nokia Venture Partners stand (Hall 2, Stand G12).

mBlog users create blogs by taking pictures and adding text, which are instantly published to the web or sent to any number of subscribers. The application generates viral and organic marketing growth based on increasingly valuable MMS platforms.
  
Haukar Hardarson, CEO of Landmat explains: “The ease and cost effectiveness of sharing a picture message through mobile blogging encourages the use of mobile data services. mBlogging is already growing virally just as blogging did. The carriers we’re working with have already seen an increase in ARPU.”
  
The initial response to mBlog by European wireless subscribers demonstrates strong promise for the new application. Across the continent, five percent of total MMS users have elected to initiate mBlog service at an ARPU of 10 Euros per month. Users of the service currently range from families sharing personal mBlogs to celebrities sending subscription only mBlogs to large subscriber bases.

3GSM World Congress
At the 3GSM Congress in Cannes, LogicaCMG unveiled today 19 new multi-media messaging (MMS) deals with operators all over the world, which significantly improve the company’s position in the MMS market.

With a market share in excess of 24 per cent of the installed base, LogicaCMG is gaining momentum in this sector and is building a market leading position. In the last few months the company has seen a significant increase in new wins as well as the first wave of replacement contracts being awarded. Recently contracts have been announced with Optus in Australia and Telkomsel in Indonesia.

Commenting on the development, Chris McDermott, chief executive of LogicaCMG’s Wireless Networks business said, “This is a ringing endorsement of our robust, scaleable MMS solution. We have always believed that as the market developed operators would see the value of an independent proven platform. The next step is to help operators to launch new applications which will drive up consumer traffic.

“We believe that a positive user experience of MMS will be one of the key drivers for success in this market.”

With other customer names being subject to commercial confidentiality LogicaCMG can now number nearly 50 operators around the world as MMS clients.

IN-FUSIO partners with Microsoft Game Studios to globally port and publish range of blockbuster games to mobile

3GSM World Congress
IN-FUSIO, a leading mobile games service provider in Europe, US, and China, today announced that it has signed with Microsoft Game Studios one of the largest license deals to date for the exclusive porting and publishing of six games to mobile devices.

The world famous titles to make their debut on all major mobile platforms in 2004 are: Age of Empiresâ 2 Gold Edition,  Midtown Madnessâ 3,  Zoo Tycoonä, Banjo-Kazooieâ: Grunty’s Revenge, Banjo Pilot, It’s Mr. Pantsä and Sabre Wulfä. Cumulatively, these six franchises have been played by over 17 million players world-wide.

IN-FUSIO has been chosen by Microsoft Game Studios to globally represent these titles in the wireless space due to its world-wide presence and its unique knowledge of players through ExEn, IN-FUSIO’s game engine embedded in 15 million handsets and adopted by 8 million unique players.

The first game to be launched under the agreement will be the classic car racing game ‘Midtown Madness 3’, which will make its first appearance on ExEn and EGE* platforms in June 2004. An ‘alpha’ version of Midtown Madness 3, including 3D and multi-player capability, will be shown at 3GSM in the ‘Gaming Zone’, which is sponsored by IN-FUSIO (Hall 4).

Commenting on the announcement, Gilles Raymond, co-CEO and President, IN-FUSIO, said: “We are delighted to join Microsoft Game Studios in this bold initiative. Microsoft’s recent commitment to license some of its best-known titles for the mobile games arena is a clear indication of the industry’s maturity. With our focus on gamers’ fun and innovative services to operators, we look forward to making these Microsoft games on mobile a reality.”

“IN-FUSIO’s broad platform support and legions of players made them an excellent choice for bringing some of our biggest game titles to wireless devices,” said Ed Ventura, Director of the Consumer Products Group for Microsoft Game Studios. “Each of these games already has worldwide appeal, and once they’re wireless, people will truly be playing them everywhere.”

 
* NOTE: EGE, ExEn Gaming Extensions, is IN-FUSIO’s new gaming engine, created to run on all MIDP 2.0 handsets. It is designed for the end-user: improvement of the game play, user-friendly interface and innovative service offering.