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Welcome to the May edition of the Orange Partner newsletter.

We're all just back from our 6th Partner Camp, and it was great to meet so many of you there, from all across the globe. The responses we've received from all who attended certainly indicated you liked the format, benefited from the sessions, and definitely took advantage of the opportunities to meet with Orange and France Telecom Group decision makers – thank you.

In this newsletter, read about what happened at Partner Camp, download the presentations and uncover the winner of the Orange Innovation Contest.

This month we're also delighted to announce the opening of our Beijing developer centre, and to celebrate, we'd like to invite you to a free event which we're hosting at the beginning of June with Orange Lab, Beijing at the new centre.

Plus, within this newsletter you can find out about WiMAX and home networking technologies and get the latest trends in ARPU, mobile handsets and pre-paid customer sales in Europe.

And don't forget to find out where you can catch-up with the Orange Partner team over the next few weeks. 

Orange Partner Camp post-event website – read about it and download the presentations
Over 400 attendees (new and existing partners, representatives from Orange, France Telecom Group and our sponsors) descended on Cape Canaveral, brimming with exciting ideas and new solutions for the future.

"Very useful for me. The sessions I attended were well done, the speakers were prepared, and everyone from Orange to whom I spoke was forthcoming and helpful. It was quite impressive. I've been to lots of these types of conferences, but never one so well done-mostly because of the attitude of your people". 
WM. Arthur McCray, Personal Remedies LLC

Attendees travelled from 28 countries across the world to be there…together we shared ideas, talked, discussed and looked at everything there is to know about delivering innovative products and services to our worldwide customers.

"Orange Partner Camp is a great way to better understand how to do business with one of the world's leading operators, make significant contacts and have fun at the same time".
Andy Germano, AuthenTec

Technical sessions, coding workshops at mid-night, 1-2-1 meetings, Speed Dating, the Orange Innovation Contest, coding and testing in the developer centre, live demos ...these were just some of the activities we packed into just a few short days.

"Fun, productive, insightful and a networking delight. What more could an ISV want from a Partner event? Congratulations Orange on helping to secure our revenue goals for this year"
Ollie Omotosho, VP Marketing, CommonTime Enterprise Messaging

Take a look at the post-event website, read what people said, download the presentations and find out what happened

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Orange Innovation Contest – and the winner was ...
Over 80 companies competed, and one company stood out amongst the rest.

With each Partner Camp the Orange Innovation Contest goes from strength-to-strength and the Cape Canaveral event was no different – but this time the rules were tougher and the competition harder.

The number of entries this year eclipsed all previous events. Each judge carefully trawled through the 80 entries and awarded their individual scores to each.

The scores of each judge were collated and the companies with the highest scores were whittled down to a final list of 10 who were invited to carry out a 15 minute presentation to the judges at the event.

The calibre and quality of products this year were by far the best we've ever seen and the competition was definitely fierce.

Our congratulations go to MyStrands for their outstanding product: MyStrands Social Player.

MyStrands Social Player was a great example of how to introduce new media content to users through personalisation that also takes into account the user's social network, using both the web and mobile. The user-experience was simple and the product encapsulates a number of growing trends within the mobile arena.

Find out more about the winning products, the runners-up and take a look at the short-list

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New Orange developer centre in Beijing – the doors have opened
Our latest developer centre has opened to provide our premium members and contracted partners based in the Asia Pacific region with the opportunity to develop and test against the live Orange network and devices.

The centre offers a well-equipped technical facility – an efficient and comfortable atmosphere for application development. The latest Orange handsets and SIMs are also provided for your use during development and testing.

Use of the Orange developer centres is free to Orange Partner premium members and contracted partners.

Find out more about what's on offer at the Beijing centre

To celebrate the opening we will be hosting a joint event with Orange Labs in Beijing
4-5 June 2007

At the event you'll be able to find out about the future of device development and innovation in Asia, how to commercialise products and services with Orange and how to develop and test against the Orange devices and network (in Beijing).

To find out more and register for the event click here

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WiMAX in emerging markets – easy to deploy but where are the devices?
If you're producing products and services for emerging markets then take a look a this in-depth article which provides you with a fascinating insight into WiMAX technology, the reasons for operators to deploy WiMAX, why it's feared and the current global status.

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) provides a fast opening for operators wanting to participate in the high growth opportunities that exist in emerging markets, where traditional wire-line infrastructure in these countries is either slow or only accessible to a small segment of the population.

WiMAX networks will enable local operators to reach thousands of business customers quickly and provide them with fixed broadband data services within an up to 50 km radius. For mobility, cell radius is no larger than an HSDPA cell.

Like a marvellous satellite that has landed on earth WiMAX sites give fast coverage but where are the devices that customers can afford? Where are the affordable business WiMAX PCs? Where are the cheap mobile WiMAX phones?

Find out more – read the full article

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Home networking – a vision becomes a reality
This article by Orange Labs in the UK examines the trends and technologies contributing to home networking.

At a time when Bill Gates is launching Windows Home Server and Vista, and Apple its TV offering, and when all those involved are offering their own domestic multipurpose "boxes", will the concept of home networking finally become a reality?

Several trends are fostering the development of home networks:

 Growing penetration of broadband access: by 2010, broadband will be the predominant access in European homes… all the more so as its bandwidth and performance increase – FTTx, VDSL2, ADSL2+

 The introduction of next generation networks (NGN), key building blocks for convergent services: SIP protocol, IMS architecture.

 The proliferation of wireless access technologies (WiFi, Bluetooth, Home Plug, etc), coupled with the boom in nomadic equipment: laptops, digital video recorders (DVRs), games consoles, etc. spend over $190 billion (€144 billion) on IP equipment that enables them to produce and share multimedia content – video, photos and music.

Find out more what is aiding the movement from simple connectivity to "home networking" – read the full article

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Mobile handset sales – growth continues
What is the number of worldwide mobile handset sales? What type of smartphones are most popular and what are the worldwide Operating Systems (OS) sales? We provide you with the latest figures.

According to Strategy Analytics, 1 billion handsets were shipped in 2006 i.e. 25% up on the previous year.

Once again, the proportion of GSM handsets was more pronounced (80% of the volume produced), owing to demand from emerging markets and 3G (10% of the world's production).

While Nokia consolidated its place as leader (with 34% of the market vs. 32.4% in 2005), it was nevertheless Motorola that recorded the highest growth in volume: with a 50% increase in sales, the world's number two held over 21% of the market.

Samsung remains in third place (11.6%), while Sony Ericsson hauled itself up to 4th place (7.3%), ahead of LG (6.3%).

For 2007, forecasts estimate that sales will rise by 12% to 1.14 billion units.

Read the full article and find out more

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The official results of mobile operators in Europe registered a fall in average revenue per user (ARPU) in 2006.

The fall in APRU was largely due to greater pressure on prices. Other market contributors include the drop in call termination charges and the increase in virtual operators, as well as the low-cost offers that appeared, for instance, in Germany, where ARPU has plummeted by 10%.

Conversely, the situation was more favourable in the UK where some operators increased their APRU (in some cases up to 35%) with new customer offers but at the cost of their operating margins.

Read the full article and find out more

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Europe had displayed the largest drop in relative value for pre-pay since the peak in late 2001. After a record (but typical) year in 2005, growth in European prepay mobiles slowed to around 5% last year, giving a total of 243 million customers by the end of the year.

After a year of stabilisation, prepay has definitely experienced its largest drop in relative value, this segment "only" representing 57.3% of the total number of mobiles by YE06, against 59% the previous year. Five countries even saw their prepay numbers drop in 2006: France, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden.

Explanatorily factors include the continued low rate of subsidisation of prepay handsets, strategies encouraging migration from prepay to contracts (Movistar, SFR etc), the clean-up of the last inactive customer bases (3 UK etc) and a stronger appeal by contract offerings.

The number of contract customers grew by 13% in 2006 due to reduced tariffs, unlimited offers and the lift-off of sales of PC 3G/3G+ cards coupled with data plans, including for the mass market.

Read the full article

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Members of the programme can participate in one or both days of this free event.

Monday 4 June

 the future of device development and innovation in Asia
Presentations will take place from key representatives of Orange Labs in Beijing plus leading industry device manufacturers and Operating Systems (OS) providers.

Do you wonder about the future of device evolution? In the afternoon, a panel session will provide you with the opportunity to get all your questions on this 'hot topic' answered.

The first day will be rounded off with dinner courtesy of ACCESS – your chance to meet the other attendees, speakers and representatives from Orange Labs, Beijing and Orange, the device manufacturers and OS providers.

Tuesday 5 June:

 how to commercialise products and services with Orange
From the management team of Orange Partner, you'll learn about the benefits of the programme, and  how to commercialise your products and services through us.

 how to develop and test against the Orange devices and network (in Beijing)
You'll get a technical overview on testing and you'll be able to see and use the technical resources within the developer centre and see some exciting live demos.

You'll also be able to participate in one-to-one commercial and technical discussions with representatives from Orange Partner and key representatives from device manufacturers and OS providers. Plus get a first-look at our brand new developer centre!

Find out more and register to attend now

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If you're attending JavaOne don't miss the opportunity to meet with the Orange Partner team.

... in the JavaOne Pavilion
The Orange Partner team pod will be located in the Mobility Village, next to the Java ME Application Showcase.

... in the BOF sessions

How to Work with Java ME Carriers at JavaOne
8 May, 21:00-21:50, Session ID: BOF-5914

Speakers: Martin Wrigley, Head of Partner Technology, Orange Partner will join the panel for this BOF session.

... in the Java ME Track

 Tackling Java ME Device Fragmentation: Orange and Sun Collaboration
8 May, 18:00-19:00, Esplanade 303, Session ID: TS-5051

Speakers: Martin Wrigley, Head of Partner Technology, Orange Partner will join Nir Vazana and Rhian Sudgen of Sun Microsystems. 

 Java Verified - A Description and Update to the Verification and Signing Process for the Java ME Application Developer
9 May, 13:30, Esplanade 301, Session ID: TS-5397

Speakers: Martin Wrigley, Head of Partner Technology, Orange Partner will be taking part in this session.

Find out more about JavaOne

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Drop by the Orange Partner stand in the exhibition hall and meet the team if you don't already know us, tell us your news, and find out the latest from Orange Partner.

Also, don't miss Steve Glagow – VP, Orange Marketing Operations in the keynote address and panel session.

Find out more about the Symbian Partner Event

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At both the Boston and San Francisco events Tom will be presenting on: 'Delivering Value, working with Operators'.

Plus, you'll be able to find out more throughout the event about developing and commercialising your products and services with the Orange Partner programme.

Find out more and get the full event agenda

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To help you keep up to date we've collated the top 5 stories and articles from the newsletter and website that were of interest to our members last month (compiled using clicks per page analysis).

  Europe is the largest 3G market – get the latest figures
 European mobile figures – penetration has reached 100%
 New device spec – Orange SPV M700
 Contactless technology – a whole new package of services
 We're looking for applications to fill the Application Shop

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We want to hear your thoughts about the Orange Partner Newsletter. Drop us a line at developers@orange.com