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 June 2008 |
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hello...
May has been a busy month for us here at Orange Partner. You might have noticed some changes to our portal, with new layouts, more information on our APIs and how to work with us, and easier navigation. Talking about our API initiative, it is taking off like crazy, with our friendly user test well under way.
We have introduced our Application Shop for business customers in the UK and our Blackberry Application Shop is also now live. We have been at three major industry events this past month: JavaOne (where there were some interesting announcements about Java Verified), WES, the RIM conference with over 5000 attendees (we saw some great new Blackberry applications) and the Nokia S60 event in Barcelona. Orange have signed a content agreement with Nokia (you can read more in this newsletter). I have also participated in the judging panel of the GSMA Americas Mobile Innovations Awards (the ceremony takes place in Atlanta as you read this newsletter). I know several of our members have entered - it is a real honour to win or even to be short-listed, so congratulations to the top 15. |
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Spring is slipping away, and summer begins in a few days. Almost impossible to believe how quickly time passes. Wimbledon is about to start, baseball season is well underway, and my beloved "Stanley Cup" has been awarded (I'm a Penguin's fan!). Anyone have a good mobile hockey game you can recommend?
On a serious note, we need a variety of Blackberry applications and content, and we are looking for content on many of our handsets for our shop opening in Belgium soon (French and Dutch language variants). We are also gearing up for our Fall Collection, which highlights Orange branded services. As Yves Tyrode (EVP Orange/France Telecom) said during Partner Camp, we are counting on our third parties (Orange Partners) to come up with new and innovative services we can offer our customer base. Now is the time to tell us about yours. I look forward to hearing from you.
See you next month,
Steve Glagow
VP - Orange Partner |
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Orange Application Shop
BlackBerry and foreign language apps needed
The Application Shop for business customers is now live on the UK Web and WAP portals, and the BlackBerry Application Shop went live at the end of May. If you have an application for the BlackBerry, then submit it to Orange Partner now, for possible inclusion in this new exciting route to market.
We are preparing for the launch of the Application Shop on the Orange Belgium Web and WAP portals. Content will be available in French and Dutch, so if you have a suitable application in either of these languages, make sure you submit it to Orange Partner now.
In addition to new content, we are also keen to make use of the great applications we already have in the UK Application Shop, so will be giving partners the opportunity to translate the descriptions of their applications, so that these can be sold via the Belgian portals too.
Of course, this applies to all partners and all applications. In fact, to make it really easy for you, we are releasing a new version of the Application Shop developer portal (used for finalising, testing and uploading apps to the Shop). It now includes a bulk upload tool to assist you in uploading multiple applications and associated builds in one easy step. Find out more about the Application Shop, and all these new route to market opportunities >
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Orange and Nokia to form strategic international partnership on mobile services
co-operation in the areas of music, mobile gaming, maps, advertising and location based services
Orange and Nokia have committed to a three year partnership, which will include the addition of ten new Nokia handsets to the Orange Signature range.
In addition, music will be added to a combined offer of games, advertising, maps and location based services.
The two companies have agreed to launch a suite of integrated multimedia services on the new Nokia handsets. This will be launched in H208, across nine major markets, boosting the adoption of mobile digital entertainment.
Customers will have direct access to the Orange Music Store, both Orange and N-Gage games, as well as Nokia Maps.
Find out more: read the full press release >
Find out more about our alliance with Nokia >
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referral opportunities for smaller TV/VOD partners
introducing... Player X
We want to help our premium members and contracted partner members find the appropriate route to market for your application, content or service.
As you can imagine, Orange already has deals with some of the largest television/video-on-demand (TV/VOD) providers. Through the Orange Partner programme, we're also in touch with many "smaller" TV/VOD partners, who also need a route to market, but sometimes struggle for visibility.
With these partners in mind, we've put in place a formal agreement with Player X, one of our major TV/VOD aggregators who already have a content agreement to distribute to the Orange countries.
Player X is an award-winning mobile media company that specialises in providing premium mobile entertainment to the world. They actively develop, publish and distribute content across a global distribution network of over 140 channels across operators, portals and handset manufacturers and reach a potential audience of 1.8 billion people.
Established in 2003, Player X has expertise in three core product divisions; games, mobile TV & video. Their content portfolio is a rich mix of branded and made-for-mobile content.
Via the Orange Partner programme, we are now able to give you the option of a referral for your TV/VOD products or content opportunities direct to Player X, for possible inclusion in a commercial deal with one of the Orange countries.
There will be more about this soon on the Orange Partner website. But if you are interested now please email partner.team@orange-ftgroup.com and we will assist you through to this new channel.
Don't forget also to take a look at other ways to reach the consumer and business markets...
These opportunities are only available to Orange Partner premium members and contracted partners.
Find out more about the benefits of the Orange Partner programme >
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"LBS – out the box"
Tele Atlas Innovator Series Developer Competition (EMEA)
If your wireless/Internet application includes mapping or location features as a functionality enhancement, creates enhanced lifestyle and user experiences and will put the judges in a spin, then the team at Tele Atlas want to hear from you.
Their "LBS – Out the Box" competition has two categories - one for a market ready application and one for a trail blazing, disruptive, innovative application.
A generous development finance fund of 8K€ is on offer to six phase one winning developers, who will then compete for the second phase grand prize: a 20K€ lump sum, a commercial package of support from Tele Atlas and promotion of your application on their booth at the Mobile World Congress 2009, in Barcelona.
The judges will consider the commercial viability of your application against the following criteria:
 compelling reason to buy
target customer focus
end-to-end product concept
innovative use of maps
If you have an exciting idea which incorporates Tele Atlas mapping and location functionality, and meets the judges criteria, find out more and enter the competition >
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Java Verified update: Publisher IDs and R&D signing
the latest from JavaOne...
At JavaOne, some significant changes to Java Verified signing were announced. These will be going live, 1st September 2008.
From this date, all apps submitted for Java Verified will need to have and use a Publisher ID. This can be bought from Trust Centre (Chosen Security), and validates the identity of the person and company submitting the application. Purchasing a Publisher ID certificate costs around $300.
The good news is that it's the same Publisher ID certificate as is required for Symbian Signed, so if you're already submitting your application for Symbian Signed, you only need to certify the Publisher ID once.
And, it helps ensure your application is valid, and tamper-free - something we all need to know.
R&D signing is also good news for developers – it overcomes the current problem of how to prepare and test applications for signing when they behave differently once they have been signed.
Once ready to test your application, submit it (free of charge) to Java Verified for an R&D certificate. You will receive a version of your application with a temporary signature, which will run in exactly the same way as it will once it has been Java Verified. You can then complete your testing, and submit to Java Verified for testing and production signing when ready.
Orange Partner premium members and contracted partners can benefit from reduced cost industry standard testing, including Java Verified, via Orange Partner - find out more >
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API update
2 new APIs, coming soon...
If you've had the chance to look at the new 'access Orange APIs' section of the website, you'll have seen what a wealth of information there is, helping you access and use our APIs to enhance your products.
We'll be adding two new APIs to the site this month, so do make sure you check back to look at these in more detail. One will be related to location based services, and the other... you'll have to check and see!
Find out more: access Orange APIs >
We want our APIs to be as easy as possible for you to use, and we need your feedback to ensure that we're providing enough of the right detail. We've put together a usability questionnaire for the SMS, email and Personal APIs – once you've used these APIs, please do take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire and tell us what you think.
We'll use your feedback to change anything that needs changing, to make it even easier for you to access and use our APIs. Complete the questionnaire >
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4 new devices on the Orange Partner site
Find out where the areas of growth are by region (Asia and Europe) and by Standard
We've put together key specification details from the 4 latest devices featured on the Orange Partner site.
Orange Partner members can access the full specs by clicking on the relevant links below.
LG KF750 Secret
Operating System: LG proprietary OS
Browser: WAP 2.0, xHTML, HTML
Screen Display: TFT 256k colours; resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Network Data Support: GPRS (class 10), EDGE (class 10), 3G
Extra features include: MPEG4/DivX (up to 640x480) player
Take a look at the full spec>
Nokia N78
Operating System: Symbian OS, S60 rel. 3.2
Browser: WAP 2.0, xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
Screen Display: TFT, 16M colours; resolution: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches
Network Data Support: GPRS, HSCSD, 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
Extra features include: Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS support
Take a look at the full spec>
Sagem My411c
Operating System: Sagem propriety OS
Browser: WAP 2.0, xHTML
Screen Display: CSTN, 65K colours; resolution: 128 x 160
Network Data Support: GPRS
Extra features include: VGA 640 x 480 pixels Camera
Take a look at the full spec>
Samsung F480
Operating System: Samsung proprietary OS
Browser: WAP 2.0, xHTML, HTML
Screen Display: TFT touch screen, 256k colours; resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Network Data Support: GPRS (class 12), EDGE (class 12), 3G
Extra features include: H.264/H.263/MPEG4 player
Take a look at the full spec>
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Broadband to take off in 2010?
Seven out of ten Western European users on 3G by 2011
A surge in 3G take-up is forecast for 2010, thanks to falling sales prices, widespread adoption of flat-rate pricing for broadband services (in particular for mobile Internet), increased campaigns to encourage mobile usage and handset subsidies.
The last trend cited as a key driver in increasing 3G take-up is the expansion of dedicated mobile web applications and services – by 2011, it is forecast that 32% of customers will be regular users of mobile Internet services.
Members, download the one-page pdf >
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Orange Partner out and about in May:
In May, we focussed on the US, taking part in JavaOne, and supporting the WES BlackBerry event as silver sponsors.
A clear message from JavaOne was that there will be action around standards for MSA (JSR248). And there were some really interesting announcements for Java developers – see "Java Verified update" above in this newsletter.
At WES, the biggest BlackBerry event of the year, you showed us some great BlackBerry applications. We have opportunities for all your BlackBerry apps in the Application Shop - see "Application Shop update" above in this newsletter.
There were two lucky winners in our prize draw at WES, who each won a handset – congratulations to Dana Stetson of Stockgroup, and Derek Bethell of TrackTech, your new Blackberry handsets will be with you shortly.
We were also in the UK, at the Symbian Partner Event in London, exhibiting alongside other platinum members of the Symbian Partner ecosystem.
We met with new and existing members of the programme, and with some of our strategic partners.
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GSMA Mobile Innovation Marketplace - Americas
3-4 June, 2008
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Innovators, operators, investors, key technology suppliers and major industry brands from around the world will come together in Atlanta this week to share ideas and insights regarding the future of mobile innovation, and its impact on business.
The event includes a focused conference agenda, an Innovation Zone showcasing the latest apps and services, and invitation-only 'Speed-Dating' sessions.
The Americas leg of the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition will also be taking place at the event, and Orange Partner VP Steve Glagow will be on the judging panel grilling the top 15 innovator finalists on their extraordinary ideas.
Find out more >
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webinar: accessing the Orange Partner channels
"help your downloadable applications find their way to Orange customers"
17:00 (UK time)
4 June, 2008
hosted by Navteq
Are you seeking a route to market for your mobile applications?
Would you like your products/services exposed to decision makers in Orange / France Telecom?
Steve Parrott from the Orange Partner team will be talking you through the pre-requisites and processes for accessing these channels via the Orange Partner programme.
Find out more >
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