Orange App Shop and Orange Applications
How important are Apps to Orange?
Applications are an integral part of the overall Orange strategy to deliver our customers the best digital experience tailored to their lifestyle.
We care about the relationship we have with our customers and applications are a natural extension of the value and services we can offer them. Their digital life is important to them, so it’s equally important to us.
Why has Orange launched an App Shop?
Orange has been offering Java games and applications to its customers on feature phones since 2004 through our WAP portal.
Our focus on applications is simply part of wanting to do the best for our customers, who trust us to deliver for them a rewarding, safe and personal digital experience.
We have already earned a reputation in the industry as a company committed to our customers and we care about the development of applications because it’s a key element of our customers’ modern mobile experience.
We want everyone with a phone in their hand to get the easiest access to relevant, personal, local content and the Orange App Shop has been created with this in mind.
What is the Orange App Shop?
It’s an easy way for millions of Orange customers to discover, buy, use and manage apps, games, ringtones and wallpapers. It gives Orange customers a quick and simple way to discover, purchase, download and launch apps with just one click and pay for them on their existing Orange bill.
For our partners, the Orange App Shop is a service created to distribute and monetise content from Content Providers (CPs) direct to the Orange customers.
We have and will continue to deploy the Orange App Shop across the key Orange territories, embedded on device and accessible direct from the homescreen of Orange signature devices.
How do customers access the App Shop?
It’s accessible from the homescreen of Orange signature devices. The Orange App Shop is currently available in UK, France, and Romania.
The App Shop will be rolled out to many more countries across EMEA in 2011 and beyond.
Why would someone go to the Orange App Shop rather than other app stores?
The Orange App Shop has the benefit of bringing together the whole app experience into one, easy-to-find, easy-to-use place, allowing consumers to search, discover download, pay and manage their content with no hassle at all.
The selected content is simply added to their Orange bill - there is no need to register or set up an account. Everything that goes into our App Shop benefits our customers.
We also recognise that needs are different in different markets. Apps that sell well in some countries just don’t work in others. Being close to our customers in each of these markets gives us a detailed understanding of their needs.
How does this compare to other application shops?
Our focus on applications is simply part of wanting to do the best for our customers, who trust us to deliver for them a rewarding, safe and personal digital experience.
We address our customer’s needs so we are focused on simplifying the experience for users and ensuring that every customer can access - and benefit from - the apps and services important to them.
We want everyone with a phone in their hand to get the easiest access to relevant, personal, local content and the Orange App Shop has been created with this in mind.
What advantages does Orange’s Application Shop strategy have over other operators’ and handset manufacturers’ application shops?
We already have strong, long-standing relationships with developers, handset manufacturers and market leading content providers and have one of the world’s leading developer programmes - Orange Partner - ensuring we have a continuous stream of innovative, creative applications.
We work closer with platform and device providers than any other operator (Orange Signature and Orange Partner programmes), so have the knowledge and technological capabilities to deliver a truly unique cross-platform Application Shop – and give developers the best opportunity to reach a wide range on segments over many different devices in many different countries.
Customers also benefit from Orange’s bill-back service, so there is no need to register sensitive financial information with multiple application shops. We make life simpler for the customer – one screen, one click, one bill.
How will the Orange Application Shop customer experience differ from competitor offerings?
The Orange App Shop offers a single, straightforward Application Shop experience, breaking down barriers to create a truly open cross–platform experiences. This is just the beginning, our vision is to create one shop window to a world of content, which is easy to find, download and use for the customer and pay for it all on a single bill.
What key technical benefits do operators have over OEM-led App offerings (GPS, billing)?
Billing is a key differentiator, as is an integrated service with knowledge of the customer.
We can offer network APIs such as network location along with handset facilities to create complete solutions for customers that are more than a simple downloadable app.
What benefits does the Orange App Shop offer customers?
One click access to apps from the Orange device homescreen
A selection of suitable apps regularly updated
Availability on major devices platforms/OSs
Easy discovery and content selection, through an animated store front
One-stop experience billed to their Orange bill: no registration required
Automatic download & installation of application on devices
One click to launch downloaded applications from My Stuff
Does it replace the other ways Orange customers can download content?
No it doesn’t. The other ways of downloading content - mostly through the Orange World WAP portal - are still available.
The Orange App Shop has the benefit of bringing together all of this content into one, easy-to-find, easy-to-use place.
How many customers will the Orange App Shop client reach / has the potential to reach?
At the end of 2010, the Orange App Shop will be available on over 1.5 million phones in the UK and France. We will then rollout to millions of customers across the footprint during 2011 and beyond.
What handsets is it available on?
The App Shop is available on Android and Java and will be extended to BlackBerry. Find out more about the devices covered
Most app stores use a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Why is Orange different?
We recognise that needs are different in different markets. Apps that sell well in some countries just don’t work in others. Being close to our customers in each of these markets gives us a detailed understanding of their needs.
Thinking globally and acting locally also enables us to be a highly effective partner for developers.
Creating a personal and direct relationship at the local level with developers either through events, our Orange experts presence or our Developer Centres is key for us to ensure we provide our end users with the applications that are the most relevant to them.
How much growth in terms of apps, revenue and users has the Orange App Shop seen?
At the end of 2010, we have embedded the App Shop in more than 20 different devices reaching more than 1.5 million phones in France and UK. In 2011, we will continue rollout to millions of customers across our footprint and beyond.
We have observed that around 80% of Orange customer equiped with Smartphone embedding Orange App Shop visit the App Shop.
Is Orange doing the design? Is it tested with customers?
The new version of our Android client has been designed by Orange taking into account a lot of end user testing feedback.
What about Orange App Shop extension to other screens (PC, TV)?
The Orange App Shop will be available in 2011 on android tablets
On the PC side we’re currently working to provide an App Shop – H2 2011 - for our Soho & SMB customers to enrich our broadband propositions with SaaS (software as a service) services.
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