Vodafone and BT create platforms in the cloud

Nobody is anybody in the mobile world until they have not just a product or a service, but a ‘platform‘ – with open APIs to encourage third party applications. First there were developer frameworks and stores for a single system, like iPhone or Android. Then players like Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent started pushing their operator customers to create horizontal stores spanning different OS’s and to open up their network APIs for ‘telco 2.0‘ services. And in the third stage, some operators are opening up across not just a single network, but many, as they try to carve out a position in the cloud.

Focal Points:

• Two UK-based operators have highlighted the trend recently, Vodafone with plans to extend and open up its new 360 web platform beyond its mobile network; BT with the fixed and mobile versions of Ribbit, which is stealing a march on Google Voice in the emerging category of ‘Voice 2.0‘ or ‘VoIP as platform‘.
• According to Bobby Rao, director of internet services marketing at Vodafone Group, 360 recently launched to replace the more limited Vodafone Live!, can be accessed across any network. This will be vital as the carrier looks to provide fixed as well as mobile services, and to adapt to the ‘four-screen‘ world where users will become used to accessing their data and services in the cloud from any device they choose.
• This could be a powerful customer acquisition tool for Vodafone, if users download its app to PCs or, in future, TVs, for ‘off-net‘ use, and then get drawn into its revenue generating mobile offerings. As reported by TelecomTV, Rao also said he could see VoIP becoming ―part of the roadmap for 360, allowing the firm to offer a downloadable VoIP client across multiple net-works.
• Also focused on VoIP is British Telecom, which last week announced the mobile version of the Ribbit system it acquired for $105m last year. This is potentially more far reaching and advanced than Google Voice, being built around a single VoIP softswitch which can speak to a client on almost any handset.
• The Ribbit concept could instantly sideline the idea of app stores, in favor of one server-based or cloud-side development effort so that, once an application is developed, it can be used on ANY phone. The APIs for the cloud-based applications offer support for Flex, Flash, REST, PHP, HTTP and XML and other programming environments, so that voice can be added on any device. Flex is the Adobe development environment for Flash.
• Ribbit Mobile is built on the Ribbit Platform, a platform with open APIs that lets developers add features. It can convert voicemail into text and send it to users as an SMS, IM or email. Because it is connected to a remote softswitch and then to any other application server, messages can be stored permanently, then indexed and searched, and can age off from your handset to the cloud, automatically. The Ribbit communications platform is aimed at supporting a community of developers designing voiceware applications for Ribbit. Through the Ribbit-BT partnership, developers will gain access to a global telecom infrastructure. And, unlike platforms such as Apple or Google Android, applications built on Ribbit are not locked to a specific carrier, device, protocol or operating system.

Editor’s Note: Part II of the future of the mobile platform is being published today. This series, which is composed of a five part blog by “experts” in the field of mobile development, provides insights and speculation as to where mobile computing and collaboration is heading. This particular snapshot demonstrates that there is always another way to accomplish the same objective.