So a little personal milestone this week. As BlueVia builds momentum we are ensuring we tidy up the developer platforms that Telefonica has launched over the last few years to deliver one consistent and global developer story. During our experimental stage, Telefonica launched developer programs in the UK (O2 Litmus), Spain (Open MovilForum), Mexico (Movistar Developers Platform) and Brazil (Plataforma do Desenvolvedores) This process was vital for building our understanding of the needs of developers when working with a Telco. It allowed us to test different features in different markets, and of course it gave us a platform to engage with developers in a two way dialogue. I hope this measured and collaborative approach will ultimately prove successful. Far too often Telco's pour huge amounts of money into new propositions with no insight into the needs of the target audience, and then wonder why no one wants what they have built. The recently published Developer Economics 2011 continues to warn Telco's that the developer community is still struggling to understand the value of working with Telco's, so when is the light bulb going to finally come on? Telco's need developers more than developers need Telco's... I can't tell you how much fun I had with O2 Litmus. I came up with the seed of the idea around mid 2007. Back then it was a very hard sell to get O2 UK to invest in a developer program, slash API platform, slash customer beta testing community, slash app store thing! In fact one of the key learnings was it was too complex. Many people just didn't get what Litmus actually was!!!  Hopefully we are addressing that with the evolution into BlueVia, but we have more to do. One of my personal disappointments with Litmus was the ultimate failure of the concept of connecting developers with "real" customers to help prototype software and test ideas. This was absolutely unique at the time of launch, and something that gained Litmus a lot of attention. I guess it could be deemed a success from that perspective, but the reality is it never caught on. Simply we never convinced developers to embrace the idea. Even now, far too many developers are happy beta testing with friends and family. Referencing Developer Economics again, even in 2011 (not 2008 when we launched Litmus) 58% of developers default to this approach. I find that staggering when the market is totally saturated with apps. Can you really afford to waste time, effort and money developing software that you haven't researched and tested with potential customers? I still hold onto the belief we can make this combination of connecting customers to developers work, but for now I'm putting in on hold ;-) We did launch BlueVia with the same concept of a beta catalogue for developers to share early versions of their software, however we listened to ourselves - it just makes the 30 second pitch of what BlueVia is just too complicated, so we took the decision to remove it. Fail fast and all that! You never know it may re-appear in the future. So it just leaves me to thank all the O2 and Telefonica people and the teams at MyAgency and 33 Digital that poured hours of their time into creating and running Litmus. Thank to all the developers and customers that signed up, and thanks to all the journalists and analysts that wrote about it. Hopefully the evolution from Litmus to BlueVia is evident for all to see, and I'm looking forward to taking the next step in making Telefonica a credible partner for developers.

Today Elayne delivered our first webinar explaining how the recent launch of BlueVia will effect O2 UK's incumbent developer program, O2 Litmus. The slides from the webinar are embedded below: To summerise, BlueVia already offers significant improvements over O2 Litmus, including:

• More powerful API's with RESTful interfaces and OAuth
• Revenue generating business models wrapping the API's
• Integrated publication into Telefonica's App Stores in Argentina and Spain
• UK API's + API's in Argentina and Mexico
• A comprehensive roadmap adding new API's, business models and countries throughout 2011

As BlueVia already represents a clear progression on from O2 Litmus, the plan is for BlueVia to replace O2 Litmus around the March / April 2011 time frame. Existing O2 Litmus developer accounts will be automatically migrated to BlueVia unless the developer chooses to opt out of the migration process. To stay in touch with these exciting developments follow @bluevia, sign up at www.bluevia.com, watch our BlueVia tutorials,and become a fan of our Facebook page.

A while back I had the pleasure of speaking at @Mobile held at the Edinburgh School of Informatics. You can read my write up here. The full channel with the recordings from the whole event is here. I've embedded my talk and the Q&A below.

Just to draw your attention to a recent talk delivered by Derek McManus, CTO of O2 UK at the 'Planet of the Apps' conference in London (note the link goes to the 2011 show site, I can't seem to find any archive content from the recent event, which is a shame) Derek explores the approach Telefonica and O2 are taking to work more collaboratively with the developer community in this edit of the full talk. Derek McManus, Planet of the Apps, November 2010 from O2 Litmus on Vimeo. To hear more from Derek, check out this recent Podcast he recorded with us, exploring the challenges of optimising mobile apps for the mobile network environment.

Yesterday I was kindly invited up to Edinburgh by the Interactive Scotland team Alisdair, Debbie and Anna-Marie to speak at their @Mobile event, hosted at the Edinburgh School of Informatics. There was a good healthy turnout with around 80 people in the room. First up we heard from Jim Morish from Analysys Mason. The highlight for me was Jim’s observation that people can’t just buy themselves out of the phone O/S fragmentation problem – not everyone one can afford an iPhone, so he sees a continuing opportunity for other Smartphone O/S’s, especially in developing markets. This was backed up by his analysis on the app catalogues for iPhone & Symbian. Jim noted that there is far more diversity in international language support with Symbian apps compared to iPhone, reflecting the platforms strength in developing markets. With the insight gathered from OSiM fresh in my mind, I took the opportunity to talk about the growing need for developers to think about the marketing challenges facing them, and the need to test and build a fan base ahead of publishing into App Stores and risking those dreaded 1 or 2 star ratings. My slides from the talk are available on Slideshare: I think the message was well received, especially when companies like Screenmedia who are operating at the coal face backed up the message with their learning’s. Thanks to @stephanierieger, @linedigital, @flackboy for the kind words. While we were sitting on the panel Graham Cruickshanks came up with a genius idea during a quick side conversation whist we were discussing the impact of apps on the mobile data network. The idea was the mobile app equivalent of an EU home appliance energy label, or a US Energy Star label, which would inform consumers about the resource consumption of the app in question. This rating could measure everything from battery drain, memory usage & storage at the handset level, through to the amount of traffic it generates across the network. Of course the fewer resources an app consumes, the more environmentally friendly it becomes. Is anyone aware of a similar initiative? Let me know if you are, as I’m firing off this idea off to a few people and see if we can get some momentum behind it. I’ll let you know how I get on... Till next time

Below a video showcasing #Blue, a new API released by O2 UK with support from O2 Litmus. The clip also describes how developers have taken the raw API and built new services like SMS Owl. We gave the video its glitsey world premier at the recent Mobile 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Would love to know what you think...  

The following post is a reproduction of my guest blog on VisionMobile.com - please see here for the original. The noise level around Apps and App Stores has reached saturation point. Every day a new launch, a new report, or a new statistic hits the newswires. We have passed the point where there are now more people accessing the internet via a mobile device than via a PC, overall revenue from mobile apps (including ads, payments, and in-app transactions) is expected to grow to $17.5 billion in 2012 from $4.1 billion today, the iTunes store has delivered more than 3 billion downloads, an App is downloaded every 22 seconds from Nokia’s Ovi store, there are more than 30,000 Apps available in the Android store...you get the idea... There can be no doubt that the explosion of interest around the App ecosystem brought home just how important mobile will be as a future content delivery channel, typified by the increasing number of App’s being produced by leading brands. No digital marketer worth their salt would now neglect having an app story in their digital marketing plan, even if in all honesty some are not quite sure why! However, make no mistake that we are still firmly in the realms of a version 1.0 ecosystem. The App retail delivery platforms are still very basic; in fact they have not yet significantly evolved in terms of features and capabilities from the content delivery platforms that were offering mobile games, wallpapers and ringtones at the beginning of the decade. The Apps themselves are clearly “dumb”. What do I mean by “dumb?” The vast majority of today’s App’s sit on the customer’s handset and have no understanding, or appreciation of its context or the person using it. Yes, increasing numbers of Apps are using location to introduce geographic context, but that is hardly pushing the boundaries of the art of the possible. To take the App ecosystem to version 2.0, Apps have to become “smart”. I believe this is where Mobile Operators finally have a key role to play in the progression of the App ecosystem. Of course this role is not a divine right. The Mobile Operators need to go through considerable change in order to be able to contribute effectively. That change is both technological: opening up “smart enablers” to allow developers to easily consume these capabilities, and secondly: culturally – to embrace the independent developer community and relax their traditional command and control philosophy for mutual gain. So what does a “smart app” look like? Well consider today’s customer experience. You run an app and it is a one size fits all experience i.e. the app behaves exactly the same way for every one of its users, regardless of who they are, and how they are using it. Imagine a “smart” app that could customise the user experience based on intelligent, real time, information delivered from the Mobile Operator. Examples of a Mobile Operators unique enhancements to the customer experience could include:

• On the fly customisation of the App UI based on a detailed understanding of the device currently being used. Remember that increasing numbers of customers are SIM swapping. How do you know that a customer using your service on a Monday via an iPhone is now using your service on a Tuesday using the same SIM in a 3G dongle connected to a Netbook?
• On the fly customisation of content richness based on knowledge of the users  current connection speed (e.g. 2.5g, 3G, WiFi). For example trying to force rich video content to a customer on a slower 2.5G data connection will probably deliver such a poor customer experience they will never use your app again. If you know in real time their connection speed, you can deliver the most appropriate experience.
• Personalisation of content and configuration of your App UI based on user demographics (gender, age, location, social economic profile, etc)
• Targeting & profiling of the audience based on segmentation information e.g. travel profile (stationary, commuter, jet-setter), spend segment (>€100 per month, €50-100 per month, €30-50, etc.
• Micro billing to the customer’s mobile bill or debits from their pre pay balance at VISA like transactions rates.
• In App interactivity via messaging or calling
• Up selling the customer from a basic service to a premium guaranteed service (for example low ping rate for multiplayer gaming apps).
• Then for the owner of the App, post usage analytics providing data like who, where, how long their users are consuming their services, and other customers of the Mobile Operator that match their current users profile, who could be targeted by a marketing campaign.

Examples of the enablers that Mobile Operators could deploy include; quality of service, billing, handset information, customer analytics, network traffic analytics, messaging, call management, location, age verification, tariff information. The list can go on and on, and in fact in our own planning sessions we have identified over 50 potential enablers. This is a more intelligent way of developing not only the App, but also the business opportunity. Via the Network Operators turning their network infrastructure and assets into a plug and play platform, Mobile Operators become vital in the creation process of the second wave of 'intelligent' apps that can deliver far richer experiences for users which will drive adoption, longevity, and profitability. Evangelisation and education on the benefits of creating “smart” Apps is crucial – this won’t just happen by itself. We are at the start of the process, and many companies are only now trying to get to grips with their App 1.0 strategy. To ensure Mobile Operators both identify and capitalise on the opportunity to become relevant in the App ecosystem, it is vital they adopt an open and transparent approach. Therefore there cannot be enough effort to bring together the various players in the App ecosystem to share thinking, create strategy and influence product roadmaps, and marketing plans. A great example of this is the Mobile Entertainment Forums Smart Enabler Initiative. I’d strongly recommend you check it out and get involved. Critically the experiences and enablers I have described here are not commercial reality today. Talking and listening to developers will be essential to ensure that the Mobile Operators invest in the right technology enablers and introduce compelling business models to encourage their adoption. Of course enablers are just one piece of a complex App ecosystem. There are many other challenges that hinder unlocking the full commercial value of the market place, not least the fragmentation and choices available to developers at the handset Operating System level. However, our approach is the same: dialogue and insight. That is exactly why O2 Litmus has partnered with Vision Mobile to undertake the largest developer research to date. We're encouraging all mobile developers to participate, and we look forward to sharing the results with you all. Have your say at visionmobile.com/developers. I’d welcome your thoughts on both this piece and some key questions it poses:

• Have you used a Mobile Operator enabler? What was the experience like?
• What enablers do you need to make your App “smart”?
• How can we effectively spread this message?

A quick introductory post to formally welcome Debi Jones to the Telefonica Developer Community team. Debi's role will be to lead the editorial and community management strategy, to fuel our growing ambition in the Developer space. Many of you will already know Debi, and you can see her work on her personal blog: www.mobilejones.com This is a great win for the team and I'm really excited about the contribution Debi will make to help establish Telefonica in the Developer community. Debi dives straight into the deep end, pulling together our coverage of Mobile World Congress. Keep an eye on my Twitter feed for the URL of the site. You can contact Debi here:  email: mojo@mobilejones.com Twitter www.twitter.com/mojosd

Next week brings the daddy of all mobile related events, Mobile World Congress. I'm aiming to write throughout the week at MWC, as I did in 2009, but who knows if those good intentions will be delivered upon! I definitely will be glued to Twitter, so be sure to follow me for updates from the show . If you are going to MWC, you will find the O2 Litmus team at the following events, and if you want to hook up there, ping me:

• 15th: Mobile Premier Awards
• 15th: Presenting on "Supporting Developers" in the main MWC conference agenda
• 15th: Presenting at the LiMo Foundation seminar
• 18th: Participating in the WIP Jam in App Planet
• And throughout the show we are sponsoring and hanging out at the Symbian Foundation lounge

There is a great Developers guide to MWC 2010 by WIP - download it here. Anyhow, before the world goes into MWC melt down I thought I would post a quick update on the manic start to 2010. [caption id="attachment_233" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="O2 Litmus & Palm Bar Camp, 08.02.10. Snapped on my Pre, of course!"] [/caption] Last night our friends from Palm were back in town, and we held another well received joint O2 Litmus / Palm barcamp - you can check out the real time feedback from the event here, and you can check out the photo's here. We also ran a competition with O2 Customers to win some Palm Pre's, asking them to what ends would they go to get their hands on one. Some amusing responses here. One last quick plug for our Developer research with Vision Mobile.  I’d encourage all mobile developers to participate and help set the standards for the future of mobile software development. All participants will be included in a draw for 21 great prizes, including 1 participant wins €500 in Amazon Vouchers, 20 participants win a glossy A1 wallchart of the Mobile Industry Atlas, the definitive who’s who of the mobile ecosystem. Next up is Innovate!2010. Innovate!2010 is a global competition to identify and accelerate the Innovate!100: The World’s 100 Most Promising Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Startups. Innovate!2010 is unique in that it features a series of distributed pitching and networking events 20+ startup centers across Europe and the US, and a completely transparent ranking based Guidewire Group’s G/Score Assessment Methodology. The program is being supported by a prestigious group of market-leading companies like Best Buy, HP, Motorola, O2 Litmus, RIM, SAP, Sun, SWIFT and Verizon, dozens of early-stage investors, and marquee media partners.   The program works like this:

• Startups apply online to compete for expert feedback & validation, promotion, and over $100,000 in prizes.
• Guidewire Group’s analysts will select 250-300 of the most promising startups - Innovate!100 Finalists - to pitch at one of 20+ networking events called Pitch Slams.
• At each Pitch Slam, a panel of judges trained to conduct G/Score Assessments, score companies as they pitch to an audience of more than 100 local investors, entrepreneurs, technology executives and members of the media.
• After all of the Pitch Slams, top-ranking are be named to the Innovate!100 and enjoy global promotion.
• A follow-on program, called the Innovate! Connection Program offers all of the Innovate!100 Finalists pre-qualified introductions to potential partners, investors and customers for a fee.

Startups with a completed alpha and at one full time employee are eligible to apply for $75 (approximately €54). All applicants will receive 2 free passes to their local Pitch Slams, online pitch training, and free online promotion through a network of over 5,000 news websites. Entrepreneurs, investors, technology executives and other member of the startup ecosystem are invited to register to attend Pitch Slams for $50 in the US or €40 in Europe. Hear Mike Sigal, the organiser talking about Innovate!2010 here: Ok, I think that's enough for now - contiune to check out O2 Litmus, our sister communities in Spain and Mexico, and get invloved!

Since I first starting working on the O2 Litmus concept back in early 2008, I have always tried to ensure our strategy and plans have been under pinned by a clear understanding of both developer needs, and the requirements of O2's customers. To date we have conducted four major pieces of developer & customer research in 2008 and then refreshing in 2009. Continuing in this tradition, I'm pleased to announce we are sponsoring a new, ambitious research project by VisionMobile that will benchmark the developer experience across all 8 major platforms (iPhone, Android, Symbian, Java ME, RIM, Windows Mobile, Flash Lite or mobile web). I'd encourage all mobile developers to participate and help set the standards for the future of mobile software development. Prizes All participants will be included in a draw for 21 great prizes:  - 1 participant wins €500 in Amazon Vouchers  - 20 participants win a glossy A1 wallchart of the Mobile Industry Atlas, the definitive who's who of the mobile ecosystem. + chance to win 1 free MWC pass: Participants who register by Friday 5th February will automatically be entered into a prize draw for a complimentary entry pass to Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona (a value of €599), supplied by us. Participate VisionMobile is inviting mobile software developers to one-on-one phone interviews for an opportunity to have your say on the future of mobile platforms. Register today at visionmobile.com/developers. Results will be published in Q2 2010. Are you are a mobile application developer? Love or hate your mobile OS? Have your SAY!