New software to bring internet to low-cost mobile phones

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 25: Microsoft on Monday unveiled software that lets Twitter, Facebook and other hot Internet services be delivered to low-cost mobile “feature phones” common in developing countries.
The US technology giant will debut OneApp in South Africa and hopes to swiftly roll it out in India, China and other countries where millions of people use feature phones instead of powerful smart phones.
“We designed OneApp from the ground up on feature phones with very limited memory and processing capabilities,” said Amit Mital, corporate vice president of the Unlimited Potential Group and Startup Business Accelerator at Microsoft.
“OneApp will be able to help people do things they couldn’t do before with their feature phone — anything from paying their bills to help ing diagnose their health issues or just staying connected with friends and family.” Feature phones typically combine calling capabilities with one or two other functions such as playing music or games.
Such devices rely on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks with users unable to browse the Internet and typically paying as they go to download data. In contrast, smart phones are essentially pocketsized computers with wireless Internet connectivity.
“With a GPRS-enabled cell phone, consumers can now be part of the app experience, which is taking the world by storm,” said Mark Levy, joint chief executive of Blue Label Telecoms.
Microsoft teamed with Blue Label Telecoms to make OneApp part of a new “mibli” mobile service to be offered free in South Africa, according to Mital.
“We’re particularly excited by the technology’s capacity to transform nearly any cell phone into a highly sophisticated, cost-effective and userfriendly transactional device,” Levy said.
Feature phones are far more common than smart phones in emerging markets, according to Microsoft.
“Right now you have smart phones that are really expensive and feature phones that are free or near-free, and there is a grey area in the middle,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
“This could close the gray area. It’s a win for folks who didn’t think feature phones were capable enough for them but didn’t want to spend the money on a smartphone.” The rate of mobile telephone adoption in places such as India and China is meteoric, with a clear hunger for access to popular Internet services such as social networks and microblogging, Mital said.
OneApp hosts software “in the cloud” — as a service on the Internet — so a feature phone’s scant power can be devoted temporarily to whichever applications people opt for, according to Microsoft.
“Think of it as a caching mechanism where the Internet is the place your data is stored and then, when needed, downloaded to the phone,” Mital said.
“It means resources are only being used for a single application at any moment, lowering data charges, which is especially important in markets where people don’t have all-you-can-eat data plans.” A standardised OneApp platform for applications should let developers take advantage of economies of scale, opening flood gates for new programmes for feature phones, according to Enderle.—AFP


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