There’s no standard specific to ODPs, however a number of UI protocols and technology are being standardised:

- OMA LFC, is a client-server protocol for remote configuration of device look and feel
- OMA DCD, a client-server protocol for content subscription, management and delivery to an application
- JCP JSR 258, a standard which enables description and manipulation of UI themes and skins.
- W3C Widgets, aa standard for packaging, describing, scripting and auto-discovering widgets

Andreas

Thanks,

Jorge

I ‘m sure many vendors claim to be providing flexible UI customisation solutions, but this positioning is not helpful neither to their customers, nor to the companies themselves. UI customisation can be anything from menu skinning (e.g. Nokia Carbide UI theme edition) to a complete rewrite of the core apps and therefore the UI flows (e.g. Digital Airways). The 30 players I have listed above typically provide some form of ‘rich content rendering’ via dedicated client apps, which is why I consider them to be on-device portals. Some of them may also provide home screen replacement and also classify as desktop UIs, etc.

As to the user having the freedom to choose any desired ODP, we as an industry are very far from that reality. The reason is that there are very high user barriers to distributing, discovering, accessing and downloading applications, let alone knowing how much it’s all going to cost you (that’s an equation only the operator billing systems can figure out!).

In conclusion, I think the term ODP has brought a lot of clarity to the industry (which is why SurfKitchen, Cibenix, Action Engine, Comverse, U-Turn, etc have adopted the term). I ‘m personally in favour of clear value positioning, as it accelerates market understanding and operator/manufacturer buying decisions and helps the industry move forward a bit quicker.

Andreas

Hopefully mobile user has the freedom to choose any desired ODP, adopt a web approach?

about buying big macs with mobile phonesjulie ask at jupiterresearch about another defeat for mobile spammersdean bubley at disruptive analysis about o2 and carphone warehouse… pathetic sim registration systemandreas constantinou at visionmobile about on-device portals: sardines in a canjack gold at j. gold associates via computerworld about cisco (csco) and apple (aapl): a win-win?matthew hoffman at cowen & co., oppenheimer analyst lawrence harris, albert lin at american technology

about Buying Big Macs with Mobile PhonesJulie Ask at JupiterResearch about Another Defeat for Mobile SpammersDean Bubley at Disruptive Analysis about O2 and Carphone Warehouse… pathetic SIM registration systemAndreas Constantinou at VisionMobile about On-device portals: Sardines in a canJack Gold at J. Gold Associates via Computerworld about Cisco (CSCO) and Apple (AAPL): A Win-Win?Matthew Hoffman at Cowen & Co., Oppenheimer analyst Lawrence Harris, Albert Lin at American Technology

that it works in Firefox and is more compelling than the PC desktop clients they’ve built to date). Will Nokia get this right or will it take an Apple, a Google (via Android and/or their own ODP), a Yahoo or even one of the existing mobileOn Device Portal vendorsto show them how ? We’ll see. I’m still waiting for my Ovi beta invite so cannot judge yet and as ever it will all be down to the execution. Interesting announcements though all the same as the big N move to tie the web and mobile together,

Container projects: The next chapter in handset customisation (June 07) – Motorola’s UIQ: Diversion or U-Turn? (October 07) Theme: OEM strategies – The headaches of being a handset OEM (April 07) Theme: Service delivery technologies -On-device portals: Sardines in a can(February 07) – Activating the idle screen (June 07) Theme: open source in mobile – Sun’s open source Java policy will mean very little for the mobile industry (September 07) – Bye Bye Browser (April 07)