LIVE FROM APP PLANET FORUM AT THE GSMA MOBILE ASIA CONGRESS 2010: The benefits of creating apps which use APIs that enable tighter integration with the operator network were trumpeted at this week’s GSMA App Planet event, although it was also noted that the procedures for doing this are not simple, leading many developers to focus on other areas to provide more compelling products. Network APIs can support features including location-enhanced presence, so that app users can see the status and availability of friends; click-to-dial; public subscriber profile access; and the integration of IM and SMS with desktop apps. A number of steps are being made to address the complexity associated with adding network features to apps, in order to enable developers to create richer products than previously available.

Garth Stewart, COO of contact management solutions company Synapse, said that currently, developers are focusing their efforts on creating strong stand-alone apps which make little use of network capabilities – but for good reason. Previously, operators have not made the integration process easy, which has made the use of network APIs costly, time-consuming and hard work. “When Synapse first wanted to sell its OneDirectory platform, we were selling to a telco in New Zealand. They were really happy with the solution, and they were even happier with our price, but the whole thing fell over when the product manager took a call from the network people to see how much to integrate. The answer was twice the cost of the project. The business case just sank.”

However, various developments have made integration with networks more cost efficient, with Synapse working with Alcatel-Lucent and Telecom New Zealand to deploy a solution – “within a couple of months, with one or two people working on it, we went from discussing the ideas, to having a working demonstration. And the really cool thing about it was that all our effort went into developing the app, and not with the integration, which was the complete reversal of our previous experiences with custom integration,” Stewart said.

Shane Logan, director of Services Architecture for Canadian operator Telus, used the event to highlight some of the experiences gained through its involvement in the GSMA’s OneAPI project, which has seen a unified network API made available to developers, to enable access to network features across all of the main operators in the country. “The last 18 months have been quite exciting, we’ve seen a lot of creativity in the mobile application world. However, most of that creativity is taking place on the device platforms themselves. To drive that creativity further, the next step is to open network capabilities to those same developers, and give them easy access to capabilities that the networks provide,” he said.

Logan notes twice the level of interest from the developer community than originally expected, with 24 percent of initial projects progressing to become “live” deployments – compared with the 10 percent anticipated. Overwhelmingly, operators are using network APIs to support operator billing, with other features exposed – SMS and location data – performing significantly less well. This was attributed to the pricing model used for these features, which has proved a deterrent to widespread adoption.

OneAPI does lead to a number of challenges for operators, many of which are cultural, organisational and legal rather than technical. “We have multiple carriers working together, and you need a common face or a single entity for the developers to work with. In the case of OneAPI, that is the GSMA,” said Logan.

It was this week announced that OneAPI will be integrated with the mobile app platform being developed by the Wholesale Applications Community, to enable developers to access network features. Logan said the next stages in the development of OneAPI include a shift from pilot to full commercial status; sharing findings with other operators globally; and continuing to expand the functionality available to developers.