Telefonica UK closed its O2 Litmus app project, which has now been superseded by its BlueVia efforts. According to a blog entry by James Parton, head of developer marketing for O2 UK, the work “was vital for building our understanding of the needs of developers when working with a telco,” but that “one of the key learnings was it was too complex…many people just didn’t get what Litmus actually was.”

Litmus was launched late in 2008, and offered a number of features – Parton said that “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.” One of the headline features was the ability for developers to upload apps and receive feedback from users, to prototype software and test ideas. Parton describes the failure of this to generate traction as a “personal disappointment,” noting that “simply, we never convinced developers to embrace the idea.”

Telefonica announced BlueVia late last year, supported by four of its national operations – Movistar Argentina, Movistar Mexico, Movistar Spain and O2 UK. Its intention is to provide developers with access to APIs in order to create enhanced apps, for example enabling mobile advertising and providing access to user context information.