Today, there are billions of end-user devices – for example: mobile handsets, televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, security locks, computers, DVD players and recorders, satellite set-top boxes, music systems, routers and modems, and iPods.
These devices deliver different end-user experiences such as listening to music, making voice calls, surfing the internet, watching movies, and securing the premises. A certain convergence of these services and experiences is also highly noticeable. For example, a mobile handset that acts as a music player, or a television enabling value-added services such as advertising and searching.
With a plethora of devices, until now it has been the end-user that had to manage them to be able to use their various exposed services. This could provide a barrier for deploying new services as, sometimes, the end users have to have some technological expertise. However, as these services become more and more complex and the end-user becomes more and more demanding about their ease of use, the onus is on the stakeholders to deliver an end-to-end device management approach that cuts across different devices, delivery mechanisms, technologies, content and services.
So going forward, the responsibility to make the new services run effectively on the end-user devices, to promote subscriber uptake and to deliver positive business results, rests with the device manufacturers and the service providers, to make technology transparent for end users. This will be crucial for business players that hope to become end-to-end service providers, for example, telecom service providers that are looking to break into television and advertising domain through IPTV and Mobile TV services.
Throughout the history of devices and the services provided on these devices, we have observed a silo approach to delivering and managing different services. However, recently, we have seen that for the new and more complex services such as MMS and GPRS to succeed in terms of enrichment of end-user experience, the service providers have to make sure that the services are delivered the same way across different access mechanisms. That is, for quadruple-play to succeed, a common approach to the management of these devices is crucial. This is not only a requirement from a cost saving perspective but is also important for a standardized end-user experience that assures the end-user of the same level of device management support across different devices. Hence, the need for standards is being felt in the device management domain.
The standards must be capable to guide businesses in their investment decisions when investigating different device management solutions. A common device management approach across networks, delivery mechanisms and devices will help everyone in the value chain.
When communications, music and TV were all separate sectors, different approaches to managing the end-user devices that delivered them worked just fine. In many cases there was no management because with broadcast media, it was fairly easy to separate any problems with the service, like TV signals, from the TV set device. But in the “any content on any network on any device” converging world, where information and entertainment is personalized to the user, that approach no longer works.
Today’s online information, communications and entertainment services are complex and there is a growing need to be able to deliver service quality to the user, on whatever the device the service is being consumed – a TV, PC, games console or mobile handset. There is significant momentum building to reduce the amount of fragmentation in the market as this is a major barrier to the success of content and information-based services and the further development of one-one advertising.
With today’s technology it is possible to move information and content seamlessly from end-device to end-device. The device does not determine the service. The day is gone when a TV offered only television, a computer - only software, an Xbox - only games, and a mobile device - only calls.
However, the management of devices has to move to a universal approach if users are going to be able to forget about the internal differences of each.
So while these differences exist, they only need to be different where absolutely necessary – e.g. where the underlying transport protocols are different or where there are some device specific characteristics that need to be satisfied.
Industry Statistics
- More than 100 million video views are generated on YouTube every day. As of February 2008, 70 million videos are hosted on the site, and 3 million channels have been set up by the users.
- Users of 3 UK’s SeeMeTV and O2 UK’s LookAtMe generate 28 million mobile page impressions per month, and have paid for more than 32 million downloads.
- 43 billion SMS were sent by mobile phone users worldwide during the 2007/2008 Christmas and New Year holiday period.
- Over 1 billion camera phones were in use in 2007, 250 million MMS were sent every day globally.
- Over 100 million blogs exist on the Internet, over 1.6 million new posts every day.
- World of Warcraft has surpassed 10 million players (subscribers) worldwide.
- Media Networking Software Frameworks (UPnP and DLNA) to Fuel Over 2.7 Billion Network-Enabled Devices Shipments by 2012
|