Ericsson give itself UN-style role to get mobile web carriers round the table

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Ericsson give itself UN-style role to get mobile web carriers round the table

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 26 June, 2009

READ MORE: Ericsson

Unperturbed by the loss of its CEO to oil giant BP, Ericsson was this week holding its Business Innovation Forum to showcase its vision for future mobile services, and its own targeted role in supporting these - particularly negotiating between operators to establish common platforms for new service delivery and interoperability.

It was talking up its own technology edge, with demonstrations of R&D projects such as an integrated platform to unify video and TV on cellphones, in-car systems and home networks, and many applications relying on RFID smart tags being embedded in every handset. "The internet changed telecom, mobility changed the internet," said senior technology adviser and senior VP Jan Uddenfeldt.

Two interesting themes emerged in particular - embedding yet more functionality into handsets so that they can support new ways of working and playing in future; and Ericsson's planned role in the application stores/services boom among operators.

Uddenfeldt explained in a keynote address that an important part of Ericsson's bid to generate new revenue streams will rely on taking its expertise to carriers, to set up 'brokering services' and help them establish their own businesses in areas like unified communications and apps stores. This is a similar message to that of Alcatel-Lucent, which put support for carrier Web 2.0 services plans at the heart of its turnaround plan last fall.

Ericsson already supplies brokering in the messaging and billing areas, and some others are developing, including video content, but it wants to boost its activities in software stores and carrier advertising. It sees such services as an important way to boost margins and make itself indispensable to operators even as hardware commoditizes, and also a tactic to increase its US market position. US operators are usually slower to cooperate with one another in areas like interoperability, said Uddenfeldt, but as they develop their own stores and ad platforms, these will need to work together via open APIs and other interfaces. Getting operators to agree on such platforms is one of the tasks Ericsson foresees in its role of broker.

Also echoing ALU was the stress on embedding RFID and NFC (Near Field Communications technology for swipe-based functions like contactless payments) in every device. Ericsson sees this as the basis for a new wave of operator controlled services, which it can help its customers to establish and commercialize.

All new phones will include an RFID chip by next summer, allowing the handset to become a transport ticket, payment card, house key and many other functions. This was the prediction of Ericsson's VP of systems architecture, HÃ¥kan Djuphammar. "A year from now basically every new phone that's sold will have Near Field Communication. It's a two-way, bidirectional RFID communication link that makes this device work as a tag or as a reader", with SIM-based security and integration with location awareness.