Press Coverage

Telstra today announced the introduction of an innovative new mobile user interface - TelstraOne Experience, giving customers one-click access to the applications and services they regularly use on their mobile phone.

Ms Glenice Maclellan, Executive Director, Telstra Consumer, said TelstraOne Experience gives customers the ability to fully customise their mobile phone interface to meet their individual requirements.

Telstra is using customised handset firmware to promote its online services to mobile customers.

Rather than simply providing the handset and connectivity and letting customers choose which services suit them best, the ‘TelstraOne Experience’ promotes content and services from Telstra and related companies (eg Foxtel and Sensis).

The interface has initially been implemented on the Motorola Motosurf A3100 and the Sony Ericsson W705.

In addition to a revamped interface, Telstra has also announced two new phones to their line-up: Sony Ericsson W705 and Motorola Motorsurf A3100.

In what is being described as a “revolutionary” mobile event for Telstra (well, that’s what Telstra are calling it), the introduction of a new mobile interface known as TelstraOne makes for a supposedly easier and quicker to use menu system on your mobile. However, whether it will enough to wean customers off shiny iPhones and Android mobiles may be paramount to this strategy. 

TELSTRA has released a custom-designed mobile user interface that the telco claims will give customers one-click access to regularly used applications and services on their mobile phone.

Dubbed TelstraOne Experience, the fully customisable interface will initially be pre-loaded on the MOTOSURF A3100 and Sony Ericsson W705 handsets. 

Application store launches were one of the lynchpins of this year’s Mobile World Congress, which wrapped up last week in Barcelona. Nokia, Microsoft and Samsung were among the companies jumping into the app store market, joining Palm, Research In Motion and, of course, Apple and Google. Along with this host of new storefronts came another slew of app store-enablers, including operations/business support systems companies Amdocs and Comverse and traditional on-device portal player SurfKitchen. These companies all were angling to help wireless operators gain footing in this crowded market, but given the host of options already available, the question was whether operators should even want in.

Mobile World Congress has been dominated by a flurry of announcements from device vendors and online players about new partnerships and enhancements to their application stores - Nokia, Microsoft and Samsung, to name a few. What has generated far less attention is news from mobile operators about plans for their own application stores or moves in that direction. China Mobile aims to launch its own application store in two phases in 2009; Orange has plans to extend its existing application store to support more operating systems. The question is, can operators replicate the success of Apple, or are they wasting their time and money?

At MWC, multiple companies have launched mobile application stores that seek to build upon Apple’s iPhone success (Microsoft, Nokia, Orange, mPortico, Surfkitchen, Adtonic, PocketGear and others). These join existing announced app stores (including RIM, Google Android, Palm).

These are more than simple me-too initiatives.

A small survey of about 100 Mobile World Congress attendees conducted by SurfKitchen confirmed that mobile Internet services are poised for mainstream adoption. One third of attendees surveyed stated that their mobile Internet usage has more than doubled over the last year, with 67 percent currently relying on WAP and mobile Internet browsers to access mobile Web and data services.

SurfKitchen conducted an informal survey of Mobile World Congress attendees (OK, maybe not the most impartial group) and found 90 percent have increased their mobile Internet usage in the last year with the highest percentage citing email as the most popular service followed by Web browsing and news service.

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there can be no higher tribute to the influence of US technology group Apple than a walk around the Mobile World Congress this year.