VisionMobile: VisionMobile Case Study Presents Mobile Operator Strategy for Increasing ARPU through Mass-Market Smartphones and Partner Services

VisionMobile, a leading market analysis and strategy firm, today announced the availability of a new case study about Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider with 46 million subscribers. The case study provides an inside look behind the Netphone™ – a new series of affordable mobile phones and tablets developed by Smart, aimed at increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) among mass-market consumers.

The case study, “Smart’s Netphone: Telco Innovation in the Software Era,” presents how Smart – one of the world’s top 20 mobile network operators (MNO) – is creating an innovative user experience that combines services and applications from Smart and its partners by leveraging both Android and the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) specification.

The Netphone features a range of operator-developed apps, including balance check, unified chat, sender-pays email, connected address book, global directory, social radio and Smart Money. The phone also comes bundled with applications from local services brands where Smart has established revenue share agreements on Netphone-initiated transactions.

Smart’s Netphone offers three important lessons for the operator community. First, Smart has focused on its core services (messaging, address book, and mobile money), leaving all other applications to business partners. Second, rather than use the traditional RFI/RFQ software procurement process, Smart has pursued an ‘agile’ development process with three-month develop-learn-fix cycles. Third, over-the- air software updates mean new services can reach Smart’s entire base of deployed Netphones faster.

“Mobile operators are looking at the Smart initiative with anticipation,” said Andreas Constantinou, Research Director of VisionMobile. “The Netphone marks the latest telco attempt at innovating in the era of software, by building on both the telco (WAC) and software (Android) worlds.”

The case study, which is sponsored by Red Bend Software, is available for download from: http://www.visionmobile.com/Smart

About VisionMobile

VisionMobile is a leading market analysis and strategy firm for all the things connected. We offer competitive analysis, market due diligence, industry maps, corporate training and strategy guidance, ranging from the industry's hottest trends to under the radar market sectors. Our mantra: distilling market noise into market sense. To find out more, visitwww.visionmobile.com.

Contacts

SVM Public Relations for Red Bend:
Jill Colna, + 1-401-490-9700
jill.colna@svmpr.com