Like Mike Rowehl, I really don't get Oliver's excitement about BluePulse. Whilst the app seems to be nicely executed (on my Nokia N70 at least), I err can't really see what it does, other than be some sort of primitive browser-ish thing, paid for with a charge-up account (never a good sign in a new service from a low-profile company, since you're asking your customers to pay someone they don't know for something they've not received and can't use yet).

The RSS newsreader seems quite nice and capable. It's interesting having IM in there too, but the Bluepulse app itself seems to stick an extra layer of indirection between me and the things I want to do (talk to friends, read news) which wouldn't be there if I just used standalone apps. Oh, and just wandering around for a few minutes looking at menus used up 60k of data charges. It doesn't seem to cache much either - running through the app again seemed to run up a similar quantity again.

I'm not keen on the metaphors the UI uses: "show desktop" to return to the home screen of the app? "Control panel"? "Widgets"? All sounds a bit PC for me - *I* find it confusing and I have the misfortune to spend more time digging around phone UIs than most folks.

So tooks to me like an attempt at a land-grab (and a long shot at that): to control the UI for all online services and thereby own the mobile "desktop". I can't see anything about this which makes me think this'll work though - though I wonder what's patentable here, that might make a difference. Can someone pipe up if I'm missing something really obvious and great?

If it's really true that "the more deeply plugged-in to the mobile industry you are, the quicker you get the bluepulse value proposition", I'm starting to feel a bit insecure and disconnected. Still, "If you explain bluepulse to someone, and they don't get it ... whatever they're doing in the mobile space cannot be about broadening the mobile audience or increasing that audience's use of the mobile internet.". Ow! Maybe I'm not "really working in this industry at all" then! Seriously, guys: if your product takes some time to understand, it might be nice not to insult folks who don't get it yet.

But just a sec: "Blue pulse is built on something called OADP or the Open Application Delivery Platform. This platform provides access to mobile applications and content through virtually all mobile phones and various wireless devices. Unlike most of the applications available today that require extensive customization and porting to be used on the hundreds of different devices and dozens of different carriers, OADP allows developers to develop mobile applications without having to worry about porting, connectivity or billing."

A worthy goal, but even if from a technology standpoint Bluepulse does what it says on the tin, it'll suffer from the chicken-and-egg situation of needing an audience before content providers address it in large numbers - and not getting content providers without an audience. As a wise man once said: "Move units, then talk shit and we can do this"

I did like their committment to "we want to foster small developers with big ideas, and unfairly penalise huge corporations with way more money than sense" though ;)

Comments

[alan]

Hi Tom,

I think we've a few more days yet for you to 'get' bluepulse, but sorry if I offended you. Wasn't thinking of you at all when I wrote it (since I didn't know you) but instead some jolly fellows from a certain carrier.

Bluepulse should cache and compress at least as well as anything else out there, indeed we've gotten quite a bit of negative feedback from those same carrier people about that. Perhaps you spent more time refreshing your RSS feeds and checking IM friends statuses than you remember? Reducing data consumption is a major focus for the team - we want to be light and fast. Perhaps we need to be lighter and faster?

Fair criticism meanwhile for our 'desktop' functionality...
http://bluepulseblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/bluepulse-strongly-polarises-mobile.html

[Oliver Starr]

Tom, thanks for reading and commenting on MobileCrunch. Even dissenting views are appreciated. Because you and several others have asked this question, please see my response over at MobileCrunch. Basically, I think that people are looking at this far too deeply as a technological issue and not nearly deeply enough as a strategic one. I try to look at things from the broad perspective of a more average user-base and it is here where I think that bluepulse has legs. content management systems like Word Pres for example are not all that unique or technically advanced, however look at the massive adoption they've driven because they so drastically lowered the bar to web content development. This was good for everyone and I see bluepulse in much the same light. Also, I don't know if you looked at it that carefully, the only fees they attempt to charge are those for more "premium" widgets. I didn't pay a dime to install it on 2 handsets or test it fairly thouroughly.

Cheers,

Oliver Starr
MobileCrunch.com

[Tom Hume]

Oliver - I'm trying to take the same perspective as you, but am coming to different conclusions.

Is BluePulse for the average user? How will the average user get it? What will persuade them to download a new content platform onto their phone, get it configured, and use it over and above the content services bundled with their phone which are typically one-click from the homescreen?

What will persuade them to enter into a new billing relationship with an unknown company for these services?

Wordpress has done well, I'd argue, because it's free... even if Bluepulse don't charge for the "free widgets" (which by and large duplicate stuff you can already get for your phone if it's not there), you're still paying data charges when you use it. What free widgets are available beyond the 4 bundled?

[Tom Hume]

Alan - I can see data traffic occurring over my S60 handset when I go to any widget - and revisit it for the first time. Images seem to load in slowly each time rather than being cached. I read a single headline in RSS once and didn't do much in the way of IM.

[Daniel]

I think the exciting thing about Blue Pulse is the ability to create your own widgets, including ones that will generate revenue for it. If that idea can catch on the sky is the limit. You or I could develp that must have widget that creates a form of income for us, and we haven't had to create any of the technology behind it.

[Tom Hume]

Isn't that what any technology platform - WAP, the web, J2ME, Symbian.

I appreciate that some of these will involve more technical knowledge than others, but there's some expertise required to do BluePulse widgets, no?

[Oliver Starr]

Tom, I thought I might suggest that you take another look at bluepulse. They've started to get some developer support at an organic level and they've got a slew of new widgets that are fairly compelling; say checking real time traffic cams on a MIDP1 Phone? Perhaps if you consider the number of phones this can reach you'll at least see some of the reason why I was (and continue to be) very excited by the bluepulse concept.

Best,

Oliver Starr

[alan jones]

Daniel, WAP is slow and cumbersome on a mobile phone. WAP delivers a browser experience, and browsing's not a great experience on a mobile phone.

J2ME, Symbian, etc allow you to develop something better suited for use on a mobile phone, but they are expensive to develop, and if you wish to reach a broad mobile audience, you need the financial backing to be able to develop and then support your J2ME app in at least 20 different flavours for different handset implementations, plus a few flavours for Symbian. Most commercial developers, and no enthusiasts, are able to do that.

For mobile content and services to take off, publishers need a way to reach a broad mobile audience without having to take on all that cross-platform support. Bluepulse gives them that - adds a layer of abstraction that takes care of support for all the different flavours of MIDP1, MIDP2, as well as Symbian.

Bluepulse even removes the $$ barrier - the development platform is free to use. The traffic webcam widget Oliver mentions above was written in a week by an enthusiast with some free time and access to the webcam feeds. And because Bluepulse uses an XML subset he could use his web development skills to build it - no need to learn how to write a J2ME app or code in WML. See:
http://bluepulseblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/webcam-traffic-reports-on-your-phone.html