WIP Jam Sessions - Connecting Developers

Meet the Ericsson team at WIPJam

The Ericsson team will be joining the upcoming WIP Jam session at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We are scheduled for Thursday, February 18 as part of the new App Planet in Hall 7. We wanted to find out from our Sponsors what Jammers can expect to see and learn from them at the Jam session, so we under took this interview.

1. So who are we going to meet at WIPJam from the Ericsson team?

The Ericsson team that will be participating at WIP Jam will consist of Johan Olander, Jonas Wilhelmsson, Konstantin Zervas, and Elena Fersman. We are working with end-to-end solutions that bring developers and mobile operators together, help developers distribute their applications in an efficient way, and enhance applications with new capabilities.  Konstantin will be part of UnPanel #2: Appstore Placement Optimization taking place from 2:00pm to 3:00pm.

2. Ericsson is not part of the traditional mobile developer landscape and most people would associate you with the infrastructure side. However we have seen a lot of developer focused activities and initiatives from Ericsson lately, what has changed?

It is because of the paradigm shift. We are moving from the closed garden where operator assets were only accessible by a small number of dedicated developers, to the open garden where anyone can build applications based on operator network infrastructure. Ericsson is still focused on delivering network infrastructure, but also on the exposure of these assets to developers in form of easy-to-use light-weight APIs. And now we will also serve as a link between developers and operators with the marketplace and hosted application store that we have built in order to provide an efficient go-to-market channel for developers.

3. Your activities tend to focus on network infrastructure and billing APIs, could you explain how mobile developers can use those to increase their revenues?

Capabilities in the network such as messaging, location and payment bring value to mobile applications. Enhance the application with location and it will sell better. Or include one-click payment into your game and end-users will start to purchase more. Advertising is another way of getting revenue – spread your free application and get paid for the ads that the consumers will see when they launch it. Or come to the Ericsson application marketplace and we will take care of the distribution and retail for you.

4. How do I find out if the operator I want to work with will support these APIs?

Our strategy is to solve this question for developers. We will provide cross-operator APIs so that developers would not need to care about changing the APIs in order to hit specific operator assets. We are working with Ericsson IPX that acts as a global multimedia broker and opens up for cross-operator access to network assets such as SMS and Location.

5. On the technology front your solutions are mostly Java APIs? Correct? If so what solutions do you offer to iPhone or Android developers? (Are those standards on the way?)

It is correct that we have been focusing on Java. Lately, we have chosen to focus on REST APIs so there would not be any problem for iPhone and Android developers. And these APIs will be aligned with GSMA One API standard.

6. However your SDKs address more than just mobile development, do you have any example of applications being developed that use your APIs?

We have many partners that build server-side applications using Ericsson APIs. Examples include home security, gaming engines, and multimedia communication.

7. I see a lot of great activities coming from your Innovation Centre in South Africa. What activities are you involved in encouraging application developers in developing countries and for developing countries?

We run developer events in many countries, often together with mobile operators, in order to increase awareness of the APIs, tools, and go-to-market channel that we offer developers.

8. What is the “thing” from Ericsson that attendees will anticipate and get excited to att WIP Jam?

We have now built a business model to sell your applications via multiple operators all over the world. Submit your application to us and see the money coming in to your account. The applications will be distributed to many countries and operators - already now we can distribute in 17 countries, and more will come. This new “thing” will be launched at Mobile World Congress.

Prior to the WIP Jam session, stop by the Ericsson Booth on the Avenue (AV07) or visit the Ericsson Developer Connection Website.

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