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The WDN Symbian DevZone... Diversinet - 3G LAB's Trigenix - Highly Customizable User Interface
by Richard Bloor, December 02, 2002
Customization of the User Interface on a Symbian OS phone is one of the
strengths of Symbian’s business model. However the User Interfaces available so
far are largely static, 3G LAB have recognized the opportunity for a dynamic
interface that allows the user or network operator to change the UI theme at will.
This week I discuss Trigenix with Julian Harris, Marketing Manager at 3G LAB.
- Printer Friendly Version
The mobile phone is probably the most personal piece of electronics anyone will
own. It is a constant and inseparable companion to our everyday activities.
While hardware manufacturers look for designs that capture individual
personalities and lifestyles, increasingly the most important part of the phone is
becoming the User Interface. Symbian recognized early that flexibility in the User
Interface is an important feature of these phones for the user, operator and
hardware manufacture alike. As a result they have provided their licensees with
the opportunity to create their own UI designs. However this currently only
creates a relatively thin, static personality on a device. 3G LAB's Trigenix takes
the concept a stage further by allowing the core UI on Series 60 phones to be
almost fully themed and dynamically updated. This week I discussed 3G LAB’s
technology with their Marketing Manager, Julian Harris.
A Typical UI for customers like "The Simpsons" and Orange
WDN: Julian, Trigenix may be a new concept to some of our readers, could you
perhaps tell us what the technology is and what it will achieve?
Julian: In a nutshell Trigenix is an enabling technology providing an opportunity
for network operators and content developers or designers to offer value added
services by highly customizing the User Interface on a Series 60 smartphone.
The Trigenix client software can be loaded on the device before it is retailed or
added post-sale over the air (OTA), by Bluetooth or IrDA. Once on a phone it
allows the User to select Trig themes provided by their operator or third parties so
that they can personalize their phone.
Beyond simply supplying themes Network operators also gain a UI that is
updateable over the air and is therefore much more dynamic. For example, the
operator will be able to send an icon that we call a Triglet to the handset over
night so in the morning the customer can see it on the home screen. This icon
could advise that the latest version of a new game is now available and on
selecting the icon the customer could be linked to that game.
WDN: How easy has it been to sell this concept to operators?
Julian: Initially, about a year ago, it was actually quite difficult to explain the
concept to operators and handset manufactures. Looking at the issues they were
trying to address we encapsulated the message about Trigenix as “brand,
promote, connect and personalize”. So Trigenix would allow the interface to be
branded, to the network operator or a household brand. For many mobile
operators promotion is a big issue, they are increasingly building mobile data
services but have only had traditional methods, print adverts and newsletters for
example, as means to make consumers aware of them. Trigenix will allow them
to promote these services where the user will use them, right on the phone.
Having promoted the service they want the user to connect to those services and
Trigenix naturally allows the consumer to do that directly from the interface,
rather than, say, browsing through a hierarchy of WAP pages. Finally we extend
the existing market for ring tones and screen logo downloads by allowing the
consumer to personalize the interface, perhaps with a theme based on a new
movie release, favorite football club or other content.
WDN: How much control does the operator get? Will any user of a phone
running Trigenix be able to select any theme or will operators be able to limit
what is available?
Julian: Trigenix includes a number of permission settings so an implementation
could restrict the interface to the Operators chosen theme all the way through to
allowing the user complete flexibility. In our discussion with operators there is
no clear approach emerging and anyway allowing the user to load new themes is
a revenue opportunity in its own right. One part of Trigenix that will be tightly
controlled is the dynamic Triglet content I mentioned earlier and Operators will
obviously want to protect what gets delivered to these spaces. One valuable
feature of these dynamic Triglet zones is the tie into the Trigenix server
technology that will allow operators to build up profiles of their customers and
target dynamic content to the customer’s interests and usage patterns.
WDN: Why did 3G LAB decide to target the Symbian OS for the initial
implementation of the Trigenix platform?
Julian: There are probably two main reasons. Firstly a significant number of our
employees have an established history with Symbian. As a result they have built
considerable Symbian OS experience and ability over the years. This coupled
with the openness of the OS, which offers entrepreneurial Symbian partner
companies the chance to add value to the core, are the key technical reasons.
The second reason is market opportunity. As you know Symbian licensees now
represent over 80% of the mobile handset manufacturers so the opportunities are
potentially enormous. As you may have seen on 5th November Jorma Ollila,
Chairman and CEO of Nokia, announced that Nokia planned to sell 50m to 100m
color screen phones in 2003, including 10 million Symbian OS-based Series 60
handsets. Those sort of numbers represent a significant market.
WDN: Will Trigenix be available for other platforms, the other Symbian UIs and
operating systems like Smartphone 2002 or Palm?
Julian: We are looking at alternative Symbian UI frameworks so for example UIQ
is not out of the question. We are also looking at real time operating systems,
OSE is one which we have announced. We will certainly be looking at other
operating systems like Smartphone 2002 although at this stage we don’t have
Palm on our plans as we are concentrating on the smartphone market, but if they
start making moves in that direction we will certainly be considering it.
One of the design goals for Trigenix was ease of porting so the core engine has
been abstracted away from the operating system interface. This means that we
should be able to port to other operating systems quite rapidly.
In fact you may be interested to know that the original versions of Trigenix were
developed on Linux, because of the open accessible nature of that operating
system.
WDN: Will third party content developers be able to create content for Trigenix
devices?
Julian: Yes they will. Graphics designers and engineers will be able to design
themed GUI's for handsets that support the Trigenix Client using the Trigbuilder
when it is available early next year. The technology has been designed so that
Graphics Designers who have created web sites and are familiar with HTML
should be able to create a Trig user interface.
The one area that will not be generally available to designers and developers is
Triglets, as these will be tied to operators and probably be developed by their own
technical staff.
WDN: How portable are Trigs, will a designer be able to address all Trigenix
implementations with one Trig?
Julian: Most of this issue is addressed in the 80/20 rule where we make the
most impact from branding 20% of the UI. Taking into account that this 20% is
the most common UI ground between Series 60 handsets then there should be
little handset specific design work. Designers do have to have a target device in
mind when creating a theme, which in many instances will be through working
with the templates due to ship with Trigbuilder.
WDN: For third party developers who might be creating applications for Nokia
Series 60 would the presence of Trigenix on the applications target device mean
they need to make any consideration during development? For example would
their application automatically have the Trig applied to it or simply run in the
native interface?
Julian: Having Trigenix on board the handset would not have any adverse effect
on the design of third party applications for Series 60 phones. Their application
would run automatically in the native UI. Mind you there are some potential
opportunities where Trigenix could complement their application. For example
the application icon could be color coordinated with a themed UI or perhaps on
launching the application the user could be given the chance to coordinate the UI
of their handset with the application, a football game could make the phone look
like a football pitch until the user wants to change it again. Imaginative and
creative application developers will I am sure make further use of the dynamic
capabilities of the UI when Trigenix is present.
WDN: Could third party developers create their applications in such a way that it
will pick up the loaded Trigenix theme thereby fully integrating their application
with the new look and feel?
Julian: A third party application could be written to integrate with a Trigenix
theme on board the handset although this would have to be done initially in
partnership with 3G LAB.
WDN: Obviously content developer will only be interested in developing Trigs if
the technology starts appearing on handsets. What is your current roadmap for
implementation of Trigenix?
Julian: We are currently in quite detailed discussions with both handset
manufacturers and network operators. You can certainly expect to see some
announcements regarding availability of the software, the Trigbuilder and the Trig
Server at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes. Given the number of Series 60
phones) it is anticipated will ship next year we are confident that there will be
significant opportunities for 3rd Party content developers.
WDN: And what are your confidence levels around this timeframe?
Julian: We have already done a lot of development work and are preparing to go
to Beta with a new version of Trigenix in early December, so we are pretty
confident.
About the WDN Symbian Editor, Richard Bloor:
Richard Bloor has 16 years experience in the IT industry. His earlier
work was largely in design and development of commercial and
manufacturing systems but more recently has focused on
development and test management of government systems.
Richard Bloor is the Mobile Applications champion at System
Architecture consultancy Equinox of Wellington, New Zealand.
Richard can be reached at rbloor@wirelessdevnet.com.
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