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.

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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