The BBC, mBlox and Vodafone work to define the next generation of mobile entertainment services.
The Mobile Entertainment Forum has launched a global ‘Smart Pipe Enablers Initiative’ to create an industry-wide framework for next-gen services.The the initiative will help devise what the MEF calls a coherent, profitable and workable model for enabling services, and accelerate their uptake through education and promotion.
The initiative has been founded by three MEF members - the BBC, mBlox and Vodafone.
Enabler services offered by network operators to content providers as defined by the initiative include age-verification, location, identity authentication, reliable phone applications, specific tariffs to consumers and delivery with specific quality of service.
MEF will form a working group with its members and will be liaising with regulators and other industry bodies to ensure the guidelines become the defacto reference point for enabling services across the globe.
The first phase will be the production of a white paper, due in June 2009.
Andrew Bud, Global Chair at the Mobile Entertainment Forum, said: “The mobile industry is at the dawn of a new era with many new services becoming available. As mobile content becomes richer and more sophisticated it is important for the industry to create common standards to enable the next phase of growth.
“Some operators are doing this individually or in groups, evolving into ‘smart pipes,’ but without a fully co-ordinated approach the market is in danger of developing a fragmented landscape that will inhibit the take up of consumer services. The MEF Enablers Initiative will address this and lay the foundation for the next generation of mobile operator services for years to come.”
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