Operator group Deutsche Telekom has become the latest firm to offer the GSMA’s Joyn messaging platform to its users. The operator has rolled out the service to customers in its native Germany.
Joyn is the brand name for the GSMA-led rich communications service, hailed by some as the answer to the OTT threat faced by mobile network operators. The service supports a range of functions, including group chat, file transfers throughout a range of different file formats and live video sharing during voice calls.
Deutsche Telekom becomes the second operator in Germany to launch Joyn after Vodafone. According to the GSMA, Spanish operator group Telefónica will also launch Joyn in the market later this year, and the service will be available to over 80 per cent of all mobile customers in Germany.
“Joyn is particularly easy to use. Customers will no longer have to worry about “what’s the best way to reach him/her?”; they won’t have to remember what different services each of their contacts uses,” said Niek Jan van Damme, Deutsche Telekom board member.
The operator said that the service’s chat and file-transfer functions are available at no additional charge for customers on tariffs that include a data or SMS at a flat rate.
“Joyn users with such plans can share large numbers of files without having the transmitted data be charged against the data-volume limits in their plans,” the operator said in a statement. “And the cap on file size is generous: 15 MB. Even live video sharing does not generate any additional costs for customers with a voice flat rate or voice minutes package.”
The service will also be available to customers on prepaid plans until August 31, 2013, at no additional charge and without further constraints, the operator added.
The operator group also stressed its commitment to data security and pointed out that its server facilities are based in Germany so the service conforms to stringent European data-protection regulations.
“With Joyn—in contrast to the procedure with other messengers—a device’s address book always remains on the local device,” the operator added. “No copies of it are uploaded to globally distributed servers for open-ended storage. When Joyn is used via a public wifi network, initial portions of messages are not transmitted in encrypted form, but Deutsche Telekom plans to eliminate that limitation by summer 2013.”
The GSMA has also revealed that “in the near future”, the Joyn service will come preinstalled on new smartphones from Samsung, HTC, Sony, Nokia and LG. A beta version of Joyn is now available in the Google Play Store, for Android version 2.3 and higher, and will be available soon in Apple’s App Store for iOS, the association added.
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.telekom.joyn&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50ZWxla29tLmpveW4iXQ..
Source: http://www.telecoms.com/117241/deutsche-telekom-joyns-in/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=deutsche-telekom-joyns-in
More info: http://gigaom.com/2013/03/04/deutsche-telekom-activates-joyn-for-richer-communications/ asdasdsa
Showing posts with label Deutsche Telekom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deutsche Telekom. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Friday, 1 March 2013
Viber CEO takes on carriers' over-the-top attack. Could this be the beginning of a "revolution" !?
Editor comment: The discussion around Joyn market presence/ evolution, OTT and the
competition between mobile operators has been on the TOP board. Could
these news be the beginning of a larger partnership !? Like Deutsche
Telekom and Spotify !? Should Joyn and OTT have the same level of QoS if
the a partnership is created !?
Over-the-top services like Skype voice calls or Viber messaging sap carrier revenues. But Talmon Marco said users are just going where the innovation happens.
Carriers love to bash companies like Skype and WhatsApp that provide services on top of their mobile networks at the Mobile World Congress trade show. But one thing was different this year: Viber Media founder and Chief Executive Talmon Marco entered the lion's den to defend the idea.
Viber's free messaging service, which competes directly with carriers' own high-profit services for text- and multimedia-messaging services, is a prime example of the despised over-the-top (OTT) approach. Marco showed no remorse for sapping telco revenues and argued that users are just moving to where the innovative, useful services are taking place.
"There's no difference between the SMS of 1993 and 2013," Marco said, whereas in the two years since its launch, Viber has added group messaging, delivery confirmation, indicators that the other person is typing, location sharing, and high-quality photos. "We delight our users with cool new features." He backed up his case with the example of Monaco, 90 percent of whose 35,000 population uses Viber -- even though SMS is free in the country.
Marco spoke immediately after two telco chief executives, Deutsche Telekom's Rene Obermann and KT's Suk-Chae Lee, told of their unhappiness with OTT services. Carriers are held back by regulations that don't apply to OTT providers, for example. Obermann described how OTT companies see their relationship to carriers: "You invest, we take the profit." He and his peers have been saying this for years at this show and others, but he thinks sooner or later something has to give.
"It's not sustainable that the network makes all the investments and others just get a free ride," he said.
Lee said OTT services are bleeding away the business of KT, the largest mobile operator in South Korea, because it must invest more and more into its infrastructure but it doesn't reap the rewards.
"In the last four years, KT revenue has stagnated, but capex [capital expenditure spending] has increased to $4 billion from $3 billion before," he said. "The builders of this cyberspace, the telcos, may have to watch the space be dominated by the giant Internet players or the OTTs."
That's a stark contrast to Viber's business. "Our whole infrastructure costs under $200,000 a month," Marco said. Marco suggested a path to reconciliation, though: partnership. He said he won't pay the telcos for free services, but he's willing to share revenue for paid services.
"We're definitely prepared to share revenues when we charge users," Marco said.
Already Viber pays a percentage of its revenue to the app stores that distribute his company's app, but a carrier could step in and do the distribution, too. "That's 30 percent of our future revenues up for grabs by carrier. Come and take it," Marco said. Obermann seemed open to the idea, pointing to a partnership Deutsche Telekom has with music-streaming service Spotify. "We have a revenue share," Obermann said. "Users love it, and we have growing number of subscribers." Lee sounded more skeptical. OTT companies, in the long run, hurt economies that are increasingly dependent on the Internet. "Nobody can stop OTT," he said. "The question is, if it creates an economic cost burden to society, then somebody must take the burden."
Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571275-78/viber-ceo-takes-on-carriers-over-the-top-attack/?goback=.gde_1890406_member_218231920
Over-the-top services like Skype voice calls or Viber messaging sap carrier revenues. But Talmon Marco said users are just going where the innovation happens.
Carriers love to bash companies like Skype and WhatsApp that provide services on top of their mobile networks at the Mobile World Congress trade show. But one thing was different this year: Viber Media founder and Chief Executive Talmon Marco entered the lion's den to defend the idea.
Viber's free messaging service, which competes directly with carriers' own high-profit services for text- and multimedia-messaging services, is a prime example of the despised over-the-top (OTT) approach. Marco showed no remorse for sapping telco revenues and argued that users are just moving to where the innovative, useful services are taking place.
"There's no difference between the SMS of 1993 and 2013," Marco said, whereas in the two years since its launch, Viber has added group messaging, delivery confirmation, indicators that the other person is typing, location sharing, and high-quality photos. "We delight our users with cool new features." He backed up his case with the example of Monaco, 90 percent of whose 35,000 population uses Viber -- even though SMS is free in the country.
Marco spoke immediately after two telco chief executives, Deutsche Telekom's Rene Obermann and KT's Suk-Chae Lee, told of their unhappiness with OTT services. Carriers are held back by regulations that don't apply to OTT providers, for example. Obermann described how OTT companies see their relationship to carriers: "You invest, we take the profit." He and his peers have been saying this for years at this show and others, but he thinks sooner or later something has to give.
"It's not sustainable that the network makes all the investments and others just get a free ride," he said.
Lee said OTT services are bleeding away the business of KT, the largest mobile operator in South Korea, because it must invest more and more into its infrastructure but it doesn't reap the rewards.
"In the last four years, KT revenue has stagnated, but capex [capital expenditure spending] has increased to $4 billion from $3 billion before," he said. "The builders of this cyberspace, the telcos, may have to watch the space be dominated by the giant Internet players or the OTTs."
That's a stark contrast to Viber's business. "Our whole infrastructure costs under $200,000 a month," Marco said. Marco suggested a path to reconciliation, though: partnership. He said he won't pay the telcos for free services, but he's willing to share revenue for paid services.
"We're definitely prepared to share revenues when we charge users," Marco said.
Already Viber pays a percentage of its revenue to the app stores that distribute his company's app, but a carrier could step in and do the distribution, too. "That's 30 percent of our future revenues up for grabs by carrier. Come and take it," Marco said. Obermann seemed open to the idea, pointing to a partnership Deutsche Telekom has with music-streaming service Spotify. "We have a revenue share," Obermann said. "Users love it, and we have growing number of subscribers." Lee sounded more skeptical. OTT companies, in the long run, hurt economies that are increasingly dependent on the Internet. "Nobody can stop OTT," he said. "The question is, if it creates an economic cost burden to society, then somebody must take the burden."
Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571275-78/viber-ceo-takes-on-carriers-over-the-top-attack/?goback=.gde_1890406_member_218231920
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Deutsche Telekom indefinitely delays Joyn launch date, admits to technical issues
Deutsche Telekom (DT) is indefinitely delaying the commercial launch of its Joyn RCS service after admitting that implementing the technology is taking much longer than originally expected.
The company had initially confirmed Oct. 1, 2012, as a launch date for Joyn services, but this then slipped to December and has now been delayed further due to complex integration issues, according to Teltarif.de.
Incorporating the Joyn software into DT's handset portfolio is a lengthy process that requires thorough testing, DT spokesman Dirk Turning told Wirtschafts Woche. "Our goal is, of course, to move as quickly as possible to bring Joyn to market," he said.
The problems appear to be focused on the Joyn messenger service and its lack of stability, the German website reported.
While the aim is to launch Joyn on Android-based handsets, DT is worried about the current fragmentation of the Google smartphone platform and ensuring that its Joyn services will work with other German operators and those elsewhere.
Vodafone Germany launched its Joyn service in August at the IFA event in Berlin--albeit in beta format on the Android platform, but has given no indication when an iPhone version might become available. Telefónica's O2 Germany has said it is committed to launching Joyn in the future, while E-Plus has given no sign regarding its intent.
Separately, WhatsApp, a major over-the-top messaging and social messaging rival to Joyn, has been criticised for breaching privacy rules following a joint investigation by Dutch and Canadian regulators, according to a BBC report.
Investigators said concerns centred on the messaging app asking smartphone users to enable access to their address book once they had downloaded the WhatsApp software. The privacy issue arose when the app transferred users' address book details to the WhatsApp servers, and failed to delete those belonging to people who had not signed up to the service.
"This practice contravenes Dutch and Canadian privacy law, which holds that information may only be retained for so long as it is required for the fulfilment of an identified purpose," the regulators said, according to the BBC.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority told the BBC it could take punitive action if U.S.-based WhatsApp does not change its software.
MetroPCS says joyn launch proceeding smoothly despite DT's troubles
MetroPCS said its deployment of Rich Communication Services under the GSMA's joyn brand is humming along just fine. The comments are notable considering the technical difficulties Deutsche Telekom is experiencing in Germany that have forced the carrier to indefinitely delay launching joyn there.
MetroPCS, the only U.S. carrier so far to have launched joyn, said all of its LTE handsets--including the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Admire 4G, ZTE Avid and LG Spirit--now support joyn via a downloadable client available in Google's Play storefront.
MetroPCS spokesman Drew Crowell told FierceWireless that the company's plans for joyn remain unchanged, and that the carrier hopes to sell phones with joyn built in by the middle of this year. "We are working with handset OEMs to build-in joyn as a fully integrated feature, without the need for a download," he said.
Thursday, 3 January 2013
RCS-e Joyn: Deployment World Map
The blogger issues a question that another engineers are thinking:
Where is Joyn really deployed and in what way can I benchmark approaches and business models ?
What is Joyn? Joyn is an end user communication tool with instant messaging, video calling, file transfer and fully integrated in the device and network subscription.
Current live network deployed Joyn (client application):
Planned deployment at: AT&T, Bell Mobility, Bharti Airtel, KPN, KT, LGU+, Orascom Telecom, Rogers Communications, SFR, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, Telus and Verizon.
Also in the this matter, accreditation by GSMA is an ongoing process that can be reviewed at http://www.gsma.com/rcs/interoperability-testing/accreditation/. The metrics are defined but not all the client applications are accredited.
Promotional Video - Vodafone Joyn: http://www.youtube.com/joyn@vdf
Resources - GSMA Joyn: http://www.gsma.com/rcs/resources
Last update@2013-03-11
Sources:
Where is Joyn really deployed and in what way can I benchmark approaches and business models ?
What is Joyn? Joyn is an end user communication tool with instant messaging, video calling, file transfer and fully integrated in the device and network subscription.
- US: metroPCS
- Spain: Movistar (Telefonica), Vodafone and Orange
- Germany: Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile)
- Mexico: Telcel (America Móvil)
- South Korea: SK Telecom, KT and LG U+
Planned deployment at: AT&T, Bell Mobility, Bharti Airtel, KPN, KT, LGU+, Orascom Telecom, Rogers Communications, SFR, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, Telus and Verizon.
Also in the this matter, accreditation by GSMA is an ongoing process that can be reviewed at http://www.gsma.com/rcs/interoperability-testing/accreditation/. The metrics are defined but not all the client applications are accredited.
Promotional Video - Vodafone Joyn: http://www.youtube.com/joyn@vdf
Resources - GSMA Joyn: http://www.gsma.com/rcs/resources
Last update@2013-03-11
Sources:
- http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/joyn-sms-version-20-will-it-help-carriers-stem-ott-tide/2012-03-29
- http://www.gsma.com/rcs/
- http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/deutsche-telekom-indefinitely-delays-joyn-launch-date-admits-technical-issu/2013-01-30
- http://www.telcel.com/apps/web/
- http://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2013/03/07/zain-first-in-middle-east-to-join-joyn/
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