From the perspective of operators and developers featurephones and smartphones without content are little more than expensive toys, full of promise but offering little more than their “dumb” cousins. So in many ways the success of the smartphone market is dependant on efficient and effective systems which take content and applications from their developers through mobile operators to the end customer.

A number of companies whose business started with web sales of software, notably Handango and Motricity (formerly PowerByHand), have extended their original web based sales paradigm to encompass delivery directly to mobile devices. These systems range from simple extensions of the web model, with the addition of payment via premium SMS through to full operator branded solutions with integrated billed though the customer phone account. These systems also vary in the extent to which they use open rather than proprietary technology standards. Amongst the several messages Nokia’s considers key with Preminet is that it is based on open standards, specifically Java and OMA download and DRM standards.

So what is Preminet, firstly it is a modular service consisting of three components:

• Preminet® Master Catalog
• Preminet® Service Delivery Platform
• Preminet® Purchasing Client

The master catalog is built by Forum Nokia from content sourced from Forum Nokia Pro developers and for applications to be accepted they must have received appropriate certification, through either the Java Verified or Symbian Signed programs. In addition to the application installation or content files developers submit metadata and thumbnail images (where appropriate) to describe the content. This metadata will ultimately form the basis of the catalog details seen by the end customer.

Individual operators can supplement this content with additional material from their own catalog or content aggregators. Once the content is assembled in the Master Catalog an operator’s content management team can pick and choose the content they will make available to customers.

Selected content is made available through the Service Delivery Platform using a SOAP based interface from the Master Catalog. The Service Delivery Platform is then able to feed content to any “store front” capable of receiving an XML feed. These “store fronts” could an operators existing SMS, WAP, Web store or on device storefront application which neatly brings us to the final component in the model the Purchasing Client.

The Preminet Purchasing Client is a free, operator brandable front end to the Preminet offering, available as either a Java (MIDP 2) client for Nokia Series 40 devices or a Symbian OS application for Series 60 devices. A Java MIDP 1.0 version will be offered to operators who request it. The available customization options for the Purchasing client are extensive as shown below. One thing is clear, there need be no mention of Nokia anywhere in the UI, so at least in this one area Nokia has recognized the need to provide operators their own branding.

Through the Service Delivery Platform the Purchasing Client, and indeed any shop front, is fully integrated with the operators billing system, This means that the whole purchase process will, from the customers perspective, appear to be delivered by their operator; no third party involvement, helping maintain the integrity of the operator brand and experience.

While the technology underlying Preminet is important its ultimate effectiveness is largely dependant on the underlying business model. Developers face huge issues in entering the mobile market. One Java game developer we spoke to recently was maintaining literally hundreds of distribution JAR files for a single game to satisfy the demands of multiple operators, their certification processes, file naming requirements, language variants and phone variants. While Preminet will not eliminate all these issues entry via Java Verified or Symbian Signed to a standard content management system will help significantly reduce the number of supported packages developers need to maintain.

In the area of contracts Preminet also simplifies the process with Developers and Operators entering into a master agreement with Preminet to supply or purchase content respectively. The only direct interaction that the Developer and Operator then may undertake is a negotiation over the application price – here Preminet offers two models, one where the developer sets a wholesale price and the operator then adds a mark up, and the second option is that the developer agree to a retail price and revenue breakdown. If the second option is pursued then the negotiation between the operator and developer can be conducted electronically through the system.

While Nokia have not spoken specifically about the revenue breakdown, which splits three ways to the developer, operator and Nokia, from a discussion we had with Lee Epting, vice president of Forum Nokia, Nokia intends to set the split competitively.

While conventional wisdom dictates that being first into the market provides significant benefit, allowing a company to get and stay ahead of the competition, technology enabled many late entrants to leap-frog the competition by understanding the weaknesses of those competitive product offerings. Preminet certainly looks like it could catapult Nokia beyond the companies currently offering wireless delivery platforms. Preminet is based on open standards, which on face value, provide operators with the ability to opt in or out of parts of the offering while at the same time providing an end-to-end solution which fully integrates with an operators existing billing and delivery infrastructure. More importantly, Nokia are not seeking to brand the solution’s front end, so operators can maintain their relationship with the customer.

Preminet also closes a significant gap in the offering around Java and Symbian OS devices. One of the strengths of BREW has been that it integrates content delivery into the platform offering. Preminet bring the same class of delivery solution to Nokia’s supported technology platforms, and probably to the entire Symbian OS ecosystem as Lee indicated that a UIQ Purchasing Client will be developed once Preminet has been proved in the market for Nokia’s core technologies. From that perspective Lee indicated that Nokia will be concentrating on implementing Preminet for a few key markets initially before contemplating more widespread deployment.

Application and content sales will be a key in making or breaking the smartphone market. Nokia certainly feel that there is a huge pent up demand already in the marketplace. Preminet seems to have both the technical architecture and business model to unlock this demand.

More information on Preminet can be found here www.nokia.com/preminet.