Sony Ericsson has been using Handango to supply the infrastructure and management for its application shop since it launched, providing Symbian OS applications for the P800, back in 2003. Towards the end of 2005, with the term of that contact nearing its end, Sony Ericsson decided to evaluate the market; to ensure it was providing the best option to both its smartphone customers and UIQ developers. This review process resulted in Sony Ericsson switching to Motricity.

According to Fredrik Gemzell of Digital Marketing at Sony Ericsson, who is responsible for the Sony Ericsson Application Shop and Fun & Downloads, there were two key reasons for switching; one architectural, one business related.

"The new version of the over-the-air (OTA) application shop is browser based," says Fredrik. "With the 3G capability of our new UIQ 3 smartphones we expect more users to download applications directly to their phones. One potential issue with this type of use is that a single central server can detract from the download experience for users a significant distance from the server. Motricity provides a distributed server configuration, which ensures download times are optimal, this was a key factor in choosing them."

This means that the Sony Ericsson Application Shop will have both a web storefront and a mobile storefront in time for the launch of the new P990, M600 and W950 phones. The fact that the new shop will be solely browser based is something of a break from the way in which the application shop has been delivered to the P800, P900 and P910, where an on-device client has been used since late 2003. Fredrik admits that part of the reason was that the window of opportunity to include such a client on the P990 had closed, but it was not the only reason. "A web based store offers us much more flexibility," says Fredrik. "The Opera browser on our new UIQ 3 phones offers a superb browsing experience. Also, with 3G technology on all the phones and WiFi on the P990, bandwidth is less of an issue; so the problems that we were addressing with an on-device client simply don't exist with our new UIQ phones."

There is perhaps another reason why Sony Ericsson have not pursued the on device client route. Fredrik admits that the number of application sales Sony Ericsson has achieved from the on-device application shop have been modest, when compared to the web. "We have learned a lot from our Fun & Downloads offering," says Fredrik. "Since we implemented WAP based billing the downloads have shifted more towards a fifty-fifty split. In addition, we expect that the try and buy applications, preloaded with Sony Ericsson's new UIQ 3 based phones and providing a link to the shop for purchasing the full versions, will increase mobile web purchases."

Richard Sedgwick, Motricity Business Director International, also highlights an additional consideration with mobile web based purchases. "Motricity provides an intuitive purchase experience through the mobile web storefront," says Richard. "This seems to work well for small, instant gratification style purchases. However, when the application price goes above 10 or 12 euros, the user tends to show a preference for making the purchase on the web. In addition, the cost of downloading larger applications OTA makes mobile purchasing more expensive, so that also encourages a web and PC download approach, although this should be less of an issue with 3G UMTS."

From a business perspective Motricity's storefront offers several features which appeal to Sony Ericsson. The new store will include cross selling capabilities, providing "other customers also bought" tips similar to the feature seen on Amazon. In addition, the store will offer a number of ways to promote applications. These promotion features will be available to developers directly, for a fee, or as part of the promotion work Sony Ericsson undertakes with selected developers.

While purchasing promotion space may be of interest to some developers, Motricity are offering several other programs to help developers maximize the sales of their applications. Initially there are two programs on offer.

"One goal we share with Sony Ericsson is to grow the number of Symbian Signed applications," says Richard. "We looked at how we could make it easier for developers to become signed and identified that one of the biggest hurdles was an economic one. So we are creating incentives and programs to lower the barriers to getting Symbian Signed. In practical terms this means offering developers a discounted rate for Symbian Signed testing, around 30% below the cheapest current price."

The other main program is a translation service. "Our Mobile2Day portal has provided a lot of experience in application translation," says Richard. "As a result we will be offering free German to English or English to German translations and discounts on the usual translation rates for other European languages." This service not only covers the application text but translation of the metadata too. "Having an application in the local language will help sales," explains Richard. "But, it is of limited value if the customer can't read the description of what the application does. So providing a total translation service is important." The service covers more than language translation, items such as localization of graphics and sound can also be included.

The need for localized languages is increasing. Symbian OS phone shipments are growing and Sony Ericsson expects that growth to accelerate as the three new UIQ 3 models come to market. This means the market will expand beyond early adopters, who may have been willing to use English language applications. While this market will remain, volume application sales will come from catering to local market needs.

With this in mind Sony Ericsson will be launching six local versions of the Application Shop starting with English and German and then expanding to cover Italian, French, Spanish and traditional Chinese. As a result, application localization is a priority for both Sony Ericsson and Motricity.

In some respects Sony Ericsson's choice of Motricity may seem odd, as the company has not had a high profile as a Symbian OS application channel. However, Motricity has been working with Symbian OS for about 2 years, starting with the purchase of the German portal Mobile2Day. Since then Motricity has added Symbiangear.com, as an international portal.

"Symbian is a recognized world leader," says Larry Wallace, Motricity's vice president of Business Development and Sales. "Symbian is doing a great job working with licensees to develop the platform and strengthen the position of the smartphones that run it. Symbian is a good partner for Motricity, we have done a great deal already to help grow the global ecosystem and this deal with Sony Ericsson will allow us to do more."

Another important factor in Motricity's favor is that they are a global company with offices in London, Munich, and Beijing, in addition to its US home. It is this global focus that contributes to Motricity's ability to interact with developers. "Our supply chain of Symbian OS developers does a great job of creating really strong applications, that are meaningful for Symbian OS device users," says Larry. "Then our merchandising team makes sure that the customer is presented with the content that they are looking for. Many content websites simply confuse users with too many choices, so much so that a willingness to buy does not translate into a sale. One of our differentiators is being able to present the right content to the right customers and make that sale."

Many of Motricity's developers also work with rival channels, such as Handango. It is probably because of this, as Fredrik explains, that Sony Ericsson still encourages developers to work with Handango. "There is certainly no animosity over our switching of supplier," says Fredrik. "It is important that developers work with as many channels as they can to maximize their applications' exposure. So we will still be working with Handango to ensure applications for Sony Ericsson's Symbian OS based phones are available through their channel and encourage developers to continue working with them."

Selling handsets was only ever going to be part of the smartphone story. For the customer to fully appreciate the additional cost of a smartphone it needs to deliver more than the out-of-the-box experience. In turn Sony Ericsson needs third party developers to do this, but developers will only write applications if they sell.

Sony Ericsson's motivation for switching to Motricity has a solid business rationale, and both companies are clearly focused on growing the market for UIQ applications on Sony Ericsson's devices. So far Sony Ericsson has been playing above its size in the mobile applications market place and they clearly have no intention of relinquishing accolade.

The Sony Ericsson Application Shop can be found at www.SonyEricsson.com/applicationshop and information for developers at http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/gotomarket/appshop/introduction/p_introduction.jsp