Symbian OS is an important operating system for Orange. However, Orange's strategy has always been to encourage mobile developers to implement their solutions across the entire range of mobile operating systems and development platforms supported by Orange. Now Orange is spreading a wider net, embracing fixed line systems in additional to mobile. Richard Bloor spoke to Steve Glagow, Director of Orange Partner, to find out more.

Richard: How has Orange's convergence strategy changed the Orange Partner offering?

Steve: Essentially the change means we now also provide support for those new partners who have technologies that work in a fixed line environment. This means that we now provide a single source for developers who work with fixed line technology, who also want support for mobilizing their technologies. At the same time our partners who have developed mobile technology, that could also works in the fixed line environment, will get the support they need to make the cross-over.

Richard: Orange has encouraged mobile developers to delivery their applications across its range of support mobile platforms. Does embracing convergence mean you will be placing additional demands on mobile developers to migrate their technologies to fixed line?

Steve: It might do. The important thing to remember is that this demand is not Orange's demand, but that of our customers. Take a business user. They may have a database storing business critical data. Increasingly they want to be able to access that data on their desktop, their portable PC, and their mobile phone. Similarly, private users want to take the game they play on their PC at home and continue playing when they are out and about.

Our customers' requirements are changing. At the same time smartphone technology is changing. This means it is becoming possible to deliver the same applications for business, for entertainment, for virtually anything across a broad range of devices.

However, this is slightly different from our strategy of encouraging mobile developers to deliver their applications for all our supported mobile platforms. This is about ensuring our 90 million customers can access the same features regardless of the handset they purchase.

Richard: What changes have you made within Orange Partner to support this broader range of developers?

Steve: There have been several changes and there are more to come, as we don't expect to have the full convergent strategy in place until January 2007. These changes include rebuilding the portal infrastructure, to support all the different platforms that are now embracing under Orange. We have also increased the number of technical and partner support people. We are now a much bigger team.

Richard: The convergence strategy was one of the items previewed at the last Partner Camp in the US. At the same time you launched Orange Compatible, how is that program progressing?

Steve: Very well. We now have close to 600 applications that have received Orange Compatible certification. Our first developer is going through the full promotion cycle associated with the program and we will be published in a paper on the Orange Partner site detailing that experience in the near future.

Richard: Given the number of certification programs for mobile applications were you worried that there might be some resistance to Orange Compatible?

Steve: No. I think we created the program in such a way that developers could see the benefit, being able to demonstrate to our 90 million customers that their application can be purchased with confidence. The certification process is not trivial, but the opportunities for developers are larger. I think that is why we have seen these 600 applications achieving Orange Compatible.

Richard: Presumably the new strategy will also affect Partner Camp.

Steve: It will, but at the same time we want to ensure we retain the features that have made Partner Camp so valuable to our developers. Clearly there will be much more content that covers convergent technologies in the Partner Camp program.

Richard: Does it worry you that Mobile developers may start to see the event as less relevant to them?

Steve: I don't think there is any danger of that. We have always run 8 or 9 concurrent sessions, so participating partners have always been able to select the items of interest they wish to attend. These sessions have each involved around 25 people, so there is individual attention to ensure the maximum value. The choice of sessions will increase, in line with the newly supported technologies. So now we will have 8 or 9 concurrent convergent technology sessions, in addition to those focused on mobile. This means there will be the same (if not better) workshops for mobile developers, but with opportunity to find out about convergent technologies, with which they may not be familiar.

Richard: One of the valuable features of Partner Camp has been the networking opportunities, allowing partners to meet Orange executives face-to-face. As the event gets larger won't these opportunities diminish?

Steve: We certainly hope not. Every camp has been sold out and we usually have a waiting list. If Partner Camp were to get too large, it certainly could loose it value and simply becomes another big conference. We don't want that. I think the forthcoming camp in Spain will be as big as it gets, with around 500 people in attendance. We believe this will still give partners the opportunity to have individual meeting with our top execs and facilitate doing business with us.

We have over fifty thousand Orange Partner members, which is one of the reasons we run two camps each year, but also why we run other events, provide webinars and interact through our developer centers as well.

To find out more about Orange's views on the opportunities created by convergence download the paper "Convergence - Staying Ahead Of The Game". For more information on Orange Partner Camp visit: http://www.orangepartner.com/site/enuk/news/events/orange_partner_camp/cadiz/p_cadiz.jsp