Squace blog

Ovum White Paper on The Squace UMI

The market opportunity for a universal mobile interface and a review of the Squace solution

At Squace we’re glad to announce the new research white paper from Ovum’s Knowledge Center at Ovum Europe Limited.

Read more -> Order Your free copy of The Ovum White Paper on The Squace UMI

Executive summary

About OVUM

Ovum is the leading European headquartered authority on telecoms, software and IT services, with unique expertise where these sectors converge. Advising on the commercial impact of technology and market changes in telecoms, software and IT services. Ovum deliver essential advice on market trends and drivers, and unrivalled insight into companies, markets and technologies. Ovum offers a range of integrated services that includes tailored consultancy, advisory services that give clients direct access to our analysts, and specialist research. Ovum expertise is based on more than two decades of research conducted globally.

Ovum works with companies all over the world to help them achieve their business goals. Our clients from Fortune Global 500 companies to start-ups use Ovum because they need to base their strategies on quality advice they can trust.

Ovum advises senior decision-makers within the world’s largest technology users, IT and software vendors, IT service providers, telecoms operators, regulators, service providers, equipment suppliers, consultancies and investors. Working with both the supply-side and the user community gives Ovum a unique insight into the demand and the drivers for technology and market opportunities.

Read more -> Order Your free copy of The Ovum White Paper on The Squace UMI

For centuries the Chinese used an ancient curse: ‘May you live in interesting times!’ This is no longer considered a curse. It’s a blessing. With the current experience of raising money during the last couple of month I have to agree that we are living in interesting times but I’ll really have to kneel down deep to feel “the blessing”.

Anyhow, one experience richer, a much tighter plan and 100% focused on delivering a great universal mobile interface. In fact, so focused that we will close the current open Beta version of Squace for new registrations in favor for the next version. Almost 500.000 downloads over less than 6 month from all over the world have not only given us enough input and suggestions for improvements, but also the self confidence needed in times like this – we are on the right track – thanks for your support. Use the current version, share squares, etc and we will come back in less than no time with a much tighter, faster and broader user experience where you can access what ever service (URL) you like on the Internet. Just the way it should be – your fast track to your stuff regardless of country, carrier or handset.

See you soon.

If you need some more inspiration about the current climate in the start up world – learn from this message from Sequoia Capital. Or better, learn from Benchmark Capital – message (not: read the part far down the memo about lessons learned from one of their CEO’s during the last crash).

We’ve not yet launched Squace latest release but let’s spend a minute on our design. Then, vote for us in the design competition in London at the MEX strategy forum.

First – it’s a no-brainer; the squares or the grid is the perfect way of arranging a lot of links on a small screen. Especially if you only have a joystick to navigate with (which calculates for more than 3.5 billion mobile handsets and 1.5 Billion TV/set up boxes). But, the grid also solves another important issue – The first time experience; The look and feel of a site or a
service will be the same regardless of screen size or resolution (within limits). The only difference is the number of squares. In technical terms you benefit a reduction in time spent on navigation and data loading – our studies indicates a reduction of clicks up to 85% and almost the same reduction in data (but on the other hand – you’ll start using mobile internet more so in the end you will use/want/need a lot more capacity). And even a small screen GSM phone will be good enough to do a lot of services in.

Second – overall strategy; Only ip and all server based – flat fee will come, operators will eventually provide bits and at the end – Squace could be rendered through the preinstalled web browser (or become the preferred browser). But until then a thin java client is the only solution to make sharing possible from handset to handset.

Third – Designing Squace; It’s a delicate balance between highlighting Squace design and functionality and hold that back to emphasize content providers services and brand. To give you some ideas what we think:

Less icons and symbols
use the content as the interface (or text).
less colors and markers – we have used black and white to minimize the interference with any content. And only – we will be even more stringent with this – Orange as a marker for place and action. Probably we’ll use more shades/tones to softly indicate age or previous clicks in the future (but that is still in the lab)
Administration tools (that includes search) under menus that can be easily reached but not interfere in the actual flow.

And what about the garage – how did we think here? People are using it for different purposes, some have the most important links here others just as a scrapbook of the links of today. The garage will probably end up as a dash board.

Fourth – perhaps the most important innovation – the square Internet convergence. The URL is dead – long live the URL. I think this is perhaps the most important part of gearing up mobile Internet usage; easiness importing relevant links (services, etc) to your mobile context. Some examples;

I’ll buy a flight ticket and in the mail confirmation I’ll also get my mobile link with facts regarding the flight including a link to the airport information so I can follow if the flight is late or not. And why not even tourist information, hotels, exchange rates and a phrase book.
I’m downloading music to my computer and building nice play list. Just click and ad list to the mobile – usable if and when I want it. And shareable to.
If I find something Interesting on the net – use the Firefox plug-in to tag it for Squace – and you got it. Or just import a document, your mail, your pictures and more – soon we’ll drop our open API:s for further development/integration.

If possible we’ll try to write a handbook for mobile interface design – just like the one that Apple did in 1987 – The Apple Human Interface Guidelines. How about that Mitchell Baker and Mozilla Foundation - can we join forces?

Squace is one of the partners at this years Quarnevalen – a parade that runs through Stockholm every third year. The parade contains a lot of spectacular vehicles built by students – mainly from KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators will view the event this saturday, and today we were at the construction site to check out some of the vehicles. Our favourite so far is probably the Pirate bay ship, even though there are a lot more advanced projects going on right now:

You could get Quarnevalen in your mobile here

I’m so impressed with people that both have the time and skills to develop a business as well as expressing themselves on a blog. Sadly enough I can only do one thing at the time. That’s probably the reason why Squace kept a pretty low profile. We have in fact worked like hell on the job at hand—the mission:

A more user-friendly mobile Internet. Or, more crassly put: I wanted to get the bloody stuff into MY cell phone (Stuff is our label for things like bookmarks, services, music and widgets). I gave myself a promise the day we started Squace: I’ll stop using my old calendar as soon that I can get it Squaced. And I wanted to share stuff or messages with whoever I pleased—independent of operator, handset, or geography.

Huge tasks and not without difficulties. Here’s a rundown of what slowed me down:

Operators: They’re controlling my choice of content and services and charging me heavily (OK, I’ve got a fixed data-transmission plan in Sweden but when I’m in London, they charge me 15 pounds a meg – a rip-off beyond imagination). Perhaps am I the exception, though to the fact that I can’t find much use of there content, or, I’m afraid I’m right here, there are in fact not much of real interest. The things that do matter to me; my kids schedule, our company intranet and my favorite services is harder than impossible to get into a ordinary phone. Partly due to the URL-tapping (which I hate) and partly that they don’t “fit in”.

Aage says: Don’t mess with my stuff.

So operators, give this a second, third, or fourth thought: if you don’t implement fixed data-transmission plans and humane roaming prices (fixed plans are also much cheaper to administer) then the WiFi guys will take over “the always-connected future market”, and it isn’t that far away.

That said, I still like you and your network coverage. And as a user, I’m willing to pay for Internet access, but you need to think Internet!

Why not create more access points to get more users with which you can share infrastructure investments. More things could use an access if the price is right. Hey, my car could use that, and my computer, my heat system, washing machine, hell even my toaster! Most of these things will not consume a lot of bandwith, not my mobile phone and especially not my toaster.

Get all the toasters, TV-sets, computers, cars onboard and you can afford to roll out turbo 3G, and perhaps even some LTE. That without going head to head with the media- and ad market, a battle you’ll never win.

Aage says: Make mobile Internet access cheaper to create healthier business.

Handset manufacturers: Hello guys (mostly guys tinker with this technology). You design a lot of fantastic mobile devices. Naturally, each device targets a particular user group (read: irony).

You heavily load most devices with amazing functions and features. That’s perfectly OK in the free world. But, why do most people still just use the device for phoning and SMS?

I think it would be much cooler if my pictures, music, bookmarks – stuff – could be shared with others (or uploaded to web sites). Hell yes: it’s doable you say—but the price for MMS is too high and beyond your control. And, you continue, Internet is more standardized and open but not secure enough. And then there is the different screen sizes, operating systems and jada, jada.

On top of all that, the URLs are too complicated to tap into (not to mention other things such as credit card information). So, you start smiling, the answer will be WAP 2.0 and IMS solutions.

Note: When we started Squace a year ago, we almost took the decision to develop Squace in mobile Ajax. Sadly enough, we must wait some more years due to performance AND distribution. Right now, Java is the only technology that provides both.

Just a sanity check here, perhaps directed more at the infrastructure guys rather than the device guys (they probably don’t care and will more easily shift toward WiFi, or even WiMax, if and when the market demands that).

So infrastructure guys: Why do you pour millions of dollars into developing the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) when everything already exists on today’s Internet?

There is plurality of solutions on every aspect of IMS. A multitude of companies have been delivering these solutions for many years with daily use by millions of users. Is it possible that you missed companies as Google, Pay pal, Skype and MSN? As most internet services are pretty secure and trustworthy, don’t you think.

Drop that and invest in creating great access technology with less bottle-necks and higher performance. Then the Internet services will flow over to the mobile world. Big time!

Back to the business. I’m happy to be a part of this truly emerging market of mobile Internet. And see the birth and growth of thousands of start-ups—most with Internet background and competing more or less on equal terms with big companies—often with some partnership or at least using the open common standards of Internet and sharing APIs with one another.

In the end, as most successful Internet companies know: Develop the service YOU need or are missing, if you love it enough you’ll probably find others who love it too.

Don’t be evil. Be Square!

My favorite mobile site right now is frizon where you can download young artists music. Just click the link and you’ll have it in your mobile.