The Other Apps Story

by Ken Denman, Openwave CEO

All this excitement around application development is great for the industry, but I can't help feeling that the headlines miss a bigger point. Mobile networks are stressed. All those sexy devices and applications are only as valuable as the quality of service. Hardware solutions such as LTE and 4G will alleviate the strain, but network upgrades are multi-year projects, and some forecasts have demand exceeding constraints of even future capacity.

We used to say content is king, but in the new mobile world it's all about context.

Contextually-aware mediation is critical as operators try to optimize every aspect of their network architecture and experience. When I hear operators say they'll be fine once they move to LTE, I cringe. Video content will continue to be the driving cause of over-taxed networks. Without intelligent investment in systems and tools for dynamic data management, 4G won't be enough.

Amid the buzz of "open-platform app bazaars," no one wants to be a downer by talking about a messy and dreary topic like bandwidth shortage. So here's some good news: everyone in the mobile ecosystem benefits from a deeper understanding of the context behind data requests – who's watching what video on which device and where are they.

Video optimization driven through dynamic policy management and fueled by subscriber analytics isn't just a way to maximize bandwidth, it is the contextually-aware foundation upon which this nascent apps market (and the entire mobile industry) will reach its full potential.

Context is king. Long live the king.