Europe : At the beginning of last year Datacomm Research, in their report "The Evolving Mobile User Interface: Strategies for the Wireless Internet", identified that while the mobile industry had been looking for the "killer app" the user interface was somewhat neglected. In the later part of 2002 this had been partly rectified with the introduction of Vodafone live! service, the first attempt by a GSM operator to control a portion of the UI. By doing this Vodafone created an opportunity to manage an element of the user interface to increase data services and move away from a heavy reliance on SMS. However, now we are fast approaching the first anniversary of the live! launch where will operator branded UIs head next?

While operators have gained some level of UI exposure on the handsets the objective for next year must be to gain more control - more control over their branding, more control over updating the content and more control over responding to specific market segments.

Operator branding on the UI isn't simply about having a logo placed top right - it's more about building a personality through graphics, colour, style, behaviour and imagery, so creating a dynamic look and feel and a much richer engagement between the operator and the user.

Once the brand is effectively placed on the handset control shouldn't stop there - to keep the experience fresh and exciting updates need to be made. More operator control over updates can be achieved using Trigenix with pixel perfect precision in refreshing selective parts of the UI. Most content has a shelf life, which needs refreshing on a regular basis - for example, a news service would require daily updates whereas a ringtone "store" may require updating weekly based on new entrants to the music pop charts.

As data services increase the major challenge is to act intelligently on the behaviour of the user. Client segmentation and targeting is an inherent part of the Trigenix technology. Different users will select different interfaces based on their interests. Each of these can be selectively updated with specific offers and promotions. Since the Trigenix technology keeps track of who has chosen what interface, promotions for that interface will automatically be pushed to interested users, enabling accurate targeting of offers based on clear client preferences without the need for complex data warehouses.

More control is undoubtedly going to be the goal of the major operators over the next year now they have started their move on to the handset's UI. The critical success is to use a technology that is versatile enough to dynamically present the operator and keep the experience fresh and relevant. Trigenix is a technology that's capable of delivering just that.