Handset Menus Can Be Customized Remotely

Mobile software specialist Digital Airways has launched Kaleido, a graphic solution that allows handset manufacturers to design and implement a dynamic User Interface (UI) on mobile phones. Kaleido offers flexibility and complete ease in defining, implementing and updating a phone's user interface, including over-the-air, without programming. With Kaleido, handset manufacturers dramatically reduce the cost and time-to-market of UI design and implementation, while gaining complete flexibility to produce customized phones.

The user interface has become a key challenge for handset manufacturers. "As phones increasingly take on more sophisticated functions, they risk becoming more complex to the user. At the same time, operators and content providers are looking for customization features to improve usability of services and promote branded content" says Philippe Silberzahn, co-founder and CEO of Digital Airways. "The user interface has become central to the success of new generation mobile services".

Until now, however, the UI has been implemented as a static layer over the operating system at manufacturing time. This approach made it complex and expensive for manufacturers to quickly respond to market changes and to adapt the UI to users' or operators' evolving needs. With Kaleido, Digital Airways adopts a dynamic approach for the user interface: instead of hard-coding the UI into the software layer of the handset, Kaleido separates its definition from its implementation. This allows manufacturers to create handsets that can completely change their UI without re-programming. A new UI will only require a new description file, which can be produced in a few hours.

Finally, it brings about new opportunities for customization and creation of branded phones as new user interfaces can be downloaded over-the-air (OTA)."

Posted to the site on 4th July 2003