Executive Summary

The mobile phone industry is witnessing the adoption of On-Device Portals (ODPs), a new generation of

products which deliver content on the mobile phone through the use of a client application. We segment ODPs

into three classes of products - offline portals, on-device store-fronts and home-screen replacements. Ondevice

portals are an evolution of WAP, as they leverage the handset’s capabilities to deliver a more

appealing user experience, increase service awareness and streamline content purchasing.

On-device portals have emerged to address the poor take-up of mobile data services. Operators have spent

tens of billions of dollars on 3G licenses and infrastructure, and are now investing in HSDPA network

upgrades and in sourcing content from media brands. However, we find that non-messaging data revenue is

still very low: for a successful operator like Vodafone UK, the increase in pure data revenue generated

between 2004 and 2005 is estimated at just $88 million.

Clearly, the answer is not in bigger pipes or more content - content may be king, but the user experience is

queen. While operators have made substantial investments in their content strategies, the user experience

has been neglected. It can be said that we are at the stage of the ‘abandoned shopping cart’ syndrome that

was prevalent in the early days of the web.

ODPs cater directly to the needs of the major industry players involved in the distribution of content to mobile

handsets – namely the operators, handset manufacturers and media companies. For mobile operators, ODPs

have the potential to drive data ARPU uplift and service usability by delivering content to the device in an

easily discoverable, instantly accessible and personalised manner, and by providing the ‘wow’ factor through

the use of rich graphics and smarter content. For content providers, ODPs are able to deliver an immersive

user experience beyond the traditional off-portal channels. Finally, ODPs cater to handset manufacturers who

want to reduce their time-to-market for customised handsets.

This report analyses 14 vendors in the on-device portal space, namely Abaxia, Action Engine, Cibenix,

Handmark (Pocket Express), Macromedia (FlashCast), MSX, Nellymoser, Onskreen, Openwave, Opera

Platform, Qualcomm (uiOne), RefreshMobile, Silk and SurfKitchen. An in-depth overview is provided for each

vendor covering the vendor’s history, positioning, products, customers, technology and strategy, in addition to

presenting ARCchart’s viewpoint on the company. The report also draws a comparative landscape of ODP

vendors in terms of their positioning, customers, products and technology.

An extensive discussion of the current ODP market is presented. Following the technology trigger in 2001 and

the first wave of ODP vendors arriving in 2002, on-device portals have gained traction in 2005. In 2006, we

expect to witness a second wave of heavyweight vendors enter the market, while in 2007 we see the wide

acceptance of on-device services by the key industry players. Ultimately, however, we see the core

technology of current ODP solutions commoditising from 2008.

On-Device Portals