Vodacom, South Africa’s leading network, is introducing Betavine, a Vodafone R&D lab set up in 2007, to SA’s community of mobile web developers.

Quick facts

• Betavine.net is a place to experiment with new and emerging mobile technology

• The Betavine.net portal provides developers with an open forum for mobile developers to access resources, exchange knowledge and feedback with peers

• Betavine.mobi allows developers access to an end user audience and receive feedback and ratings for the applications created

• The Betavine.net portal is technology agnostic

• Betavine's Widget Zone provides tools and support for the Vodafone Betavine community’s developers

• Vodafone has launched Vodafone Apps Manager to let its customers access widgets

• Vodafone Apps Manager has been built to run on the Opera S60 platform and is available through Vodafone live! to around two million customers in a range of  Vodafone’s major markets, including Germany, UK, Spain and South Africa.

• Nearly 12,000 developers have already joined the Betavine community

Press Release

Widget Definition

What is a widget?

widget /wij-it/ n. Mobile small, specialised web application for particular use on cellphones used to easily retrieve and update relevant information. Uses simple weather reports.

Why Widgets?

Why make use of widgets?

• Widgets are the tools that are bringing the web experience to cellphones
• Widgets allow for an individual web experience on your cellphone, accessorised by your interests
• More cellphone manufacturers are including widget Web Run-Time capability into their devices, making it accessible to many more that access the web on their cellphones

Widget Worx

• Develop a widget with Betavine
• Anyone, regardless of skill and background, can learn how to develop a widget from scratch
  Betavine shows you how. On www.betavine.net the online toolkit and Widget Fortune Tutorial are a great resource for any aspirant widget developer
• The Betavine community offers a live, interactive means of rating your applications, learning from more experienced developers and improving the widget user experience
• Betavine offers a chance to distribute widgets to a potential audience of more than one million Vodafone customers across the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and South Africa.

Widget Wins

Vodacom is launching a Betavine Widgets Workshop and Competition.

Vodacom, South Africa’s leading network, is introducing Betavine, which will enable South African mobile application developers to develop widgets and applications with the full tool kit provided on the Betavine website; www.betavine.net. Betavine was launched in 2007 through the Vodafone R&D lab as a dedicated widget zone to encourage developers to experiment with widget technology.

The Betavine.net website provides mobile application developers with an open forum to access tools and resources across all devices and platforms. As well as exchange knowledge and feedback with peers and it enables developers to experiment with new and emerging mobile technology.

Through Betavine.mobi, developers are able to access an end-user audience and receive feedback and ratings on the applications they have created in the Betavine community, as well as device compatibility feedback. This feedback is automatically collated and displayed on the application profile page on Betavine.net so the developer (and others) can gain an invaluable insight into the functioning of multiple handsets and firmware versions.

“We hope that Betavine will become a hub for local application developers using all types of technologies to try out their ideas and get feedback on their applications from their peers. We aim to bring together the developer community with the early adopters to their mutual benefit,” says Romeo Kumalo, Executive Director: Commercial, Vodacom South Africa.

Betavine.net is technology agnostic, and the intention is that the ‘resources’ section will grow over time to include links to all relevant technology resources that developers may need to create applications in the wireless and Internet communications space.

Furthermore, Kumalo stated that opportunities for innovation are essential if we are to provide the kind of communication services that enrich people's lives.

Betavine Widget Zone

Betavine's Widget Zone provides tools and support for the Vodafone Betavine community’s developers, so as to encourage the creation of these mobile applications known as widgets. Betavine's Widget Zone is online and lets the mobile application developers' community explore new widget technology and experiments with ideas on how to use it.

Vodafone has also launched Vodafone Apps Manager to let its customers access the widgets. Vodafone Apps Manager has been built to run on the Opera S60 platform and is available through Vodafone live! to around two million customers across Vodafone’s major markets, including Germany, UK, Spain and South Africa.

This model's success is borne out by the fact that nearly 12 000 developers have already joined the Betavine community. Widgets are applications with simple functionalities designed to allow customers to enjoy a bespoke mobile experience.

R50 000 developer competition

Vodacom is launching ‘Dawn of the Living Widgets’ – a widget workshop and competition - designed to encourage developers to unleash their creativity and experiment with the technology, competing with their peers for a first prize of R50 000 as well as second-, third- and spot prizes during the day.

‘Dawn of the Living Widgets’ will take place on 5 September 2009, at Vodaworld and developers are invited to demonstrate their skills by developing a mobile application or widget in a marathon session.

The judging panel, including experts from Vodacom, Vodafone and the industry in South Africa, will be assessing the entries based on the following:

• Usability: How easy is the widget to use?
• Innovation: How creative is the widget?
• Value to users: What does it enable users to do?

All developers submitting widgets will also have an opportunity to make their entries available through the Vodafone Apps Manager to Vodafone customers across the globe.

Videos

Quotes

• “Opportunities for innovation are essential if we are to provide the kind of communications services that enrich people's lives and make them easier” - Shameel Joosub (Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa)

• “Betavine is one of the ways we encourage innovation in the area of wireless and internet communications. It is an online community designed to support mobile developers in stimulating ideas, building, testing and launching great new applications for mobile and internet communications.” - Shameel Joosub (Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa)

• “We hope that Vodafone Betavine will become a hub for local developers using all types of technologies to try out their ideas and get feedback on their applications from their peers. We aim to bring together the developer community with the early adopters to their mutual benefit.”

Credits

Social media press release created and issued by Cerebra on behalf of Vodacom.