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Orange has announced the launch of Social Life, a mobile social networking aggregator which brings together activity on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo in one central place. Accessible from Orange World, Orange’s mobile internet portal, Social Life allows customers to view and post updates and get in touch with friends and family across all three social networks at the same time through a single log-in.
Available to all Orange mobile customers, the Social Life home screen allows users to:
- upload photos
- update their status
- keep track of friends’ status updates from all three leading social networks
- view social network notifications, including messages, events, pokes and friend requests
- send and receive messages
Customers have full control over which information they provide to each of their social networks – they can update their status and upload photos to some or all of them through the Social Life home screen. Social Life also allows customers to keep on top of social network activity through SMS – with them able to set up free text alerts on specific social network activity and send updates via text message. Offering access to Facebook, Bebo and MySpace from launch, the service will also look to incorporate more social networks and Web 2.0 sites in 2009.
Orange was the first operator to offer pay-as-you-go customers free access to Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, while contract customers receive free mobile internet access on certain tariffs.
Orange also announced today that it has launched Orange Widget Player, a customisable interface which provides fast access to useful content and favourite applications from the Orange home screen on Orange Signature devices. Using Widget Player, customers can instantly access news, weather and sport updates along with applications such as search, Wikipedia, world clock and others from a widgets catalogue that will grow throughout 2009. Currently available on the Nokia 6303, Widget Player will be rolled out on further devices through the course of 2009.
Mark Watts-Jones, Head of Product Management for Orange UK, said: “With Social Life and Widget Player we’re making it simple for customers to manage their favourite content, applications and social networks at the touch of a button. Over time we will be looking to add more sites to the service – helping users to stay in touch in touch with the people and content that matters most to them”.
It’s certainly an impressive-sounding announcement, but with the potential complexity of some these services, the devil will be in the detail. Once I get to play with some demo devices with these services loaded, I’ll let you know how it (widget) plays out (pun intended!)
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
