24/24 Actu

I am the lucky beta-tester of one of Orange’s latest innnovation: 24/24 Actu. Announced during MIP-TV and launched last week in beta, 24/24 actu is a search engine dedicated to news. Yes, you read well. Orange, the telecom operator, aims at competing with Google News. There are several differences though:

- the portal/search engine is not only aggregating news article but also radio and TV sources. Of course YouTube is a video search engine in the Google galaxy but not integrated into Google news yet. If you’re based in the US, Blinkx is probably the closest concept. The technology belongs to Orange and has been conceived in Orange Labs.

- to insist on the difference with Google, Orange prides itself to have already deals signed with the major media companies.

- of course, the service is in beta for now, only available in French and aims at around 400,000 to 500,000 users by year end according to Xavier Couture quote in Les Echos. It will be made available on all screens and an Iphone version is to be launched during autumn.

That’s another bold move in Orange’s ambitious and controversial content strategy.

Orange Autumn/Winter Collection

I recently had the opportunity to discover innovations/new services to be launched soon by Orange. I won’t describe them all (it included the bold launch of Orange Cinema Series) but only those I found the most interesting:

- Widgets made available both on the PC and the mobile under the Djinngo name. Check out here.
Interestingly, Orange views wome widgets as a way to acquire new clients. Indeed, some widgets generate up to hundreds of thousands of unique visitors and can be made available on any homescreen. I haven’ t tested the mobile version yet but would be curious to hear your thoughts on it. Many operators have started embracing this trend. I saw some demos from Telecom Italia a while ago while Bouygues Telecom just announced a deal with Goojet.

- customized mobile handsets with Orange Wizard. This is based on pre-installed apps that simplify access to content from the homescreen: it can be anything from news to easy access to e-mails, to EPG TV guides, calendar and tasks….but also to your social communities’ hub. This sounds like a widget-like approach to promote Orange tools and offerings on the Orange signature programm. To be launched first on 2 devices in France with specific contracts: LG Renoir and Nokia N85.

- launch of TV HD on the Unik offering: it requires a 3G UMA phone (most Unik phones used to be 2G only). To be launched on 2 devices LG KF757 and SE G705u

- a new Livebox: with Wifi-n, it will be easier to use. I am not a tech guy but I think it means thanks to a new protocol you won’t have to manually enter a complex code (WEP key). You can connect up to 4 PCs/consoles or other home equipments. In addition it is compatbile with UPnP and DLNA standards which paves the way for a real digital home multimedia solution. To be launched in January 2009 (for the FTTH version and in April 2009 for ADSL)

- a USB TV key to transform your PC into a TV screen

- simultaneous calls on your busy VoIP line…and many other stuff coming along in 2009.