Boost mobile launched their “Social Zone” social networking category today using our ANTHEM platform. This is our typical single client solution, so what the user sees is an application that is essentially the category: All SNS providers show up in a menu screen, and the one selected rebrands the application and the user enters that community. With a similar UI across multiple SNS providers, the user learning curve is flat, enabling consumers to focus on interaction and content instead of UI quirks.
Whenever Boost wants to add a SNS provider in the future, there is nothing more to deploy to the handset - we handle everything through backend integration. This approach is great for preloading, because OEM footprint constraints disallow a carrier from putting, say, the top 10 social networking sites on a device, though they can put a single interface on a device and be able to provision any number of providers into the future.
This also enables them to integrate deeply to the device’s key usage drivers such as the camera, gallery and PIM - something you cannot do with WAP.
Boost is technically a division of Sprint now, though they act completely autonomously, which I think was a wise decision on Sprint’s part. Their subscriber base is very differentiated demographically, and they are an important addition to our market share footprint.
Boost is a great partner with a great demographic and we will bend over backward for them as we do for all of our partners to bring their subscribers the absolute best mobile social networking experience possible.
I wish I had more time to write today about our roadmap with Boost - they will be doing some great things - but I have a lot going on today and limited time. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.