Aussie developer touted as next whizz kid

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:00

Your IT - Mobility

A 23 year old Australian entrepreneur claims that mobile phone communications will be transformed with the launch of a free downloadable software program that he says will turns a mobile phone into an internet device.

The software, called bluepulse, includes claimed features such as an "instant messaging with presence" application as well as the ability to access any RSS feed from a phone.  With a patent pending in 123 countries, bluepulse is claimed to be platform independent and to work across Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and 3 networks.

According to bluepulse managing director and founder Ben Keighran, “Even if you think your phone is a ‘cheapie’ without many capabilities; it can now be used to surf your favourite blogs, download mobile content, and 'IM' your friends.  All you have to do is simply download the software for free from www.bluepulse.com.au and away you go!”

Advertised features include:

• Works on most mobile phones currently being sold in Australia (more than 250 models) :
• Access mobile internet applications such as:
o Instant messenger with presence (MSN and Yahoo compatible),
o Read any RSS feed in the world from your phone (any website or blogsite that has an RSS feed)
o Information content (news, entertainment, What’s On Guides etc)
o Download ring tones and wallpapers,
• Independent of the content and service offered by different mobile networks.

The RSS application empowers the user to personalise the content on their mobile phone; in effect, breaking down the ‘walled garden’ philosophy of many carriers.  “This is definitely one of bluepulse’s coolest features,” says Keighran.  “Platforms such as i-mode and Vodafone Live are a great hassle-free introduction to quality mainstream mobile content, but when a mobile handset user is ready to 'roll their own' personal mobile desktop, bluepulse is the ideal solution."

Keighran, who is said to have developed the core technology when he was 19, says a major benefit for mobile content providers is bluepulse’s ability to work across all the major mobile networks.

“Now almost anyone with a mobile phone is a potential mobile content customer, not just the lucky few with the latest handsets and premium access packages.  And because bluepulse works across Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and 3 networks, in the future content providers will potentially only have to design content for one platform, and deploy everywhere.  Designing content for each of the carriers is a very expensive exercise,” says Keighran.

While applications such as the Messenger application and RSS news services are offered free to all people who download bluepulse on their phone, additional content is bundled for an 8 cents per day charge.  “This super low cost is extremely important in attracting younger consumers to this new world of content,” says Keighran.

According to Keighran, he originally developed the core of the software platform as a 19 year old to allow him to take control of the music playing on his computer using his mobile phone.

Keighran says he kept developing the platform until he came up with a solution that potentially allowed all phones (regardless of the make or the mobile network carrier) to communicate with one another, much in the same way computers communicate with one another over the internet.  After three years of development and now with a team of senior engineers and business executives behind him, Keighran says he is now ready to announce the launch of the commercial release of the bluepulse software.{mos_ri}