North American Mobile Operators Save $140 Million, Boost Satisfaction with Firmware Over the Air

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InnoPath Software, the leader in Over The Air (OTA) customer care for mobile devices and the first company to deploy a commercial FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) solution for remote phone updates, today announced that during 2009 North American CDMA and GSM mobile operators enjoyed an estimated $140 million of savings through the use of the company’s ActiveCare Mobile Update product. Savings are a result of reduced device recalls, returns and shorter care calls to address usability issues. Secondary advantages of FOTA include service assurance, directly impacting the operator’s revenue, as well as increased customer satisfaction resulting in lower churn. InnoPath’s Mobile Update is the only single vendor OTA update solution. Where deployed, it creates an enhanced user experience and better manageability for the operator via an end-to-end standards+ solution between the server and the update client.

While smartphones are enjoying increased market penetration, they also bring greater complexity and a greater need for updates. Traditionally, firmware updates have been relatively rare and for most a very manual process. Recent devices, such as the Sony Ericsson Satio show the challenges that both OEMs and operators can face when presented with a device with significant issues but no way to address those issues OTA.

The Nokia 5800 XM, a phone which supported FOTA in some markets but not others, provides a vivid illustration of the customer impact of OTA support and the frustration that its absence can present. Many users in markets such as North America expressed disappointment when finding that updates were not available via FOTA or were later than updates for other markets, showing the importance of a well thought out, well implemented update strategy.

Ideally, OTA update and support issues, including client and server availability and whether the device will be updated by the OEM or operator, will be addressed as part of the initial product development process, not left as an afterthought. Just as errors or oversights in the design of the product itself can impact the subscriber experience, an incomplete support story can leave customers with a bad taste in their mouths.

In the past year, North American operators serving over 160 million subscribers have updated over 3.5 million devices via InnoPath’s servers across more than 20 device models, resulting in total savings in excess of $140 million, with volumes and savings expected to rise significantly in the future.

“InnoPath deployed the first commercial FOTA solution in 2003 and we have been the leaders in that space ever since. Many of our 21 patents are related to FOTA and it is this technical expertise combined with real world operational experience and a world-class interoperability test team that together give both operators and OEMs the edge when developing their over-the-air support strategies,” said John Fazio, InnoPath president and CEO.

Devices that have been updated in North America (some multiple times) include:

Casio C711
LG GR500
LG VX11k
Motorola V750
Motorola VU204
Motorola VU30
Motorola V860
Motorola W755
Motorola ZN4
Nokia 6555
Nokia 6650
Nokia E71x
PCD CDM 8975
Samsung Rugby
Samsung SGH-A737
Samsung u-350
Samsung u-450
Samsung u-490
Samsung u-650
UTS GTX75

These updates have addressed a variety of problems, including issues with Push to Talk, dropped calls, corrupted contacts, crashes/freezes and others, and utilize a combination of InnoPath and third-party management clients with the InnoPath ActiveCare server.

InnoPath will be demonstrating its complete ActiveCare solution at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 15-19 February 2010.

About InnoPath

InnoPath, the global leader in Over-the-Air delivery of customer care, helps operators and mobile device makers reduce support costs while providing a better end-user experience by diagnosing, updating and fixing mobile phones and other devices Over-the-Air. InnoPath products help shorten or prevent support calls and drive first call resolutions. The company’s extensive experience in production Tier-1 networks helps ensure rapid and successful deployments in large, complex environments. With a proven value proposition, the payback time for an operator deploying Innopath ActiveCare is usually less than one year. Our customers include AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Samsung, LG, KDDI, Tata DoCoMo and China Telecom. Discover more at our website, www.innopath.com, and our blog, The CSR, at http://thecsr.blogspot.com/.