Handsets with push-to-talk (PTT) functionality will be the stocking filler of Christmas 2004, but operators need to make sure they have the right network systems in place to support the service, experts in the technology have warned.
Motorola’s Charlie Henderson, product manager for PTT in Europe, said that his company’s experience of providing PTT services to Verizon and Sprint in the USA had emphasised the importance of understanding the handset and server side of the service.
“Most organisations are at the stage of running applications off a laptop. We’ve got a fully redundant commercial server that can be configured for up to a million subscribers.
“It’s an approach that has given many operators comfort that PTT is now real,” Henderson said.
Experience in designing handsets with the right user interface so that consumers readily understand how to use the service is also important, Henderson said.
On PTT standards Henderson said that Motorola was working with the Open Mobile Alliance and 3GPP to “share our wisdom”.
“We understand our overall success is dependent on a degree of interaction between competitors,” he said.
Motorola will have at least one PTT phone in Europe by the beginning of 2004, Henderson said, with another two models out before the end of the year.