Sprint's Sandbox aims to make app development easier

A new era of application development is upon the mobile industry, as network providers are beginning to embrace the idea that successful mobile data and Internet applications can be built by anyone--from the largest software companies to the smallest entrepreneurial efforts--if they are provided with the right tools and opportunities. In many cases, that means providing developers with open access to network resources and even customer information that they have never had access to before.

Sprint Nextel has taken an aggressive stance in working to make that happen. The third largest mobile network provider in the U.S. in June announced the Sprint Developer Sandbox program to provide free access to network, handset and product platform resources that can be used to develop and test applications or other solutions developers might create with Java, Windows Mobile or other technologies. Within the new program, the Sprint Network and Product Services Sandbox is where developers can mash-up existing Sprint services and capabilities--such as the network-enabled, location-based service technology in the carrier's open location platform--with other third-party services to create entirely new applications or even Web pages. After they create applications, developers can test their innovations with Sprint users.

Nathan Smith, product development manager at Sprint, said the company built an "abstraction layer on top of our own platform, and companies can connect to it using simple APIs. It is really Web 2.0 meets Telco 2.0. The traditional, one-to-one operator-developer relationship takes a lot of support and certification, but sometimes companies just want to try things out before they commit to that longer experience."

John Schuler, director of platform management at Sprint, added developers need to do nothing more to play in the Sandbox than sign up on the Sandbox website and await a confirmation number. "Once you get that confirmation number, you click on it, and you are up and running in the Sandbox. There is no other formal approval needed from Sprint. We want to make it as easy as possible to work with us."

Iain Gillott, principal analyst at research firm iGR, said the general idea is not new, but that Sprint is extending it farther than ever before. "Sprint has had a development environment for years, but now they are making it available to the three-guys-in-a-garage types of developers," he said.

Alcatel-Lucent is among the latest companies, along with Loc-Aid and Useful Networks, to become part of Sprint's open location platform, meaning that Alcatel-Lucent's platform enablers will be among the resources available to developers connecting to the Sandbox abstraction layer. When a developer gets to the commercial stage with a location-based service, the developer can then import its application to Alcatel-Lucent's Geographic Messaging Services Platform. But testing the new application and commercially launching it requires exposing it to users first. The challenge is that when it comes to location-based applications, privacy can be a very sensitive issue. Sprint and Alcatel-Lucent resolve that issue with a privacy mechanism that requires an opt-in confirmation from users participating in the tests.

"We feel like this something that will make developers and users choose Sprint, and stay with Sprint longer," Schuler said.