--SDK Expected to Launch in the Fourth Quarter
In a press release issued Tuesday, in which it officially announced the upgrades to its FiOS TV Twitter and Facebook interactive TV widgets that it had first announced in a posting on a corporate blog last Friday (note: for more on the updates--which allow viewers to use the widgets to send tweets and post their own Facebook updates--see the article published on itvt.com, August 3rd), and also claimed that FiOS TV subscribers had already used the new widgets to view "millions of tweets and Facebook gallery photos," Verizon revealed that it has bigger plans for its recently launched Widget Bazaar applications marketplace (accessed from within the FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide) than had originally appeared to be the case.
While, for example, a report in the Wall Street Journal last month claimed that the company plans to control the Widget Bazaar's content line-up fairly tightly and expects it to contain only around 40 applications six months or so from now, a quote from Verizon's chief information officer, Shaygan Kheradpir, in the new press release hints that the company may envision the Widget Bazaar as being more open--and thus more similar to Apple's App Store model--than was previously thought: "Soon we'll be launching a software development kit [note: Verizon revealed its plans for an SDK in the press release in which it originally announced the Widget Bazaar], complete with the required application programming interface (API) and a platform emulator, and we will invite open development of new applications for the Widget Bazaar," the quote stated. "Developers should start thinking now about applications that are appropriate for the 'big screen,' not the pocket-sized screens they've been writing for so far. We'll be looking for tools that engage TV viewers and enrich or enhance the 'living-room' experience in new ways." Verizon's new press release also stated that "once applications are written and tested on the platform emulator that is included in the developers' portfolio, they will be reviewed for appropriateness and value before being posted to the Widget Bazaar."
According to a report by CNET's Marguerite Reardon, who spoke to Verizon CIO Kheradpir, Verizon will let developers charge consumers for their TV Widgets and will likely split the revenues thus generated 30/70 with the developer (i.e. the same ratio used for the Apple App Store and Verizon's own Vcast wireless application store). Kheradpir--who told Reardon that Verizon is "not limiting innovation to any particular circle of developers," and plans to "start with applications from our partners, and then...move toward opening it up to third-party developers"--also revealed that the new FiOS TV SDK is slated for availability in the fourth quarter, and that Verizon has created a Web site (http://code.verizon.com), where developers are encouraged to offer suggestions and ideas for TV widgets. The SDK will be available through the new site, Kheradpir said, which will also be the location through which developers will be able to submit their widgets for approval.
