7 August 2008. Globe Labs was launched. It's a new group within Globe primarily focused in innovation. They'll be forming strategic relationships with partners to deliver new products and services which will re-invent the telecommunications scene. And, of course they will be releasing tools for developers in the coming months. It's something like what Google and Yahoo! are doing now. What's interesting is that Globe Labs is not only looking at the SMS/MMS space but expanding their vision to provide applications for the broadband market as well. Since the direction of the telco space is towards IMS, I believe they are in the right direction. I spoke to a few of their top honchos and yes they are really serious about this.
Globe also released the Globe SMS/MMS API. Although I had a sneak peak of the API(Application Programming Interface) because I had to do a demo, I was still excited since finally it will be open to the public. With the API, it's now easy to send and receive SMS/MMS. The good thing about this is you are given access to the telco infrastructure and focus in building your applications. For the meantime, the API can be used by developers who will join the Globe Labs Challenge. You can get more information and register for the contest at the Globe Labs website.
Our organization Association of Filipino Java Developers(PinoyJUG) supported the event by spreading the news to the Java community. Free PinoyJUG shirts(courtesy of Globe) were given to those who attended. Ruby, PHP, and .NET communities were also invited.
About the author
Melvin Dave P. Vivas is Owner and Senior Consultant in Melvin Dave Consulting and Marketing specializing in IT consulting, business solutions, mobile services and technology products marketing. He is founder and Chairman of the Association of Filipino Java Developers(PinoyJUG), the largest community of Java Developers in the Philippines. He also invented the Lemongreen SMS appliance.