Orange Partner Camp - The Pow Wow

Do you learn much about a company when you attend its 'Pow Wow'? Such events are mandatory at any conference of this size, and are the place where the desire for a corporate group hug meets the need to whip up some lather around the brand and its 'key messaging'.

But no such event is complete without a bit of glam, and this year Orange, as befitted the location, chose a spacey, beam-me-up, Dr Spock meets 2001 a Space Odyssey theme. Steve Glagow, who is basically Mr Orange Camp, was master of ceremonies - clad suitably in an astronaut's jump suit - straight from central casting - and joined on stage by a mock-up of a lunar ground buggy, while being teased on screen by disembodied interjections from HAL, the computer from 2001..

The session was a chance to give a few freebies to the happy campers, loyal attendees and sponsors, but more importantly to introduce all the key Orange faces and allow them a few minutes each to bang their respective drums. CEO Aanjiv Ahuja also put in a brief appearance by virtue of a pre-recorded video clip beamed to the giant, Big Brother-like screen that hung over the proceedings.

The session also served two imporant purposes. To remind everyone that 'Orange is not a technology company', and to give a few specifics in areas such a Web 2.0, quad play, music and content. We were also reminded from the get-go that Orange is "the only carrier to run such an event".

Glagow put the event in context with some figures: 70 businesses applied to take part in the speed dating event (pitching to experts); 124 requested one-to-one sessions; 58 were under consideration for the competition for best innovation.

So why is Orange not a technology company? Because it wants to simplify its offerings and to make content available wherever and whenever customers want it - to mobile, to TV, to internet. The message for developers is clear: take your pick, or perhaps get involved with all these channels. The subplot is that Orange needs lots of content, and it needs it fast.

Gerard Grech, Strategy and Business Development Director, Content Partnerships and Services, gave the best explanation of the vision on 'content': "We are seeing a fragmentation of media content; traditional channels are evolving; there is a convergence of technologies; Orange is at the forefront of this, and we intend to stay there."

He went on to detail Orange's offering of 60 internet TV channels in France, including providing a French soap opera direct to mobiles and internet minutes after it appears on terrestial TV.

He then took a pop at Apple: "Our research found that teenagers don't think iPods are cool anymore; they think it is cooler to download music to a phone and then share it with friends. They want music for a set fee per month."

On the Web 2.0 front speakers outlined the need for "content that creates context, because context creates audience," and thus the Orange business model was laid bare: stimulate applications that drive the desire for content, create a healthy traffic that drives billing minutes and online and mobile advertising revenues.

So the carrot for developers was clear too: develop the applications that Orange so badly needs and the world of quad play will be laid before you; four channels to market for one relationship can't be a bad deal can it?

But every carrot is followed by a stick with one of the final speakers saying: "Make sure you choose the right device; make sure your are not too late and not too ambitious; don't loose time to market. But most of all make sure you have the right resources - if you don't you will fail." With many of those attending being from start-up or near start-up firms consisting of a handful of staff it was perhaps the bitterest pill to swallow.

The buggy didn't go anywhere; but the quad play bandwagon was well and truly on the road. It remains to be seen if carriers rather than the new media upstarts will be the real drivers of this new fragmented world service delivery.