Icewrx envisages global sports audience

Across the Tasman, mobile application developer Icewrx is laying the groundwork for connecting a global audience of cellphone users hungry for an interactive view of next year's Athens Olympics.

Over the last three years, Victoria-based Icewrx has been developing mainly Java and Flash-based applications.

Its HiveSports was used in W-CDMA trials carried out by Ericsson last year and now Icewrx is negotiating with Vodafone and Ericsson to offer applications for soccer's European championship to be held in Portugal in January next year.

Mobile owners will tap into Icewrx's HiveSports, which allows subscribers access to video highlights, statistics and player facts, score updates, virtual clubs and chat rooms, take part in multi-player games and buy merchandise.

In reality, most users will access Icewrx services via relatively low-speed GPRS networks such as Vodafone's.

But HiveSports has been adapted for CDMA1X and 3G, the platform which will ultimately deliver the best experience for users.

Icewrx's US-based chief executive Michael Kahn said such applications were crucial in stimulating interest in 3G. "At the moment [emerging 3G player] Hutchison don't have the take-up, [because] the applications aren't there," he said.

HiveSports debuted at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics last year. Now Icewrx is negotiating with Vodafone Greece to deliver applications offering real-time content for the Athens games.

Kahn expects HiveSports then to be offered to the cellphone giant's services around the world, possibly through its Vodafone Live! platform.

Icewrx points out that around 10 million Australian viewers typically tune in to watch the Olympics and 70 per cent of that audience own a mobile phone. The potential target market is huge.

The developer is currently generating a "small amount" of revenue, but a deal with Vodafone for the European championship and Athens Olympics would launch Icewrx into the big time.

But experience has made Kahn wary of putting the cart before the horse.

On the eve of the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was in a meeting in California with computer heavyweights Intel, Microsoft and Compaq and on the verge of signing a lucrative deal.

"We shook hands, but the next day it was all over," remembers Kahn, who nevertheless believes the "telecommunications nuclear holocaust" of the past couple of years has created opportunities for small operations like his.

"The major companies haven't survived all that well, that's why they are looking for companies like Icewrx, they don't have the developers any more."