A carrier launcher for Android

28 Nov 2014Pitches4 min read

Our idea for telcos: one Android launcher, dressed in each carrier's brand, with their app store, data and billing widgets and offers right on the home screen.

Telcos here sell a lot of Android phones packaged with their plans. So we came up with a launcher they can preload on those phones: one launcher, dressed in each carrier’s brand, with their services right on the home screen. Getting a telco to preload anything is the hard part, and that’s what we’re working on.

Samsung and Nokia have both put out their own launchers this year too.

One launcher, a few carriers

It runs on Android 4.1 and up. Apps sit in folders, and each folder has a ”+ MORE” button that opens the carrier’s own app store. There’s Boostr to free up memory, a battery app, and widgets for how much data you have left, your bill, carrier updates and rewards. The carrier runs it from a backend, where they can switch on a festive theme for Chinese New Year or Christmas, and see how many people use the launcher, which apps get used most and on which phones.

The first one I did was for Maxis, in green, with Maxis 1Store behind the ”+ MORE” button.

The Maxis home screen on a faceted green background: a big 12:35 clock, Maxis Movies, Maxis QR, Circle Watch, MyMaxis, Settings, Maxis 1Store, Boostr and Battery, and a dock of phone, camera, Chrome and mail

Data widgets: Day 22/30 on SurfMore75 with 3GB used and 2GB left, and a SurfMore50 bar with 20 days left in the billing cycle

A Maxis billing widget with usage, credit limit and billing date, Maxis updates about data quota and a received payment, and a caller ringtones player — For Maxis.

A Your Rewards widget, Think of it as how Maxis says Thank You to all our customers, with deals from a bakery, laser tag and a fashion store — For Maxis.

Then the same launcher for DiGi, in their black and yellow.

The DiGi home screen on black and yellow diagonals: a 12:35 clock, Settings, DiGi Store, Boostr, Battery, CallerTunes, Music Play, Friend Finder and Rewards — For DiGi.

MyDiGi billing with usage, credit limit and billing date, DiGi updates, and a DiGiMusic Play player — For DiGi.

More widgets for DiGi

For DiGi I went further with the widgets. Data gets a ring that fills up as you use it, with a button to top up. Your bill is three rings, outstanding, usage and data. Callertunes play right on the home screen with a button to buy, and there’s a row of the day’s top games.

A data widget: a yellow ring at 65% used, with plan, day, quota and usage beside it and a Purchase Topup button — Data, billing, callertunes and games.

MyDiGi billing as three rings: 10% of the total outstanding, 30% available usage and 65% data usage, plus smaller rings for plan usage and days left — Data, billing, callertunes and games.

Carrier updates move from SMS to notifications, and the rewards widget tells you when there are deals near you. A flash sale comes in as a notification, opens a page on DiGi’s site, and you pay for it on your phone bill.

Rewards: a Chatime deal, DiGi Rewards offers, and a yellow 3 with There are 3 DiGi Rewards deals near your location — Rewards nearby, updates, and a flash sale.

A stack of carrier updates: approaching your data quota, a service disruption, a payment received, a limited-time song download, a Starbucks deal and a phone offer from the DiGi Store — Rewards nearby, updates, and a flash sale.