February 16th, 2009 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Other news | No Comments »

O2's Litmus is probably one of the App Store concepts that we covered the most while it's not even on the market. Since a few weeks, Litmus has been open for Beta testing, and now O2 has teamed up with Mob4Hire to increase the testing quality.

O2 customers signing up for O2 Litmus will play a key role in helping to shape future content available on the network. The move will enable O2 to take full advantage of the creativity and energy of over 19million customers as well as its developer community. Additionally customers who sign up receive tangible benefits for contributing time and effort in testing and shaping the emerging mobile applications of the future.

Customers who are eligible for O2 Litmus will be given exclusive access to newly developed applications across a wide range of categories from games and multimedia to communications and GPS. Users will be asked to rate their overall experience of each application with the best ideas receiving the best approval ratings from the user community. Acting as test-beds for further creativity and innovation on the site, O2 Litmus users will liaise directly with software developers, providing crucial feedback on each application they test.

O2 Litmus customers will be given the opportunity to earn tangible rewards for their time and input. They will receive free access to any application they test once it becomes commercially available. Secondly as part of O2’s drive to support its customers during the economic downturn, O2 Litmus users will have the opportunity to earn hard cash for every application they test, via a ground breaking partnership with multi award winning Mob4Hire. Users will be able to bid for each application they wish to trial, putting a value on what they think their time is worth. With each test they complete, trialists are paid the pre-agreed amount and, they will also increase their O2 Litmus tester reputation within the community.

James Parton, Head of O2 Litmus, commented: “Opening an apps store has become the new mobile vogue. But for O2 it misses something fundamental: the collaboration of customer, developer and the network operator. We are in the unique position to be able to draw on over 19 million customers and offer those with a proven interest in new mobile technologies and a real thirst for new ideas the chance to shape the future of their network by working directly with software developers to provide feedback on mobile applications that have been designed for them. We are already seeing signs of strong growth, with nearly 150 applications developed and available since our launch just eight weeks ago. O2 Litmus is driving quicker, better, innovative mobile apps that can be tried and used in days not months