Bandwidth hungry mobile apps may soon come equipped with "turbocharge" buttons, Verizon Wireless announced. The company is aiming to publish an API during the third quarter of 2012 that can then be implemented into mobile apps by developers. The boost, of course, will come at a small, undisclosed fee, but the new turbo apps will have priority when Verizon's network is congested.
In addition, the service will also give users the option to pay for the turbocharge via a separate, on-device microtransaction API Big Red hopes to release by the end of 2012.
I think one of the things that you could do is guaranteed quality of service, Fletcher said, when asked how the network optimization API could be used. One of the things that we are right now is very democratic in terms of allocating spectrum and bandwidth to users. And just because you request a high quality of service doesn't mean you're gonna get it. [The network] will try to give it to you, but if there's a lot of congestion, a lot of people using it, it won't kick people off.
An example where this boost may be necessary is during a choppy Skype call. Users would simply hit the button, and the data speed for that app would improve.
While it's still a ways off, the possibility of boosting certain apps is an exciting prospect for users who are constantly on-the-go and need that extra bit of speed.
What apps would you like to turbocharge?
[BGR]
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