ESPN MVP

ESPN, the "Worldwide Leader in Sports," reaches over 100 million homes in the US and over 150 countries and territories. The mission of ESPN is to be the primary source for sports information and the no. 1 resource for sports fans across the United States. With more wireless subscribers, ESPN was confronted with the challenge of how to leverage their world renowned TV and Web experience into a mobile application that lived up to those same expectations.

The Challenge / The Process

For the ESPN experience to be accurately translated into a rich, interactive mobile application it would need to constantly provide up-to-date scores, tips, news and videos. ESPN fans have grown accustomed to accessing the latest news, delivered with accuracy and speed. In order to deliver this experience it was necessary to find technology designed to efficiently deliver data intensive rich media across highly latent wireless networks while enabling the ability to dynamically update information upon end-user request.

The Solution

The power behind ESPN MVP is the UIE technology platform, UIEngine™. ESPN initially partnered with UIE and began using UIEngine™ to develop ESPN casual games in 2003 and then again in 2005 to build Mobile ESPN — ESPN's wireless phone service, which was launched in early 2006. Mobile ESPN shut down in December 2006 and ESPN began a partnership with Verizon Wireless to offer the Mobile ESPN experience to VCast customers. Originally developed for a Java-based phone the updated version, ESPN MVP, was launched as part of the BREW-based Verizon VCast service in less than 3 months, due to the flexible architecture of the UIEngine™ platform and UIE design and development tools.

The UIEngine platform enables the innovative mobile application allowing Verizon Wireless VCast customers to access an unmatched line-up of ESPN award-winning ESPN sports content. The MVP application is the most robust mobile sports portal available in the market providing, on-demand link to news, scores, video clips, live TV and an array of customized content, dynamically updated to reflect distinctive sporting events like the Olympics, the Indianapolis 500 and the World Cup.

The UIEngine™ platform is uniquely designed to efficiently deliver data intensive rich media across highly latent wireless networks, dynamically updating information and keeping users engaged. ESPN now delivers thousands of data feeds to the far-reaching VCast community, providing users with an intuitive, easy to navigate and customizable ESPN experience. Streaming video clips and live TV are played within the application, delivering seamless and speedy access to video.

The Result

ESPN can offer mobile customers the same immersive sports content with real-time scores, news, video and personalization for favorite teams and much more. The service offers over one hundred daily on-demand and live video and audio clips, mobile games and user-defined message based alerts as well as game day play-by-play coverage.

ESPN MVP offers one- or zero-click access to content, with a minimized number of layers required to retrieve information. Contextual navigation and menus ensure that each user's most frequently used content rises to the top. The highly intuitive navigation and easy-to-use interfaces allow the tightly integrated application to provide a seamless integrated customized experience.

"ESPN's wireless sports application is unmatched," said Oke Okaro, Director of Product Development, ESPN Enterprises. "Our unique content is optimized by UIEvolution's innovative approach, which has created the best experience possible for sports enthusiasts who want immediate, interactive and easy access to their favorite sports news and entertainment from their mobile phone."