OPEN PLATFORMS and integration were the themes of the day at the opening of the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona yesterday.
The four-day event brings together mobile manufacturers, software developers and service providers under the one exhibition. The day began with the news that 24 telecoms operators were banding together to create an open platform for developers to reach all mobile users, tapping into a market of more than three billion customers worldwide.
The market for “apps” is fragmented, the event was told, and the Wholesale Applications Community, as it is known, is attempting to address that. The platform will allow the creation and distribution of software to phones, regardless of the technology they use or who manufactures it. Telefonica, parent of O2, and Vodafone are among those taking part, with hardware makers such as Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson backing the idea too.
“This approach is completely in line with the principles of the GSMA, and in fact leverages the work we have already undertaken on open network APIs (OneAPI),” said Rob Conway, chief executive of the GSM Association, the mobile industry body that organises the show. “This is tremendously exciting news for our industry and will serve to catalyse the development of a range of innovative cross-device, cross-operator applications.”
The move could be seen as a way to claw back some of the market from Apple, which currently dominates the app development market. It has more than 140,000 applications available in its App Store, and has already passed the three billionth download milestone. Nokia, meanwhile, has its OviStore, which it says has more than one million downloads a day.
In a separate announcement, Nokia said it would be teaming up with Intel to produce an open platform that would work across a variety of devices, including phones, netbooks and connected TVs. The Linux-based platform will be “manufacturer neutral”. The MeeGo brand will combine the Maemo and Moblin brands, and is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2010.
Under the system, developers will only have to submit an application once, and it will be made available to different handsets using different technologies.
However, there were no details on what manufacturers, aside from Nokia, would be embracing the new standard.
It does not mean the end of the Symbian operating system either, Nokia said, with executive vice-president of devices Kai Öistämö describing it as “the perfect environment for democratising smartphones”. There was also the hint of a possible collaboration between Nokia and Intel on the hardware side of things, with Mr Öistämö saying that Nokia wanted to work with the best hardware makers.
Microsoft also got in on the integration theme, with Steve Ballmer unveiling the new Windows Mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. The new software aims to create an “ecosystem” that would benefit both users and developers, Microsoft said. The company promised its software would integrate with third-party applications as well as native Windows Phone 7 software to create “hubs” on the phone for images, video and games.
Meanwhile, Irish firms made a few announcements of their own. Dublin-headquartered Jinny Software said it had signed a partnership with mobile phone geolocation and zone detection firm Seeker Wireless to develop and deliver mobile location-based advertising.
The company also said an unnamed “major” telecoms supplier has chosen its messaging platform to host multiple wireless carriers across the Americas.
Twitter users can follow @ciaraobrien for regular updates from Mobile World Congress
