mobileu.co.uk

Open platform to tackle Apple mobile app dominance

Plans have been unveiled to create a common platform for mobile apps in a move that would enable mobile phone owners to install a wider variety of software on their handsets.

Already mooted as a competitor to Apple's iPhone App Store, the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) would provide a central point for anyone to get apps for their handset – regardless of the brand or operating system it runs.

Included in the 24 handset manufacturers and network operators that have signed up to the WAC are Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Orange, O2 and T-Mobile.

Jonathan Arber, senior research analyst at IDC, commented that the platform will help developers meet the "largest possible addressable market" as efficiently and painlessly as possible, noting: "Mobile application developers currently face a high level of fragmentation in the industry, in terms of both technology platforms and individual operators' working practices."

While Blackberry, Google, Nokia, Symbian and Microsoft all offer their own app stores, Apple currently dominates the market for mobile apps, with over three billion downloaded from its store in 18 months.

Aimed at developing a common standard for mobile apps in the next 12 months, details of the WAC were unveiled at this week's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona which ends on Thursday (18 February).