Jan Zdarsa Mobile operators from all over the world are coming together to start a fight against the Apple Appstore. Together, they plan to create a platform that should compete with the Appstore.
The Alliance of Mobile Operators bears the name Wholesale Applications Community and includes a total of 24 mobile operators - world leaders. In addition, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are also members of the alliance. Operators include Telefonica, T-Mobile and Vodafone.
The alliance aims to create a unified platform for application development and plans to open its store to customers by the end of the year. Any developer could submit their app to this store.
Does this create competition for Apple Appstore, Android Market, Microsoft Marketplace and others? A similar step is certainly interesting and the support of almost all major mobile operators sounds really interesting. Manufacturers such as LG, Sony Ericsson or Samsung can only gain, and finally even the users of these phones could expect quality mobile applications.
I wouldn't say it's competition in the true sense of the word. There are iPodists/iPhoneists and there are the latter. The former will remain loyal to Appstor, the latter will take the case with anything, where they can put the application right on their phone... I don't expect that they would go so far as to enforce ONE standard for the development of an application for ALL platforms...
I wouldn't say it's competition in the true sense of the word. There are iPodists/iPhoneists and there are the latter. The former will remain loyal to Appstor, the latter will take the case with anything, where they can put the application right on their phone... I don't expect that they would go so far as to enforce ONE standard for the development of an application for ALL platforms...
It's a stillborn baby. So many people can't agree. Let alone so many competitors. I already wrote about it yesterday.
It's a stillborn baby. So many people can't agree. Let alone so many competitors. I already wrote about it yesterday.
I didn't know that carrier has any ability to influence application development .. because carriers are neither HW nor OS developers .. they can only create a lobby that will be able to pressure manufacturers to modify their HW and OS to support their standard, but most of the main OS manufacturers (Nokia, BlackBerry, Apple, MS, Google) will give up on that .. and their target will be only low-end ..
I didn't know that carrier has any ability to influence application development .. because carriers are neither HW nor OS developers .. they can only create a lobby that will be able to pressure manufacturers to modify their HW and OS to support their standard, but most of the main OS manufacturers (Nokia, BlackBerry, Apple, MS, Google) will give up on that .. and their target will be only low-end ..
If this competes with someone, then the file Android Marketplace. Success depends on the developers, and that platform is too fragmented to have as many applications on it as in AS or even AM in the foreseeable future. It is nice that every operator supports it, however, it is developed for the platform and not for the operator - and for example on Samsung you will still only have access to e.g. 10% of the store... It's just a marketing move - even if it's a smart one...
If this competes with someone, then the file Android Marketplace. Success depends on the developers, and that platform is too fragmented to have as many applications on it as in AS or even AM in the foreseeable future. It is nice that every operator supports it, however, it is developed for the platform and not for the operator - and for example on Samsung you will still only have access to e.g. 10% of the store... It's just a marketing move - even if it's a smart one...
If one platform could succeed, then it's another - but in that case, we're talking about the Android Marketplace or Symbian, whatever...
The question is who will develop the applications :-)
The question is who will develop the applications :-)
I'm not surprised at anything, I saw the mobile operator's presentation of a virtual payment card (emulation of a chip payment card using a SIM application), I saw contactless payment and emulation of the building entrance system using RFID in the SIM. Nice, there is no infrastructure for it, there is no customer for it, but there was a great desire for money. Despite the fact that as a single point of failure and a means of online snooping, I wouldn't even want it for free. I don't take it from anyone, but instead of messing around in other people's business, they should be concerned with making sure that their networks can handle the demand for data and don't have to cut the connection every 5 minutes :( or completely remove smartphones from the function of modems.
I'm not surprised at anything, I saw the mobile operator's presentation of a virtual payment card (emulation of a chip payment card using a SIM application), I saw contactless payment and emulation of the building entrance system using RFID in the SIM. Nice, there is no infrastructure for it, there is no customer for it, but there was a great desire for money. Despite the fact that as a single point of failure and a means of online snooping, I wouldn't even want it for free. I don't take it from anyone, but instead of messing around in other people's business, they should be concerned with making sure that their networks can handle the demand for data and don't have to cut the connection every 5 minutes :( or completely remove smartphones from the function of modems.