Can carriers really compete with Apple's App Store?

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 14:40

Your IT - Mobility

Two dozen mobile operators are teaming up to create a technology-independent applications ecosystem.

The Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) has set itself a big task: creating an open applications platform that can deliver apps to all mobile phone users.

There are some major names in the list of founding members: America Movil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, mobilkom austria group, MTN Group, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Orascom Telecom, Softbank Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, SingTel, SK Telecom, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, VimpelCom, Vodafone and Wind.

North America, Europe, and Asia (especially China) are all covered. Between them, these carriers have more than three billion customers.

The presence of Apple's exclusive partner for the iPhone in the US (AT&T) is especially significant. It's one thing to sell competing phones, but it is another to tempt developers to defect to an alternative platform.

On the hardware side, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have joined the alliance. Other companies, including internet providers, are being encouraged to join.

So what's the plan? Find out on page 2.