There have been a few announcements recently which have flown the flag for industry openness. For example 10 million Euros of funding has been secured for European project Webinos, which aims to develop a system to access mobile applications via the internet, regardless of platform or device.

Backed by big industry names like Samsung and Sony Ericsson, and standards body the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), it will allow users to sidestep operating systems and proprietary app stores and could see us using apps across multiple devices like web-ready televisions, computers and mobiles.  

This came hot on the heels of Verizon Wireless’ announcement that they’ll be teaming up with Bug Labs to take the same open-platform approach to mobile hardware that you see in software.  Bugs Labs sells ‘lego-like’ open source hardware modules that allow you to build just about any kind of gadget you can imagine. This announcement will effectively allow Bug developers to build their own mobile hardware devices with mobile connectivity without having to go through all the costly certification testing for Verizon’s network.

Both are significant announcements which have the potential to change the current closed shop business model and open up the mobile market to smaller independent players. Certainly developers should welcome the news, as well as initiatives such as the Wholesale Applications Community (Wac), as they should help reduce development times and costs. And any steps that bring together user experiences for consumers (who now have to juggle multiple platforms and devices from Android phones to iPads to Windows laptops) are a step in the right direction. But are they ultimately destined to fail?

Will companies like Samsung and Verizon be able to fully back such initiatives in the long term? I’m not so sure – especially faced with competition from notable absentees like Google and Apple. Each company has to differentiate its products and services. Each has existing agreements with leading hardware and software providers, and naturally their own commercial interests to protect.  

 

For these initiatives to really make a difference, the companies involved have to be fully invested in the success of the wider industry and prepared to take a leap of faith. Only time will tell whether these attempts to create open platforms will lead to the mobile industry being successfully open for business. 

Open for business

 

There have been a few announcements recently which have flown the flag for industry openness. For example 10 million Euros of funding has been secured for European project Webinos, which aims to develop a system to access mobile applications via the internet, regardless of platform or device.

Backed by big industry names like Samsung and Sony Ericsson, and standards body the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), it will allow users to sidestep operating systems and proprietary app stores and could see us using apps across multiple devices like web-ready televisions, computers and mobiles.  

This came hot on the heels of Verizon Wireless’ announcement that they’ll be teaming up with Bug Labs to take the same open-platform approach to mobile hardware that you see in software.  Bugs Labs sells ‘lego-like’ open source hardware modules that allow you to build just about any kind of gadget you can imagine. This announcement will effectively allow Bug developers to build their own mobile hardware devices with mobile connectivity without having to go through all the costly certification testing for Verizon’s network.

Both are significant announcements which have the potential to change the current closed shop business model and open up the mobile market to smaller independent players. Certainly developers should welcome the news, as well as initiatives such as the Wholesale Applications Community (Wac), as they should help reduce development times and costs. And any steps that bring together user experiences for consumers (who now have to juggle multiple platforms and devices from Android phones to iPads to Windows laptops) are a step in the right direction. But are they ultimately destined to fail?

Will companies like Samsung and Verizon be able to fully back such initiatives in the long term? I’m not so sure – especially faced with competition from notable absentees like Google and Apple. Each company has to differentiate its products and services. Each has existing agreements with leading hardware and software providers, and naturally their own commercial interests to protect.  

 

For these initiatives to really make a difference, the companies involved have to be fully invested in the success of the wider industry and prepared to take a leap of faith. Only time will tell whether these attempts to create open platforms will lead to the mobile industry being successfully open for business.