Many of the world's largest mobile service providers have today announced the formation of a Wholesale Applications Community, an alliance of 24 major mobile operators who aim to build an open platform that will deliver applications to all mobile phone users.
Seen as a industry-wide move to combat the growing dominance of Apple's app store, the Wholesale Applications Community hopes to "unite a fragmented marketplace and create an open industry platform that benefits everybody".
Commanding some three billion customers around the world, the alliance has a seemingly-lucrative market for third-party applications and hopes to offer a simple route for developers to deliver their software to a wide range of devices across the globe.
Although the application development standards are yet to be set in stone, the alliance will initially use both the JIL and OMTP BONDI requirements as it continues to work toward defining a common standard that will port across the myriad of mobile platforms.
The Wholesale Applications Community has also announced that the GSMA is supportive of the initiative, as are three major device manufacturers who've thus far struggled to compete in the app marketplace; LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Rob Conway, CEO and member of the GSMA board has stated that "the GSMA is fully supportive the Wholesale Applications Community, which will build a new, open ecosystem to spur the creation of applications that can be used regardless of device, operating system or operator."
"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). 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," said Conway in a statement.
América Móvil, 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, Telefónica, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, SingTel, SK Telecom, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, VimpelCom, Vodafone and Wind are the operators who have already joined the alliance.
