Keynote sparks debate on carriers' role in the world of apps

BARCELONA, Spain--The role of a wireless carrier in an app store world became a divisive issue during this morning's keynote session here at the Mobile World Congress trade show. On one side of the debate was the GSM Association's marketing chief, who argued that carriers need to inject themselves more forcefully onto the application playground. And, surprisingly, on the other side was a carrier executive--the CTO of Telstra--who contended that operators should remain above the fray and concentrate on providing speedy, reliable connections.

"The people who built the infrastructure aren't playing" in the applications scene, said Michael O'Hara of the GSMA. "There's got to be a better way to do this."

O'Hara said carriers across the globe should jointly create and promote a set of standard programming interfaces for developers, an effort he said would put them back into the applications game. He argued the current app market is too fragmented among iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and other platforms. O'Hara pointed to the GSMA's OneAPI effort in Canada as an example of a solution, where the nation's three main carriers have joined forces to create standardized connections to network information like location, messaging and payment.

However, Hugh Bradlow, CTO of Telstra, said there is "no end in sight to the fragmentation." He added: "I don't think Apple and Google are competitive with us. I think they are complementary."

Bradlow rejected the idea that operators must create unified connections for developers, arguing instead such efforts should be handled on the handset level. He said platform fragmentation may eventually be addressed by HTML5 or widgets--essentially arguing for a future of Internet applications that can run via a browser rather than a smartphone operating system.

And between the two sides of the debate sat Samsung's Ho Soo Lee, who defended the company's new bada smartphone platform. He said that bada would eventually be deployed across millions of phones, thereby making it a legitimate entity on the smartphone field.

"What is the definition of fragmentation?" Lee, an executive vice president at Samsung and the head of the company's media solution center, asked rhetorically in attempt to argue that bada would not add to the market's platform fragmentation.

Framing the keynote discussion, moderated by an insightful Rajeev Chand of Rutberg Wireless, was the announcement Monday of the Wholesale Applications Community, a last-minute initiative organized by the GSMA that calls for the creation of a wholesale applications ecosystem to harmonize various developer organizations and create a single point of entry for developers to develop apps for operators everywhere. The effort will co-opt the JIL, OneAPI and OMTP BONDI requirements, and expects to have a common standard within the next 12 months.

Both Bradlow and O'Hara appeared hesitant on the Wholesale Applications Community action, noting that it remains unclear how it will play out.

In a research note, consulting firm Current Analysis took a mildly positive stance on the WAC announcement. The firm said it could help inject operators back into the application business by giving them a share of app revenues. (In its iPhone App Store, for example, Apple splits revenues 30/70 with developers, and excludes its carrier partners from the business entirely.)

However, Current Analysis added: "The impact for end-users is unclear. For all the talk of a co-operative ecosystem, it is unlikely that end-users will be able to buy a mobile app on one platform and migrate it to another any time soon."

"How do carriers play in this new world of applications?" Bradlow asked at the beginning of his keynote presentation. The answer, it seems, depends on who you ask.

For more:
- see this WAC announcement

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