José Ribamar Smolka Ramos
Telecomunicações
Artigos e Mensagens
ComUnidade
WirelessBrasil
Março 2010 Índice Geral
02/03/10
• Eu detesto dizer "eu avisei..." [3]
de J. R. Smolka <smolka@terra.com.br>
para wirelessbr <wirelessbr@yahoogrupos.com.br>, Celld-group <Celld-group@yahoogrupos.com.br>
data 2 de março de 2010 10:36
assunto [wireless.br] Eu detesto dizer "eu avisei..." [3]
Saiu hoje no Rethink Wireless um artigo comentando sobre o interesse da LiMO
Foundation em colaborar com a Wholesale Applications Community (WAC),
recentemente anunciada durante o MWC 2010 em Barcelona. É bom prestar atenção
nos movimentos deste grupo. Se isto não der certo, não creio que seja mais
possível parar o ímpeto da Apple, do Google e dos demais players da Internet em
ganhar mind share dos consumidores e (principalmente) dos desenvolvedores de
aplicações móveis, e o espectro do dumb pipe ficará muito mais próximo.
[ ]'s
J. R. Smolka
------------------------
LiMO
looks for closer ties with new operator supergroup
By CAROLINE GABRIEL
Published: 2 March, 2010
The most striking announcement at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
was the formation of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) by 24 major
operators, sounding a loud clarion call against the threat of Google and the
bitpipe role. It was clear that this initiative tied in ideally with the LiMO
mobile platform - both looking to create a white label software platform with a
common developer base, to support operator branded apps and user experiences.
The LiMO Foundation welcomed the move at the time, but is now seeking closer
ties, which could build up a real head of carrier steam behind its Linux
oriented efforts.
The Foundation's executive director, Morgan Gillis, has sent an open letter to
WAC, expressing support and offering "immediate practical assistance". He said
he has received a "warm response" and expects a more specific response later
this week. This could outline how the two groups could work together, and of
course there is speculation that they would eventually merge altogether, given
that they share many prominent members, notably Vodafone, DoCoMo, SKT and
Telefonica (LiMO's carrier board members). They also tap into several of the
same industry efforts and standards, such as the Open Mobile Terminal Platform's
Bondi interfaces.
As Gillis puts it, "a complementary industry logic links LiMO to the new
grouping. Together they provide a complete white label solution to distribute
applications and media via a wholesale channel to operators and retailers, and a
white label device platform."
There is sure to be skepticism around any initiative that involves as many large
and egotistical organizations as WAC, in terms of whether they will succeed in
cooperating long enough to deliver practical results. This is where Gillis
thinks LiMO can provide its "practical assistance", having been through three
years of sometimes painful experiences of establishing governance and bye-laws,
and addressing the thorny issue of IPR sharing.
And it is very much in LiMO's interest that the WAC gets moving quickly and
makes a real industry impact, before other systems like open Symbian and Android
gain unstoppable momentum, along with their related ecosystems and app platforms.
These are not just OS alternatives of course - they represent the models that
threaten the LiMO/WAC approach of putting the cellco at the pivotal point of the
value chain (the vertically integrated vendor branded device/experience; or the
open web/bitpipe).
The letter reads: "I am very pleased to write this open letter to the initiators
of the Wholesale Applications Community on behalf of the Board of LiMo
Foundation offering a) our full support, b) our committed participation, and c)
our immediate practical assistance in a spirit of whole-industry cooperation. It
is clear to us that the highly complementary areas of focus, shared belief in
true openness and common industry vision create an exceptional opportunity for
deep and long term collaboration between LiMo Foundation and the Wholesale
Applications Community to release unfettered innovation across the industry and
fully ignite the mobile internet in a way that is compelling and life enhancing
to consumers everywhere."
The overall aim of LiMO is that "commercial innovation can freely thrive without
brand or business model conflict with the underlying platform. But Gillis admits
western cellcos have a lot to learn about creating brands and user experiences
that can resonate with consumers to the same degree as those of vendors (or
Asian carriers). And this will not be an overnight process. "If operators prove
to be unable to create these brands theyu will be pushed towards the dumb pipe.
And it took DoCoMo two years to get its FOMA brand right," he commented.