How can mobile operators fight back against the smartphone app stores to make sure they get a stake in the mobile Internet? Vodafone today announced an initiative designed to win back some mind-share from service and applications developers seduced by the Apples and Androids of the world, writes Ian Scales.
There's no name yet, but Vodafone is talking about a software environment to let Web developers get access to the Vodafone network's APIs on a global basis to develop services and applications which can then be sold through to subscribers with Vodafone taking a share of the revenues.
The arrangement will involve micro-billing for apps, services and content to the Vodafone bill and will deliver 289 million potential customers (Take that Jobs!).
The company wants to foster an agnostic development proposition, said Michel Combes, Vodafone's CEO for the Europe Region, on a call today to elaborate the announcement.
Unlike the iPhone, Android and Blackberry app stores and development environments that limit the target market to just the platform in question, it has decided to go the other route and foster an environment that can stripe across a wide range of featurephones and smartphones.
Therefore the only option was to stick to browser-based Web services, initially using Opera and the Nokia S60 platform, but extended to other browser environments as quickly as possible.
Combes said the announcement today was to signal Vodafone's intent to developers.
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