Apple casts its shadow at mobile congress

Mobile operators and manufacturers came together in Spain to try to claw back ground against Apple, writes CIARA O'BRIENin Barcelona

APPLE MAY have been absent from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, but the shadow of the iPhone hung over the event. The technology company has shaken up the mobile market since it entered the sector in 2007, and has continued to attract new customers as the device becomes a sought-after accessory at the expense of other handset-makers.

There was a general sense of mobile operators and manufacturers coming together to try to claw back some ground against Apple. Although the firm accounts for only a relatively small share of the mobile market at this time, Apple has been gaining popularity, and the success of its App Store, where it sells mobile software for its iPhone and iPod Touch devices, is one that other handset-makers have yet to replicate.

At Mobile World Congress, Nokia said downloads from its Ovi Store were reaching one million a day; in contrast, Apple has already passed the 3 billionth download milestone.

However, it was the mobile networks that made some waves in this area. The early announcement was that 24 mobile networks were planning to work together to create an open platform for the development of applications. The Wholesale Application Community, which is being backed by operators including Vodafone and O2 owner Telefonica, will allow developers to access a larger market for their apps, with submitted software intended for all devices regardless of technology or manufacturer.

The move will open up developers to a market of about three billion people.

“Attracting and retaining developers is vital for any application store offering to succeed. However, mobile application developers currently face a high level of fragmentation in the industry, in terms of both technology platforms, and individual operators’ working practices,” said IDC research analyst Jonathan Arber.

That theme of openness and co-operation continued throughout the conference. When Microsoft unveiled its new Windows Phone 7 platform, chief executive Steve Ballmer was quick to play up the operating system’s open nature.

“Windows Phone 7 series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences,” he said.

Nokia and Intel, meanwhile, announced they were coming together to create an open Linux-based platform, MeeGo, that could be used across a variety of devices. The project will combine Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo platforms. The partnership is targeting everything from mobile phones and portable internet devices to connected TVs and car “infotainment” systems.

Developers will only have to write an app once, and it has the potential to be deployed over a range of devices.

Both Nokia and Intel were enthusiastic about the project. However, the potential for the platform was uncertain. There were no indications of which other manufacturers were supporting MeeGo, although Intel’s Renee James said to expect news soon.

“They have understood the only way to beat Microsoft and Apple is to do it through the scale – get the platform to more devices,” said John Strand, chief executive of Strand Consult.

“However, they have not realised it’s not about getting to many platforms, it’s about making something the consumer likes.”

There are also the competitors to consider. Samsung announced its first handset with its own open source mobile platform Bada on Sunday, when it showed off the Wave, and Google’s Android featured heavily at the event. HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung all unveiled new devices with Google’s open source operating system this week.

Google said it is now shipping up to 60,000 Android handsets a day. In his keynote speech on Tuesday, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said the new rule was “mobile first” in everything.

“It means we have a role now to educate and inform through all these devices,” he told a crowded auditorium. “I think it’s now the joint project of all of us to make mobile be pretty much the answer to everything.”

The Google speech showed some innovative stuff, giving users a glimpse of how the future of search could look. There was talk of the humble mobile phone becoming a speech translator, working in real time as people had conversations on the phone. The company showed off optical character recognition functions, translating a foreign menu from an image snapped there and then.

Schmidt denied that his company was trying to push networks into becoming “dumb pipes”, saying the firm wanted to work with the operators.

It wasn’t only the apps that were emulating Apple’s success. The hardware announced by mobile manufacturers were directly competing with Apple’s iconic device. HTC’s Desire and Legend, both of which run on Android, demonstrated improved screens and more responsive touch functions than previous efforts.

Sony Ericsson unveiled three new handsets to the masses, including the Vivaz Pro, based on Android.

Mobile companies also showed they were willing to step outside the traditional boundaries of mobile phones. Samsung showcased its projector mobile known as the Beam. Motorola, meanwhile, showed off its future technology, with satnav devices leading the charge. The mobile firm has teamed up with Navteq to develop the GPS systems.

Not to be outdone, Asus and Garmin have teamed up to develop a navigation device-phone hybrid, the Nuviphone. Using Garmins expertise in satnav, and Asus’s experience with Windows, the two firms created the hybrid based on Windows Mobile.

The move may be a way to protect both firms’ core businesses from the encroaching converged devices. Nokia said its Ovi Maps application has been downloaded more than three million times.

Next generation mobile services also featured heavily at the conference. Long term evolution (LTE) devices included Huwaei’s modem, which it claims is the world’s first triple-mode LTE modem. The E398 is said to be compatible with 3G UMTS and 2G GSM technology.

Meanwhile, Samsung demonstrated its first LTE notebook at the conference, the N150, which is currently available with 3G and Wifi services.