Mobile Leadership Strategies

Technology Sale Spells the End of WAC

Daily Insight | Brian Partridge | July 17, 2012

For more, view the forecast.

Looks like the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), an operator alliance intent on building an HTML-based app store platform to rival the likes of Google Play and Apple’s App Store, has officially lost the battle. The group’s assets and staff are being acquired by Apigee, an API management company, while whatever is left is being folded into the GSMA.

TechCrunch reports the group, which was started by 60 mobile operators in addition to Samsung, Intel, Nokia, HP, RIM and others, based its platform on standard Web technologies, like HTML, Javascript and CSS, to enable developers to build apps once and run them on any device or operator network. But the apps ended up being limited—they couldn’t access key phone functions like the accelerometer or gyroscope—and didn’t appeal to developers primarily focused on native apps for Apple and Google devices. The group did, however, produce some very useful APIs, the most notable of which is its Payment API that enables users to pay for goods and services using their mobile phone bill.

Yankee Group Research VP Brian Partridge comments

“WAC’s demise comes as no surprise but it’s a shame nonetheless. The effort was vexed from the start—both in terms of attracting developers and getting WAC member operators to take it seriously and invest in its success. MNOs now must develop their own regional development communities or just wave the white flag and give up on trying to compete with device OEMs for attention. Hopefully WAC’s failure doesn’t turn out to be a key milestone along the path to bit pipedom. Service providers should focus their attention on areas where they can add significant value to the ecosystem, such as in the emerging machine-to-machine [M2M] segment.”

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Mobile Marketing and Commerce Strategies

NFC Vulnerabilities Exposed Prior to Olympics

Daily Insight | Nick Holland | July 17, 2012

Two researchers say near field communications (NFC), the mobile money technology being adopted by this year’s London Olympics, is inherently unsafe and could lead to game-goers and participants experiencing steep financial losses.

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Mobile Application and Cloud Strategies

Microsoft Integrates Social Media, Productivity and Cloud Into Office 2013

Daily Insight | Chris Marsh | July 17, 2012

Microsoft released the customer preview of its Office 2013 productivity suite at its launch event on Monday in San Francisco, and it includes the integration of social media apps, productivity apps and access through its cloud storage service.

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Mobile Broadband Strategies

Sprint Launches 4G LTE in 15 Cities

Daily Insight | Richard Karpinski | July 17, 2012

Sprint has officially rolled out its 4G LTE network in 15 cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio.

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Mobile and Connected Device Strategies

Samsung Snaps Up Chipmaker CSR’s Smartphone Assets for US$310 Million

Daily Insight | Carl Howe | July 17, 2012

Samsung significantly strengthened its smartphone platform and patent portfolio by buying up chipmaker CSR’s mobile phone connectivity and location technology for U.S.$310 million.

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Mobile Leadership Strategies

Technology Sale Spells the End of WAC

Mobile Marketing and Commerce Strategies

NFC Vulnerabilities Exposed Prior to Olympics

Mobile Application and Cloud Strategies

Microsoft Integrates Social Media, Productivity and Cloud Into Office 2013

Mobile Broadband Strategies

Sprint Launches 4G LTE in 15 Cities

Mobile and Connected Device Strategies

Samsung Snaps Up Chipmaker CSR’s Smartphone Assets for US$310 Million

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