AT&T and Adobe are both working on bringing the types of applications available to the iPhone to lower-end handsets.
AT&T is currently working with its handset manufacturers to incorporate one common operating system across all the phones it carries. But it has to be an OS that can run on mass market handsets, and something flexible enough for developers to create applications for. Likely this will be tough. Handset makers won’t agree to anything that negatively affects their bottom line. And while applications on mass market phones will undoubtedly increase data revenues for AT&T, it won’t carry down to manufacturers.
Adobe is working on a mobile version of Air, which will be able to run the same types of applications on various phones. The company plans to have mobile Air ready sometime in 2009. Currently they offer Flash Lite which does allow applications on phones, but it’s not standard. It varies from one phone to another. They company is well aware of how tough it will be to convince wireless carriers and handset manufacturers to standardize their offerings. So they plan to eliminate royalties they typically charge for using their software. In exchange, mobile Air would allow mass market handset owners to download applications from any website rather than a dedicated app store. To me this seems ideal for associated wireless carriers. While they’ll have to deal with the discomfort of openness, it almost guarantees an increase in data revenues.
I’m impressed with the thinking of AT&T and Adobe here. Standardization and openness are key to attracting developers. An application should only have to be created once, not many times for many different platforms. Or else it’s just not worth the time spent creating the app. But do I think either company will achieve such huge goals in the next year? I doubt it. Adobe looks to have a pretty solid strategy; they may have a chance. But AT&T won’t say which operating system they’re considering for their masterplan, and they would have to guarantee manufacturers they wouldn’t be shortchanged.
Adobe says that while no carrier or manufacturer has committed to using mobile Air yet, Nokia, Motorola, and Verizon Wireless, among others have all been involved in defining Air’s standards. You can read more about it at the Open Screen Project.
via bits