15 February 2010 | Author: L. Sutherland Head of Media Content

iPhone faces competition from mobile team up

The fight for a slice of the smartphone market is fierce, but the news that more than a dozen of the world's biggest names in the mobile market have banded together to combat Apple's dominance is somewhat surprising nonetheless.

Cooperation between huge names such as O2 and Orange will see the groups pooling their resources to creating an open app platform to rival the extremely popular Apple app format. According to the Guardian, Apple has generated a huge following for its App Store - with over 3bn apps downloaded for iPhone and iPod touch devices already.

Google has also been making waves in the sphere with the help of its Android platform and the search giant is expected to release more devices supporting the software later this week. And what with Steve Ballmer unveiling the latest Microsoft phone, Windows Mobile 7 - complete with its own app store for Microsoft users - it's clear that competition is only set to become fiercer.

The mobile networks hope to get running and try to make up lost ground by banding together to create services that can be used over a wide range of handsets. Dubbed the Wholesale Applications Community, the alliance is backed by the GSMA, LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony Ericsson and its operators also include Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and SK Telecom. Collectively, the alliance has access to more than 3bn customers across the globe.

According to Brand Republic, Jonathan Arber, senior research analyst at IDC, said: "The initiative should also help to drive uptake of existing, open standards among developers, operators and manufacturers, thereby reducing fragmentation and benefiting the whole industry."

It seems there may soon be more apps than ever before hoping to make their way into your pocket with the promise of making your life easier - or more entertaining at least.

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