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Mubaloo CEO welcomes The Wholesale Applications Community plans

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

February 15, 2010 | 3 min read

Mark Mason, CEO of mobile application agency Mubaloo has welcomed the news that mobile phone operators including Vodaphone, T-Mobile, Orange and O2 have united to build a new platform for app as they look to win back market share from Apple.

The consortium will be known as The Wholesale Applications Community and will aim to prevent further fragmentation of the applications market which is currently dominated by Apple’s iPhone which are exclusive to the software on that handset.

There is a general fear that phone users will be unwilling to pay for an app to be downloaded having already done so on a previous phone and is looking to create one platform on which they can all run.

Mason believes that this is the correct step for the mobile industry.

The Wholesale Applications Community have clearly identified a major problem in the app market, that is there are a growing number of platforms, app stores and payment methods. Developing a platform that will unite these organisations is great news for the consumers and brands alike if it works. The problem will be one of coordination. In other words how do you get all the handset manufacturers and the operators to agree to one protocol when they already have their own platforms. From a developers point of view the fewer the platforms the better.”

Mason added that Mubaloo most commonly develop on the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry platforms while Microsoft is about to announce its new Windows Phone platform and there’s also Samsung’s Bada and the Palm Pre.

“Too many platforms will just be bad news for brands who will become confused what to develop on. So any move to consolidate the platforms will only be a good thing. If it works.”

Mubaloo was founded a year ago following Mark Mason's departure from Mason Zimbler.

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