Nov/Dec 2004

Different makes of mobile phone should gradually start to work in a more consistent way. That's one of the targets of a new organisation set up by the major players in the market - Ericsson, Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Siemens. They have created something called the Co-operative Open OSS Project (CO-OP), which initially is being run under the framework of the existing TeleManagement Forum.

Among the key areas for collaboration are common operating system specification; standardised interfaces for peer-to-peer element management and out-of-the-box functionality; and common testing and verification practices.

They say service providers will benefit through cost savings, since phone operating systems will have more ready-to-integrate functionality and a clearer set of interfaces.

Other companies expressing interest are said to include Alcatel, Cisco Systems and Lucent Technologies, although when we went to press there was no mention of participation by Symbian or Microsoft, the two leading developers of smartphone operating systems.

 

The need for more standardisation is certainly underlined by a report from manufacturer Wacom (better known for its computer graphics input tablets). It found that although 78 per cent of consumers now own mobile phone handsets, 76 per cent of respondents were not using them to the full because they were too complex to access and operate. If handset manufacturers were to simplify mobile phone usability, the report says, 55 per cent of consumers would be encouraged to use more mobile services.

Wacom has a range of pen-like interface products for tablet PCs, PDAs and phones to enhance user accessibility, although few phones yet offer a touch-screen capability.