Global telecom companies joined hands to officially launch the world's largest mobile application store on Wednesday, as they seek to better compete with smartphone giants like Google Inc. and Apple Inc., South Korean mobile carriers said.
The Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) will showcase the first smartphone based on the middleware in February 2011 that will enable
exchanging mobile applications regardless of the mobile operating systems, South Korea's leading carriers SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. said in their
separate statements.
Starting May 2011, global telecom carriers will roll out smartphones that could buy and install applications from the WAC, according to the statements.
The WAC alliance was first announced in February by 24 major telecom companies around the world, to launch a wholesale application marketplace built on an open software.
The move came amid the fast rise of two new players in the mobile market, Apple and Google, which operate mobile application stores exclusively for their mobile operating systems, Apple's iPhone operating system and Google's
Android.
With a combined 3 billion mobile subscribers of 24 telecom operators as potential customers, the WAC plans to lure application developers as it
offers the largest customer base they can sell their applications to.
Three of the world's major handset manufacturers -- Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB -- said earlier in February that they are interested in joining the global
application store.
The WAC will also join forces with Joint Innovation Lab (JIL), established in April 2009 by China Mobile Ltd., Verizon Communications Inc.,
Vodafone Group Plc., and Softbank Corp., according to statements. They will be united by September 2010, according to KT.
One senior official each from SK Telecom and KT was elected as among the 16 board members of the WAC.