The last two decades have seen a revolution in mobile communications. From the earliest analogue voice networks, to the emergence of text messaging, through the early faltering steps of WAP, to the arrival of ‘real’ internet browsing and mobile IM – we’ve come a long way in a relatively short time. Most critically, a product traditionally used just for simple voice and text communication is now a multimedia device, compact enough to be carried everywhere, powerful enough to be used for everything - from TV to Voice over IP.
But in this world of convergence, there are some things that don’t necessarily come together easily. Every device that hits the high street is the result of a highly complex value chain, with every link making critical decisions throughout the development process. Young, fast-growing and highly competitive markets like ours thrive on a diversity of views and opinions. But often, it is that very diversity that can hamper the development of an industry as a whole; competing standards and approaches can leave the customer confused and at worst kill a service before its adoption. Furthermore, security threats on advanced mobile devices threaten to damage user confidence before it has even fully developed.
Founded in June 2004 by 8 mobile operators, the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP) was set up with the aim of simplifying the customer experience of mobile data services and improving mobile device security. Despite its operator roots, OMTP has grown to serve the industry as a whole, and now draws its membership and sponsors from some 35 companies. The complete mobile value chain is represented and as well as operators includes handset manufacturers, chip makers, content providers, and software and OS developers.