Smartphone Thoughts: Details on Microsoft, Vodafone Alliance

A while back, we talked about an alliance being formed between Microsoft and Vodafone to come up with a standardized set of APIs for mobile web services. These mobile web services are tools that developers can leverage to connect desktop PCs and mobile phones together for things such as billing and text messaging. I just came across an article in this week's SD Times newspaper which talks more about this and what it means. Fortunately, SD Times archives all of their articles online so you all can check it out here.

"Microsoft Corp. and Vodafone Group Services Ltd. in late October published a technical road map detailing their plans to expose mobile services to desktop applications. The outline, which according to Microsoft has generated interest from an unspecified list of major industry players, also is being viewed by one analyst as a potential cash cow for what already is one of the world�s richest companies.

Nick Jones, a vice president in Gartner Inc.�s research group, believes that on its face, there�s value in such a proposal. �People are trying to push mobile phones into being more of a general business accessory. That means that the mobile network is already charging people for things other than phone calls. So if we have a secure connection between a PC and mobile network, then suddenly the PC can make charges to somebody�s mobile phone bill. So it would be useful for Windows PCs to access network services and create apps that deal with mobile devices more easily.�"