Baffled by the sheer range of application user interfaces on mobile phones? I certainly am – but then the rich diversity of cash point interfaces leaves me standing there confused and moneyless on the best of days.
To combat the confusion and fragmentation that comes with the diversity of mobile applications and their use, mm02, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SMART Communications, Telefónica Móviles, Telecom Italia Mobile, T-Mobile and Vodafone have grouped together to form OMTP – the Open Mobile Terminal Platform.
Their aim is to define the requirements necessary for mobile devices to deliver openly available standardised application interfaces – so you’ll at least have half a chance next time you try to fight your way round your new phone address book, because it’ll work much like the last one you saw.
They’ll do this by establishing an open frame work for device manufacturers like Nokia and Siemens, plus their software and hardware suppliers, inviting them to develop OMTP compliant products.
Of course, there is a slim chance that phone manufacturers could tell the OMTP group to go and take a jump.