Mobile phone operators join forces to challenge Apple's App Store

A consortium of mobile phone operators has been created this week to encourage the development of mobile applications which work on more than one device - a move clearly aimed at Apple's hugely successful App Store. 

Twenty-four big name phone operators, including Vodafone, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint have launched the initiative with the idea of reducing the fragmentation of the lucrative apps market. There are already more than thirty different application stores, with Google, Blackberry and Nokia amongst those offering apps, but by far the most well-known is Apple's App Store, which has more than 140,000 applications to choose from.

The applications download market is said to be worth a staggering £4 billion, with around 4.5 billion downloads expected to take place this year, up from 2.5 billion last year. The alliance, which is known as the Wholesale Applications Community, wants to make it easy for developers to create and market applications which work 'irrespective of device or technology', in order to tap into the large market potential. The move is also backed by hardware manufacturers including Sony Ericsson and Samsung, as well as the mobile industry body the GSMA - but analysts have been quick to point out that the industry doesn't have a history of successful co-operation within this kind of initiative.