Orange is taking major steps toward extending Internet and Web-based applications to those wireless subscribers who have, for whatever reason, opted *not* to purchase smartphones. Patrice Slupowski, VP of Digital Information and Communities, took the stage at GigaOm’s Mobilize 2010 Conference to announce general availability of the company’s new “Open Source Mobile Widget Platform”. The platforms employ technology developed initially in Orange Labs to support development of Web-based applications, distributed as “widgets”, invoked by icons that are usually displayed on a featurephone’s “idle page”.

Orange’s approach mitigates many of the problems created by all the OS fragmentation involving smartphones (including the increasingly contentious battle between browser-based and “Native” applications). Still, the real game-changer in Orange’s approach is the adoption of the guidelines surrounding “open source” software as the basis for its distribution strategy. Developers, integrators, device manufacturers and carriers will be able to access a range of resources here. At that address (http://github.com/osmwp) visitors will find a platform that includes a “widget reader” which has already been embedded in the majority of mobile phones carrying the Orange branding; they will also find tools to manage a catalog of shared widgets; and application development tools for creating widgets – along with documentation and sample code.

Orange’s approach is revolutionary in its focus on “openness”. It partnered with Netvibes, earlier in 2010 to build the initial catalog of widgets, which it is sharing under the terms of an open source licensing agreement. It now supports and simplifies developers’ efforts to distribute their applications (instantiated as widgets) directly on their customers’ phones. It is part of a commitment to openness that dates back to a developer program established in 2004 and the publishing of APIs that started in 2008. From Slupowski’s point of view, it’s a matter of sharing know-how regarding getting widgets to the broad wireless subscriber population. It worked for Netvibes as part of its Universal Widget API management. He and his colleagues have done a great job of driving using the Orange brand and the concept of openness to overcome the long-standing reticence among operators to adopt the tenets and practices of open source software development.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Orange, Recombinant Communications, mobile services