By Kim Tong-hyung
Korean mobile-phone carriers have begun the real work on an ambitious project to develop an applications environment for every Internet-connected mobile device regardless of operating systems and proprietary content platforms.
The country’s three carriers - SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus - were among the 24 global mobile carriers that banded together with handset vendors like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson to challenge the existing hierarchy in mobile applications (app) stores that is dominated by Apple. Aside of Apple, which rules the world of consumer smartphones with its iconic iPhones, BlackBerry, Google, Nokia, Symbian and Microsoft all offer their own app stores.
WAC vows to make it easier for developers to create and sell apps irrespective of device or technology, and the Korean wireless carriers are currently in the process of creating a localized app environment, dubbed as ``K-WAC,’’ that they say will be made interoperable with the WAC platform.
The three carriers have created a joint committee to spearhead K-WAC-related work that will be headed by SK Telecom executive Lee Jin-woo, with trial services slated for January next year and a commercial launch for May, when the carriers expect to release handsets optimized for the new content platform.
``We have already discussing with the WAC body to connect the K-WAC with the WAC platform, and this will allow Korean developers direct access to international markets,’’ said a SK Telecom official.
SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile phone carrier that controls more than half of the country’s wireless users, has been building a strong presence in the smartphone market based on a slew of devices that run on the Google-backed Android operating system, such as the Samsung Electronics Galaxy S.
KT, the No. 2 carrier, has been enjoying the public’s love affair with iPhones, which it has been providing exclusively in Korea since November last year.