It would seem that Mobile World Congress 2012 was not only an event to reveal some of the most awe-inspiring gadgets, devices and technologies; it was also an event to socialize. Or that’s what the largest social network did. Facebook is said to have become ‘best friends’ during the Barcelona event and planned a new, better future for the mobile industry. The ‘partnership’, if that’s the right word to term it, would result in more monetise-able models for mobile operators, Facebook promised.
The concrete actions that Facebook promised it can pull off involved elimination of fragmented mobile browsing standards and also enable mobile operators to get their share in the purchases made through online applications. With such promises, it is no wonder that mobile operators were to sway. But can Facebook really pull this off? It has been concentrating increasingly more in making Facebook relevant with mobile users and this new move may also be a part of the strategy to become more relevant to the billions of mobile users.
Facebook’s CTO Bret Taylor further elaborated on these ambitions and said that Facebook intends to make this happen by using W3C Mobile Web Platform Core Community Group. He said that with the help of this group, Facebook will try to enable developers to create such applications which can work across multiple mobile browsers. He further stated that Facebook is working with a number of major operators, including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile USA and others to make transactions in mobile web apps quick and easier.
Mobile operators are convinced that through this strategy, the developers can create such applications which are compatible across multiple web browsers and for which, the operators can directly bill the customers, thus having their share of the transaction. The chief problem for mobile operators right now is that although they are able to carry a lot of traffic due to mobile web applications, they are unable to monetize this directly. And with this new partnership with Facebook, they are hoping to have a stake in this explosive industry which currently is mostly filling the pockets of only two companies right now, Apple and Google.
Image courtesy Thos.
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Facebook is said to have become ‘best friends’ during the Barcelona
event and planned a new, better future for the mobile industry.