MOBILE EVENT ALL ABOUT APPS - For people in the mobile phone business, all roads lead to Barcelona this week for the World Mobile Phone Congress. Last year, numbers attending were significantly down, and the mood was gloomy as global recession bit hard.
Dawood Ghalaeiny, who runs Irish mobile software company Cellusys, said the gloom had lifted, and the numbers attending the Barcelona event were up, though Apple was a notable absentee. He said there was also a good turn-out from the Irish industry.
Mr Ghalaeiny said 'apps' for smart phones was the main focus of this year's congress. He said mobile operators had joined forces to launch an open international applications platform to rival Apple's Appstore. This would combine about 24 of the largest mobile carriers with three billion customers. This would create a wholesale platform providing a single point of entry for developers.
He said there were still significant opportunities in the mobile industry for Irish companies, with one company called Altobridge pipped for the mobile innovation award last night. It provides technology for networks to run on ships and planes.
