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As I peer into my crystal ball I see a year of more growth coupled with higher expectations for mobile along with a few upsets along the way.

The Growth

If you didn’t rest over the holidays, don’t expect to relax anytime soon no matter where you fit in the industry.  We will continue to see more devices, more demand for apps, and more demand for developers. 

It was March when we declared 2010 The Year of the Mobile Developer.  Developers were in hot demand and were finally being embraced publically and vocally as a key piece of the mobile ecosystem.   

With that, we will continue to see huge growth in the number of mobile developers entering the scene.  I do think we will see a combination of really newbie/webby developers, given the rise in toolssuch as AppMobi.   As mobile has now become ‘mainstream’ we will also see more traditional software folks entering mobile.  Expect more development tools and enablers (analytics, advertising etc) on the scene too.  Choice...

I’ve spent a lot of time supporting; watching and monitoring operators roll out a variety of programs and services lately – new app stores, new networks, APIs, new and improved developer programs.  It got me thinking:  Is 99.999% (.99999) or ‘five-nines’ an outdated goal for operators?  I think it might be.

Five-nines is the standard for measuring the network availability, which is pretty close to always on, never down.  It equates to about 5 minutes and 15 seconds of downtime per year.  According to Tomi Ahonenand some banter we had on twitter this week:  “mobile phone network serving millions cannot go down for half a minute per year, unacceptable.. hence five nines needed”.

The fact is a network down or a dropped call is already a reality.  Rogers was down for an afternoon in Vancouver last week; and if you travel to London, New York, San Francisco you expect to have a few calls that won’t connect; and SMSs that go nowhere.   Interestingly, consumers have already accepted...

Calling Canadian MobileDevelopers - Join a GSMA OneAPI Hack-a-thon

The GSMA has put together a global initiative called OneAPI.  It's all about network APIs and making it easier for application developers to work with the operators - you only develop to OneAPI, have one set of T&Cs and get access to multiple carriers. 

The first pilot is in Canada, with Bell, Rogersand TELUS! And the first APIs open are messaging, location and operator billing.   We need YOU, the developers, to work it, play with it and tell us WHAT YOU THINK!  Other international operators will follow shortly.  So get in on the ground floor now!

Join us for a briefing session and stay to hack-a-thon with refreshments and prizes.

Sign up on the WIP website for a Hack-a-thon in these cities:

- Montreal:       Thursday, May 13

- Ottawa:          Monday, May 17

- Toronto:         Tuesday, May 18

- Vancouver:    Thursday, May 20

http://www.wipconnector.com/wipjam/oneapi

OR  Get started right away,...

On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, WIP will host the first OneAPI Briefing Session in Toronto, Canada.  This is the Pilot Project to introduce OneAPI to Canadian Developers.  More briefing sessions will follow in May across major Canadian cities so stayed tuned to WIP Connector for future dates.

On April 21st, all the key OneAPI folks are in Toronto and available to give you a briefing and to answer YOUR questions.  In true WIPJam UnPanel fashion - in addition to our strictly enforce No PPT, No Panels and No Ties - you'll get the chance to hear from and interact with:

Speakers
- Graham Trickey - Senior Director, GSM Association, direct from London (volcano permitting)
- Lawrence Chinsam  and Greg Meyer -  Aepona, the guts behind the OneAPI

and from the Canadian carriers:
- Mike LaCouvee, Manager, Product Develoment, TELUS
- Renee Szuhai - Bell
- Saigin Govender - Rogers

Facilitated by:
Caroline Lewko, CEO, WIP

Register NOW!

Here are a couple of FAQs...

So what's this...

Our guest blogger this week is Jennifer Byrne, Director of Business Development and Partner Management at Verizon Wireless.  Verizon Wireless is a sponsor of our WIPJam Day for Developers, taking place on March 22, 2010 at CTIA.   Jennifer is leading a discussion group on Monday afternoon at WIPJam.

Verizon - Investing in Developers

Verizon is a proud sponsor of WIPJam 2010 at CTIA, and is interested in investing in the resources and partnerships that help developers grow their business. That is why we are so happy to take this opportunity to announce that you can now expand your market and reach an even larger user base through our V CAST Apps store. That’s because V CAST Apps will soon be available on Android devices, our fastest-growing smartphone platform. It will provide an easy, streamlined experience for users to find and purchase apps across Android devices.

Starting March 22, you can submit your Android app concepts for approval through the Verizon Developer Community portal....

January 14th was a busy day of interviews for WIP!  While Thibaut was in London, UK, interviewing GetJar; I was down in the Bay Area where I stopped by to have lunch with Francisco Kattan, Sr. Director Developer Ecosystem at Alcatel Lucent.  I got a little lost and was late, but he graciously took the time to have this interview with me.  He is a veteran in the mobile developer space, so I was particularly interested in his advice for mobile developers; but also to find out how a company like Alcatel Lucent, a traditional infrastructure player, was providing new opportunities for mobile developers.

Caroline: You’ve seen all sides of the mobile industry given your experience with Adobe, Openwave and now Alcatel Lucent; what has been the most significant change for mobile developers over the last few years?

Francisco: The last three years started a new era in mobile that elevated the stature of developers in the ecosystem.  Devices are finally good platforms for consuming...