The European Commission has launched a 700,000 Euro research project called MOSQUITO (MObile software and services, Standardisation, QUality, Interoperability, Testing, Open source).
MOSQUITO is a two-year project involving six companies; inno, ETSI, France Telecom, the Telecommunication Metrology Center of MIIT, Funambol and IBBT. It's designed to develop a better understanding of the issues and consequences of mobile app fragmentation. The project aims to:
• provide documentation on fragmentation to help developers understand its issues and consequences,
• define a roadmap for reducing application fragmentation,
• support actions that improve the working environment to develop mobile internet services and demonstrate the way forward on convergence,
• provide major contributions to the internet, and
• lower barriers for service providers to develop mobile internet services through standardised open (source) platforms and interfaces.
Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol, said "Fragmentation is a serious issue that is currently affecting the mobile industry. Due to the rapid proliferation of phone and non-phone devices, this issue is likely to get worse before it gets better. We are pleased to participate in the MOSQUITO research project because it endorses an open standards approach, including open source, to address mobile fragmentation. Fragmentation has led to developers needing to build multiple versions of the same app so it is compatible with different mobile devices. A key goal of MOSQUITO is to clearly identify and document fragmentation issues. The project team will work together to look at the extent of fragmentation in the industry and its causes, and to develop market solutions."