CANNES, France—The GSM Association continued to move forward with its wide-ranging M-Services Initiative, announcing the second phase of the program, broad support from the supplier community, and a series of task forces to help develop the wireless data market.
The association said its phase two efforts further refine the requirements of terminals in order to ensure consumers’ experiences are consistent.
The GSM Association announced the initiative in June to promote the seamless underpinning of wireless data services with a consistent platform, and accelerate worldwide growth of GPRS services.
“M-Services has achieved impressive momentum among operators and their suppliers globally,” said Rob Conway, the GSM Association’s chief executive officer. “Our member CEOs and CTOs are determined, and firmly committed to ensuring that they offer this capability to their customers.”
The group said implementation of the second phase of M-Services will help handset manufacturers define in detail the design, functionality and user experience of the handsets, facilitate higher levels of customer satisfaction and therefore increase usage and revenue for the industry.
Those voicing support for the initiative ranged from operators like AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Mmo2, Vodafone Group plc and NTT DoCoMo to suppliers like Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Samsung and Motorola Inc.
As part of the initiative, the GSM Association also announced it formed a number of “fast track” groups to focus on interoperability, roaming, terminal certifications and wireless local area networks and Bluetooth.
