VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Nokia Corp.’s Open Mobile Architecture initiative will merge with the WAP Forum to create a new, massive industry standards group comprising more than 200 companies including heated wireless rivals pushed together by flagging revenues and an uncertain future.
The most tangible component of the new group is the scope of activities it plans to undertake. The WAP Forum—which developed the widely used protocol to view Internet-based information on mobile phones—will be folded into the new group, and its work will continue in OMA committees. Further, the Location Interoperability Form, the MMS Interoperability Group, the SyncML Initiative Ltd. and the Wireless Village instant messaging initiative have signed letters of intent to merge with the new group.
The OMA brings together Nokia and Microsoft Corp., which previously butted heads over Nokia’s Open Mobile Architecture initiative. Microsoft executives said the company will participate in the new OMA because the group will focus on standards issues below the operation system level.
The OMA’s goal is to “collect market requirements and define specifications designed to remove barriers to interoperability and accelerate the development and adoption of a variety of new, enhanced mobile information, communications and entertainment services and applications,” according to a release.
