mobile software

Giant online retailer Amazon.com may be plotting a broader foray into software for smartphones.

The company already offers a handful of mobile applications. One lets users of Apple's iPhone read electronic books on their screens. Another lets BlackBerry users snap photos of products in stores, then find similar items on Amazon. Those may be just the start of Amazon's mobile efforts.

As recently as late 2008, Pandora Networks' Chief Technology Officer Tom Conrad still had big doubts about the prospects for smartphone maker Palm. In November, Conrad was among a coterie of software developers invited to Palm headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., to take an early, up-close look at an operating system for use in the company's phones. "I was totally skeptical when I walked in," says Conrad, who met Palm execs along with representatives of MySpace, Intuit, movie site Fandango, and Epocrates, a maker of mobile software for physicians.

Imagine if makers of, say, vacuum cleaners needed to design different models for different stores. One for Wal-Mart, another for Target, another for Tesco, and yet another for Carrefour. That's a bit what it's like to be in the business of writing programs for mobile phones.

Microsoft said Monday that LG Electronics, the South Korean cell phone maker, had agreed to use Microsoft's new mobile operating system on 50 of its models, bolstering Microsoft's bid to gain a bigger share of the fast-growing mobile software business.

Microsoft made the announcement on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress, the mobile industry's largest convention, which is being held here.

When it comes to cell-phone software, open is the new black. In less than two years, no fewer than three coalitions have formed with the intent of building mobile handset operating systems with input from all comers. Suddenly the business of developing mobile software -- once handled by coders working behind closed doors for a single vendor or group -- has gone open source.

On Tuesday, Nokia not only moved to acquire Symbian for $410 million, it also partnered with mobile-industry giants to launch a foundation to provide royalty-free software and accelerate innovation.

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo said they intend to unite the flavors of Symbian and create a single, open mobile-software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone, the mobile giants are establishing the Symbian Foundation.

Despite ambitious goals, Google's Android mobile platform won't find its way into handsets until the fourth quarter this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Last November, Google, along with a 30 partners, announced Android with big promises for a suite of mobile software. Google initially planned to have the new phones available to consumers by the second half of this year.

Now Google is pushing back its plans. According to the Journal, some cellular carriers and makers of programs that work with Android are struggling to meet the fourth-quarter schedule.