iPhone and Android steer wireless industry shake up

The launch of the 3G iPhone and Google’s Android platform will reshape the wireless industry by  creating a groundswell of support that will ultimately help mobile operators and handset vendors, says a new report by In-Stat.

The tech market research firm believes that the current telco-oriented approach to developing Internet mobile applications has created an ecosystem for application developers that is complex, fragmented, difficult to enter, and offers a high risk of failure, the high-tech market research firm says.

"The mobile operator-centric WAP-based ecosystem for applications has been challenged, unsuccessfully before," remarked Bill Hughes, In-Stat analyst. "It has taken the innovative design of Apple and the financial power of Google to push the juggernaut off its course and more into harmony with the wishes of mobile customers."

In-Stat predicts that in addition to Apple selling a large number of very exciting phones, its ambition to change the wireless industry will be tempered some what. It also expects Google's Android Project to kick-start location-aware advertising by enabling the benefits of mobile Linux-if it can create a good revenue sharing model for its wireless operator partners. The research firm thinks that Google will hedge its Android bet by working with others for location-aware searches, including the iPhone.