Microsoft and Vodafone mobile web roadmap
Microsoft and Vodafone outline technical roadmap
for mobile Web services
29 October 2003
Today at the Microsoft® Professional Developers
Conference (PDC), Microsoft Corp. and Vodafone outlined a technical
roadmap for adding mobile Web services to applications, expanding
new business opportunities for application developers and mobile
network operators. The companies further underscored their desire
for industry feedback and participation to enable a consistent
development approach for mobile Web services.
The roadmap proposes a model that adopts the existing
industry-standard Web services architecture to simplify the development
of applications integrating mobile network services. The roadmap
also addresses issues such as integrating mobile security and
payment services with the Web services architecture, as well as
exposing location and messaging services. By enabling applications
developers to use a consistent, standardised development approach,
the two companies seek to dramatically increase the number of
applications that can access mobile network services from mobile
network terminals and PCs. The Web services architecture is vendor,
platform and device independent, encouraging broad participation
of mobile network operators, application developers and platform
providers. Microsoft and Vodafone will invite industry feedback
on the mobile Web services efforts at a series of industry workshops,
the first of which will be in London in January 2004.
"This is a great opportunity for developers
to apply their existing Web services skills to access mobile network
services," said Sanjay Parthasarathy, vice president of the
Platform Strategy and Partner Group at Microsoft. "We are
excited to see a wide range of new applications and user experiences
that make use of mobile Web services."
Ian Maxwell, Group Strategic Relationship Director
at Vodafone, said, "To jump-start standardised mobile Web
services, Microsoft and Vodafone have produced a technical roadmap
proposal for the industry. The proposed roadmap is an important
first step toward gaining industry consensus on the convergence
of mobile and PC applications and services. We look forward to
working more closely with the industry to progress this initial
mobile Web services standardisation work and take it forward to
standards bodies."
Attendees at PDC include enterprise developers,
software architects, software engineers, Web developers and Web
development managers who are taking Web services to the next level.
Microsoft will offer a technical breakout session Oct. 30 at 8:30
a.m. that will detail how developers can use Microsoft's Visual
Studio® .NET development tools to build applications today
for PCs and mobile devices that use mobile Web services. Mobile
Web services in live operation from Vodafone will support the
examples shown in the session.
The companies also released a white paper, titled
"Mobile Web Services: Convergence of PC and Mobile Applications
and Services".
Microsoft
Mobile Web Services
Vodafone
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