inbabble.com

The differences in mobile standards has long hampered the progress of the industry. Back in June 2002, Forrester Research optimistically told its clients, “By 2006, today’s diverse mobile wireless technologies will converge to two global standards: GSM-based WCDMA and cdma2000 3xRTT. Interoperability likely will follow within a year or two.”

In an exclusive interview with Inbabble.com, the CEO of Trilibis, Alex Panelli, told us, “We don’t see a movement toward standardization. Indeed, we (and others such as Gartner) have observed quite the opposite trend… Technology convergence in mobile is a myth. ”

As we reported, Trilibis addressed the needs of Local.com with its SmartPath solution, which allows customers to update their mobile content on the fly, without having to wait for programmers to adapt it for every platform. We previously reported on a solution to that problem for media producers offered by mywaves.

Panelli cites “increasing fragmentation across multiple dimensions: at the application platform level (BREW, J2ME, WAP (WML/xHTML/CML, 10+ mobile browser OEMs, etc.), Windows Mobile, and others), at the network/carrier level (varying publishing guidelines and data treatment methods), and especially at the device level (screen sizes, data input methods, etc.)”.

Panelli argues that “mobile device manufacturers and wireless carriers will fight tooth and nail against standardization and commoditization,” which cut profits for computer manufacturers and Internet service providers in the 1980’s and 1990’s, while making Microsoft rich. Instead, Panelli says mobile companies will choose a “differentiation strategy”. The question is, will mobile users rebel against that strategy?

- Michael M