When I look at the development of composite apps I see that we require two important factors to make them successful,

•  Mobile Phone api’s

•  Real time information via the internet

Both of these are available today for mass market application distribution. The current leaders in this market are google (maps) and yahoo (go!), who provide very stable and useable applications which enable all mobile subscribers to download and use.

As a customer I want the application to work on my phone and network. Just as a windows application works on any PC(Dell, Acer..etc) on any ISP (BT, Virgin,..etc)?

So what role does the mobile operator have?

Data Pipe – Yes

With my 3G data service I can use mobile data as I please in almost any part of the world. The reliability is consistent in most western parts of the GSM world and as such only have one competitor, Wifi, which has limited availability.

Location – No

After using google maps, I have found that the location based on the nearest base station is good enough. It puts me within 10’ish metres in London. From this I can locate the services and places I require. Most of the time I am using it for direction (North/South). Some people may need GPS but I would guess that will be for more rural adventures and this is well covered by Tom Tom and also the handset manufacturers.

Advertising Revenue – No

Admob. Smaato, etc. provide this better on a global scale which fits with the business model of mobile applications. Now that we see some serious metrics on the subject this will become a major source of revenue and statistics for the mobile applications.

Distribution – No

The ability to find the world’s best applications and use them would be a great service from the operators, however they would force so many conflicting rules upon the developer (ref: J2ME games) that the logistics would be remove any benefits. Therefore sites such as getjar.com and Handango are provide the global depositary for mobile applications.

So besides being a data pipe what is the value added by mobile operators in this world of mobile applications?