Software Testing Blog

Over in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress, 24 of the world’s leading wireless carriers and mobile OEMs announced their plans to create the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) — a unified platform which developers can use to build a mobile app once and have it run seamlessly on any handset, OS or carrier.  Among the impressive roster of backers are mobile heavyweights like AT&T, Verizon, Orange, LG and Sony.  Sounds like a utopia for mobile developers, right?  It could be… if it works.

There are more than a few skeptics, including Jason Kincaid (@jasonkincaid) over at TechCrunch.  As Kincaid states (with a bit of help from Google’s Andy Rubin):

If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it probably is. Andy Rubin, Google VP of Engineering (and the man in charge of Android) has already shared his skepticism, saying, “There is always a dream that you could write [a program] once and [have it] run anywhere and history has proven that that dream has not been fully realised and I am sceptical that it ever will be“. To put it another way, this is a pipe dream from carriers looking to loosen Apple’s stranglehold over mobile applications and there’s very little chance that it’s going to work.

The reasons Kincaid thinks the WAC won’t work out include:

1. Fragmentation:  Every device maker and carrier rolls out the latest system upgrades at their own pace.  Will they really coordinate their schedules so closely that developers don’t have to tweak their apps to work with each configuration?
2. App Trade-Offs:  Will app makers really trade horsepower for compatibility?  It sounds good in principal, but that’s always a tough pill to swallow for developers who want to create the next killer app.
3. App Store Arms Race:  Beyond PR and marketing bragging rights, does it really matter if your app store of choice has 10,000 apps or 100,000?  In short, no.

This is an interesting concept (who doesn’t love open, unified standards), but there’s an enormous gap between theory and practice.  And that gaping chasm is filled with failed industry standard initiatives that looked great in the press releases that announced them.  What do you think — will WAC work?  If not, why?