News
Verizon Sees 500% Penetration on the Horizon
(02 Apr 2009, BWCS Staff)Verizon Wireless has been laying out its vision of the future at the CTIA show in Las Vegas and it sees mobile penetration rising to an impressive 500%. It also envisages a world in which the company runs its own software on its mobile devices. According to CEO, Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless doesn't care which of the competing mobile operating systems eventually wins out, as the company plans to run its own software over the top. He summed up the VW attitude neatly as "I don't think I need to bet on an operating system. I need to bet on layers that will bridge those operating systems."
The mobile operating company head was answering questions regarding Verizon Wireless' decision to join the Joint Innovation Lab, the brain-child of Vodafone (VW's parent), China Mobile and Softbank. The JIL says it will construct "mobile widgets" for future phones that will run on whatever operating systems Verizon decides to support on its smart phones.
Speaking earlier, the head of Verizon Communications, Ivan Seidenberg, had predicted that the number of mobile operating systems would be whittled down from the seven currently competing for dominance, to a more manageable number (three or four) as the industry begins to concentrate on an open operating environment. Neither of the CEOs would say which systems they think will fall by the wayside.
During his keynote speech, Seidenberg took the opportunity to talk up the future of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, arguing that it will help drive mobile penetration up to 500% as machines and people get connected to each other.
Back