14 DAY TRIAL // Worldwide leader in digital security Gemalto announced today that it had joined forces with the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a partnership of over 60 global mobile industry leaders aimed at the development of the Android operating system. The mobile platform is touted as the first complete, open, and free mobile platform, and it expected to become the second most popular OS in the world during the following few years, as IDC stated in a recent report.
“As the market leader, Gemalto continues to drive innovation, producing technology to enhance and secure the mobile experience,” said Sebastien Cano, senior vice president, Telecommunications Business Unit for Gemalto North America. “Leveraging our long history of secure elements and applications development, and our constant participation in the industry progress efforts, Gemalto will be an active contributor to the open source mobile platform movement.”
Gemalto announced that it planned on becoming an active member of the OHA, and that it would join the efforts of other technology and mobile companies aimed at driving the future of the mobile industry. At the same time, the company noted that it would bring into the mix its expertise in security, as well as in secure elements (UICC, SIM, etc.) development, and that it would work for the production of solutions to drive the open mobile OS initiative upwards.
Carriers will benefit from a unique set of tools as result of this joint effort, enabling them to deliver new services and applications for Android handsets. Gemalto will be working with Internet mobile companies and other industry leaders in the OHA initiative, adding that the four largest carriers in the US, as well as the largest handset vendor in the country are already engaged in the project.
“Android software will be the fastest growing operating system between now and 2013,” said Will Stofega, program manager, Mobile Device Technology and Trends, IDC. “We see it as a force toward open phones, and being able to customize a smartphone from a UICC will be a great branding distribution tool for operators.” The researcher estimates that a number of 68 million Android-based units will be shipped in 2013.