Is it time for mobile operators to flex muscles on apps?

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson used the Mobile World Congress keynote stage this week to express – maybe not directly, but in so many words – his (and the telecom industry’s) frustration with being cut out of the mobile apps market.

"You purchase an app for one operating system, and if you want it on another device or platform, you have to buy it again," Stephenson said in his keynote speech. "That's not how our customers expect to experience this environment."
The occasion of Stephenson’s remarks was the formal launch of the Wholesale Applications Community, a carrier-led effort that aims to deliver a standard platform and app store that will enable just want he called for: the ability for mobile users to buy an app and be certain it not only works but will also interoperate on any device and across all carriers.

The model that WAC supporters – as well as backers of another industry application effort called Rich Communications Suite, or RCS – typically point to is text messaging, which didn’t really take off until operators forged the technology and business agreements to ensure messages moved seamlessly from carrier to carrier. The result: a global SMS market with revenues in 2010 of $115 billion, according to Portio Research, dwarfing today’s mobile apps market (which is expected to be worth about $15 billion this year, according to Gartner).

The problem, of course, is that SMS interoperability was enabled by agreements within the telecom industry, and the mobile apps business has already far exceeded our industry’s grasp, with software and Web players from Apple to Google to startups like GetJar dominating the landscape. And RCS, while promising, is having an even harder time moving its otherwise commendable project out of the demo stage.

What’s a poor mobile operator to do?

First: mobile operators need to stop acting like “poor mobile operators” and pretending they don’t have some power to wield in this equation. They do. Take the seemingly muted success of the iPhone’s launch on Verizon. Combine that with the availability of the Android platform on all carriers (including now AT&T as well). And add to that mix the emergence of Microsoft/Nokia as a would-be third smartphone power. Put those developments together and the idea that a single mobile software maker (Apple) should be able to call all the shots in mobile apps is beginning to fade away.

So what can a poor mobile operator do to flex its muscles in the mobile app game, capturing not only their fair share of app revenues but also gaining a seat at the table as the market develops?

Keep reading for five steps they should take immediately: