Wireless operators want their own open app store

Today, a group of the most prominent wireless operators in the world announced its intent to form an "open app store," that is capable of vending applications to all mobile phone users.

Calling itself the "Wholesale Applications Community," the group is made up of 24 of the biggest mobile network operators including China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Telefonica, SK Telecom, Sprint, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and hardware manufacturers LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.

The group says it aims to set up the simplest way for developers to publish to the widest range of users and devices, or "scale unparalleled by any application distribution ecosystem in existence today."

It's a goal others are trying to reach...the decades-old WORA (Write Once, Run Anywhere) ideal. Adobe, for example announced today that it is bringing its AIR runtime environment to Android, which lets users develop across multiple platforms.

But the WAC today said it will utilize mobile widget language JIL (Joint Innovation Lab) and application runtime OMTP BONDI to reach that goal, rather than devise new standards for developers to be able to write once and run anywhere.

JIL is currently in beta and BONDI is only up to version 1.1, but they both have SDKs available for download now.