Deutsche Telekom plans to integrate with mobile app and content stores to offer users the widest possible choice, regardless of the brand of phone they use.

On Monday it pledged to support the Wholesale Applications Community to build a cross-platform standard for apps, along with at least 23 other mobile operators who collectively have 3 billion customers.
 
Dr Rainer Deutschmann, SVP, Mobile Products, Deutsche Telekom, told a packed press conference at the Mobile World Congress today: “Our initiative plans to bring, in a standardised way, the functionality of the network, from the device and the commercial framework such that we don’t have a fragmented approach any more. We envision a PC-like environment where it doesn’t matter what PC you are using, and if you change your PC, you don’t lose all your applications.”

T-Mobile will enable its customers to download apps from the major app stores and pay for them via their mobile phone bill, instead of using a credit card. As the first step, Deutsche Telekom and Nokia are to roll-out a T-Mobile billing option for content and apps bought in the Ovi Store by customers who have Nokia Series 40 and Nokia Symbian-based phones.
 
A dedicated T-Mobile channel within the main app stores is also planned, plus a recommendation app to help users find other apps will be launched in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands in March. It will be available to all T-Mobile customers with an Android phone.
 
Separately, Deutsche Telekom also announced a series of upgrades to its 3G mobile networks to achieve theoretical peak download speeds of up to 42 Mb/s via HSPA+ technology during 2010.