Mobile apps are hot, but are even the best half-baked? Many of today’s apps do a good job of tapping device capabilities, such as the iPhone’s accelerometer or the G1’s compass, but they don’t make full use of information held in the mobile networks, such as connection speed or location, or operator’s proven authentication, micro-billing and push messaging systems.

By creating “application islands” that ignore the assets in the networks, the mobile industry “is missing the very thing that made GSM what it is today,” Michael O’Hara, the GSMA’s Chief Marketing Officer, told journalists at Ericsson’s recent Business Innovation Forum in Stockholm. “We are letting the bigger opportunity slip by…..a GSM 2.0 applications proposition.”

O’Hara argues that operators need to define a “common mobile widget specification” across handsets and operating systems that will enable developers to chase a market of four billion subscribers, while giving consumers a huge choice of portable apps, which they can use on many different devices from mobile phones to laptops to televisions. Moreover, he envisages apps routinely making use of operators’ systems for quick, easy and cost-effective billing and settlement.

In a similar vein, Jan Uddenfeldt, Senior Technology Advisor to Ericsson’s CEO, argues that the vertical and discreet ecosystems, such as those around Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry and Nokia’s Ovi, need to be brought together to create a real mass-market for mobile apps. Uddenfeldt believes mobile operators should publish open network application programming interfaces (APIs) that will enable the creation of a “standards based, multi-screen and multi-country ecosystem allowing consumers to explore and buy applications, widgets and mash-ups from a long-tail of third-party developers”. Ericsson sees its role as a “multimedia broker”, providing the service delivery platform that will enable apps to be quickly ported across many different devices and networks.

You can find O’Hara and Uddenfeldt’s presentations here. Do you agree? Can mobile operators bring the application islands together to the benefit of both consumers and developers?