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Mobile apps players form S'pore group

Mobile Alliance of Singapore, comprising over 30 players from mobile software industry, aims to establish country as development hub for mobile applications.
Written by Eileen Yu, Senior Contributing Editor

SINGAPORE--Several mobile software companies have banded to form a local industry group that aims to drive the development of mobile applications in the country.

Comprising over 30 founding members from the industry that include Acision, Bak2U, Gemalto, Navteq and tenCube, the Mobile Alliance of Singapore is supported by local government agency International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), as well as related industry groups Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

The Mobile Alliance is looking to establish Singapore as "a vibrant and innovation-driven hub for home-grown mobile content and application developers", Boudewijn Pesch, Asia-Pacific managing director of Acision, said in a statement Tuesday.

The group hopes to do so by churning "greater synergies and incubating new opportunities" within Singapore's mobile ecosystem, said Pesch, who is also the group's president. The Mobile Alliance will also focus on coordinating initiatives with existing industry platforms that will benefit the mobile software market, as well as plug holes in the current ecosystem.

It will work with IE Singapore, the MEF and MMA to develop new initiatives and programs aimed at establishing Singapore as a development hub for mobile services, which can then be marketed globally.

Thian Tai Chew, director of ICT division at IE Singapore, said in the statement: "In recent years, mobile operators are stepping up efforts to bring more value-added services to customers. New and interesting mobile application services are required to attract and retain subscribers, which creates the opportunity for Singapore-based mobile software companies."

The Mobile Alliance also formed an affiliation with the Sweden Mobile Association, which represents players from Sweden's mobile industry as well as the global mobile market, establishing a communication channel between members from both groups.

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