There was an initial burst of excitement at Mobile World Congress, with the news that 24 telcos (and a few handset makers) had teamed up to form the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC). While on one hand, it could be seen as a (desperate?) attempt by the operators to wrest some control of the applications ecosystem back from Apple, and also limit Googles attempts to muscle in with Android, it also promised to create a platform that would enable developers to create an application for one mobile platform, and port it seamlessly to any other.
Almost as soon as the announcement had been made, however, the cynicism kicked in, and not just from the journalist and blogger communities. Virtually everyone you asked about the WAC thought it highly unlikely that a group made up of 24 telcos would stand much chance of agreeing on anything, let alone doing so quickly. There were also rumours that several members of the community had only signed up to it on the eve of the show, with the announcement drawing ever closer.
Such cynicism may of course, be justified, but we feel its only right to give the WAC a chance. Which is why we decided to cover the initiative in our next print edition, due out in June. We found a few commentators and analysts willing to talk to us about it. Indeed, the only thing we were lacking was a contribution from the WAC itself. So we headed to the WAC website, hoping to get the latest news and some contact details. Well the latest news is the announcement from the show. And the contact details are an info@ email address. Nothing else.
A few years ago, when people were wondering whether this online shopping lark was actually safe, I remember reading some very good advice about how to tell a good, trustworthy website from a dodgy one. One sure sign to proceed with caution was when you came across a site with no physical address or telephone number. In this respect, the WAC site is like a throwback to the Wild West days of the Internet.
If the WAC is serious about its plans, it should at the very least appoint a press officer to deal with media enquiries, so people who want to explain what its trying to do can get the information they need. And if the only contact details it offers are an info@ email address, then it could at least bother to answer emails sent to it. I sent mine around a week ago; no response yet. Im beginning to understand where all that cynicism came from.

David Murphy
Editor