Orange and Netvibes have announced a partnership to bring what they say will be the worlds largest collection of mobile widgets to all types of mobile phone user across an extensive range of handsets. Netvibes catalogue of nearly 200,000 real-time widgets will be available on Orange widgets, a service featuring on 80% of handsets shipped by Orange. It will also be available on djinngo mobile, an Orange service open to any mobile phone user in the world. The widgets will also be available soon to Orange customers in the recently-launched Orange Application Shop
The widget collection, known as Netvibes Ecosystem, is a library of popular widgets from leading content providers around the world. Customers will access Orange widgets with one click from the Orange homescreen. The service has a carousel from which they can chose their favourite widgets and will be available on devices from the majority of handset companies, from basic models through to Smartphones.
Orange widgets first launched in July 2009 and was designed to be quick and easy to use. Orange says it is seeking to open  up a new mobile widget marketplace for everyone by providing access to the best, most popular,  local content, in customers own language.
By bringing a user-friendly widget service to the mobile mass market, Orange is also giving content developers access to an entirely new market of users. To facilitate this, Orange is creating a software developer kit to ensure a simple and efficient process for developers to create new and value-adding widgets.
As the largest independent provider of real time widgets across 90 languages, Netvibes was the ideal partner for us, says Paul-Franois Fournier, Executive Vice-President, Audience and Advertising at Orange. Our strategy is to make mobile widgets a reality for everyone not just the mobile multimedia fans with sophisticated Smartphones. Our approach is to offer diverse local content, in all languages, with an intuitive and simple experience that will appeal to all. Netvibes catalogue includes widgets from content developers around the world and this was important for us as we will be offering widgets across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
While the partnership will focus initially on mobile widgets, the partners will draw on Oranges leadership in broadband Internet and IPTV to extend the experience across other screens.
Theres a video with more information about the Orange Netvibes partnership here.