SK Telecom Planning Own Mobile Phone Platform to Compete with Nokia, Google & Apple

There are certainly no shortages of mobile phone Operating Systems. All of them bring their own features, aesthetic appeal, and brand name that people look for to the table. And, while many would say that the market is becoming crowded, that's not stopping SK Telecom from announcing today that they will be moving forward in the creation of their own mobile phone platform.

Creating a mobile phone platform is one thing, but it's an entirely different thing to immediately start dropping then names of your future competitors. But that's what SK Telecom's chief did during the announcement, saying that the eventual goal of this, as of now unnamed, platform would be to "eventually compete against Google, Apple, and Nokia." They plan on doing that by setting aside one trillion Won, which is about $897 million, over the course of three years for the development of the platform. While it may seem like dreaming in the clouds to some, it wouldn't even be worth the time of SK Telecom to develop this idea if they didn't plan on competing with the hottest names in the mobile phone OS market.

To sweeten the deal, the new platform would be built on the idea of "open." It would also be built to support third-party applications. It would also expand existing services, like T Store and T Map, and let developers build on them to make them better, and include more features. And, SK Telecom isn't just focusing on their market, either. They announced that the future platform would be available not only in Southeast Asia, but also China and the United States of America.

SK Telecom, at the announcement of the platform, also unveiled the brand new Open Innovation Center, which is meant to kick start the development aspect of the platform. It will aide developers in their time with the platform, as well as reflect the company's strategy. Furthermore, SK Telecom hopes to open up the APIs for the platform by the end of 2010, so that developers can get a jump start on developing for it. Only time will tell if the new platform from SK Telecom will have any relevance in the market, especially in three years' time.

[via Electronista]