Orange weary of closed Nokia-Microsoft system

European cell carrier Orange said on Wednesday that it disapproved of what it calls a closed mobile system from the recent Nokia-Microsoft tie-up. Chief marketer Jean-Paul Cottet said providers prefer to offer open systems that give its customers choice. They have a say in the popularity of phones as they choose how much to subsidize them.

The iPhone and its iOS is one such closed system and benefits one company in particular. The tie-up between Nokia and Microsoft, that would see the latter's Windows Phone 7 OS on the former's handsets, is seen as another.

Cottet also voiced concerns about what Nokia will do until it releases its first Windows Phone 7 handsets in 2012. What will it try to sell to Orange in the second half of 2011, Cottet asked. The Orange executive stopped short of saying the mobile OS would be blocked but threatened to drop it for Android or others if it became a problem.

"Microsoft and Nokia are companies we both work with and respect, so for now we will give them the benefit of the doubt," Cottett said. "But if their interest in the medium term is to lock up the clients in a closed system, well then we would have to go look elsewhere for an open alternative."

Google's Android OS, in contrast, is much more open, Cottet noted.

A closed philosophy usually requires explicit approval for apps to run on the company's hardware and having major, though not necessarily exclusive, control of the billing relationship with the customer in order to make a large profit. Apple has usually been representative of the model and has been criticized for being inconsistent in which apps can reach or stay on the App Store. It has also been criticized for banning apps that would compete with iTunes or other services. The approach has, however, minimized piracy and kept malware virtually non-existent.

Orange carries the iPhone but didn't level the same criticisms against Apple.

By Electronista Staff