BONDI INITIATIVE CONTINUES TO GROW

London, UK, 9th February 2009: The OMTP (www.omtp.org) today announced the release of Version 1.0 of BONDI. At the same time it also announced the endorsement of the LiMo Foundation for the BONDI specifications and Opera Software as the newest OMTP Participant.

 The BONDI initiative continues to gain momentum as 2009 progresses. Its intent is to ensure that web applications can access native functionality on mobile handsets consistently across platforms and with the appropriate security to protect the user from malware. Version 1.0 of BONDI provides a detailed set of terminal requirements and specifications. It includes web based development, collaboration and specification tools, and downloadable components and Software Development Kits to facilitate developers and other stakeholders in further development. Its open source Reference Implementation provides a technical proof and allows for the first time anyone to contribute to the evolution of BONDI. (http://bondi.omtp.org).


In addition to the launch, OMTP announced that Opera Software, a leader in browser development, has joined OMTP as an Advisor member. With the participation of Opera Software, the BONDI initiative gains additional expertise from a company with experience in both the fixed and mobile web.

 "Opera software is pleased to be joining the OMTP BONDI initiative at this important time as version 1.0 is released." said Charles McCathieNevile, Chief Standards Officer at Opera. "The ability to extend Web applications to better integrate with devices is a very important advance in the state of the technology, and we look forward to working with the BONDI initiative to deliver this to developers as a standard they can use to enhance services available today."

 In addition, LiMo Foundation has announced their endorsement of BONDI and stated that it expects future LiMo handsets that use a web runtime will support the BONDI specification. This significant endorsement by a major platform provider supports the work which has been undertaken in OMTP over the past year.

 "LiMo is pleased to endorse the BONDI specification as part of our broader strategy to enable a rich and fully-functional mobile internet for consumers and developers alike," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. 

 The increasing numbers of supporters from across the mobile and Internet industries shows the growing belief in BONDI and its collaborative working. OMTP strongly encourages others to join as well, in the interest of realising consistency and security across the mobile web; the key goal of the BONDI initiative.

 "3 is committed to making the internet truly mobile for our customers. The OMTP BONDI initiative and the support from LiMo is a positive step toward 3's vision of applications running on all handsets regardless of the mobile operating system." said Nigel Field, General Manager, Devices and Applications, 3 Group.

 "The launch of BONDI 1.0 and the BONDI Open Source developer community are milestones towards a solution for true cross platform web based services capable of bringing web 2.0 to all customer segments as well as a mark of OMTP's new position. Telecom Italia will support the project web developers also within the broader scope of the NEXT innovation programme" said Luca Tomassini, Senior Vice President Business Innovation, Telecom Italia.

 "Telefónica is excited that BONDI is coming to life and delivering real demos at Mobile World Congress", said Vicente San Miguel, Telefónica CTO. "The endorsement of BONDI by the LiMo Foundation is a big step forward, and gives us opportunities to provide a compelling Web-Application experience for our customers".

 Dr. Rüdiger Köster,  Senior Vice President, Product Development at T-Mobile International stated: "BONDI is set to limit application fragmentation while at the same time increasing functionality. BONDI will enable developers to target their web applications and content at numerous device platforms and devices and will facilitate mobile usage. Its security layer will help drive successful adoption. As such, T-Mobile are pleased with the achievements and continuing growth of this very important  initiative and remain fully committed."

 Guido Arnone, Director Terminals Technology at Vodafone said: "We appreciate BONDI's timely specification delivery which naturally complements the LiMo Foundation's secure interfaces for web applications.  This initiative will help to ensure that customers, across a range of platforms, have a selection of compelling web applications to choose from."

 Demonstrations of web applications using the BONDI interfaces will be shown during the Mobile World Congress 2009 (contact for more information).

About OMTP

OMTP is a forum funded by companies from across the mobile phone value chain, set up with the aim of gathering and driving mobile terminal requirements to ensure consistent and secure implementations, thereby reducing fragmentation and simplifying the customer experience of mobile data services across mobile terminals.  OMTP is backed by many of the largest mobile operators and has members from hardware and software vendors across the value chain. For more information, visit http://www.omtp.org.