Verizon may cut number of mobile systems

Verizon Wireless hopes to roughly halve the number of cellphone operating systems that it needs to support in the next few years to help improve the time it takes to bring new technologies to customers. The company has teamed up with China Mobile, Vodafone and Japan's Softbank to create a single platform to make it easier for developers to create mobile data applications for cellphones. "We probably have, literally, eight or nine different operating systems ... What we hope over the next few years is to land on about three to four," McAdam told reporters at the CTIA annual wireless technology showcase. There are already several widely used operating systems from companies such as Nokia, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Palm, Apple and Google. Verizon will hold its first conference for application developers this summer, suggesting the company could join its device suppliers in the race to build application stores. McAdam ruled out network-sharing agreements with rival providers and network management outsourcing as ways for Verizon to save money as it gears up to build a new network in one of the weakest economies in years.