Gossip

Mobile Enterprise Alliance? What's that? Wait till CeBIT!

Sniffing around the Samsung booth at 3GSM in Cannes, your intrepid rodent found himself eavesdropping on a plot to create a new industry body: the Mobile Enterprise Alliance.

As soon as the recruiting agent - a nice young man from Citrix - discovered the Hunky Mouse's affiliation, he became curiously tight-lipped about exactly what the MEA will be. But his attempt to recruit Samsung looked as if it might succeed, and from the sound of it, even bigger names are already on the privisional membership list.

The aim? Well, from what we caught of the conversation, it's designed to encourage business applications, not just games for kids.

Already promised (if they weren't fibbing to Samsung!) are Citrix, Palm, and HP as members; others who have been approached include names like Symbian and Nokia.

The Hunky Mouse asked whether they were going to join the Mobile Campaign and include WiFi technology. "Of course!" said the nice young man from Citrix, before asking what the Mobile Campaign was. Well, nobody knows that, of course; so he's got the Mobile Enterprise Alliance one up on us. At least you know what the MEA will do.

What? Encourage mobile technology in the enterprise, of course!

The really interesting question is: "What happens to the MEA if they approach Microsoft, and Microsoft accepts?"

It was at that point that the nice young man from Citrix decided he'd better not speak to the press, if we were going to be indiscreet ...

Anybody wanting to get in touch? I have his email address; phone me, or write, and I'll pass it on. Off the record, of course.