Smart CEO named director of Wholesale Applications Community

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Communications Inc. president and chief executive officer Napoleon L. Nazareno has been named member of the board of directors of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), an alliance of telecommunications companies worldwide committed to building an open applications platform.

Smart is the only Southeast Asian telecommunications company represented in the board of the WAC.

WAC recently announced its formation as a corporate entity, as well as the organization’s leadership and board of directors. The company also announced that it will join forces with the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL), accelerating the commercial launch of WAC-enabled application stores.

“The creation of WAC opens up many possibilities that promise to deliver enormous benefits for mobile phone users. That is why Smart is proud to be part of this organization,” Nazareno said.

“WAC will promote the development of more applications and services via an open platform for mobile applications. By creating a wholesale applications ecosystem that will make it easier for developers to market their innovations, subscribers will ultimately benefit from the wider array of choices and value-for-money applications and services. Smart will focus on applications that address the need of subscribers in emerging markets, particularly prepaid users”, he added.

Nazareno joins a distinguished line-up of officers and members of the WAC board of directors.

At launch, WAC will allow operators to distribute applications through their respective application storefronts and charge users through their existing phone bill. In this model, developers will set the application price and will receive a revenue share for the transaction.

The revenue share will be defined on an operator-by-operator basis. This will ensure that revenue shares will be competitive in today’s application market.

WAC is a not-for-profit organization and will receive a small transaction fee for each application to cover its operating costs.

In the future, WAC will offer business models that enable additional purchases from within an application; leverage network capabilities, such as location, to enhance an application; and facilitate the serving of advertisements to end users.