Alcatel Lucent has bought cross-platform mobile software firm OpenPlug - its second addition to its app development capabilities in three months.
The firm plans to market OpenPlug's toolsets to service providers, enterprises and developers.
OpenPlug allows developers to write an application once and then convert it into native software for Apple's iOS, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile or Linux, and counts Sony Ericsson, Intel, Arima and Foxconn among its customers.
“As service providers typically offer multiple mobile devices to their subscriber base, the OpenPlug software can help them get to market five times faster by allowing them to easily port an application to all of their devices,” said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent’s global developer strategy.
She said the software can also support apps development for IPTV set top boxes, game consoles, and even the LTE Connected Car program.
The OpenPlug toolset will be incorporated into the Alcatel-Lucent’s developer platform and Open API Service.
Alcatel-Lucent in June purchased ProgrammableWeb, a knowledge bank of APIs, how-to guides, libraries and tools.
Redmonk analyst Michael Coote said that mobile development platforms and tools are becoming heavily fragmented, meaning developers often have to choose between “putting all your eggs in one, often tightly controlled basket, like Apple's,” or designing a simple mobile-web app that can't benefit from native access.
“A tool that can target all platforms is hugely needed in this space, and OpenPlug should work well with the total mobile app development portfolio Alcatel-Lucent is putting together,” Coote said.