Telcos long to be part of the world of service and application mashups, but the path to get there remains unclear.

Consider Microsoft. Two years after launching its Connected Services Sandbox project — with only 162 mashups registered and fewer than 10 carriers in tow — it is quietly revamping the effort, eliminating the $99 developer registration fee and taking a more hands-on approach to helping carriers build services, said Terry McGuigan, director of Microsoft's Communications Sector Global Partner Program.

“I'd characterize [the program thus far] as a good first step, but only a first step,” he said. “It's a new concept in the industry and requires a mind-set shift about what it means to build a service and take it to market.”

BT, meanwhile, continues to push its Web21C application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs), last week adding a new interactive voice response API dubbed CallFlow. Since July, the company's SDK has been downloaded 8000 times and has enabled 300 production applications and 4500 sandbox test apps, said J.P. Rangaswami, managing director of service delivery for BT.

Also on the API front:

• Apple said its iPhone SDK — whose relatively open programming approach and on-phone app store foreshadows a major shift in mobile app development — was downloaded more than 100,000 times in its first week of availability.
• Verizon Wireless this week will host a developer conference to debut APIs and device specifications for its open network access initiative.
• Not to be outdone by telco upstarts, Google last week said it will hold its first developer conference in May to tout its cloud infrastructure platform and APIs.