Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation have announced a deal to move Wikipedia onto the mobile web. During Oranges initial pilot, mobile access to the publicly editable encyclopedia will be limited to U.K., Spain, Poland and France. Eventually, the service will be rolled out to all of the European countries in the Orange network.
To begin with, the deal is only going to take the form of on-portal links to Wikipedia content. Orange customers browsing the mobile or fixed web can expect to encounter Wikipedia channels and links on the Orange website – but the two companies are also working on a selection widgets for users of Orange mobile and on-line Internet.
The two companies will share revenue and branding on the content – although no details have yet been released on either of those.
From the release:
Paul-François Fournier, Executive Vice President of Orange Audience Line of Business, said: “At Orange we are committed to giving people maximum access to the widest range of digital technologies and to simplifying the way people use these technologies to access information. By bringing our customers a new way to access content from Wikipedia, one of the world’s most recognised and popular internet brands, we are delivering on this commitment.”
“The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to spreading knowledge to as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Orange’s leadership in mobile and focus on innovation makes them an ideal partner to help us extend our reach. The Foundation welcomes partnerships that help us carry out our mission and respect the valuable work of our community.”
What we think?
Orangepedia? WikiOrange? Whatever the co-branding solution is, this is a smart move for both parties. Wikipedia is hugely popular, but it’s a great example of one of those sites that just doesn’t work well on mobile. It’s too big, too clunky. By going in at operator-level to create a tailored mobile experience, Wikipedia could become the go-to service of choice for information hungry mobile owners.
It has been said by many people that consumers are happy to use the mobile Internet – so long as the content is good. Wikipedia has a proven track record of good content – just look at it’s hits. And please note, I’m not making any comments about the accuracy of Wikipedia’s content!
