The first European call for proposals dedicated to the development of pan-European mobile phone services has just been launched by the French Secretary of State for future technologies and the digital economy.

This call for proposals supports former secretary Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet’s decision to create a European version of the Proxima Mobile gateway (www.proximamobile.eu), following the success of the first French free and public-oriented mobile services gateway.

Coordinated by the Délégation aux Usages de l’Internet (DUI), the first lot of this European call for proposals, amounting 200 000 euros, is to finance mobile services related to the « digital city », more precisely transport, culture, tourism and the environment.

The www.proximamobile.eu gateway has two goals:

• to provide new services that would make life easier for the people living in the EU and those visiting the continent ;
• foment a strategic ecosystem for our economy, a « common market » of mobile applications.

2010 has been a peak year for mobile internet technology. By the end of the year, France should count 15 million « mobinauts » and Europe more than 300 million (out of a total 740 million mobile phone users). As to the global market for mobile applications, it should reach € 15 billion by 2013.

Proximamobile.eu allows innovative French companies to expand abroad and to get closer to European partners to collaborate.

Projects shall be evaluated according to usefulness to European citizens, cost of use, absence of advertising and ergonomy.

Information and documents: http://www.proximamobile.eu/cfp

Proxima Mobile closing date: 30th November 2010.

Contact:

Anne Dorsemaine, Secretary of State – 0033 (0)1 42 75 56 54 – anne.dorsemaine@pm.gouv.fr

Délégation aux Usages de l’Internet :  0033 (0)1 55 55 85 65