But instead of holding a monopoly over his design and licensing it to phone makers, Rossman now faces dozens of rivals as he builds a new business selling server software and applications under the WAP standard.

FORBES: WAP music

The contrast is all the sharper given some of the successes shown by those using open-source software: the District of Columbia, for example, has junked its servers and proprietary software in favour of the standard package of applications offered and hosted by Google.

ECONOMIST: Technology and the public sector