3. What are the benefits of iCalendar?

For consumers, adoption of iCalendar will result in improved interoperability among devices and platforms that will allow them to synchronize data easily among multiple devices and servers and see the same set of information wherever they look.

The widespread adoption of iCalendar in all application spaces will result in a larger range of Calendar content available to consumers over the Internet. Further extensions to iCalendar will enable exchange of an even richer set of data. The consortium’s Event Publication Technical Committee (TCEVENTPUB) has developed the VVENUE proposal for representing venue related information (e.g. concert listings, museum admission prices, and driving directions). iCalendar-based solutions combined with ITIP (RFC 2446) will enable full fledged scheduling for consumers.

Third party software and OMA Data Synchronization server vendors can increase customer satisfaction and reduce defects by using iCalendar due to the combination of needing to support only a single data object format and the more reliable representation of calendar data. The ongoing active development of the iCalendar standard provides implementers with a vehicle for promoting change.

Mobile operating system vendors and device manufacturers will benefit from wider adoption of iCalendar. The improved interoperability with third party software and server implementations that can be achieved with iCalendar will result in less reported user defects. This in turn should result in reduced support costs. With an industry-wide push towards iCalendar, server vendors will be encouraged to support devices also claiming such support.

For mobile operators, solutions that are more reliable will result in increased usage of calendar access and synchronization, which should show in increased data revenues. Using iCalendar and taking advantage of iCalendar content that is available on the Internet, a richer set of applications and value added premium services can result.

The benefits of iCalendar continue to improve as ongoing work to clarify and simplify the standard continues in the IETF Calsify working group. While vCalendar can no longer evolve, iCalendar as a data object format continues to takes steps towards being the needed standard data object format.