Gowalla: “Gowalla 3 for Android is a completely new vision of using Gowalla. While it features many of the things that people love about its iPhone counterpart, we wanted to make the Android version something both uniquely Gowalla and uniquely Android. Every screen has been rethought and reworked. No stone was left unturned.”
It looks like the boys and girls from Texas took a page from their iOS playbook and ran with it. The result, a beautiful mobile application for Android.
Well done.
CNN Tech: “But for developers who wants their programs to make serious money, a nonunified app ecosystem may be less than desirable. Fully 74 percent of respondents said developing for Apple’s iOS gave the best opportunities for paid-app revenues, and twice as many developers claimed their apps were more visible in Apple’s app store than they were in the Android Market.”
Emphasis is mine. Another concern for developers was fragmentation. No surprise. Still, Android is a BIG deal. It’s the Microsoft Windows of Mobile.
You cannot ignore the platform.
Elia Freedman“This is a huge change for Google and one I applaud. The old model was just not tenable. No one — and I mean no one except carriers and those manipulating the OS for their nefarious gains — liked what was happening to Android. As developers it was too many minute changes on too many platforms. It wasn’t one Android, it was 5000 of them: Verizon’s Android, AT&T’s Android, HTC’s Android, Motorola’s Android, Samsung’s Android, etc. And as developers we had to pick and choose which Android we would support.”
I’d imagine the developers that are trying to make money on this platform will love the change. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll mean a more consistent experience.
BGR: “BGR has learned from multiple trusted sources that Research In Motion is planning to bring its beloved BlackBerry Messenger app and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. According to our sources, RIM has not yet finalized details surrounding timing or pricing, but we have heard that the company might make the software free to all users. We’re also told strategy is still being developed, however, and RIM may end up charging users a one-time fee or even a recurring fee for access to its BBM service on third-party platforms.”
Computer World: “IDG News Service – Nokia on Sunday hinted that Microsoft essentially won a bidding war against Google to supply software to the world’s largest handset maker and that the software giant agreed to pay “billions†of dollars for the privilege.”
That explains a lot.
I was preparing to write a post based on some tweets by Robert Scoble. I thought Nokia had kind of lost their minds based on those tweets. They definitely have the talent to make Android do what they want, it would take time to do it, but they could do it. If Microsoft is supplying them custom builds of Windows Phone that will take time as well.
Microsoft has essentially bought a hardware company to help push Windows Phone 7. Not bad, not bad at all. If this works, and Nokia can patch up the disaster this deal caused internally, it could help push Windows Phone into competition with the iPhone and Android.
It could happen.
Wired: “On Friday, Microsoft joined the ring, with a suit leveled at Motorola’s Android-based smart phones, filed in the International Trade Commission and the federal court in the Western District of Washington. The suit charges Motorola with infringing on its patents related to “synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.†(See the statement from Microsoft’s in-house IP lawyer Horacio Gutierrez below.)”
TechCrunch: “In theory, I’m right there with you. The thought of a truly open mobile operating system is very appealing. The problem is that in practice, that’s just simply not the reality of the situation. Maybe if Google had their way, the system would be truly open. But they don’t. Sadly, they have to deal with a very big roadblock: the carriers.”
Leave it to the carriers to ruin a good thing. As others have said, this could be one big reason Verizon doesn’t have the iPhone.
RoughlyDrafted Magazine: “Oracle’s purchase of Sun was likely done in part to get the Java intellectual property that could be used by Oracle to stab Google in the face. And yes, Oracle isn’t just after money, it’s after blood. In its complaint, Oracle does’t just demand monetary infringement damages, it’s seeking to have any code that is found to infringe upon Oracle’s copyrights “impounded and destroyed.—
If Oracle wins what does this mean for Android?
This will be fun to watch from the cheap seats.
Aulia Masna“Just like Apple’s App Store, Google’s Android Market has policies. Any app that violates those policies or receives complaints from significant enough parties will be removed.”
This is pretty interesting. Google bowing to the demands of the wireless provider, sound familiar iPhone users? It would appear the “openness” of the Android is a bit of a fallacy. It’s obvious the carriers are in control of the devices, thus the Verizon/Google backed crusade to regulate wireless.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have cheap wireless, with everything being equal, but the reality of it is this, these guys are in business to make money and they’re going to do what they have to to differentiate themselves from the other. Multi-tiered pay plans is one way to do it, not just based on the amount of data you can move per month, bit how fast that data moves and where.
Get used to the idea, it’s the American way!
CNN Money: “The CEO claimed that Microsoft needs to take its time to get its products just right to compete in the intensely scrutinized tablet space. He said that chipmaker Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) will be coming out next year with a tablet-specific processor called “Oak Trail” that will help manufacturers make better tablets that run Windows 7.”
I find it interesting that Intel is now making tablet specific chip sets, after Apple ships a highly successful device. Ballmer also states that the Windows based devices will likely be cheaper than the iPad.
I guess we’ll see. I hope they’re good because that’ll just push Apple and others to make better devices, which makes things better for all of us.
I’d also expect to see some Android based devices hitting the market pretty soon.