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Advisory Board Assignment #3: Android!

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Time for a new assignment for our advisory board! Today I want to hear what you have to say about Android. Let me start by laying out the pros and cons as I see them.

PROS

It’s Google. Google = Success in the technology market right now which bodes well for the device.
It’s a pretty nice OS from a user perspective. Nice UI. Decent look.
It might be the “other phone” along with the iPhone.

CONS

Every OEM can tweak the UI meaning an potentially nightmarish (and expensive) development environment.
They aren’t as big of a market as the media makes them out to be. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10366193-94.html)
Questionable support of applications: (http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/31/android.app.sales.low/) which may stem from the fact that Google is a app developer making everyone else a competitor.
It isn’t clear that Android Users are Application Purchasers (http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/27/admob.july.2009/ ) (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/31/top-developer-reveals-android-markets-meager-sales/)

So – can you support or contradict the pros and cons? Do you have other pros and cons you’d want to add? How about personal experience with folks who have switched to or abandoned Android? As I’ve said, this is a platform we have not ruled out but I’d love to hear your opinion!

And as a extra motivation, if you post a response with your opinions TODAY you’ll be entered into a drawing for a special prize!

Posted in Handheld and Mobile World, Software in General | 75 Comments »
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NewsBreak Lite Free from Total Access

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

IliumNewsbreak_56x56 I was excited to see that NewsBreak Lite is now available for free from Microsoft’s Total Access service for Windows Mobile. NewsBreak Lite is the free version of our NewsBreak feed reader/podcast grabbing software. The app is great and the price is right so if you have a Window Mobile device you definitely want to grab a copy.

If you aren’t familiar with the Total Access service, here is the official blurb from MS:

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Tags: Windows Mobile
Posted in Handheld and Mobile World, Our Products, Software in General, Windows Mobile | 4 Comments »
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The Myth of “Not My Problem”

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

I’ve read some really interesting comments regarding the problems in the AppStore. One thing that came up a few times, however, is something like this: “Who cares? This sort of stuff has no impact on the consumer.” I’m posting today to explain why this is a myth – problems with the AppStore that developers are having directly and negatively impact the consumer.

If you’d like to hear why a silly icon rejection is a big deal to you, read on…

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Posted in General, Software in General, iPhone and iPod touch | 18 Comments »
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Public VS. Private in the Virtual World

Friday, August 28th, 2009

soapbox It’s Friday, Apple still hasn’t approved the new version of eWallet, and I want to post something new on the blog, so I’m going to drag out the soapbox and talk about privacy issues. As I said in my Pinchgate post, I’m very sensitive to electronic privacy issues. I’m perfectly happy to share information, but I want to be part of the process. I want an application to ask before it starts sending my secrets off to some distant server for compilation and analysis. At the same time, tracking web usage is a universal aspect of the internet, so where does that fall in the privacy debate?

If you’re interested in this sort of thing, read on after the jump to hear me toss out some ideas!

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Posted in General, Handheld and Mobile World, Software in General | 1 Comment »
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Pinchgate: The Info Tracking Debate

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

spy2 I’m a stickler for privacy, so the recent furor over Pinch Media’s analytics is really interesting to me. The debate (in a nutshell) is whether information gathered by companies like Pinch Media through iPhone applications, for the purpose of developer marketing, is spyware. I thought I’d take a second to toss in my own 2 cents on this issue.

So, for my take on the subject, read on after the jump!

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Posted in Software in General, iPhone and iPod touch | 5 Comments »
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Great AppStore Article

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

I have to share a great article about the iTunes AppStore over at AppleInsider. I don’t have much to say that isn’t already covered in the article, but I will share a quote that I think highlights a very real danger:

“In some respects, the App Store has taken its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric,” Wolf wrote. “More ominously, it has led to a deterioration of the entire pricing structure for iPhone applications. The risk is that developers who hope to build quality applications that have a long shelf life may be discouraged from doing so because prospective development costs exceed the revenues they expect to earn on the applications. In short, this race to the bottom has the potential to degrade the overall equality of the applications sold at the App Store.”

Not only is this something Apple needs to think about, but all the other device and OS manufacturers out there should keep this in mind as they launch their own on device stores.

You can find the entire article over at AppleInsider!

Posted in Software in General, iPhone and iPod touch | 8 Comments »
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Windows Marketplace News

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Microsoft released another Windows Marketplace update a few days ago, and I’m excited to share that we were part of the announcment! As you can see from the article, we are working closely with Microsoft as they get ready for launch. I thought I’d take a second to share an insider’s perspective.

Read on for my two cents on the Marketplace! (more…)

Posted in Handheld and Mobile World, Software in General, Windows Mobile | 3 Comments »
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Developer Pro-Tip: Show the Clock!!

Monday, July 13th, 2009

soapbox If any casual game iPhone developers are listening I gotta rant a sec. Hey, guys! Show the clock! I play casual quick games when I have a few minutes to spare but don’t want to dig into anything too complex. If you hide the clock (the Status Bar if you want the technical name) it means I have to exit the application to see if my few minutes are up.

The Status Bar really doesn’t take up that much screen real estate, and it isn’t going to detract from your really sweet graphics. And don’t worry about whether this will limit how immersed in the game I get – I don’t play casual games for immersion – I play them for a quick bit of entertainment when I’ve got 5 minutes to kill.

And if for some reason you really, really, really can’t show the Status Bar, at the VERY least, save my state when I hop out to check the time. Besides being one of the HIG guidelines, it’s just good development. Trust me. If I lose my progress too many times because of a phone call or checking the time, the game isn’t going to have much of a lifespan on my device.

OK – my rant is complete. You can return to your casual gaming.

Posted in Software in General, iPhone and iPod touch | 2 Comments »
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1 Million Apps = 7 Free Apps per Person

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

I’m glad Palm is giving the Pre everything they’ve got but I gotta tell you, I’m a little worried. Current estimates place the sales at around 150K units sold. Not bad, but that’s around 1/2 of what the original iPhone did in two days two years ago. (Although it’s pretty close to the Android sales numbers.) meanwhile, the SDK still isn’t out, and the hints we’ve seen of it suggests that we could face some pretty powerful development limits.

The latest announcement of a million downloads is nice and all, but considering the apps are free, that means each of the 150K users have downloaded 7 free apps. The most impressive thing about this is that Palm is actually doing a pretty darn good job of convincing the tech blog sites that this is a big deal.

To put this in perspective, Apple has over 2,700,000 downloads each DAY for the past year*. And many of these are paid apps.

It might be hard to believe but really, I DO want Palm to succeed at this. I’m just disappointed because I’m just not feeling confident that they will. I’d LOVE to see another strong handheld in the market – it’s good for business! I just feel like maybe we’re seeing more of the same problems that have plagued the company for the past few years.

* To address something I am sure will come up, reports indicated that Apple sold 2.2 Million apps (free AND paid) during their release weekend so the overall average isn’t far off.

Posted in General, Software in General, iPhone and iPod touch | 7 Comments »
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Desperate Marketing

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

stacy There are certain marketing techniques that just scream desperation. They move the retailer from “dignified and disappointed” to “creepy stalker.” It’s something that could happen to any retailer, us included, in tough economic times. When times get tough people start tossing around all sorts of ideas, searching for something – anything - to change their fortunes. Fortunately, I like to think we’ve avoided this so far, but I ran across one painful example of this yesterday.