We’re not trying to be cagey with iPhone info about our apps - there still are a lot of unknowns. We hope we’ll have eWallet in the iPhone App store Friday, but we haven’t yet seen confirmation of that. We want to send reviewers copies as soon as we can, but we’re not quite sure when the mechanisms will be in place. We’re not sure if we’ll have a way to give existing users a discount on the iPhone purchases, but we do have a plan in place to be sure they’re taken care of.
Sorry! We wish we had more definite info as much as anyone does! It all looks very exciting from the previews (here’s one), but we’re still a little in the dark.
And, on a non-iPhone topic, today’s funniest mobile-related headine was: Former Virgin And NBC Exec Turns VC. MocoNews is my favorite source for info, Tricia Duryee’s articles are great, and I know what the headline meant, but maybe “Former NBC and Virgin Exec” would have been a better choice.
More and more of the analysts and commentators are starting to realize predict that the coming iPhone Application Store will be as revolutionary for third-party software sales as the iPhone has been for smartphones.
Despite the analysts’ bad track record for mobile market predictions in general, I think they’re right about this one. There will be a huge advantage to having the App Store on the device, supported by the maker of the device and the OS.
Microsoft and Palm have been missing this for years. They’ve relied completely on third-party stores. There’s been no major advertising of the availability of software for Palm or Windows Mobile phones. There’s been very little promotional activity, and not much effort to raise users’ awareness of the fact that they can buy software.
Apple’s already changed this, and the store’s still 3 weeks away. Friends and relatives who have had only the vaguest idea what we do are asking whether our software will run on the iPhone. Articles about third-party software for the iPhone turn up regularly in my tech and business news feeds. There’s a link to App Store info on the front page of iphone.com. Major companies, including eBay, Electronic Arts, and Sega, have already announced and demonstrated their iPhone apps.
It’s going to be a whole new world for mobile software developers. Our biggest problem has always been that people just don’t know they can add software to their PDAs and smartphones. I’m convinced that Apple will solve this for us.
I know this does’t mean that our jobs will suddenly get easy - they won’t. There will be a lot more competition. It’s a very new market for us. And there are a huge number of open issues about the App Store, beginning with whether our apps will even get into it. Trial versions, upgrades, user info for support: it’s pretty clear that Apple hasn’t given any of these much time yet.
But I’m still optimistic that Apple’s monopoly on third-party distribution will be better for developers than the current mobile software distribution oligopoly. No matter how much I like some of the distributors, they’re not doing, and never have done, what the mobile market needs. And neither have the mobile hardware and operating system OEMs. Apple may end up helping them all as well - just raising user awareness of the availability of add-on software might improve software sales on other mobile platforms as well. But I’d bet that the distributors who haven’t already thrown in the towel are pretty nervous right now. Apple’s marketing, combined with the fact that they’re behind the software store, the OS and the hardware, is going to be very powerful.
I know there’s a lot of disagreement among developers about this, and I admit I’m uncomfortable with the idea that without Apple’s approval, we literally won’t be able to sell software for the iPhone. But the mobile software market badly needs a big change. I don’t know where we’ll be a year from now, but I’m pretty sure it will be a very different place. I’m all in favor of that.
And here are a few articles of the articles from this morning and last week:
*oligopoly: a market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of any one of them will materially affect price and have a measurable impact on competitors
I’m getting ready to go on vacation, so of course I checked out new games I can load onto my Pocket PC and bring with me. I’ve been addicted to Spider on my PC for a few years now, but never found a good implementation of it on a handheld until now. But Astraware has finally done it - made a version of Spider that’s actually playable on a handheld.
It’s hard to do - the screen is small, and you can’t use handy keyboard shortcuts for hint or undo like you can on a desktop. But they’ve solved the problem with a mode that shows all available moves, so you don’t have to go to the menu to see each one (why didn’t Microsoft do this in their version? It’s so obvious once you think of it), and an Undo button right on the screen. The cards are as big as they can be, and the stacks resize as they fill up.
This is a lesson in usability for handheld developers. (No, I’m not playing games. I’m learning about usability. Really.) There are 12 different solitaire games in the package, and it looks like the others are just as well implemented. Brilliant job, Astraware. And thank you - the flights and airport are going to be a lot more bearable for me now.
No, I’m not quoting one of the Microsoft-bashing sites. It’s not from one of the articles that says Microsoft’s lost their vision, is years behind Apple, or will never catch up with Google. It’s from Microsoft’s site - in fact, it’s from the biggest graphic on Microsoft.com’s top page today.
Ladies and gentlemen, Windows has left the building.
I’m delighted that Windows Mobile is being featured by Microsoft. Really I am. But that headline - even with pictures of Windows Mobile devices and screens behind it - just doesn’t seem to me like the right approach.
I may be wrong. I’m a marketing professional only in the broadest definition (I get paid for it), but I’m not an expert, or even close. And I’m sure that the Microsoft spot has was made by very highly trained, experienced, knowledgeable people, who know way more than I do.
But I still don’t think it’s a good idea. Anyone else? I’d be very interested in hearing what other people think.
The next time you head on over to your neighborhood newsstand, bookstore, or wherever you go to grab the latest copies of your favorite magazines, be sure to pick up the June/July issue of Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine, which recently hit the shelves. Just look for the fancy pictures of the iPhone and the new Sony XPERIA X1 on the cover. The issue takes a look at the new device and sizes it up to the Apple iPhone.
But wait, there’s more! If you flip on over to page 34, you’ll find a wonderful review of a little something we like to call eWallet. It’s written by none other than expert reviewer Clinton Fitch, whose Windows Mobile news and reviews can be found all over the web, including his own site ClintonFitch.com and the Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine blog.
What’s that you say? You can’t run down to the corner store right now, and you’re just dying to read the review this second? Well, you can click this link right here, and read Clinton’s full article on the magazine’s website. Whether you read it online or in print, the article is packed with information about all the cool new features in eWallet 6.0, tips for using the program, as well as some nice screenshots and a shout-out to our world class tech support. We’re all pretty excited about this review, but quite frankly, eWallet has been acting like a bit of a diva around the office since it came out. There’s talk of it moving out to Hollywood now to start its own reality TV show, but I think that’ll go away after some of the newness dies down. Let’s hope so anyway.
NTT Communications has announced a pilot test of its new Mobile Fragrance Communication service. Apparently this lets people download a “Fragrance Playlist” of recipes for specific smells, and then transfers the fragrance data to a dedicated device similar to a plug-in air freshener that is loaded with a cartridge of base fragrances.
I know it’s tempting fate to call this the worst new mobile idea ever - it’s like calling a movie released in January the worst of the year; you just know something even nastier will come out and prove you wrong - but if someone’s going to come out with something worse than this, I really don’t want to know about it.
If this takes off, I may as well go turn myself in to the nearest police station, because the first time someone sits near to me in a restaurant, plane or theater and starts broadcasting their favorite smell, I’m going to get violent.
We’re not trying to be cagey with iPhone info about our apps - there still are a lot of unknowns. We hope we’ll have eWallet in the iPhone App store Friday, but we haven’t yet seen confirmation of that. We want to send reviewers copies as soon as we can, but we’re not quite sure when the mechanisms will be in place. We’re not sure if we’ll have a way to give existing users a discount on the iPhone purchases, but we do have a plan in place to be sure they’re taken care of.
I’m getting ready to go on vacation, so of course I checked out new games I can load onto my Pocket PC and bring with me. I’ve been addicted to Spider on my PC for a few years now, but never found a good implementation of it on a handheld until now. But Astraware has finally done it - made a version of Spider that’s actually playable on a handheld.
The next time you head on over to your neighborhood newsstand, bookstore, or wherever you go to grab the latest copies of your favorite magazines, be sure to pick up the June/July issue of 
NTT Communications has