Mobile eReaders Just Got Smarter

Ebook reading has moved from being restricted to one device, to being interoperable and enjoyable across multiple devices. We now have to acknowledge, not just the emergence of the cloud, but a new breed of mobile app readers which are emerging and quietly slipping into the market.

First there is TXTR which is focused at the iOS and Android devices. The app can play on iPhones, iPads the Samsung Galaxy tablet and Android smartphones. Txtr has teamed up with Holland’s largest ereatiler, Bol.com, to sell into the Dutch eBook market. The app allows readers to buy new titles and ‘side load’ existing ePub titles protected by Adobe’s DRM. The key is the capability to support Adobe’s ACS4 DRM which means that files bought on many sites can now be securely read on many mobile devices.

Another ACS4 mobile reader has been developed in the US by Bluefire Productions and has been adopted by one of the US’s largest book retailers, Books-A-Million. The app was released only at the end of November and is already turning heads. It allows users to easily customise their reading experience by choosing the background colour, font size, and either portrait or landscape format,is free and again importantly is fully compatible with ACS4 encrypted titles.

These new generation of DRM enabled mobile readers could prove very popular and have the potential to free users from single application readers and further stimulate the demand for iPad and Android tablets next year. They also offer resellers the opportunity to create branded mobile offers and engage fully with the market, sell ebooks through platforms such as Google ebookstore and do so without having to have a dedicated reader.

SkyFire Addresses Flash on Mobile

Sometime someone comes along and demonstrates where the consumer demand really is and show those who ignore it, or think they know better, they have got it wrong. We all know the video platforms of today are dominated by Adobe’s Flash and that some believe that HTML5 is the real answer other that Silverlight will prevail. The real fight started when Steve Jobs declared Flash would not be supported on his iPad, iPhone and even withdrew the built in plug in on Macs. He started a crusade to rid the world of what he saw as proprietary and bad code and like it or not, force HTML down the market’s throat.

When he was forced to back track on one of his other mantras which stated developers could only use Apple tools the door started to open to Flash and wasn’t going to shut close again in a hurry. Not only have Adobe stuck their foot in the door opening but so have others such as Skyfire.

Skyfire have developed a mobile browser that not only enables users to follow links from Facebook,Twitter, iGoogle, but also play the videos shared across social networks. Skyfire success on Android demonstrates that users want all the Internet content to work on their devices and not be dependant on a WiFi connection. When Skyfire launched on Android it added over 500,000 new users in just six weeks and also reached the top 0.7% apps on the Android Market.

It has now become the first Flash playing app to get Apple’s approval. Such was the flood of downloads when it was released in the US that it quickly became the top grossing app and the third highest paid app overall. However their success came at a price in the demand overwhelmed their servers. Skyfire is now officially “sold out”. Robert Oberhofer on their blog said “The user experience was performing well for the first few hours, but as the surge continued, the peak load on our servers and bandwidth caused the video experience to degrade. We are working really hard to increase capacity and will be accepting new purchases from the App Store as soon as we can support it.”

What a nice problem to have!

Skyfire plays Flash video by dynamically coding video files into HTML5 in the cloud and optimizing them for mobile delivery. Skyfire’s cloud technology should make videos play faster and smoother, with less buffering and better battery life of the device. Skyfire’s cloud ensures that each video is adapted to the right bandwidth, as well as the right format.

Yes they still migrate dynamically to HTML5 but Mr Jobs they recognise the demand out there and also have adopted an innovative way to meeting it. The one clear message is that Flash and demand for Flash aren’t going away today.

Windows Phone 7: Glance and Glare?

In April 2007 Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, said of the the iPhone that it was "the most expensive phone in the world" and that it "doesn't appeal to business customers". He said that it had "no chance" of gaining significant market share. Although Microsoft still dominates office and consumer PC markets it has surrendered much in the mobile marketplace in the past three years. History proved Ballmer wrong and whilst Microsoft now has single digit market share, Apple now have significant market share and being potentially overtaken by Google and their Android platform.

Ballmer and Microsoft have now unveiled a range of phones using their new Windows Phone 7 system. Its new interface is aimed at integrating phonebooks, social networks and other information around "hubs" . Ballmer claimed it would give users, ‘the ability to do everything on their phone but easier and faster. Less stop and stare, more glance and glare.’

It now faces a different market and business models where the likes of Nokia, RIM and Apple, are all developing both the software and the hardware,of which the hardware is the most profitable,and with Google’s Android platform, driving searches and selling mobile ads. Microsoft is now going to charge a license fee to manufactures and wanting the search and ad revenues.



Microsoft has also adopted a different approach to others by creating Windows Phone 7 for small-screen devices such as smartphones and continuing to adapt its new PC operating system, Windows 7, for tablets. This approach is at odds to Apple's, whose iPad uses the same iOS core as the iPhone, Android, which has already ported to tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy and even RIM, whose new tablet will use a new operating system that is then expected to run its BlackBerry phones in the future.

One side will argue that the tablet demands a computer orientated operating system, others that they miss the point of the word mobile. Whatever the position adopted it is hard to see everyone changing to adopt the Microsoft approach, so it may be a valid position, but no necessarily the winning one.

Six handsets will be available to preorder in the UK next week with Samsung, HTC, LG and Dell all being hardware launch partners for the Windows Phone 7 and Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange all committed to carrying them.


Microsoft has kept a tight rein on the user presentation and set up under Windows Phone 7. Applications are grouped under six Tiles and within a tile the user can scroll up and down through a list of options or entries. The Games Hub links in with the Xbox Live service. The Zune, Office and Bing Search Hubs are aligned to their existing bigger brothers. Automatic over-the-air syncing with a home, or office wi-fi setup, will allow the phone to synchronise content.

So what about that "app store". Today, Microsoft are forcing those who worked on their previous generation of Windows Mobile phones to rewrite them, but this may be inevitable given the scope of change? The move however is likely to please Silverlight and .Net developers, but may not please others who use different tools. They are still likely to see a significant number of apps being developed and the questions then become how many times does a developer have to cut code to support all the various platforms and will the consumers take to them?

Once it would be hard not to see Microsoft winning and being successful, but today it is often the reverse and their once dominant position is continually being eroded and their judgement found wanting. Will Windows Phone 7 succeed, or will the premise that 'phones are different' be its downfall?

Blackberry Enters a Blackhole?

Research in Motion (RIM) continues to attempt to fight off Apple and Android and retain its position as the must have for all business folk and the alternative for all consumers. Ask those business folk who have two phones, one for private use and the company Blackberry. However the recent shift in power to these two relatively new comers has forced many to start to choose one over two.



As Blackberies continue to be launched, the latest being the BlackBerry Torch 9800 which has a touch screen and slide-out keyboard, as well as a faster Web browser and launches in the U.S. on Aug. 12. Somehow one is reminded of technologies which were great in their day but fundamentally staered from the wrong place for today’s market. Email is so simple on the iPhone or Android it begs the question why a Blackberry counts? According to research firm Gartner, RIM's market share dropped 14% to 41.4% in the first quarter from a year ago. Importantly, BlackBerry only has a fraction of the apps available to the iPhone or Android devices and in today’s Appworld that can be a big negative. RIM are now opening up the platform and providing easrier to use tools for developers but is it too late?

Now comes the real bad news that the European Union Commission have ditched their Blackberrys in favour of devices from Apple and HTC (Android). Saudi Arabia, who have some 700,000 Blackberry users, has also ordered a ban of the services starting Friday and the United Arab Emirates, India and other countries for greater access to the encrypted information sent by BlackBerry devices. The U.A.E. will prohibit most BlackBerry services starting Oct. 11.

The moves are over concerns on RIM's message encryption security which is considered by some governments and agencies as too tight and prohibit them from being able to spy on its users. RIM says it can't give access to encrypted data and doesn't give any one government special treatment. "Any claims that we provide, or have ever provided, something unique to the government of one country that we have not offered to the governments of all countries, are unfounded," However, US law enforcement officials told Reuters that they can "tap into emails and other conversations" conducted through Blackberrys, just as long as they have the appropriate court order.

Mobile Updates From Barcelona

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has opened and news is pouring out in every direction.

Windows 7
Microsoft has unveiled Windows Phone 7 which focuses on social-networking, real-time information, and organising contacts and data in to single “hubs”.Joe Belfiore, vice president of Windows Phone, said, “Too many phones are made to look like PCs. We wanted to come up with a user design that was different, that moved beyond the metaphor of the PC.” Windows Phone devices will feature three buttons - Start, Search and Back and be built around six different “hubs”, based on the services that people use most, accessed through the Live Tiles home screen (not a lot different to the Android in my hand there). However Microsoft has enabled users to access and edit Microsoft Office documents on the device.

Microsoft said that Windows Phone 7 Series devices would be available at the end of the year from a variety of handset makers, including Samsung, LG and HTC.

MeeGo or MeGoo or Me Too

Nokia is merging its Maemo N900 smartphone platform, with Intel's Moblin, which is an open source software project, to create MeeGo. Devices are due out this year but who is driving strategy at Nokia and how many operating systems do they want? They clearly are on the back foot and in danger of losing the plot and claim once again that others will join the show. Sounds more like MeGoo than MeToo.

Remember Symbian, the operating system which Nokia took over and made "open source" and failed to convince other manufactures to adopt. However, Google’s Android, has been installed in 27 different handsets from a range of manufacturers.

Wholesale Applications Community
24 mobile operators, including Vodafone, Orange and O2, have joined forces with manufactures such as Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG to take on Apple's domination of the mobile applications market. Apple have now claimed 150,000 apps and these are certainly creating the difference today with only Google’s Android showing any ability to compete. This new alliance aims to create an open app platform which will enable developers to reach over 3 billion customers.

The Wholesale Applications Community is the latest attempt by mobile phone companies to ensure they are not sidelined by hardware makers and internet companies that reduce the networks to mere billing platforms and networks. However the industry has a poor record of working within an industry consortium."

Andy Rubin, Google's vice president of engineering, remarked that he was sceptical about the potential success of the mobile phone operators in creating their own application platform, "There is always a dream that you could write once and run anywhere and history has proven that that dream has not been fully realised and I am sceptical that it ever will be."

Maybe less WAC and more WACKY

Palm Wake Up But Has The Coffee Gone Cold?

Palm Pre was launched with much fanfare and was to be the next iPhone killer with its new smart webOS platform but has failed to capture the market envisaged.

Is that down to the device which although a bit small and clunky seems to work fine, or being restricted to slug it out with Apple on the O2 network, or is it down to the fact that the apps just didn’t make it? We thin the later is the reason and even though there has been a surge in applications in the US since its launch they still haven’t launched their webOS developer programme to Europe. Palm has just over 1,000 applications available in its App Catalogue, which caters to webOS-enabled devices such as the Pre and the Pixi.

Finally in March this is about to change with the launch of their developer initiative to Europe – starting with the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany.

Somehow one has a picture of a cart being put in front of the horse!

So Which Mobile would You Choose Today?

So as we deliberate our next mobile we find ourselves torn between today and tomorrow. We have to double guess what will be the situation of operating systems, applications, market adoption and much more. The mobile market is changing fast, the life of devices reduces fast and double predicting the winners getting harder.

Today Android-focused website, Androlib say that the number of applications in the Google Android Marketplace has jumped to over 20,000. Nearly a third of the applications are paid for and recently there was a spike when more than 350 applications and games were published on a single day. The Android app store may still be only 20% that of the iPhone, but the App store has doubled in size in five months it is expected that the app store will reach 50,000 apps before the end of the first quarter 2010.

With more Android phones coming from all directions it would appear that it may be a serious iPhone threat. Now we read that Google plans to release its own handset in 2010. Until now, the company has concentrated on launching its Android operating system on mobile devices made by a number of companies, such as Motorola, Sony Ericsson, HTC and LG.

The device is called the ‘Nexus One’, a reference to the line of 'replicants' in the influential sci-fi film Bladerunner, and an echo of the ‘Android’ brand. The OLED touch-screen device, made by the Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC, supports quad-band GSM/Edge and UMTS/HSDPA networks, as well as tri-band 850/1700/1900 networks and is based on the Snapdragon chip developed by Qualcomm,. The device could be sold unlocked in the US directly through its site or via a carrier.



As recently as October 30, Google had denied that it was "making hardware" or that it would "compete with its customers" by offering its own phone. Google has not described the handset in detail, however, and it has not confirmed that it plans to sell the device.

So watch this space as we decide on our next mobile and carrier.

Mobile Race Has Two Clear Winners

We have long written that the current mobile wars have at their heart two major keys; applications and technology. The applications wars is raging but today has a clear winner in Apple’s iPhone. The question is whether leisure application can flip into business ones and it hard to see any reason this should not happen. So we are down to how many times developers wish to write and maintain their apps, one maybe two but not many times. The result is Apple and potentially Android and the rest face hard times.

The second key is technology and although Apple has the advantage they are not as open as others and still have a tendency to live in Appleworld. Their stubbornness towards Flash is a great example of them wanting the games played to their rules. Technology will always come from where you least expect it and also Apple should have learnt that standing up to the market can backfire. Remember the days when PCs first appeared and again we had similar battles? Interestingly the one offer that has taken the neutral ground and potentially offers the best challenge by not being tied to hardware is Android. Couple this clever approach with the backing of Google and its open software and there is a real contender.

Ars Technica covers several aspects of this battle and is supported by the latest Mobile Metrics report for mobile ad firm AdMob. We will not steal its thunder but have borrowed the two diagrams from the article which speak volumes themselves.

Tesco to Sell iPhones

It seems the UK is now open season for all who want an iPhone. Only yesterday we were offered one from a service provider who isn’t supposed to have a contract and today supermarket giant Tesco announced that it hoped to offer the phone "in time for Christmas".

The Tesco deal will be tied to Tesco Mobile who already has 2 million mobile customers and is a joint venture with O2. Tesco has not revealed tariffs, but you can guarantee they will be "competitive".

Vodafone and Orange have signed deals to sell the phone but others clearly will sell and support contracts for iPhones. The question is what this does to the balance of the market and also others who are trying to gain ground? Tesco will certainly empty pockets and brings the iPhone right alongside the weekly shop. The one big casualty will be the devices that are tied to operating systems who haven’t got an app store and whose system doesn’t appeal top the developers. So who would you back: Blackberry, Symbian, Android, Palm, Windows?

We have an iPhone but our second contract is up for grabs as we speak – watch this space.

What ELSE Would You Want?

Having been alerted to the new and ‘next iPhone killer’, we spent time absorbing the slickest, heaviest and at times, most frustrating marketing mobile experience. The mobile phone called 'First ELSE' comes from Israeli mobile design house Else and runs on a Linux platform, jointly developed between Else and Access, a Japanese mobile software company.

It is hard to describe the demonstration as you feel caught somewhere between the Matrix and The 5th Element, sci-fi meets surreal meets slick graphics and design. At it heart is a concept of menu control similar in its simplistic approach to when we first saw the original iPod wheel or the touch screen ‘pinch’.

First Else is designed to be application-centric and offer the best of experience whether it is a phone, music player, mail service, navigation tool. They claim that its like rolling the best devices together and creating one best of class. Navigation is a single handed thumb driven touch screen experience. Importantly when you receive a call from a partner the phone automatically displays the information about them you would expect plus much more. The additional information may be the last email they sent you, documents or folders flagged against them.

The potential of what they have done is so simple, so elementary that it will frighten many mobile players still struggling with clunky systems and will certainly raise the bar for all. Whether they fail or win, they have clearly brought innovation to the market and whether we see the others follow is not a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’.

The phone itself will not be available until next year but check it out before you commit to that 18 or 24 month new contract. Try it out yourself

Are Symbian’s Days numbered?

Symbian once ruled to mobile waves and was the operating system used by the major players. Then Nokia acquired it and ‘opened it up for all’

The problem was all the new players had their own systems and these were better. Blackberry, Apple and Palm all started to show the direction then there was the dark horse Android. Now even Nokia appear to be backing many horses; Symbian, Linux, and Windows. Microsoft themselves have realise that they must reinvent themselves to survive and Google have clearly captured the world outside Apple.

Now Samsung have hammered another nail in the Symbian coffin in launching their BADA mobile platform ,which means "ocean", to underpin its application offer. Samsung phones will be using Android for high-end consumers and retaining Windows Mobile as it still has the edge in the enterprise, while the new Bada platform will fill that mid-range feature-phone market. Many of the Bada details have still to be disclosed, but it is likely to support widget-based applications similar to the Palm's Pre.

The underlying story still remains – Symbian appears to be losing influence, support and backers.

Smartphone App Wars

Who will win the mobile app store battles and the associated operating system wars?
Samsung will launch a mobile application store in Europe on Sept. 14 for its Omnia smartphones. They join iPhone, Nokia’s Ovi, Rim/Blackberry and Palm Pre stores and as many operating system battles, carrier exclusives and even device showdowns.

In August Samsung released its mobile widget software development kit (SDK) and its Application Seller Site a month earlier. Users will initially be able to select from about 300 apps, including games and e-readers and they predict that this will increase to around 2,000 by the end of the year. Their SDK is different in that it will let developers create widgets for different Samsung phones using different operating systems, including the company's own proprietary OS.

Nokia is the market leader in terms of phones, smartphones and mobile but has struggled to get third-party developers to develop applications for their phones. They are not alone, after all why do you want to develop 4 apps that each have to be maintained and may not all earn out?

Then we have the formidable LG Electronics, which in July launched an online store for mobile phone applications.

Finally we have Microsoft who is hoping the launch in October of its new mobile phone software, will revive its flagging position in this lucrative market. Today they are estimated to have some 9% share against the 14.3% they enjoyed only a year ago. They are behind RIM’s 20.9% and Apple’s growing 13.7% and a long way behind Nokia’s 45%.

Microsoft’s big card is its ability to run Windows Mobile Office productivity apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. But is that enough and a strong enough differentiator today? They claim a trusted brand but is it it trusted enough and although they can line up all the big guns in support we think it too late, too tired and somehow lacking. Will it fully support touch and compete with the new touch environment.

What is clear is that consumers need to keep their options open in what is a dynamic market.

Every Little Helps

Love them or hate them Tesco like WalMart are pushing back the walls of their stores.

Firstly, Tesco Mobile has announced it will be launching the UK's first ever 'Unlimited' monthly tariff. It will be allowing their plan subscribers to unlimited talk, text and data for just £30 per month. There is a fair use policy but with a ceiling at the equivalent of £500 worth of calls, texts and browsing per month it should be one that only a very few will ever reach – that’s unless you know better.

Tesco CEO Lance Batchelor is widely quoted saying, "You don't have to choose if you're a chatterbox or a texter, you can use your mobile as much as you want without having to worry about the cost. We believe that this will change the way people use their mobile phones. The new tariff aims to give people a simple, guaranteed way to have unlimited calls, texts and browsing. It takes away the concern and uncertainty about your monthly bill as it's fixed at £30, meaning you can talk, text and browse freely."

Tesco has a virtual network running off the back of a licensing agreement with O2 so everyone will be watching what they and the other carriers now do. After the recent performance problems on the O2 service it will be worth watching its performance as it takes on Palm Pre, the iPhone and now Tesco unlimited.

Tesco has also made the API (application program interface) to its online shopping service available to developers who will now be able to make their own apps to let you load up your trolley from just about anywhere. It may not be the same as Ocado’s iPhone app, which lets you shop even when out of mobile or Wi-Fi signal, but opens up the total catalogue of the UK’s biggest retailer. The Guardian reported earlier this month on some of the earlier adopter constraints ‘Tesco offers an API for its shopping. Now start thinking what to use it for’, but there are potentially more positives than negatives in this move.

This would enable access from any phone and for developers to place Tesco product buy buttons in to websites and potentially for consumers to scan barcodes in store to get product information directly on their mobile. This approach offers significant opportunities to anyone with a catalogue and a Tesco relationship – maybe books?

UPDATE: within 24 hours Virgin Media have matched Tesco's unlimited offer. Nay more takers?

Wattpad Goes Android

Love them or hate them the self publishing online services are here. Some may say that the likes of Scribd and Wattpad often hide behind their DMCA (digital Millennium Copyright Act)safe harbour sanctuaries and act irresponsibly towards vetting content, others that the service they offer is long overdue and its up to copyright owners to police infringement not the service provider. Its an argument that isn’t going away and is at the heart of much infringement debate – do take down notices work or are they trying to bolt the stable doors after the horse has bolted?

Today Wattpad announced the availability of its popular mobile application on Google’s Android Market. This will now comptiment its iphone and Blackberry and Nokia Ovi applications and means that they have the major mobile smartphones covered. Wattpad claim to generate more than 2.5M visits, 20M pageviews per month from its website and mobile site and over 3 million downloads.

Scribd and Wattpad could clearly be very positive forces into the future and offer both writers and publishers new opportunities. The question is whether the content can be controlled proactively and they can become a trusted player, or whether they stay on the fringe offering so much but never quite trusted by all.

Intel, Nokia and Flash10

When it comes to partnerships we see two or more players getting together that can change the market or at least make it sit up and take notice.

We have the world's largest chip maker Intel teaming up with the world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia. This "technology collaboration" could deliver mobile computing products even beyond the existing smartphones, netbooks and notebooks. However, all they are saying today is collaboration.

But both companies added it was still too early to talk about product plans.
The deal gives Intel its first real breakthrough in the multi-billion dollar mobile-phone market.
The partnership will centre around several open-source mobile Linux software projects and Intel will acquire a licence from Nokia that is used in modem chips.

Intel's microprocessors are found in eight out of 10 personal computers, while Nokia boasts around a billion mobile customers. This partnership obviously pitches Atom chips against ARM chips and accelerate the adoption of smartphones in the world from its current 10% of market share to the majority of the market.

Far more exciting is the news that Adobe Flash10 is coming to the mobile world for most mobile operating systems later this year, including Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Nokia Symbian and Palm WebOS. However, no mention of Apple’s iPhone.
Developers will be able to get their hands on a beta version of Flash Player 10 mobile later this year.

Why is Flash10 such a big deal? Flash Player 10 will enable smartphones to offer a richer Internet browsing experience, support videos embedded on some websites and importantly enable web based applications and breaking the reliance on app stores and control.

Flash8 or Flash Lite has been available on mobile platforms but the new Flash Player 10 will bring an improved graphical and audio performance, across more mobile operating systems.

The big question is Apple who face so many challengers on so many fronts but continue to go a lone path. This could serious help the real contenders such as Android and Palm's WebOS.

As We Await Apple

So as the world awaits Apple’s next announcements on Monday and the undoubted media blitz that will follow we have taken a quick look at some of the others vying for space in this crowded market.

Palm Pre
The Pre has made its long awaited entrance and now its down to the consumers to decide whether it lives up to the hype or becomes just another also ran. The webOS, Palm's new operating system enables concurrent applications open at once. You simply organized the apps like a row of cards and you flick the screen to switch between them. WebOS will also notify you of events that need your attention, no matter which application you're in. Again, making the iPhone look cumbersome and others just clumsy and slow. The Pre’s webOS aggregates contacts and calendar items from multiple sources, like Google, corporate Exchange servers, and can even insert your friends' Facebook photos into your contacts list. This obviously wins over the iPhone’s in many ways but is it enough to make consumers buy or even switch allegiance? Will we get iphone app overload and will the Pre give us the apps that are clearly driving this market?

Whether you get a Pre or not, its has clearly raised the bar on the software will leave its mark on the phones you buy in the future.

LG
We have long awaited LG GD910 mobile watch will be hitting the UK in July but unfortunately only being available via Orange and with a £1000 price tag. The price will almost certainly put off many from being James Bond but will it become a designer status symbol for chavs or merely a nice product at the wrong price? As previously reported it has a 1.4 inch touchscreen, looks good being only 14mm thick, has 7.2Mbps HSDPA, voice recognition, text to speech capability, Bluetooth, MP3 player and tells the time too.

HTC
HTC are about to unveil its third Andriod mobile and rumours suggest the announcement will be on June 24th . The HTC Hero is expected to launch in two models, one with touchscreen only and one packing a QWERTY keyboard and so offering appeal to all. With Google’s arsenal of potential opportunities and its cross platform design, the Andriod phones are certainly ones to watch.

ACER
Acer’s new Tempo F900 smartphone arrival to the UK appears imminent. First shown in Barcelona in February the device looks set to have a £429 price tag. It features a 3.8 inch VGA screen, Internet Explorer 6, with JavaScript and Adobe Flash Lite, and high-speed HSDPA. Acer has clearly stated it wants to be a smartphone player and have adopted Acer 2.0 user interface to aid navigation and ‘desktop’ customisation, in addition to Google Search, Google Maps and YouTube. Acer is not alone in the move from netbook to mobile and could bring some interesting user friendly aspects to the table.

INQ
UK based INQ is to launch a Twitter phone which it claims will be the first mass-market phone to have a client for the social networking phenomenon built-in. It will use the internet to send and receive tweets, rather than text messages. The question is what is so special and surely everyone else can easily follow. Like Skype you don’t buy a device just make it easy to twitter or do you?

Skype Broadens Its Reach

Skype has already established itself as the popular consumer VoIP service offering an Internet calling service that has more than 400 million users around the world. The service is now reportedly moving into both the corporate and mobile world and potentially covering all the bases.

Earlier this month they announced a beta version of its business-user-oriented Skype for SIP (session initiation protocol), which will run on an enterprise PBX (private branch exchange) systems. Imagine picking up the office phone and using Skype on your office system? It now potentially offers organizations new ways to use the VoIP service and manage calls.

The beta version of Skype for SIP will connect the company's Web site to the PBX system through a click-to-call feature and let users receive and manage inbound calls from Skype users worldwide on SIP-enabled PBX systems. Organisations will also be able to manage Skype calls using their existing hardware and system applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voice mail.

How Skype will compete against VoIP offerings from more traditional and experienced service providers is the question but lowered telephony costs could be a major incentive.

On the mobile front we were one of many in the UK who were drawn to service provider ‘3’ on the offer of free Skype service and for the last two years have enjoyed Skype on the move over our Nokia N95.

Earlier this year, Skype announced more versions of its software for more mobiles and mobile operating systems such as Android and Windows and today they have announce support from May for the iPhone, iTouch and a number of Blackberry phones. Apple will limit Skype’s use on the iPhone not allowing calls over the data networks of its carrier partners.

So we are starting to see a marriage of VoIP and mobile and Skype and the office PXB. It will now be interesting to watch the obvious take up and how the service will change how we all pay for services in the future.

Which Phone Would You back to Win?

So you have a choice of smartphone, which do you choose and why?

The Palm Pre has raised many eybrows, but do you get seduced into the potential of a Pre that still has to deliver momentum to join the race? RIM continues to click away in business world with their multiple device offers and clear catch up strategy?
Do you go with the biggest and buy Nokia, who have just announced a road map for their Symbian operating system that calls for five versions to be in production at the same time and a weird naming convention that reminds us of the period when Prince was just a sign. The aggressive release plans might enable Symbian to catch up and even innovate but it is a risky strategy by anybody’s standards, releasing a new version of the operating system every six months, with the first expected to appear in phones at the end of this year.

Then there is the Android family and relatives?

However, the key may not be down to the operating system and design, but the choice between a phone with few exciting third party applications and one with over 25,000 apps and games and who have already clocked up 800 million downloads in less than a year from start up. 30m iPhone and touch units had been sold by the end of 2008 and Gartner recently put Apple's share of the worldwide market at 10.7%, compared to Nokia at over 40% and Research in Motion, which makes the Blackberry, at under 20%.

Apple have now announced its 3.o operating system. Is it aimed at consumers –no – its aimed squarely at the developers and exciting them to build more and better applications. We remember the mid range computer battles of what seems a lifetime ago. Who were the winners – IBM AS400, HP 3000 and why applications and these were followed by DEC VAC again on the applications. People and businesses don’t buy tin they buy usability and today there is only one player in town Apple.

We predicted some of the new 100 features 3.0 offers, but developers are being empowered with access to 1,000 application programming interfaces (APIs) to build new or improve on their applications. The new software also allows developers to sell subscription-based software products. This may be paying for different levels of games, buying additional content or virtual stuff. It is unclear how this will work with ebooks where two players are currently competing for this traffic; Amazon and Stanza, or with newsprint where the publishers need to monetise their content.

Finally we now await the new iPhone.

The iPhone Overtakes Windows Mobile in Nine Months

Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS has had the most applications available for many of its 9 years. However, App Store tracker 148Apps.com now report that over 25,000 applications are now available on the iPhone App Store and these have increased by a staggering 5,000 in less than a month. This staggering growth has happened not in nine years but nine months. It clearly shows that smartphones are the new hot spot and also that Apple have clearly taken the initiative through their App Store. Even Amazon joined them last week with their ebook reader.

Some are predicting the Android phone will dominate, others Palm’s Pre, others Nokia and some still believe Windows has legs. Whatever the horse you would back the facts are that Apple has made and continues to make the news, generate the applications and potentially dictate the direction. If you could drop your current smartphone and merely swap it tomorrow for any other on the same terms and even the same network why wouldn’t you select an iPhone? Its becoming an interesting battle with higher syphisication on one side such as the new Sony and LG camera specifications, versus the textbound corporate Blackberry versus applications and design.

We have said repeatedly that the application wars will be decisive and could decide winners and losers and one only needs to use an iPhone to appreciate how they have got the customer interface right. Given the growth of applications it is now down to whether there is enough attention to feed the application developers on one platform or whether they will have to spread their bets and develop on one of the other platforms. The question is which would you choose?

It's All About Mobile Applications

When it comes to a playground fight its always best to have some big hitters alongside you and even better if you have more numbers on your side. Today the playground battle is over the mobile application. Realising that the battle of operating systems is all about applications Nokia with Symbian having just recruited 14 more companies has 78 members. Amongst the new Sybian members are Bank of America, HP, News Corp, GPS vendor SiRF, WiFi vendor Nanoradio, MySpace, chip manufacturer Qualcomm and memory card giant SanDisk and there are rumours of a strategic partnership between Nokia and Facebook.

The full list of Sybian competitors now include; Google's open-source Android OS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Palm's webOS. In the membership battle, Google with Android has 47, the LiMo Foundation has 55 and Apple interestingly has only one member –itself. Also some are edging their bets and like Qualcomm, SiRF and Omron belong to both the Android and Symbian camps.

In other news Android Market have announced that they are now accepting priced
applications from US and UK developers and that they will extend this to Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France and Spain later this quarter. Google Checkout will serve as the payment and billing mechanism for Android Market.