Amazon’s entry is only rumored but I think the description of it is detailed enough to be credible. The day after the scoop with Amazon, Baidu announced the Yi platform. Baidu is the sixth most visited site in the world, so it’s not a bit player and it makes as much sense for Baidu to have a mobile platform as it does for Google.
Mike Bostock visualizes mobile patent lawsuits, improving on a graphic from Thomson Reuters that wasn't so good. Dashed lines are resolved suits and green ones are licenses to the company.
Today, Google’s own Erica joy has confirmed, that the iOS app has in fact been submitted to Apple for review some time ago. It is now stuck in review and waiting for approval. Erica actually posted it to the public on the Google+ network itself:
- And the first new feature: an overhaul of notifications. At last! A new Notification Center aggregates all your, well, notifications into one and is accessible by swiping down a menu from the top of the screen. Yes, just like Android. Small X buttons alongside each note allow you to dismiss it, though there's no "clear all" option for the more decisive among us. Notifications are also making their way onto the lockscreen, where swiping across a text message takes you right into it. A little something like Samsung's TouchWiz implementation.
- Twitter integration is also coming to iOS 5, with a single sign-in allowing a multitude of apps to make use of your Twitter credentials. That includes the Camera and Photos programs, finally letting you tweet images out directly from your galleries.
- Yay, there's now a camera button right on your lockscreen! The volume-up button is also doubling up as a physical shutter release key when you're in the camera app. Pinch-to-zoom is said to be available right in the app, while holding your finger down on a particular area will lock down exposure to optimize the shot for its particular lighting. Some new in-device editing options have also been added, including cropping, rotation, red-eye reduction, and a one-click enhance option.
- Headline feature: PC Free! No more cables required for syncing. Now we're talking. Setting up and activating a new iOS device can be done right on the device itself, and syncing will be wireless too -- there'll be no need to tether to a computer anymore. Over-the-air updates are also part of the new deal, and in better news still, they'll contain only the data that's changed, meaning you won't have to re-download the entire OS every time Apple opts to make a minor tweak.
- Another pretty significant novelty: iMessage. It's a messaging service exclusively for iOS users (irrespective of which device they're rocking), which comes with delivery and read receipts, an indicator for when the other party is typing, and the ability to push messages to all your devices. Kinda, sorta like BBM. You'll be able to send messages, photos, videos, and contacts. Group messaging will also be available. It works over either WiFi or 3G and looks to be making good use of Apple's new push notifications.
- Perhaps the biggest innovation of all in iOS 5, however, will be the way iCloud affects the use of your mobile device. Hit up our overview post of the company's new cloud-syncing solution to learn all about it.
A new study by Nielsen reveals where people are using their iPads, and it’s even more evidence that tablets are natural “second screen” devices in front of TV.
via: lostremote
In Gartner’s latest mobile market report, the research firm indicated that over 428 million mobile devices were sold in Q1 of this year, representing a solid 19% year-over-year increase.As usual, the growth is attributed to the continued spike in smartphone sales– which Gartner pegs at 100.7 million for Q1, up 85% year-over-year. Android remained the top dog, which soared past Symbian to capture 36% of the market. Nokia’s Symbian is in second place with 27.4%, followed by Apple’s iOS with 16.8%, RIM’s BlackBerry with 12.9% and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 with 3.6%.
Discover Mobile 2.0 (iTunes App Store)
The only information needed to transfer funds is the payee’s email address or mobile phone number. The person receiving the payment needs a valide PayPal account. The person sending money is not charged a fee. An individual receiving the money are not charged a fee either. However, business who receive payment through Money Messenger are charged a fee to accept the money. The person sending the money from their Discover Card account does not need a PayPal account. Those holding Business, Corporate and Titanium cards cannot use Money Messenger at this time.
Apple’s cash for short-term and long-term marketable securities totaled $65.8 billion at the end of the March quarter. Cash increased by $6.1 billion.
The increase in cash is net of approximately $900 million for prepayments and capital expenditures related to the strategic supply agreements that Apple announced last quarter.
The following chart shows the historic cash, short-term and long-term liquid assets Apple holds.
The enormity of the overall size of this cash can be put into several perspectives:
Looking to the Future
As much as native and Web are pitted against one another in this debate, the likely outcome is a hybrid solution. Perhaps we'll see computing as inherently networked and (this is my sincere hope) free for anyone to access. We already see signs of a native Web: WebGL recently proved that in-browser 3D gaming is possible, even running Quake III!
In the meantime, software makers must balance the Web-vs.-native debate based on an application's primary objectives, development and business realities, and the opportunities the Web will provide in the not-so-distant future. The good news is that until all of this technology makes it into the browser, hacks such as PhoneGap can help bridge the divide. I encourage developers not simply to identify software development trends but to implement them! If the Web doesn't fulfill a capability your particular application requires, you're presented with an exciting opportunity to contribute and close the Web/native chasm in the process.
This is just the last paragraph of a very comprehensive article.. Highly recommended reading..
Samsung's Nexus S smartphone using Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Photograph: Albert Gea/ReutersAbout half of the world's smartphones will be using Google's Android operating system by the end of 2012, according to the research firm Gartner.
Google will lead the race with Apple, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) and Microsoft by the end of this year and take 49.2% of the market in 2012, Gartner forecast on Thursday.
Nokia's tie-up with Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 operating system would also be a success, Gartner predicted, with a 19.5% share of the smartphone market by 2015 – leapfrogging its rivals to the number two spot. That finding concurs with forecasts from analysts IDC and Ovum.
Worldwide smartphone sales are expected to reach 468m units in 2011 – a 57.7% increase on 2010. The explosive growth in affordable smartphones will see annual sales top 1.1bn by 2015, Gartner said. Sales of PCs, by comparison, will reach 387m this year, a 10.5% increase on 2010, the research firm predicted last month .
Microsoft plans to include mobile-payment technology in new versions of its operating system for smartphones as part of an effort to narrow Google Inc.’s lead in handset software, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the features aren’t public. The first devices boasting these features may be released this year, the people said.
The company joins a growing list of software providers aiming to benefit from rising demand for ways to purchase products and services on the go. Mobile payments may be used in $245 billion in transactions in 2014, up from $32 billion in 2010, according to Gartner Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is under pressure to regain mobile-software market share lost to Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone, and Google’s Android.
The phones running Microsoft’s new software will be based on so-called Near Field Communication, which lets devices communicate wirelessly with objects immediately nearby. NFC technology enables payments and also lets consumers use a handset for other tasks, such as redeeming coupons and loyalty points at local merchants.
RIM is scrambling to gate a tablet to market “before it’s too late’’.
First, for its tablet, the PlayBook, the company needs an OS. Luckily, RIM lives close to one of the great Canadian universities with strong Computer Science and Mathematics programs: the University of Waterloo. QNX was invented there, a very good operating system for embedded applications. Last year, RIM buys QNX from Harman Industries.
Next, hardware. Multi-core ARM SOCs are aplenty and Asian suppliers are at the ready to build hardware to your specs.
Now, we need apps. And for apps we need a development system, specifically one running on QNX.
This is where the madness really starts: the Native SDK, meaning the programming tools required to write high-performance QNX apps in C or C++, isn’t ready for the coming April 19th launch. According to Mobile Beat, “The company has a limited version of its BlackBerry Tablet OS Native Development Kit that will be in open beta by this summer.”As an interim measure, RIM offers a number of other solutions, called ‘‘app players’’. These are emulators or, if you will, a kind of virtual machine. The app players run existing applications, and new ones can be developed using the tools from the emulated platforms.
So, you have app players for games, for HTML5 apps, Adobe Air and for Blackberry Java used on the company’s smartphones. This is complicated and not developer-friendly, leading Jamie Murai, an experienced app developer, to write RIM a strongly worded open letter. To the company’s credit, the head of Developer Relations, Tyler Lessard, responded quickly and honestly. But Lessard couldn’t really solve the basic problem: as Murai explained in great and vivid detail, developing for the PlayBook can’t compare favorably to the competition, to Android or iOS.But wait, there’s more.
You’ve noted the curious “application tonnage” phrase in Balsillie’s utterance above. Justifiably, RIM is worried about getting enough applications on the PlayBook. No apps, no sale, as Robert Scoble succinctly explains.
Where do we turn to?
Apple is out of question, but Android is open. Let’s go Android and make their 200,000 apps run on the PlayBook. Problem solved, we have “tonnage”.
This is serious madness, in two ways.
If Android apps do run on the PlayBook, why bother writing for QNX? The PlayBook becomes an Android tablet and QNX no longer matters, right?
In response, Balsillie treats us to more contorted language:
And if you think the whole world’s going to want to develop for Gingerbread [a version of Android], fine. Do I think that’s going to happen? Then why is there a different environment for a tablet? And you know about the performance issues and you know about the app volume issues, cause it’s tough. And that’s why QNX matters.
Android apps will run slowly, [so far inexistent] QNX native apps will be faster.
Why?
Because the Android apps are running inside another app player, another emulator. As a result, performance will suffer. This could be a useful stopgap measure: you buy a PlayBook and go to the Android Market for your app needs. Killer QNX apps will arrive later — assuming developers are committing to the ecosystem.
But, no.
We now move to the second part of the madness: the “going to the Android Market” part is false. It is a deliberate attempt to mislead.
The Android apps won’t work directly into the app player. The developer, not the user, will need to “quickly and easily” port their apps to run on the tablet OS, according to RIM. The same developer will also need to repackage, code sign and submit their apps to the Blackberry App World for approval.
There is more: the PlayBook app player will only run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) apps. These apps are designed for smartphones, not tablets. According to Google, for tablets you need Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).RIM succeeded because word of mouth, not advertising, sold the Blackberry. Proud users begat more proud users. What will happen when users “share” the true value of the “running Android apps” claim?
No one could fault RIM for the “iPad surprise”. After decades of misbegotten tablets, no one was prepared for the rise of the new genre.
Reacting quickly, not wanting Apple to gain too much of a market stronghold makes business sense. But launching what is clearly an immature product and trying to compensate for a dearth of applications with a misleading claim of compatibility with the wrong version of Android is insane.Those whom the gods would destroy, they first render mad…
How is this different from other photo sharing apps?
With any other photo sharing app you are limited to viewing photos taken by you or your social graph. With Color you are able to remember an event you attended, or a place you were at, from the perspective of all that took photos and videos - even if they are complete strangers. This happens because Color automatically groups photos together based on where and when they were taken. If you were there at that time - you will see them and can engage in the comments. Easy as that.
To help you wrap your head around it lets look at a couple real world examples of Color:
Example 1: Your Birthday Party
Its your birthday party. Your friends are there as well as some of their friends that they have brought along (you do not know these people but it's cool because the party is awesome, etc.). Assuming everyone is using Color to take photos you will be able to see all photos taken at your party without making a connection between yourself and those attendees who you do not know. You will no longer have to ask that stranger to find you on Facebook and send you that awesome photo/video they took of you. It will just be there - automagically.
Example 2: The Cute Girl Next Door
Not only can you view photos of those nearby but you can also communicate with them via comments. This is huge. Typically in the online world you are engaging with people you know in real life and have existing relationships with. Now with Color you can quickly view a photo of that cute girl next door, leave her a comment, and if you do it right go out to drinks later that night.
Think about that - Color, a mobile photo app, helps you make meaningful connections with people nearby.
Conclusion
I think Color will do great. They have the funding, they have the team, and the idea is hugely innovative in a space that is blowing up. I can't wait to use it at a concert and view the experience from everyone in the audience as well as the crew member backstage snapping an up close of the artist. Download the app here.
Last night Salesforce.com announced version 3.0 of its ServiceCloud product. Today at the Cloudforce event in New York City CEO Marc Benioff revealed more about the new version. Most importantly, ServiceCloud is transforming into a unified communications system for customer support by integrating VOIP and video conferencing technologies - including Apple's FaceTime. Benioff didn't specify, but it's possible some of the new features were built using technology from Salesforce.com 's acquisition of DimDim earlier this year.
How will the ability to contact customer support via FaceTime change the behavior of both the customer and the agent? Face to face video customer support could be a game changer.
Android now holds a 29 percent share of the market, while both iOS and RIM’s Blackberry stand at 27 percent each. Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 devices account for 10 percent of the U.S. smartphone market; Palm is at 4 percent; Symbian holds onto a 2% share; and finally, there’s a 1 percent “other” category, which would include OSes like the Linux-based MeeGo.
Looking further at an analysis by manufacturer shows RIM and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems. HTC follows with 12 percent of consumer smartphone owners having an HTC Android device and 7 percent owning an HTC device running a Microsoft OS. Ten percent of consumer smartphone owners had a Motorola Android device and one percent owned a Motorola device running a Microsoft OS.
I know what you’re thinking, these are stats from only one research provider, but Android has been steadily growing and it was only a matter of time before it took the number one spot. Conflicting reports will likely surface in the near future, but the report from Nielsen is a clear indication of Android’s continued dominance.
The infographic was created by www.icrossing.co.uk and we spotted on the excellent Posterous site "Cool Infographics" maintained by Techmeme editor Mahendra Palsule.
Click on the image below for a larger version.
Call it the "iPhone Mini," the "iPhone Nano," or just another cheap smartphone, a smaller version of Apple's flagship product is on its way, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The rumors of a new, less expensive iPhone are true, reports the Wall Street Journal. The device — which is codenamed “N97″ — will be roughly half the size of the iPhone 4, weigh “significantly” less, and sport an “edge-to-edge” screen. The smaller iPhone will also include voice-based navigation, a virtual keyboard and cost roughly half the price of the current iPhone.
Apple currently sells the iPhone to carriers for an average of $625 per phone. With carrier subsidies, customers can get the iPhone 4 for as little as $199. Because of the low cost of the smaller iPhone, says the WSJ, the carrier subsidies would allow users to get the phone for very little, or possibly for free.
A free, or at least less-expensive, iPhone would allow Apple to compete with the swarm of “mass-market” (i.e. Android) handsets that have come to dominate the smartphone industry. In fact, it’s curious — and not at all surprising — that this news of a new, more competitively-priced iPhone arrived just after Samsung’s Sunday announcement of the Android-based Galaxy S II smartphone at Mobile World Congress 2011.
