Posts Tagged ‘nokia’
Open Feint Brings Plug-And-Play Social Gaming Platform To Android Phones
Last year, Aurora Feint launched a comprehensive social gaming platform dubbed OpenFeint that has seen success in attracting independent iPhone game developers to its rapidly growing community. But Android also has potential as a vibrant social gaming platform with its growing community of gaming developers. Today, OpenFeint is announcing a soon to be released platform for Android apps.
OpenFeint’s mobile social platform and application for smartphones includes a set of online game services such as leaderboards and achievements running in a cloud-based Web environment. Launching later this summer, the company’s Android developed community will include a standard SDK, a game discovery store and mobile payment options. Aurora Feint has also incorporated Google Checkout into the developer SDK.
The platform, which currently has a presence in over 2,200 live games for the iPhone, will include content from publishers such as Astraware, Digital Chocolate, Glu Mobile, Hudson Soft and others.
Of course, AuroraFeint is quick to assure developers that it has no intentions of abandoning its iPhone platform and stated that it will continue to add new features to that community. The existing OpenFeint platform is quite popular amongst developers and already powers social gaming services for 28 million users and is growing at a monthly pace of 25 percent. The platform is growing at a nice clip and is even getting into the social gaming arena as well.
It’s wise for Aurora Feint to offer communities for a variety of platforms. Not only will it generate more revenue for the company, but it also generates more user exposure. And while the Android gaming system is still young and not nearly as large as the iPhone platform, we know Google will soon get into the gaming space.
Aurora Feint also just announced a $4 million investment from Chinese game developer The9.
Everything You Need To Know About The Fragmented Mobile Developer Ecosystem
Considering the immense fragmentation that characterizes the mobile apps industry, it’s good to see decent research help us try and make sense of what’s going on in that particular part of the digital economy, one that is consistently growing in size and importance across the globe. Hence, I invite anyone with a vested interest in the mobile developer ecosystem to check out VisionMobile’s extensive research report (sponsored by Telefónica Developer Communities) on that very subject, because it’s easily one of the most profound I’ve read to date.
Dubbed Developer Economics 2010, the free research report delves into all aspects of mobile application development, across 400+ developers from around the world, segmented into eight major platforms: iOS (iPhone), Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, Java ME, Windows Phone, Flash/Flash Lite and mobile web (WAP/XHTML/CSS/Javascript).
The report, which is based on extensive research conducted by a team of three researchers, five interviewers, and eight mobile application developers between January and June 2010, provides insights into all the touchpoints of mobile app development, from platform selection to distribution and monetization.
Some of the key findings:
MARKET PENETRATION AND MINDSHARE
- Market penetration is hands down the most important reason for selecting a mobile platform to develop for, chosen by over 75% of respondents across each and every platform. Clearly, developers care more about addressable market and monetization potential than any single technical aspect of a platform.
- Based on its sample of 400 respondents, VisionMobile found that most developers work on multiple platforms: 2.8 platforms per developer on average, even. Among iPhone and Android developers, one in five releases apps in both the App Store and Android Market.
- In the last two years, a mindshare migration has taken place (see details here), with mobile developers moving away from “incumbent” platforms, namely Symbian, Java ME and Windows Phone. The large minority (20-25 percent) of Symbian respondents who sell their apps via iPhone and Android app stores reveals the brain-drain that is taking place towards these newer platforms.
- According to VisionMobile, the vast majority of Java ME respondents have lost faith in the “write once, run anywhere” vision. Moreover, anecdotal developer testimonials suggest that half of Windows Phone MVP developers (valued for their commitment to the platform) carry an iPhone, and would think twice before re-investing in Windows Phone.
- Android stands out as the platform most popular among mobile developers. Survey results suggest nearly 60 percent of all mobile developers recently developed on Android, assuming an equal number of respondents with experience across each of eight major platforms. Second in terms of developer mindshare is iOS (iPhone), outranking Symbian and Java ME, which were in pole position in 2008.
- Platform characteristics reveal a disconnect between developer mindshare and addressable market for each platform. For example, the Symbian OS is deployed in around 390 million handsets (Q2 2010), and claims over 6,000 apps, while Apple’s iPhone has seen 30x more applications while being deployed at just 60 million units over the same period.
- Evidently, most developers have a strong affinity towards the platform(s) they have invested time in; across all eight major mobile platforms surveyed, respondents felt that the best aspect of their platform was the large market penetration, even if the actual market penetration was relatively small.
(Click for a larger-size image)
MARKETING, SALES AND MONETIZATION
- Market channels that were mainstream a couple of years back take only a small chunk of the go-to-market pie for mobile apps today. Operator portals and ondevice preloading through OEM or operator deals is the primary channel to market for fewer than five percent of mobile developers surveyed. Research findings show that developers resort to either ‘native’ app stores, or to direct download via their own websites – in addition to the traditional model of bespoke app development.
- App stores have reduced the average time-to-shelf by two thirds: from 68 days across traditional channels, to 22 days via an application store. Moreover, app stores have reduced the average time-to-payment by more than half; from 82 days across traditional channels, to 36 days via an app store. On average, it takes 55 days to get paid via an operator channel, or a staggering 168 days when on-device pre-loading via a handset manufacturer.
- There is little use or availability of app stores outside the Apple and Android platforms. Only five percent of Java and just over 10 percent of Windows Phone respondents reported using an app store as a primary distribution channel.
- The key challenge reported by mobile developers is the lack of effective marketing channels to increase application exposure and discovery. Moreover, half of respondents are willing to pay for premium app store placement.
- The most important challenge in app certification is its cost; more than 30 percent of respondents who certify their apps report the high cost of the certification process as the number one challenge. The economics do not work for low-cost apps, but only for megaproductions.
- The gold seems over-hyped: only five percent of respondents reported very good revenues, above their expectations. Moreover, nearly 60 percent of iPhone respondents had not reached their revenue targets.
- Ad-funded models are only secondary revenue sources for developers employing app store and portal-based channels, lagging behind tried and tested pay-per-download models. Subscription models, meanwhile, mainly apply where the application is distributed via an operator or content aggregator portal; they have made limited inroads into app stores.
- Mobile developers view network operators as bit-pipes. Nearly 80 percent of respondents think that the role of network operators should be to deliver data access anywhere/anytime, while only 53 percent considered their role to be delivering voice calls.
TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS
- The learning curve varies greatly across mobile platforms. On average, the Symbian platform takes 15 months or more to learn, while for Android the average reported time is less than six months. Moreover, Symbian is much more difficult and time consuming to program than iOS (iPhone), Android or Java ME; benchmarks show that for developing nine different typical applications, a Symbian developer needs to write almost three times more code than an Android developer, and twice as much code as an iPhone developer.
- From a technical perspective, top pain points for mobile emulators and debuggers are slow speed and poor target device mirroring. Top pain points for development environments (IDEs) are the absence of an app porting framework, and poor emulator integration.
- In terms of debugging, ourbenchmarking shows that Android has the fastest debugging process, compared with iPhone, Symbian and Java ME. Debugging in Symbian takes up more than twice the time it takes on Android.
- Ability to build compelling UIs is still far from the reach of most mobile developers. Around 50 out of 100 Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Phone per platform respondents are annoyed with the difficulty in creating great UIs.
- VisionMobile’s research indicates that the majority of developers – more than 80 percent of respondents – rely on community or unofficial forums for support during software development, while websites are used for support by only 40 percent of respondents.
- Access to unpublished or ‘hidden’ device APIs is a control point for platform vendors, but it is also what developers seem to be willing to pay for – in fact, more so than any other type of technical support. Hence, platform vendors could benefit from tiered SDK programs, where privileged SDKs are available to developers on a subscription plan.
- Operator network API programs have so far failed to appeal to developers. Only five percent of respondents thought that the role of network operators should be to expose network APIs. Yet more than half would pay for billing APIs, followed by messaging and location APIs.
- On average, 86 percent of respondents who use open source at work use it within development tools such as Eclipse. Android and iPhone developers are three times more likely to lead open source communities, compared to Symbian, revealing the contrasting pedigree of the developer communities. The single key drawback to open source reported by 60 percent of respondents was the confusion created by open source licenses.
The full report is available for free at DeveloperEconomics.com.
Apple issues statement on iPhone 4 reception issue, states update is coming “within a few weeks”
Apple is finally stepping up to the plate and acknowledging that there’s a problem with the iPhone 4’s reception and states the fix is on its way. The problem they claim isn’t in the external antenna design, but rather with the iPhone 4’s formula to calculate signal strength bars. Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong
Read more here:
Apple issues statement on iPhone 4 reception issue, states update is coming “within a few weeks”
The Sniper iPhone stand is about as simple as it gets
There’s the old adage Keep It Simple, Stupid but this is something entirely different. It can’t be any more simple. Well, it could be more simple if there was a kickstand built-in like with the EVO 4G , but that would be no fun.
Original post:
The Sniper iPhone stand is about as simple as it gets
Droid Incredible getting 720p recording and 3G hotspot?
The Droid Incredible might just become a little more incredible if this find pans out. A user over on AndroidForums spotted an Incredible with both 720p video recording and an HTC — not Froyo — 3G hotspot app
Go here to see the original:
Droid Incredible getting 720p recording and 3G hotspot?
Daily Crunch: Air Bent Edition
Last Space Shuttle flight scheduled for February, 2011 Video: RoboCar helps to create more intelligent cars in the future Apple’s War With Google Takes To The Skies With iTunes In The Cloud This new JVC “crystal” camcorder is for women only How not to make a 3D movie
Originally posted here:
Daily Crunch: Air Bent Edition
Symbian-Guru.com turns its back on Nokia
Uh-oh, Nokia, when your biggest fans start jumping ship, it’s definitely time to re-think your smartphone strategy.
Original post:
Symbian-Guru.com turns its back on Nokia
Self-Declared Longtime Nokia And Symbian Fanboy Gives Up, Goes Android
As if Nokia needed yet another wake-up call, self-declared ‘Nokia fanboy since 1999′ Ricky Cadden, aka Symbian Guru is so utterly fed up with the company and the products it releases that he’s quitting his blog (via Mobile Entertainment).
Cadden has purchased himself a Nexus One and seems well on his way to become an Android fanboy.
Anyone with the slightest interest in the mobile industry should read his goodbye post, which is a scathing analysis of why Nokia and Symbian are in the corner where the punches are being served.
Particularly people at Nokia and Symbian.
Here’s a teaser:
I can’t continue to support a manufacturer who puts out such craptastic ‘flagships’ as the N97, and who expects me to use services that even most of Nokia’s own employees don’t use.
I also can’t continue to support a mobile operating system platform that continually buries itself into oblivion by focusing on ‘openness’ while keeping a blind eye towards the obvious improvements that other open platforms have had for several iterations.
As on his decision to put Symbian-Guru on permanent hold:
And so, after 3 years and 8 months, Symbian-Guru.com is officially done. Thanks to Nokia’s consistently piss-poor hardware choices and Symbian’s lack of ability to even remotely compete in terms of features, abilities, and overall experience, I’ve lost my passion for both.
Ouch. Double ouch.
(More on MobileCrunch)
(Image courtesy of Barrett Hall / popofatticus on Flickr)
CM1: Toshiba brings Intel’s Classmate tablet PC to Japan
It took a lot of time, but Toshiba is now ready to bring the Classmate tablet PC it created together with Intel to the Japanese market. Rebranded as “CM1″ [press release in English], the goal is to go after the nation’s educational sector
See the original post:
CM1: Toshiba brings Intel’s Classmate tablet PC to Japan
NNSFW: A Column Written In Five Minutes About Stuff That Mattered Years Ago
“Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren’t necessarily fun. He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next.”
- Kurt Vonnegut Jnr, Slaughterhouse Five
In Kurt Vonnegut Jnr’s most famous book, Billy Pilgrim is a former soldier who finds himself lost in time: forced to live and relive the periods of his life in random order. Today I know how Billy Pilgrim feels.
Sure, for Pilgrim the trigger was the trauma of war, while for me it’s the lunacy of getting ready to launch TechCrunch TV in a few days (more on that soon), but apart from that we’re basically the same. Except that I’m not American. Or a fictional character.
What I am though, is confused. I’m sitting here in the TechCrunch office, on a Sunday evening, trying to placate my editorial paymasters by bashing out something resembling a column in the five minutes I have between conference calls with TCTV contributors. To expedite the process I’m trawling the web; pinging the major technology news sites to find out what big stories I’ve missed this week. The only problem is, every time I click on a story, I discover that I’ve been transported back in time.
Click. Here’s a story on Ars Technica about Microsoft suing a spammer who tried to abuse Hotmail’s anti-spam filters. Hotmail! The defendant in the case is Boris Mizhen and, unless I’m very much mistaken (I’m not), this story is one big deja vu. Mizhen is the same guy who Microsoft sued for spamming Hotmail back in 2003. And now they’re doing it again. I mean seriously – if you’re still using Hotmail today, you really deserve everything you get.
But the deja vu doesn’t stop there. With every click, the news timewarp gets wider.
Click…
Bebo has just been sold. For a ridiculous price. Is this 2008?
Click…
A new paywall technology is about to launch that might save the newspaper industry. Paywalls! Seriously. Is this 2005?
Click…
The New York Times is threatening to sue Neighborhoodies for producing a tshirt showing the logo of The New York Herald Tribune. The NY Herald Tribune died in 1966.
So it goes.
Hell, even the Guardian has got in on the act; publishing – today, in 2010 – a guide to understanding the Internet (“everything you need to know”!), like it’s some totally new thing.
I can only assume that the stress of launch has got to me and I’ve lost my grip on temporal reality. Either that or the whole Internet is messing with me, ensuring that all of the big news this week is about companies or concepts that ceased to be relevant years, or even decades ago. The result: everything I might possibly write will be dated before the words even leave my fingers.
Well have it your way, temporal confusion: ironically enough, I don’t have the time to fight with you. Instead, in place of this week’s column, here’s a list of five more headlines that I fully expect to read in the coming week…
“AOL sign-up disks: can they give you cancer?”
“Is your child at risk from Friendster paedophiles?”
“DARPANET: the enemy within”
“Jennifer Ringley: the new face of Altavista”
“Laptops! Kiss your desktop goodbye – there’s a new kid in town!”
Actually, wait, while I was writing this: Slate just published that last story; a ground-breaking report – published today, in 2010 – on how laptop computers are leading to the death of the desktop. Seriously? Desktops are dead?
So it goes.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, my five minutes is up, my Nokia 8210 is ringing and I have to take this call. Normal service resumes last week.
