Number 50, 19 January 2009

In this issue

• Mobile browsing the wave of the future
• An app store like you wanted it?
• Industry advances and idiocy
• Masthead

Mobile browsing the wave of the future

A report titled “Mobile Internet 2010” at ReportLinker projects rapid growth of mobile browsing and projects that the current one billion Internet users around the globe could be dwarfed by the amount of mobile Web surfers in just a few years. Emerging markets will play a key role in the growth of the mobile Web, and integrating location could potentially make it lucrative. In order for that potential to be achieved, the report said carriers need to boost their networks, and handset makers need to do a better job of incorporating Web services into a phone’s user interface.

Even with a large 3G footprint, users won’t rapidly use the mobile Web unless there is a clear design that adds value to the customer. It cites the T-Mobile G! and the HTC Touch Pro as examples of UIs that utilize an Internet connection for things like widgets and one-touch Internet icons. “The iPhone was the first mobile device with a good Web browser, and more such devices will follow,” said “Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt in an interview. “In a few years, mobile advertising will generate more revenue than advertising on the normal Web.” http://tinyurl.com/gomo128

As if responding to the report, Apple has given a green light to some new third-party Web browsing applications for the iPhone. Reviewers took this as a sign that Apple may be loosening restrictions that have so far blocked Web browsers save its own Safari from the iPhone. Some of the newly approved applications appear to be Safari plug-ins, rather than true alternative browsers, but at least one – iBlueAngel – does seem to be designed as a full-fledged Safari alternative. It’s based on the same open source WebKit code as Safari. http://tinyurl.com/gomo129

At the same time, Microsoft released version 4.0 of Windows Live Search Mobile for Windows Mobile 5 and 6. CNET Download Blog states that with this release, Microsoft is finally starting to catch up to other free clients doing mobile voice and text search on other platforms. Bird’s Eye View is the splashiest of the added features, adding a third mode to map-viewing that’s akin to Google’s Street View. These additions enhance Windows Live Search’s otherwise well-integrated features – click to call, SMS, driving directions, and search modules that focus on traffic, movies, gas stations, and weather in your area. http://tinyurl.com/gomo12a

An app store like you wanted it?

Andrew Shebanow didn’t imagine that asking for feedback about how Palm’s app store should work would open up a flood of input. He also didn’t expect the move would change his job description, but both have happened. Shebanow is working on a third-party application distribution system for Palm’s new operating system. He posted an item on his blog looking for input from developers on how that system should work. Within a week he had removed the post, replacing it with one saying that its popularity had caught him and Palm by surprise. “My boss has asked me to hid the post while management decides what they want me to do about it,” he wrote.

The result was that Shebanow was appointed to a new role in developer outreach and the open discussion was reinstated, receiving numerous accolades from developers. Many of the suggestions to the blog post recommend that the Palm app store feature improvements on the way Apple’s iPhone App Store works. While most were plausible and understandable, there were telling comments as well. Wrote one developer: “Anarchy! We want Anarcy. We don’t want anyone to tell us what or how we can do anything. The only rule is NO RULES. We want you to distribute our apps, but we don’t want to pay for it!!! Nothing, nada, zilch. And we want the ability to JAILBREAK! Wheeeeee!!!!!” http://tinyurl.com/gomo12b

Peter Tenereillo, owner/inventor of Trapster mobile software figures he knows how to make a successful mobile app. He’s learned a lot about what it takes to succeed in the world of mobile apps and says he wants to share those lessons with other struggling developers. Here’s a few of his high points.

• You need a critical mass of users – but you can’t get there if the iPhone is your only platform.
• Location-specific apps have to be very location-specific, or you risk the wrath of users.
• Market your butt off.
• You’re going to make enemies.

A key part of Tenereillo's strategy is to run on a variety of platforms; Trapster supports 10, including Symbian, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry. After all, the installed base of the iPhone is measured in just the tens of millions, a fraction of mobile users worldwide. Competing products such as NMobile that run only on the iPhone have had even less success. http://tinyurl.com/gomo12c

Industry advances and idiocy

Sales of Motorola Inc.'s cell phones crumbled in the important holiday season, dropping more than 50% from the year-ago quarter and prompting the company Wednesday to announce it was eliminating another 4,000 jobs. Motorola is scrambling to stem losses in its flagship mobile devices division, which sold 19 million phones in the fourth quarter, down from 25.4 million in the third quarter and 40.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. http://tinyurl.com/gomo12d

U.S. patent firm Saxon Innovations has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking to block the import of handheld devices like smart phones, cell phones, and television remote controls that it feels infringe some of its 180 patents. A letter supplementing the complaint was filed on January 9, 2009. The complainants request that the ITC issue an exclusion order and cease and desist orders. The ITC has named Nokia, RIM, HTC, Palm, Panasonic, and AVC Networks as affected by the investigation – which has the power to block the imports of products made by these firms. http://tinyurl.com/gomo12e Maybe there is still hope for Motorola.

In a bizarre mix of Harry Potter, James Bond, and Star Trek, scientists have moved a step closer to creating a cloaking device that could hide objects from sight. Beyond possible military applications, it also might have a very practical use by making mobile communications clearer. “Cloaking technology could be used to make obstacles that impede communications signals ‘disappear,’” said David Smith of Duke University in North Carolina, who worked on the study published in the journal Science. He said the new material is easier to make and has a far greater bandwidth. It is made from a so-called metamaterial – an engineered, exotic substance with properties not seen in nature. http://tinyurl.com/gomo12f

Where are the billions of dollars that Microsoft has to invest when an industry could actually benefit from it and Microsoft could ensure its place in the next generation of wireless communications? We’re talking, of course, about the fact that a recession and the credit crunch could slow the rollout of WiMAX technology in the U.S. Last May some of the biggest names in the technology and media business combined forces to invest close to $12 billion in a new joint venture comprising Sprint, Clearwire, Intel, Google, Comcast, Warner Cable, and Bright House. Today, Clearwire is trying to keep its head above water. Sales are on track to rise 50% this year to $230 million, but analysts expet the company to lose $715 million. Billions more in losses are projected for the coming years as Clearwire invests heavily to roll out its network. Clearwire needs to raise billions in additional capital in the midst of the worst economic downturn in decades or slow down the pace of its rollout and give AT&T and Verizon Wireless a chance to gain ground in the race to build next-generation wireless networks. Given Microsoft’s stated commitment to mobile devices, cloud computing, search, and networking, the name of the software giant is glaringly absent from the Clearwire cadre. http://tinyurl.com/gomo130

Masthead

This is issue #50 of Going Mobile. The stories that I refer to are all among the 300+ publicly published articles I scan each week, but the commentary is entirely my own and does not represent the views, opinions, or official position of Microsoft, the Windows Mobile management team, or any of the fine companies and news services mentioned herein. You can refer stories to me or make other comments below.

Thnx,
Nathan Everett
Editor