"In the last six months, Apple and Google have jousted over acquisitions, patents, directors, advisers and iPhone applications. Mr. Jobs and Mr. Schmidt have taken shots at each other's companies in the media and in private exchanges with employees."
The New York Times has a very interesting article on the head-butting going on between Apple and Google right now. Frankly, I think the whole thing is a bit silly and is too ego-driven, but on the other hand, the inevitable distraction this will cause both companies gives Microsoft an opportunity to launch a brand new OS that will need some time to grow.
"Last March, we launched the YouTube Mobile app for Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile phones. Since then, the application was translated to 12 languages, installed on millions of devices around the world, and has been chosen as a Nokia Ovi Top App of 2009. Today we're excited to announce the release of the latest version of the YouTube Mobile app, version 2.4."
Looks like Google has updated their YouTube app for Windows Mobile, so if viewing video on your phone is a high priority, head over to get the download.
"Synerge Tech Solutions has released Google Analytics Mobile. As the name implies, Google Analytics Mobile allows you to access your web site's Google Analytic's data directly from your Windows Phone. For those not familiar with Google Analytics, it is a program that tracks your website activity ranging from the number of visits to where your site visitors are located (geographic regions)."
Are you an analytics fiend? Always wanting to check your Web site stats, no matter where you are? Then you'll be interested in Google Analytics Mobile from Synerge Tech Solutions. It's a neat concept, if only in that it will allow you to drill down and learn more about your Web site stats when you have some down time (sitting in the dentist's waiting room, etc.).
"Today we announced Google Buzz, a new product that integrates with your Gmail inbox and makes it easy to start rich conversations about the things you find interesting. Google Buzz lets you share web links, photos, videos, and more with those who are important to you. Rather than simply creating a mobile version of Buzz, we decided to take advantage of the unique features of a mobile device - in particular, location. We go through many experiences when we're on the go, and while there are lots of ways to share these experiences with your friends or even the world, there isn't always an easy way to let your audience know where you are when you post. Your location brings valuable context to the information you share. For example, does "Delicious dinner!" mean you're at a great restaurant, or that you had a wonderful home-cooked meal? Your mobile phone, which is with you almost all the time, can help answer these questions."
By now, you've probably read and heard all there is to know about Google Buzz. In an age where social networking is ubiquitous, you could argue that Google is a little late to the game. After all, Buzz still focuses on the core theme of status, link, photo, and video sharing, and that's nothing other social services haven't already executed. But there are elements in Buzz that help set it apart from the rest. For starters, it's built right into Gmail, so not only is there tight integration with your inbox, you're already connected to your growing list of contacts; in other words, no more finding or importing friends from scratch. It also integrates well with other services, such as Flickr, Twitter, Picasa, Google Talk, and Google Reader, plus thanks to Buzz's open architecture, there should be many more added to the list in the near future. And, of course, there's support for mobiles. Apart from presenting the aforementioned on a small screen, the mobile version of Buzz taps into many unique features of a mobile device, such as location services, so you can easily fetch a list of public buzzes near you, wherever and whenever. Or you can view public buzzes as a layer in the new Google Maps for mobile. Google takes it to the next level by tapping into its map data to use place names over the usual latitude and longitude. Intrigued? Jump the break for a video demo.
So, are there any buzzers in the house? If so, how are you finding it?
"Windows Mobile/Windows Phone devices at present lack support for multiple calendars. NuevaSync has always allowed syncing of multiple Google calendars to these devices, but all the events were "merged" into the device's single calendar. NuevaSync users with Premium Service can now have the Google calendar for each event appear as a "category" on the device. This means that events from individual Google calendars can be selected for display on the phone. Also events created on the device can be assigned to a specific Google calendar."
One of my few complaints about the Nuevasync synchronization platform (a request actually) was the ability to map multiple Google Calendars to categories on my Windows Phone. Now I can do that with their latest upgrade. Add this to the Remote Wipe functionality I mentioned a few weeks ago, and you have a pretty nice sync solution!
"If our kindergarten skills haven't failed us, then this data shows iPhone usage surpassing the once mighty Windows Mobile OS for the very first time. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Google's Android OS is set to accelerate significantly by the time the February 2010 data rolls in as is WebOS just as soon as Palm can bring its fledgling OS to Verizon's subscriber base."
Well, it was on the cards and had to happen sooner or later - Windows Mobile is now third in terms of actual handsets in consumer hands in the US, with just 7.1 million units compared to Apple's 8.9 million and RIM's 14.9 million. I'll forbear to comment on the obvious implications for Microsoft. Read the original FierceDeveloper scoop here and the press release from comScore here (incidentally, comScore's actual tagline focused more on Android's gains rather than Apple's). The real kickers are some of the supplementary survey questions that were published in the press release - out of the thirteen specifically mentioned handsets most users were planning to purchase, only one was a Windows Mobile device (AT&T Tilt), at just 2% of respondents. The media consumption results are also pretty damning. Where, oh where, is WM7?
Google is sending out decals to thousands of businesses that have a QR barcode on it. The idea is you can scan the barcode with your phone using special software and get information about the place you are about to enter, reviews and even instant coupons. If this catches on, it will be nice when walking up to a restaurant and immediately getting third party reviews to help you make a decision on whether or not to enter it.
If you go to the FAQ, you can find links to a number of different software packages that read the codes, many of which work on Windows Mobile. After all of the hype about Microsoft Tag, i never really got how it would get into the mainstream. Looks like Google figured out a way, but they used a two dimensional code over fifteen years old.
Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC Sites & Resources" @ 05:00 AM
My, oh my. Where to start? Google has delivered numerous updates to its mobile apps and search services. To kick things off, if you're a user of the Google Mobile App, visit m.google.com on your Windows phone to download the latest version. It supports location services, Google Suggest, and map search. Next on the list is Local Search for Mobile. It's been redesigned to integrate with Google Maps and adds supports for categories. Finally, you can now keep your mobile and desktop search histories in sync. The only catch is that it doesn't yet support Windows Mobile, though we can't imagine that being a permanent omission. We'll let you know as soon as Windows Mobile support gets two thumbs up.
"To sync tasks you need a compatible device (iPhones don't have tasks support yet but Windows Mobile, Nokia and Palm Pre phones do). Register for a Toodledo account (free or pro). Enable and configure tasks on our web site---enter your Toodledo username and password."
A few months ago I wrote about NuevaSync's Push GMail Solution which beat out Google's official support for GMail through Exchange ActiveSync by quite a few months. Now that Google has caught up, NuevaSync has again decided to up the ante by adding Tasks support! The catch is - the tasks sync isn't with Google Tasks (Since it's pretty bare bones and doesn't have a published API), it's with a task managing service named Toodledo!
I hadn't used Toodledo before so I signed up this morning and tried it out - and I'm pretty impressed. I can now manage my tasks from the cloud (even from within GMail thanks to the Labs "Add a gadget" feature), and have them synced on my device. Oh yea - Toodledo also has a native Android client! So if you're a Google user or cloud patron that just wants to keep his or her to-do list in check, take a look at Nueva's latest premium offering!
"We're still working on our review, but the makers of Google Voice app OneDialer took to our forums to announce the latest version of the app. Currently for Windows Mobile 6 Professional (touchscreen devices) only, here's what you get: SSL encrypted communications, It's fast, SMS and voicemail notifications, [and] Native dialer interception."
It's Touchscreen only, as of now, and is $7 for a single user license, but if you really want to use your Google Voice number in Windows Mobile, it's now an option!
"Just as the world itself can be viewed through many lenses, the latest version of Google Maps for mobile allows you to view many layers of information on your map at the same time. Layers make it easier and more useful to find and interact with geographic content, like public transit, traffic (with incidents!), local search results, Latitude friend locations, Wikipedia and more. You can also see your own My Maps content as a layer on Google Maps for mobile. And finally, multiple layers can be combined at the same time to give you a content-rich view of what's around you."
Layers and improved search are nifty additions to Google Maps for mobile. The updated version is available for Windows Mobile, so what are you waiting for? Go get it!
Earlier this week, synchronization service NuevaSync announced their latest addition to the platform, push e-mail. NuevaSync already had calendar & contact sync from Google to Windows Mobile, iPhone, and pretty much any platform that supports the Microsoft Activesync protocol. Since I've been using Google for the last month or so (in lieu of my exchange server), I thought it may be interesting to give this service a shot. After all, only $25 for a year of service isn't too pricey (.002 cents per hour if you want to think of it that way...).
The first thing you notice about NuevaSync is it's no-frills website. This makes it mobile friendly, and still usable on the desktop. Their site was a bit disjointed (with a Wiki and Blog loosely linked up, with recent navigation improvements) but it gets the job done. After upgrading to Premium (for $25 a year), you can access the e-mail action. This is where you link up your IMAP e-mail account. Any IMAP server that supports the IDLE command should work just fine with their service, and they have an express setup option for GMail users. Contacts & Calendar set up easily as well, and as a premium user you can select which Google Calendars you want to sync with your device. Read more...
Posted by Jon Westfall in "Pocket PC Competition" @ 05:00 PM
Maybe it's because I am a geek that I just accept that things I want to work will not always do so. Maybe it's because I'm forgiving of this that I don't often rant about it. But here is one issue that I need to bring up to highlight why companies aren't flocking away from Windows Mobile to a platform such as Android.
One thing I really liked about my G1 when I got it was the fact I could use Google Reader to catch up on my headlines while on the go. The Webkit browser seemed to work much better than any other mobile browser I'd used, and I was happy with it. But recently, I've found that when I hit "Mark these items as read", they don't get marked. They just reload again when pulling the next 15 items (Which are just the same 15 items I've seen before). I thought this may just be me, until I found othersreporting the sameproblem. Apparently big G changed something around mid-March that broke the web interface "mark all these items as read" button. The best I can tell, this issue has been around now for about 1 1/2 months, and Google's only response has been "We're working on it".
So a Google-driven OS is having problems with a Google product and the best users get is "We're working on it..." and effectively a mobile outage of what some would consider a mission critical application. This doesn't bode well for Google, cloud computing, or Android. And it's one reason people stay with Windows Mobile.
WinMo may not be the prettiest, but I'm having a really hard time remembering the last time it didn't work with a critical MS application because MS changed the application, but left the mobile users stranded.
Posted by Jon Westfall in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 06:00 AM
About a month ago I decided to try something. For over 4 years I'd had a Gmail account that did little more than filter SPAM before it passed up to my exchange server, yet I kept hearing about all the awesome things you could do with Gmail. Sites touted various features and gizmos, the ability to search easier and the quicker load times than my existing solution, Outlook. So I decided to take the plunge and go Google for a bit and see how I felt about it.
Photo Credit: flickr user murilomernardes
On February 26 I disabled Gmail's forwarding to my exchange server, and now after 1 month, I'm ready to share my impressions. Read more...
"Way back in November 2007, we location-enabled all of our Google Maps for mobile clients to bring location awareness to the masses and improve the local search experience. Using My Location, millions of you have been able to easily find yourselves on a map at the touch of a button. But what about finding other people? Lots of you have been requesting to see where your friends are on a map, too. Well now you can with Google Latitude. Latitude is a new feature of Google Maps for mobile, as well as an iGoogle gadget, that allows you to share your location with your friends and to see their approximate locations, if they choose to share them with you. You can use your Google account to sign in and easily invite friends to Latitude from your existing list of contacts or by entering their email addresses. Google Talk is integrated with Latitude, so you and your friends can update your status messages and profile photos on the go and see what everyone is up to. You can also call, SMS, IM, or email each other within the app."
Unlike previous Google Maps for mobile innovations, Google is making the new Latitude feature available to Windows Mobile users from day one. To start spying on connecting with your friends, fire up your mobile browser and grab the app from google.com/latitude. It's 100% opt-in, and you can choose just how much or how little information you want to share, and with whom.
"We're excited to announce the availability of Google Maps for mobile version 2.3 with Street View on Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile. Street View was previously released on Google Maps for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone. Street View lets you access street level imagery to help orient yourself when looking for places, businesses, or getting directions. Say you're going to meet with friends at an unfamiliar restaurant. Now you can search for it in Google Maps for mobile, click on "Street View", and see what the place and surrounding area look like. Similarly, say you need to get to a shop in a part of town you don't know. Find it using your phone, get directions to it, and see how to get there with full-screen panorama images of every step along the way."
Google Maps 2.3 has arrived, but this release is more than just a bunch of bug fixes. It includes walking directions, transit alerts, POI reviews, and Street View support, so you can take the sights of the United States, Australia, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and Spain with you wherever you go. It's a free download from google.com/gmm.
"When Google, T-Mobile, and HTC unveiled the first smartphone running Android last month, Google's many fans were excited by the idea of a mobile phone tied to the online services they enjoy. Other were less enthusiastic, pointing out that Android is an untried operating system and the T-Mobile G1 is only going to be available from a single, relatively small wireless provider in the United States. Nevertheless, there are enough optimists that 1.5 million G1's have already been pre-ordered, sight unseen. And this number would be higher, except that T-Mobile has sold all the devices it has available to ship by October 22, the launch day."
This number doesn't surprise me at all. As a T-Mobile customer, pre-ordering this handset is a pretty big deal. It is the only handset in who knows how long where you have been able to get the subsidized price while still in contract! Usually you have to wait 11 months out of a 12 month contract or 21 months out of a 24 month contract before you can get the discounted price off a device. T-Mobile has definitely did their customers a solid here, and at the same point managed to convince up to 1.5 million people to sign up for their data plan, which I'm sure they make a killing on. Heck, even I have been considering pre-ordering a T-Mobile G1 until I can scrub up close to $700 to buy a HTC Touch from Best Buy or eXpansys!
"T-Mobile G1 manufacturer HTC plans to develop more handsets based on Android. It maintain this will not affect its Windows Mobile business - the Google platform and Microsoft's are 'complementary', it claimed. According to a report by DigiTimes, John Wang, Chief Marketing Officer at HTC, said that both systems have their merits, and so handsets based on either platform will appeal to different users."
I'm sure we can all agree that the only way this newest HTC Android enabled device is 'complementary' to Windows Mobile is due to how ugly it is and the wonders it will do for pushing users to the new Touch family of devices! All kidding aside, I have to agree with HTC on this one. Google Android and Windows Mobile are not even in the same league. Both platforms target completely different groups of consumers and where the Windows Mobile camp has been screaming at the top of their lungs for years hoping Microsoft will release a more consumer friendly version of their flagship mobile operating system, nothing has come of it at all. Even being as ugly as the T-Mobile G1 is, it will still sell a lot of handsets. This device is target to the general consumer and doesn't focus on the business aspect and because of that I can't take three steps outside of my front door without hearing someone talking about the T-Mobile G1 or having them ask me about it.
HTC will now be able to create new super sleek consumer friendly devices and at the same time, continue to cater to the enterprise and enthusiast crowd. This is the best of both worlds for HTC. Hopefully this will be a good swift kick in the posterior to make Microsoft hustle to bring us something really cool in Windows Mobile 7.
After months of teasing via product demos and leaks, Android is finally coming to a T-Mobile USA store near you in the form of the G1. At 10:30 AM (EDT), the G1 press conference will kick off in New York; be sure to tune in at that time, if you're interested in seeing what's unveiled. Can't make it? Don't worry - we'll be covering Android and the G1 from top to bottom right after the press conference.
So, just how will Android impact Windows Mobile? We'll soon find out.
GMT -7 (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver): 7:30 AM
GMT -5 (Chicago, Houston): 9:30 AM
GMT -4 (New York, Washington, D.C.): 10:30 AM
GMT +1 (London): 3:30 PM
GMT +2 (Paris, Berlin): 4:30 PM
GMT +4 (Moscow): 6:30 PM
GMT +8 (Perth, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong): 10:30 PM
GMT +9 (Tokyo): 11:30 PM
GMT +10 (Sydney, Melbourne): 12:30 AM (September 24)
GMT +12 (Auckland): 2:30 AM (September 24)
Update: The G1 will be available in the USA on October 22. A European rollout is planned - November in the UK, and early 2009 elsewhere in Europe, both with T-Mobile.
Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone Talk" @ 02:00 AM
As I am sure all of you have heard the release of Google's open source operating system is right around the corner. As Jon posted yesterday, T-Mobile is having some weird special event pre-sale to kick off the release of the first Android device, the HTC Dream, and T-Mobile subscribers can expect to pick up this new handset for a mere $150USD. This is an amazing price for a touch screen smartphone.
As some of you have probably heard me say before, as of the last Android SDK release, the operating system felt more like a collection of stuff rather than a useable mobile platform. With the recent release of the Android SDK we can see a lot of that "hobbyist" feel that usually accompanies most things open source start to peel away from the device as Google shapes Android up to a viable iPhone killer. Read more...
