Mobile While Mobile

New apps keep on rolling in but one caught my eye recently in the Financial Times. The UK Government is considered a plan to monitor traffic on the country’s freeways via drivers’ mobile phones. Turning on this app presents some obvious challenges.

They’ll need to put detectors into the road that’ll track the movements and speeds of automobiles and use this data to forecast congestion more accurately and quickly. Big problem that I can see is personal privacy and why aren’t they looking at GPS especially as this becomes practically a given in many handsets?

2010 Predictions: It’s All About the Consumer, Right?

You don’t have to look too far to find companies’ and journalists’ prognostications about what will happen in the mobile industry in 2010.  For instance, Wireless Week took a serious stab at peering into the crystal ball with their Trends for 2010 article, while FierceWireless’ Lynette Luna poked some fun at it with a playfully acerbic post on December 21: “A Peek at Wireless Executives’ Christmas Wishlists”.

But we didn’t see too many predictions about how consumers will benefit from all the launches and technological advancements in our industry. After all, customers are the ultimate decision-makers for every mobile app we test and deploy; every app store the carriers and device manufacturers launch; and every smartphone and device that hit the market and sizzles (…or fizzles).

So…we’re lighting up the holiday spirit with the gift of good news for consumers everywhere.  Here are our predictions about how everyday people will benefit in 2010 from our industry’s hard work and innovation:

• mHealth Helps Consumers Take Their Health into their Own Hands—While the monolithic debate continues in Congress over the national healthcare plan, healthcare organizations and independent developers such as EOS Health and Sensei are launching all flavors of innovative mobile apps that enable consumers to proactively manage their own physical fitness, whether it’s alerting them to take their insulin or helping them make healthy eating choices at point of purchase.  In the same way that mBanking has helped us manage our financial health, the new crop of mHealth apps are helping us manage the most important health of all…our own physical wellbeing.
• Choosing a Mobile Phone will Get Easier—Sometimes “too much choice” can be a bad thing, making it confusing and overwhelming for consumers to select the handset they want from a plethora of carriers and manufacturers.  It’s becoming increasingly important now that smartphone functionality is becoming so sophisticated and feature-rich—you have to see them to believe them.  Thankfully, some operators are ramping their efforts to help educate consumers by embracing technologies that allow people to “try before they buy.”  Instead of providing static pictures and lists of features, this technology allows people to test-drive the devices—and see just what it looks like and how it functions in the real-world—through the Internet from the convenience of their home computer or at carriers’ in-store kiosks.  Pretty soon, “try before you buy” will mean a whole lot more than simply checking out your friends’ phones.
• Watch out iPhone, There’s a New Kid in Town—As we mentioned in our November 13 post, handsets built on the Android operating system have been around for over a year, but they haven’t “wowed” consumers enough to pose a serious challenge to Apple….until now.  Last month, GigaOm reported in November that nearly 250,000 Motorola Droids were sold by Verizon in the first week of its US launch, making it the fastest-selling Android device sold to date.  And now that the handset is making its way around the globe, Motorola predicts it will sell a million units by the end of 2009.  There’s wind in the sails of Android, and hearty market competition is good news for consumers everywhere.
• An App Store Avalanche?  It’s Only Just Begun. Apple announced last month that they have more than 100,000 apps in the iTunes store now, up from 10,000 a year ago (annual growth of 900%).  And now, analyst firm IDC predicts that there will also be 50,000–75,000 new Android applications this year alone.  Consumers should expect mobile apps and app stores to multiply in triple-digit growth thanks to Android’s advantage as an open platform, and application testing solutions that simplify and speed deployment so developers can focus on making innovative, cool new apps that all of us will enjoy. Still haven’t seen all the apps that really compel you to fill your phone with downloads?  Don’t worry—you will.

Too Much Choice: A Predicament Facing the Mobile Industry

Since the launch of the first generation Apple iPhone, the mobile industry has transformed beyond recognition. However despite more mainstream users downloading content, affordable smartphones and overwhelming industry support, are there clear horizons ahead?

For developers, the answer is not really. Faced with an OS ecosystem that is no longer fragmented as much as splintered, increasingly complicated certification processes that are often unique to each store and a new flagship handset being launched on an almost weekly basis, bringing content to market is a daunting task.

The problem intensifies when you consider applications should ideally span not only phones, but MIDs, UMPCs, cars (telematics), and other embedded and wearable computing devices. Pervasive is the new mobile. A single platform that spans all “Screens of Life” is the ideal.  But how can developers truly innovate with such a wide variety of platforms for which to cater their “mainstream” application.

Even so it is unlikely that the industry will see an end to this diversity in the near future. Mobile operators and handset manufacturers both see the mobile operating system as a unique selling point and have made it clear that they do not want a repeat of the Wintel paradigm.

With new operating systems and application stores being launched on an almost weekly basis, Bada and Else Institution being two recent examples, this issue of too much choice is unlikely to dissipate any time soon. But I expect OS and application store consolidation to be a clear theme this time next year.

Emblaze Mobile: A Chicken & Egg Conundrum

Mobile phone maker Emblaze Mobile, an Israeli start-up, unveiled their contender for the smartphone market yesterday, the First Else. Featuring a brand new Linux-based operating system called Else Intuition, which they developed jointly with ACCESS; the handset aims to put applications on the centre-stage rather than the phone itself.

The video above provides an overview of the look and feel of the new handset and some of the applications which all looks extremely impressive, but I also feel this may prove to be the Achilles heel of this handset.

Two years ago, the Apple iPhone first hit our shelves and has since revolutionised the way people use their mobile handsets. Despite its hi-tech prowess however, the winning formula of the phone has relied heavily on Apple’s iTunes store that offered a range of third-party content, most importantly applications.

Despite a range of native applications already available on Else Intuition and the established ACCESS developer network, will third parties be tempted to invest time, money and marketing budgets on this unknown platform? The level of investment may also be a barrier to entry for some developers, with first looks at the operating system signalling significant levels of design and integration required.

Also, how will the handset itself meet the demands of developers looking to maximise market penetration with only a handful of applications compared to the tens of thousands on the Android, Symbian and Apple operating systems. With operators also looking to boost their developer friendly credentials, such as Orange with the launch of a new forum, Emblaze Mobile faces a challenge if they truly want to change the way we think about smartphones.

I wish them the best of luck in solving this and can’t wait to get my hands on the handset.

Open Certification Processes: Key to App Store Success?

Last week, the long time Mac coder Rogue Amoeba resigned from the Apple App Store in frustration at the approvals process, stating that a simple bug fix took almost four months of “slow replies, delays, and dithering by Apple” before being cleared for public consumption.

Over the past few months Apple has made some efforts in making their approvals process more open, recently allowing developers to see how apps are progressing on the Dev Centre site. However, as this post by CNET shows, the administrative challenge faced by an App Store owner is huge, with each member of the approvals team having to review an application every six minutes.

With the Apple App Store already offering over 100,000 applications, how can competing storefronts ever hope to catch-up whilst still ensuring quality content? Google has taken the approach to only check the technical performance of the application and then allow the users to flag unsuitable content; however those technical tests still represent a costly and time consuming process.

One option would be to put those processes into the hands of the developer themselves, who already thoroughly test their applications before submission to ensure solid reviews. Companies could simply submit their application along with a video recording, screenshots and other pre-determined data points to provide an extremely simple and coherent submission platform.

This process would benefit everyone from store owner to developer through to consumer:

• Store owners bypass an expensive and time consuming process, whilst benefitting from a steady stream of quality content and applications
• Developers gain access to a more open certification process that allows them to get their content into stores faster and more cost-effectively than before
• Consumers gain access to a range of content in a more timely manner, whilst benefitting from ensured quality controls

With global mobile application downloads predicted to grow to 18.7 billion by 2014 the opportunity for the entire mobile ecosystem looks bright, however only if we put in place the controls and processes which will allow this market to grow at this pace today.

Motorola Droid Gives Android Its Day…But Open Source Freedom Brings New Challenges for Developers

Unless you were vacationing this past week on a remote island without newspapers or internet, then we can safely assume you know that the tech news world is universally abuzz over the newly-released Android smartphones from Verizon: the Motorola Eris and Droid.  Some reporters have hailed the phones, specifically the Droid, as the long-awaited “coming out” device of the Android OS, suggesting that it’s the first to offer the interface and functionality that legitimize the hype that’s been building around the new open source operating system and will start giving Apple a run for its money.

With bullish enthusiasm, Brian Heater of PC Magazine finished his commentary on Friday by saying, “Android has arrived” and Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch simply said in his review,  ”It’s droid day; enjoy the moment.”  A more optimistic reception comparatively than most reviewers gave the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1, in October of last year, which many felt showed Android’s potential, but lacked the “wow” factor they knew consumers needed to see.

No matter your personal opinion about the phones, these new devices—and the hype around them—represent a growing and increasingly lucrative opportunity for Android developers. The open source operating system is a new frontier for innovation, allowing faster time to market and acting as a “muse” to promote and push the bounds of creativity.

Yet, with this opportunity comes challenges, too.  Open source applications can be open to criticism when it comes to quality and reliability since it’s a largely fragmented and self-regulated frontier.  Tricia Duryee of MocoNews puts a fine tip on this point in her article last Friday when she reminds readers that:

“…there are now three different versions of the Android operating system currently for sale, which is raising red flags that the platform could become fragmented…. developers will have a difficult time developing applications that could run smoothly on each platform…since Google is relying on an open source platform, it could be affected by the platform splitting off and having multiple threads, which causes confusion.”

To overcome this challenge, developers need a cost-effective means for testing with handset accessibility, but also the full range of support from automation to recording to management and monitoring capabilities.  Open source OS’—without their rigid management and restrictions– have so many more variables than proprietary systems for developers to adjust to that it’s more critical than ever that developers’ time is freed from testing constraints, and instead they can remain focused on creating original applications.  After all, consumers don’t choose operating systems; they choose devices that give them the wow factor, and right now they’re facing almost too many options in the marketplace.

Innovation is what’s really going to drive consumers to Android and give it a run at becoming the number two operating system in three years time behind Symbian as Gartner predicts (see our blog post from October 23).  Hot apps, streamlined design, an intuitive interface—all offered by multiple handset manufacturers and wireless carriers.  Eliminating redundant application testing can pave the way for this to happen.

Amazon Kindle: There’s Already an App for That

Over the past couple of years we have seen a shift in the way people use their mobile handsets. Originally used to make simple voice calls, the mobile handset has not only changed the way we interactive with each other but also how we purchase and consume a range of services and content.

It was therefore of interest that analytics firm, Flurry, published a report last week that showed over the past four months the number of book “applications” being downloaded onto the iPhone has exceeded that of games – with one out of five new apps launching in October being a book.

With the increasing focus on supporting mobile developers to bring new content and services to market easier and faster than ever before, 2010 is likely to see the way people use their handsets continue to evolve.

So, what chance to dedicated devices that offer just a single function hold? Over the past few weeks we have seen the global launch of the Amazon Kindle and more recently the launch of a dedicated Twitter device called Twitter Peek, both claiming to make it easier to perform a single function. But both of these “functions” were already available to Smartphone users and carried a minimal, if any, expense. It could also be argued they performed these functions better, with the Amazon Kindle offering a black and white screen, and the Twitter Peek not supporting multiple user accounts.

With the increasing sophistication of Smartphones, bigger screens, increased connectivity and lowering costs, is there a market for single function devices?

SEE ‘09: The World of Symbian

With my previous post talking about Gartner’s prediction that Symbian will continue to dominate the OS market for the foreseeable future, I was extremely interested to hear the views of our UK team who were exhibiting at the Symbian Exchange & Exposition earlier this week. Having attended in previous years, how did this show compare and what was making the headlines (apart from our Symbian Virtual Developer Lab announcement)?

Rather than live vicariously through my team, please find below my very first guest post:

When first walking into the show you cannot help but imagine you have entered a Dr. Seuss book, with cartoon pop-ups located around various meeting points at the show. However once you had moved past the cows with jet packs, the Loch Ness monster and a toaster with a light bulb shooting out of it, you quickly realised you were instead in the world of Symbian.

Regardless of the more business-like nature of the show, there was still that familiar feeling of excitement which slowly developed (excuse the pun) throughout the day. Attendees quickly found the free massage service, coffee bars and fully water submersible handset demos that were available and spirits were at a high at the evening event held in the Science Museum.

So, what was this world like? The world of Symbian was notably smaller than previous years, with fewer exhibitors and smaller “big brand” stands being evident from the moment you walked through the door. Other companies had selected to not have an open stand, for example Accenture, but instead boasted dedicated meeting rooms in which to conduct their business.

Symbian had also chosen to step-up education at the show, with more keynotes and seminars taking place than any other year. A significant main stage was complimented by a series of “topic rooms” where particular issues of interest to the community were discussed, for example Open Source Business Models and Handset Creation.

Although the above observations are a sign of the current economic climate, I also think this was evidence of the changing demands from attendees. People want to know how to make money out of the content and services they are developing. Symbian want to educate them on how they can work with developers to achieve this.

If I could summarise the show in one picture this would be it.

The Symbian ideas board was busy throughout the day with people making suggestions on how Symbian could be improved.

Thanks for taking the time to write the post guys and some interesting observations about how the show has changed since I last attended. So what did you think of the show? Also, check out some more behind-the-scenes pictures on our Flikr channel.

Android to Grab No.2 Space

Last week, Gartner released an outlook for the 2012 operating systems market. While the current market leader Symbian is expected to remain on the top, the forecast around Android was of particular interest. Currently, Android runs on less than 2% of all Smartphone’s, but Gartner estimates that in three years time it will grow to become the second most popular Mobile OS.

Gartner supports this forecast on several arguments. First of all, Android is backed by Google, and the two brands operate in an open and creative environment, assumed to inspire innovation and development. It is worth to note the importance of Gartner’s place on this aspect, as the group actually revised their first outlook only a couple of days after it’s initial release, moving Windows Mobile from an original third place to a much less impressive fifth ranking following Steve Ballmer’s announcement of his disappointment in the company’s development team.

Gartner sees the current Smartphone market as heading in two directions, with Windows Mobile and Symbian focusing on tasks and communications, while iPhone concentrates on applications. Android is seen to mend these two markets, offering a complete solution.

Gartner also empathize how Android runs on phones from several handset manufacturers, in contrast to for example the iPhone OS. This is certainly an important point, just think about the number of Android handsets launched in just the past few months from a variety of manufacturers, such as Motorola and HTC. Moreover, they are distributed by different carriers, while Apple currently works exclusively with AT&T in the U.S.

Despite the strengths of these arguments, one should remember how much the mobile market can, and will, change in three years time. Think three years back from today, and many people didn’t know what an iPhone was.

Another aspect of the report is its most likely self-fulfilling effect. Gartner is an influential and trusted group, and if they believe in Android, so will the companies they advise.

mHealth at CTIA: All the Rage for All the Right Reasons

For the past few years, I’ve watched mHealth take over the spotlight from mBanking, which for so many years helped drive the mobile app revolution, garnering a lionshare of media and analyst attention as financial institutions across the board– Bank of America, HSBC, the NYSE and third party enablers like Mobile Money Ventures—took their services to the small screen.

When it comes down to it, mHealth’s mobile app needs aren’t terribly dissimilar to those of mBanking, or any other industry for that matter.  They want guaranteed reliability, security, speed of deployment, and reduced development costs (as compared to in-house)…and basically fewer headaches.  Pretty much what all developers and enterprises want from their mobile apps, right?

I think the main difference is their need for unrelentingly consistent QoS.  While an entertainment app developer would agree on the importance of minimized downtime, consider how vital it is for an mHealth company like Sensei—one of the four new healthcare customers we announced at CTIA.  Members rely on their mobile programs for critical reminders to take their medications or make on-the-spot decisions related to healthy eating choices.  These apps are affecting people’s lives in a real way.  Not a lot of room for error without potentially grave repercussions.  Or something you want to send out into the world without 100% satisfaction that the testing and monitoring has been relentlessly thorough and rigorous.

I really enjoyed the dialogue around mHealth at CTIA IT & Wireless a few weeks ago, where the topic now merits its own conference track altogether.  In the keynote, CTIA’s Steve Largent announced the results of a consumer health survey they conducted with Harris Interactive that was chock full of new stats confirming consumers’ hunger for mobile healthcare (check out the FierceWireless for the full recap).

Most memorable was the comment from Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs, who said the wireless industry will get the greatest growth thrust from the applications that most benefit society and improve humanity.  It’s the kind of statement that makes you pause, and catapults your thoughts out of the weeds of the day-to-day.  A ticker tape ran through my mind of the hundreds of developers and companies we’re working with—in or out of mHealth– who are doing exactly that in their own unique ways.  We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of how mobile apps can benefit people’s lives, and I’m energized by the prospect of what innovative, life-enriching new apps we’re going to help companies launch tomorrow.

P.S.  If you’re following mHealth, bookmark or RSS mobihealthnews. I had the pleasure of reconnecting at CTIA with friend and industry vet Brian Dolan who recently left telecom titan FierceWireless to launch this indispensible online trade pub for the healthcare industry.  Good stuff.  Check it out.