Archive for February, 2009

Mobile tech conference kicked off

Mobile tech conference, which is the biggest conference dedicated to mobile technology, kicked off in Barcelona. The Mobile World Congress convenes in Barcelona with the industry undergoing negative growth. The rising stars of the industry are tipped to be in areas surrounding mobile broadband and applications for devices such as cloud computing. But there will also be announcements of new handsets and mobile gadgets. The economic downturn is likely to be a dominant theme of discussion. But the sense of a downturn for the mobile industry was made more tangible when Nokia - the leader among handset manufacturers - recently announced it foresaw a 10% fall in mobile phone sales for the coming year. The Mobile World Congress expects almost 50,000 visitors

Google accepting paid applications on Android Market

Google has opened their Android Market mobile app store for paid applications it seems to be the first step towards changing more integrated bussines model following Apple’s lead. Initially, the Android Market offered only free applications. Now, however, the search giant confirmed plans to next week begin selling applications through Android Market after rumors began circulating earlier this week.

Users of the Android-based T-Mobile G1 smartphone can expect to see the paid apps available starting in the middle of next week, according to a Google post on a blog for Android developers. The search giant said Google Checkout will serve as the payment and billing mechanism for the service.

Dell smartphone plans

Dell, which has been struggling to reclaim its share of the PC market and recently undertook a massive internal reorganization, has already started shrinking its computing devices with the long-anticipated netbook it unveiled in September. But the company, like many PC makers, is struggling for a way to cope with flattening computer sales, even as the smartphone arena continues seeing double-digit growth.

If the rumors are to be believed, the release of a Dell smartphone could come later this month at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona.

Motorola plans for Android platform

Motorola is planning new revenue stream from Android open source mobile platform devices. According to Sanjay Jha, Co-CEO and mobile device leader at Motorola “Android works well for Motorola, as Motorola’s new device applications are now focused on providing best-in-class Web browsing and unique experiences which would include social networking capabilities. Motorola’s expertise in Linux and Java is also a natural fit for Android development”. He also praised Android’s development flexibility and heavy developer interest. His expectation is that Motorola will be able to leverage Android software to build unique products that will prove alluring to carrier partners and resellers.

LiMo focussed on providing Linux based operating platform for mobile providers

The LiMo Foundation today announced that at least six major operators will be delivering Linux based mobile phones in 2009. LiMo is group focussed on providing a standard Linux based operating platform for mobile providers. In June of 2008 it absorbed its rival the LiPS (Linux Phone Standards) and in my view now competes squarely against Google’s Android and Nokia’s Symbian.

The new Linux phones will come from NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone all of whom are LiMO contributors in some way. LiMO claims now to have 33 commercial mobile phones certified as being LiMo compliant.